(From the NME, UK Music weekly, 20 March 1982)
| Flying Jaz!
POLICE FIVE: Should you see a wild-eyed individual answering to the name of
Jaz wandering around your town, grab him immediately.
He's gone AWOL from Killing Joke, whose single 'Empire Song' is wandering
around the charts.
Jaz up and disappeared one day shortly after the band played Brighton's
Top Rank. There hasn't been a sniff of him since then, although he did
phone his mum to say he was all right.
The full reasons still aren't known for Jaz's walk out, but he has a
passion for the black arts and he's fascinated by the work of magician
Aleister Crowley. One theory is |
|
that he's out visiting Ley Lines -- energy forces which are said to hold the
earth in their
grip. In Britain, a number of these lines converge around the
Salisbury area and this
could be a likely spot for a Jaz spotting.
Killing Joke hope that Jaz will return shortly, but even if he doesn't,
they're determined to
carry on as a three-piece and they have some dates pencilled in for April.
Jaz isn't the only musician to have disappeared from a band in mysterious
circumstances.
The history of rock is littered with similar cases.
During his days with The Scorpions and
UFO, heavy metal guitarist Michael Schenher did much the same
and was said to have
developed a strong interest in tracking down flying saucers.
Ex-Wishbone Ash guitarist Ted Turner was also bitten by the saucer bug and
spent much of
his spare time tramping around Peru trying to find likely landing sites.
Peter Green of the
original Fleetwood Mac had the charming habit of giving money away and
his friend Jeremy
Spencer went down with a serious bout of religion and has never recovered.
The same sort
of thing happened to Cat Stevens who became a Muslim.
Over and out. SHAW TAYLOR