[Excerpts from the Rubicon fanzine, November 1986 ... my copy is incomplete.]

K E Φ A A H  I Δ

Onion Peelings

The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General, at the Expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed.

But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow.

Others next to them laughed, seeing the Universal Joke.

Below these certain disciples wept.

Then certain laughed.

Others next wept.

Others next laughed.

Next others wept.

Next others laughed.

Last came those that wept because they could not see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought it safe to act like Frater Perdurabo.

But though Frater Perdurabo laughed openly, He also at the same time wept secretly; and in Himself he neither laughed or wept.

Nor did He mean what He said.

--Aleister Crowley, taken from The Book Of Lies

This quotation from Aleister Crowley's The Book Of Lies is a far more accurate description of what we know as Killing Joke than anything I could hope to pen myself and has been an inspiration since finding it many years ago. We have chosen now, with Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, to include it in the sleeve notes.

The Universal Sorrow, the Universal Joke, individual existence being tragic and the acknowledgement of that being the essence of comedy - we live contradictions, our hearts and souls at odds with the world in which we live. Passionately in love with our dreams and tragically struggling with a world progressively destroying their foundations.

Our music comes from such a struggle, the love of the eternal as represented by such things as the Mythologies of the Norse Gods, Arthurian Legend; things perpetuated and so movingly portrayed by the music of Wagner, by the paintings of the Decadents. Our need to project this emotion and the resentment of having to constantly deal with its antithesis leads us to a respect of passion. The passion of art, of writing, of architecture, of creation and destruction. A passion for our music, our creations, our lives.

--Paul Ferguson

Tickets £5.00 from usual agents and venues (see music press if available); tickets bought for earlier cancelled dates all valid

Jaz Says:

"Relate my being to infinity, relating you to me
Don't you see what we mean, I'm sure you'll understand" -

The first song that I had written with Killing Joke (Are You Receiving for those of you not old enough to remember!) served as inspiration during the writing of Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. The spacing between guitar/keyboards and rhythm section on this song had produced an exceptionally unique and esoteric effect. Each rhythmic cycle appeared to organically increase in stature with such a structuring. Here was the first clue in musically accomplishing the atomic phenomena in a more refined and pure form. I began to recall my early aspirations of achieving an orchestrated entity that had no aural focus save that of the collective sound, radically different and separated instrumentation, fluxing together as one pulsating generator, evoking harsh new worlds.

It had to sound like kinetic energy and atomic structure. Here was the first chance in six years to really utilise my abilities as composer and arranger. Until this point, I have kept my orchestral music distinctly separate from Killing Joke. Now I feel it is time to exploit my full capacity.

If the keyboards and guitars were to musically expand in function whilst retaining their hypnotic effect, then the rhythm section should be exclusively centered around bass and drums. There had been too much synchronicity in parts of Night Time. One thing I had noticed was that if guitar played the same or similar lines to that of Raven's bass, then Paul instinctively filled out the overall sound.

I felt the way around this problem of musical development was to separate the harmony and music section from the rhythm section. Geordie and I would put in a couple of hours at the studios before the rhythm section arrived; this enabled us to experiment with complex formats. Once we had the essential music, we would add Raven and Big Paul who would take care of the rhythm.

I found this approach gave Killing Joke both individual and collective articulacy. Everybody took care of their individual parts and thus four part co-writership was practised to perfection.

The writing period of Brighter Than A Thousand Suns has been one of the most interesting yet. We had been rehearsing various ideas and patterns for about a month and a half, but the work had been devoid of spontaneity, although useful, and considerable ground was covered. Then we flew to Barcelona one sunny weekend, in which we headlined a spectacular concert behind the palace to a jubilant crowd of a hundred thousand. I remember standing about a thousand yards away from the stage, listening to the rest of the band in the sound check, in between two massive public address towers.

It sounded like a primordial generator pumping out a beautiful nightmare. Yet somehow the universal appeal of this subterranean orchestra had to be enhanced and made more coherent. The concert was an outstanding success; in retrospect, it was as if the huge size of the crowd had awoken incomprehensible forces within the unit. Nevertheless, it felt like the end of one musical era and the beginning of something really devastating; this was consciously acknowledged by all of us, probably because it was to be our last Night Time public performance.

Again, we employed the services of Chris Kimsey, who due to being a tax exile insisted on recording in Berlin again. The idea of living at Hansa, listening to Geordie wreck the place for seven weeks, did not amuse me, but we all coped quite well really. The first piece to be recorded was Twilight Of The Mortals, we'd been ....

Rubicon

The age of miracles, ascent of man in strident tones,
Realms of fantastic have been forged by folly, speed and steel.
Out of the cones stream forth, creation is not yet complete,
New species come, old species fall to nature once again.
Now that I've found God on every side - and in every legion.

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the rubicon.

The shipyards blaze, vibrant arsenals wait their turn,
Idols of rational worlds to worship power, to worship strength.
Great crowds excited by riot, pleasure work,
Insane crusades, destructive gestures of the freedom bringers,
And all the bells shall toll, as holy banners fly,
And all will talk of freedom.

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the rubicon.

Let rage and hate of races run from Adam down,
The magic of our science shines brighter than a thousand suns.
Liberty in new dimensions ruthless and spectacular,
Obliteration shall be poetry of Golden Dawns.
And as the people thrill, I stand and comprehend upon the threshold.

Revolution
Points of no return
Evolution
We cross the rubicon.