Malicious Damage Records
Turn To Red, from the E.P. of the same name released in 1979.
It was released as a 10" single by the Independent label Malicious Damage Records in October 1979 in a clear plastic cover. The label was set up by visual artist Michael Coles and was active between 1979 -1982 and then reactivated again in 2003. There were evidently 4 'art cards' that came with the original release making it a collectible item. According to one user on
Discogs it also contained a locked groove repeating the word 'red' infinitely.
Have a look around the
Malicious Damage website where you can purchase some of the wonderful artwork and also on the News section of the website Michael Coles has an Exhibition in Bethnal Green, London starting on
11th April 2022 check out the previous link for more detail!
Turn To Red
By December 1979 'Turn To red' was re-released by Island Records in the standard 7" and 12" formats. It achieved 'single of the week' by Melody Maker and evidently thanks to a 'nod' by John Lydon in NME gained even more popularity.
The actual track 'Turn To Red' as per the Youtube video below featured choppy guitar style mixed with a dub reggae sounding back beat, an interesting sound, but one they would change somewhat over the years, a band that were loved by metal fans as well as punk and post punk fans.
The 10" E.P. track listing is:
- Turn to Red
- Nervous System
- Are You Receiving?
You can catch the art cards mentioned earlier at:
Discogs.com
Killing Joke Formation & Line Up
As a band Killing Joke were formed in Notting Hill in 1979, their main core line-up has fluctuated slightly over the years with Coleman and Ferguson being the 'mainstay' of the band, the current line-up features all the original members and they are still releasing music today, in fact only recently 2022 they released the E.P. '
Lord Of Chaos', you can catch it at the link. Sounding as dark and menacing as ever, an awesome come-back since their 2015 album release 'Pylon'. At the same link to the N.M.E. website above it also contains a gig list for this year...they could be coming to a town near you!
The line-up when they formed:
- Jaz Coleman - Vocals/Keyboards
- Paul Ferguson - Drums
- Geordie Walker - Guitar
- Youth - Bass
Love Like Blood
Youth was to leave in 1982 and was replaced by Paul Raven, by the time 1985 arrived they had hit the mainstream with 'Love Like Blood' (I remember it being released, buying it, and I still have the single in my collection, it was and still is awesome!). It used to be played incessantly at 'The Pink Toothbrush' Night Club I used to go to (they even played live there!). Have a catch of it at the video below:
Eighties
They nailed it for me a year before with their stomping track 'Eighties' released on the non-indie label E.G. Records, catch it with the video featuring some of the 'Cold War' and stuff of nightmares we had to kind of get used to living with at the time and horrifyingly enough seems to look like is coming back, one of those things from the past you never want to see come back into 'fashion'!
The video to the song was directed by Anthony Van Den Ende and features Jaz looking like a mad political dictator and showing images of some notable and possibly infamous faces of the day. According to the write up about the song on Wikipedia Nirvana used the riff on their song 'Come As You Are' released in 1992, causing some controversy at the time, if it was, it was considerably slowed down, you can compare and contrast at the link above.
Ski Patrol & Label-Mates
Interestingly enough Killing Joke were also label mates with punk/post punk band Ski Patrol who were formed in Sunderland around 1977/8 from two bands; The Debutantes and another band called The Wall, a band whose first release was '
New Way' in 1979 and was played quite a lot by John Peel back in the day. It was released on another 'Indie' Label called 'Small Wonder Records' which was run from (nearby to me in Walthamstow, East London), as a label it had quite a few big names on it's books and releasing early material by bands such as: The Cure ('Killing An Arab'), Bauhaus ('Bela Lugosi's Dead'), Angelic Upstarts and Cockney Rejects to name a few. The Wall went on to meet ex-Sex Pistols members Paul Cook and Steve Jones who helped produce their second single 'Kiss The Mirror'.
Their line up was:
- Steve Archibald - Drums
- Ian Lowery - Vocals
- Andy Griffiths - Bass/Vocals
- John Hammond - Guitar/Vocals
Lowery and Archibald were to eventually leave, move to Brixton, London and form Ski Patrol who cut several tracks one of them being this dark masterpiece called 'Agent Orange, released on the 'Malicious Damage' label in 1980. From reading around Jaz Coleman evidently provided the atmospheric keyboards for this track
Minimalistic, dark and atmospheric, thudding bassline and of course the atmospheric keyboards culminating in the shouting vocals at the end and abruptly cutting off. Allegedly, the song was inspired by the 1979 film 'Apocalypse Now'.
They were to release a couple more singles; 'Everything Is Temporary' released on the 'Clever Metal' record label which looks like a self-financed release. The track has kind of dub echo reverb and features a good bass line. Their last single appears to be 'Cut' released on Malicious Damage in 1981, they appeared to have called it a day in the same year sadly. Although oddly there does appear to be on Discogs another track back on the self-financed label mentioned before and released in 1982 called 'Bright Shiny Things' which sounds quite in contrast to their earlier two tracks a bit more up tempo, slightly more electronic and a bit more 'poppy' and has female backing vocals and saxophone. Perhaps it was released after they split, who knows?
Video & Information Thanks
Info Sources: Discogs & Wikipedia
