Killing Joke guitarist Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker has died aged 64.
The musician - who was in the post-punk group from 1979 until 1996 before rejoining in 2002 - sadly passed away on Saturday (25.11.23) after suffering a stroke in Prague, leaving his bandmates "devastated".
A statement on their official Instagram page read: "It is with extreme sadness we confirm that at 6:30am on 26th November 2023 in Prague, Killing Joke's legendary guitarist Kevin “Geordie” Walker passed away after suffering a stroke, he was surrounded by family. We are devastated. Rest In Peace brother."
Geordie joined the band – who had mainstream success in 1985 with both the studio album ‘Night Time’ and the single ‘Love Like Blood’ - after responding to an advert by frontman Jaz Coleman in the now-defunct Melody Maker magazine.
He was known for his unique style of playing and would tune his guitar a whole tone lower, once explaining: "It suits the resonance and the volume of the thing, and you can use heavier strings. I’ve got 58s on the bottom. Basically if I play an E-position chord, it’s D."
The acclaimed guitarist was also in industrial groups The Damage Manual and Murder, Inc.
With Killing Joke - also comprising Paul Ferguson and Youth - he recorded 15 studio albums, the most recent being 2015's 'Pylon'.
The EP ‘Lord Of Chaos' was released last year, whilst the new track ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ arrived in March.
Tributes have flooded in for the rocker.
Faith No More's Bill Gould posted to X - formerly Twitter: “RIP Geordie Walker, one of, if not THE, the most natural, intuitive, original guitarists I’ve ever seen.”
Ex-bassist for Public Image Ltd Jah Wobble wrote: “RIP GEORDIE WALKER.”
