Artist portrait: Josef K - the forgotten precursors of the post-punk revival

2023-08-10 17:14:32

The influential post-punk band Josef K was only active for three years – but far ahead of their time. Four Scots from Edinburgh, Paul Haig, Malcolm Ross, David Weddell and Ronnie Torrance, who named their band after the main character in Kafka’s novel The Trial, released singles and an album on the Postcard label from 1979-1982.

As with label mates Orange Juice, Josef K’s music is also heavily influenced by funk in the guitars, that’s what it sounds like Heart of Song for example after the intricate, funky Talking Heads. With Josef K the parts of the musicians intertwine like clockwork. ZCracked metal guitars interlock with bass playing and present ticking hi-hat of the drums as in Fun ‚N‘ Frenzy.

David Weddell’s bass rarely runs linearly through the shadowy darkness on one and the same note. He goes his own way freely and breaks out again and again, a very free, lively and melodious bass playing – which Carlos Dengler from Interpol audibly took as an example. The guitar sound can also be found at Interpol.

Josef K’s first album “Sorry for Laughing” was discarded due to poor production, as the rhythm section dominated too much and the guitars were too subtle. The debut album should now be called “The Only Fun in Town”. Recorded in two days, Josef K strived for a live sound. In retrospect, Paul Haig regretted that the vocals were too low in the mix and that the listening experience of the entire work was a bit more strenuous.

The legendary radio presenter John Peel was also a fan of Josef K and that’s how the band played one of the legendary Peel sessions.

Their live sets were often frantic and tight. And always close to decay. After a last London concert the band broke up.

“We were drifting apart as individuals, and it wasn’t fun anymore. I think drugs had quite a lot to do with it, but I won’t go into that… I wanted to branch out into other things, to experiment with machines.”, meinte Paul Haig 2007.

Josef K found encores at concerts to be too patriarchal. As mentioned above, others played the encore in the limelight – 20 years later Interpol and Franz Ferdinand, among others, picked up the sound of Josef Ks in the post-punk revival.

Interpol – where they weren’t exactly inspired by the Chameleons.

Franz Ferdinand – where they weren’t exactly inspired by Gang of Four or Killing Joke.

Both bands got Josef K’s formative, musical clockwork running again and sold it umpteen times.

And yet, like frontman Paul Haig in 2007, Josef K Franz Ferdinand are very grateful recordcollectormag explained:

“They’ve said Sorry For Laughing is one of their favourite songs; they’ve worn their influences on their sleeve. If they hadn’t said the things they’ve said and done the things they’ve done, our album (Entomology) wouldn’t be coming out on (Franz’s label) Domino. It’s brought our music to a younger audience.“