Compiling a book about a rock band could be a task, putting together the definitive book on Killing Joke had to be daunting. Here is a band that for over 40 years has confounded, confused, annoyed, upset more than a few people and achieved high praise from their peers and the legions of musicians they have influenced. To say Killing Joke is like no other band is quite an understatement. From the very beginning, they were a fully-formed musical monster with four completely different intellects. The stories, legends, and myths surrounding Killing Joke could take an eternity to unravel, yet what is certain, some of those scenarios are true. Lancashire-born writer, Chris Bryans faced the challenge of putting together an honest, sometimes revealing, yet never gratuitously fawning account of a band who people in the know said, impossible! You’ll never get to the bottom of all the stories and mystery surrounding Killing Joke, the naysayers said. Bryans, with a solid determination, did what any good journalist should do. He went to the source. In over 300 pages Chris Bryans managed to capture the voices of the principles involved, including contemporaries of Killing Joke – insiders, collaborators, friends, and musical peers. Plus, he persuaded Frank Jenkinson, a member of Killing Joke’s early inner circle to share some of his exceptional documentary photographs. The result, A Prophecy Fulfilled is a massive book, not only in size but also in its extensive content. Even though this is a book about a specific rock ’n’ roll band it is also an insight into a time, a journey, an uncompromising worldview like nothing else. Chris Bryans joins Life Elsewhere to talk about the creation of a book deserving of your attention, even if you are not a fan of Killing Joke. 

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