Musical Style
Musically, they resembled their label mates Orange Juice in fusing post-punk guitars with funk and disco rhythms. They were influenced by American bands such as Pere Ubu, Television, Talking Heads, and The Voidoids, and British bands such as Subway Sect. However, in terms of their lyrics and image Josef K were always far more downbeat and austere than Orange Juice, and were never to have Orange Juice's commercial success. They were also described as sounding similar to Joy Division but "less doomy". Haig was a fan of Joy Division and "It's Kinda Funny" was inspired by the death of Ian Curtis. Haig's lyrics were also inspired by the works of Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Herman Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Knut Hamsun.
The band had what was described as an "anti-rock stance", most members eschewing drink and (most) drugs, and the band never doing encores, which Ross considered "patronizing".
Read more about this topic: Josef K (band)
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