Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman's Advice on Marriage: 'Don't Pick a Poor Wife'

2010 was a remarkable year for Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman. Not only did his longtime band reunite in its original lineup to tour and record their first album in 25 years -- the November-released 'Absolute Dissent' -- but, in September, the French government awarded Coleman the prestigious Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres designation for his contributions to contemporary music.

"Before I went to the ceremony, I had the most surreal day," Coleman tells Spinner. "It was the first day of the tour. I had the ceremony for the Arts et Lettres, which is a great honor to be decorated by the Republic of France. But it was made even more surreal by the fact that it was on the day of the Killing Joke gig in Paris and my eldest daughter, who's 27, she met my mother for the first time ever. I could never have imagined all this."

Coleman says that his daughter has never met her two sisters, either. This complicated familial situation stems from his living on different continents and having two marriages. "When I was a 20-year-old, I was nasty conniving little man," he says. "The criteria for the mothers of my children was that they had to live in different parts of the world and be stunningly beautiful. Of course, I had to be in love with them, though this was a kind of afterthought," he jokes. "Last but not least, they had to be incredibly rich. I can tell you this, everything panned out perfectly. I've got three gorgeous model-like daughters who went to university. The moral of the story is don't pick a poor wife -- or an ugly one."

When Killing Joke started in London in the late 1970s, Coleman was aware of a musician's financial vagaries. "The thing is, back then, I knew it was going to be a rough ride," he says. "There'd be a bit of money, but not enough to raise a family. That's why the criteria for having a mother who is financially independent is essential. You can laugh at that, but it all worked out beautifully."