The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

side shot

after the show is over

everybody has their wine

easter rain is falling out there

where i am safe in my little room at the resort

not far from the ocean

the most easterly easter on the island

someone sees me and says something

i heard you were good

thats a lie i say ha ha

i feel so sleepy in my little room

very unmagical

struggling to keep it together to remain awake

even tho its only 8 pm

theres a whole byron bay out there

wheeling dealing falling over

flesh against flesh

drug on drug

i am alone in my cell

i listen to rain  i listen to weird sounds

i listen to phones ringing on in wild silence

and the advent of darkness

and women singing in some garage

and tyres screeching on another free way

i am safe i am secure

let that world outside drink and consume flesh

it has no bearing on me

i am safe and warm and dry and un noticed

my familiar face in deep shadow

my fingers tap this out incessantly

the words fall into my brain

i munch on a packet of hotel crisps

my room is still and neutral

i am satisfied

i want for nothing i am unseen here

all over the world things happen

but not in here

the show is over

i did my bit

singing dancing singing dancing

showbiz kid…..hang on grimmly

the crowd surges

backstage is dark and warm

different people cameramen and stuff

wranglers anglers and fucking fandanglers

people shake yer hand and walk by

some rich old promoter waddling along

some black svelte woman

someones child

a runner with a coffee for joe blow

its a festival

then youre on

wow!

then suddenly its all over

and you forgot what it was like

so you back in the room

where its still and its warm

listen to rain falling falling

falling down

rename in light

banged up after the garden

the slow clop of the donkey up narrow street

the cross at midnight empty

cruel hammer and tack

into your soft flesh searching in vain

palm trees and red seas

robbers and thieves but no one is joking

that handsome ugly nondescript dark faced man

silence splintered lamb

the nails of beast in your hand

some idiot bawling in your ear

some cloud passing over the son

some memory when things were easier

some devilish woman

some angelic man

some hostile to change too stupid to want to

tell no one of this you said no one no one

how could man do this unto man?

the clawed mallet smashes

the jeering cheering same old crowd

august unaware and far away

one thing after another

all of it leading up to this moment of

agony

blah

going crazy in this world

six million animals executed every few days

their blood is screaming out

some new pope gets elected …big deal

have they apologised yet for the inquisition and  the witch burning?

have they apologised for all the other atrocities committed in christs name?

all the money theyve got …why dont they give that to the poor and needy

do you think almighty god is represented by these clowns in their gold slippers and tiaras?

do you think the force behind this universe and all life

some ineffable glorious power …is his main man on earth  this goose?

one look at the flowers in my garden tells me no!

one look at the ocean tells me no!

child molesting greedy wealth-accruing cardinals …what an absolute joke

meanwhile the west bombs children in the middle east …why?

nothing is certain

everything is a lie

the filthy rich get filthier

the beasts get slaughtered

the children get molested and bombed

cooking shows on tv with triple chinned “gourmets” and their love of meat

as if its a product that just got there

scientists (gee) say animals have feelings now…oh really…?!

thanks for letting us know that

scientists say (oh golly) that there is some mysterious event causing everything (really?)

(but dont call it god!)

i see the wages paid to australian politicians

some of these lazy slobs are earning six grand a week

while they figure out ways to reduce the dole for single mothers

i dont vote

i wont vote

for what

theyre the same thing

gillard abbott whoever

who cares anymore

what about the beasts ?

what about the poor?

what about the children ?

why do children with cancer have to sell raffle tickets while we are in afghanistan costing billions

to protect australia? ha ha yeah sure!

meanwhile in america you can get assault weapons but hundreds of thousands in jail for pot

yeah that makes sense sure doesnt it?

thanks for protecting us

thanks for yer GMO food which is killing off the bees n butterflies

(there is no business on a dead planet!)

thanks for suppressing cancer cures and promoting your rotten legal drugs

thanks for the booze and cigarettes and big macs

thanks for yer chemi-trails and yer fucking fluoride

what can you believe?

i believe nothing

nothing

this computer age has unleashed a wave of disinformation

everything is probably bullshit (maybe)

they can tell you this n that

but they cant tell you who killed JFK or why building 7  fell down (for no reason)

going to the airport they take away your scissors

and tube of blah-gel in case youre a terrorist..oh ha ha ha indeed

yeah i’m taking over this plane with my toothpaste

flying it straight into the opera house for allah mc jesus and the pope frank the wanker…

look at the people who run this world!

deceitful carnivorous ugly bloated oafs and bags

turncoats and traitors they dont give a fuck about you

and if they did theyd lose their jobs

fatsos on tv trying to lose weight..is that entertainment?

vile radio hosts and brutish rascals inane twaddle for empty headed nobodies

i still believe in god

but i hate this age we live in

and i am so sick of the killing!

and i am so sick of old white men justifying it

with their carefully calculated disinformation

listen to your fucking hearts my friends

seriously

listen to your hearts

and then

get back to me

read shift

today i listened to the church at the opera house

itll be coming out soon

its pretty fucking good

i didnt think we could capture it but there it is

everybody is playing a blinder

never heard peter play more explosively yet incisively

the band sound like a real band

the only ever problem is my voice

but even that is mainly (mainly) in tune

sometimes i dont get everything right

you can hear me lose my way a few times

exhaustion had set in by this stage

but i fought valiantly on even tho i was knackered beyond belief

the orchestra sounds incredible

words fail me

what a catalogue what a sound what a performance

theres a lot going on over 24 odd songs

fuck its good

i never thought a live album for us was right

till i heard this

accomplished yet still rocking

rough and smooth at the same time

maybe our definitive document

great cross section of stuff too

great to see so many songs from U23

i wish you all had it right now!

soon they tell me soon…and dvd too…..

soon……?!

but there

we can play live

we had 80 odd people all playing at once

its huge

much bigger than ben hur and twice as rockin’!

adjusting ionosphere

trepidation rapid intrepid never vapid

i sear the seer here without whom etc

people come n go i mean just dont they

i swim in blue sea i fly thru green air

i dream in black evening heavenly shades of night are fallen

i am not a beastly man or human creature

i mean this is a mistake surely

are we pinned to this earth by time and life slipping

all god is elusive

god speak through me then speak through my fingers

speak through my actions

i am a lost thing thrown away

i keep believing that something

latitudes of eternal leisure await some of us

justice dealt out of hand often trumping truth

moon nude sister sky starred with thousands

the cemetery gate awaits and yawns open

some race some dawdle some take their sweet time

time is sweet as it coats you in melting moments

sunny days gone in a trice like a lollypop holiday in malta

things start to disappear then

arrows race off into forests random killing

stoned angels fall from heaven

chiselled devils tumble from gravestones

the holy pope innocent who cut off childrens noses

the witch burners and twitchy tragedians

the lynch pins and tycoons the slow boys and the top knobs

the monkey bars where you drink for peanuts

kitten cafe with persian coffee and tabby toast

hog headed astro-god pig face flowered

trampled down the garden of the invalides

you walk upon yon eggshell tombs

and the grey sea from the arctic throbs around your stones

and a mist from a mistless day

no one is on the shore as you go down there

what  nightmare i wander has now enveloped me?

nemo

last night of musical was great

thanks

dunno when it will  be back again

i find myself wearier still than before

simultaneous need to rest and exercise

the wind is strong out there

summer has packed up n gone

a nippy little winter up ahead

my limbs heavy my head n heart too

i hear bad news about friends

this random and sometimes cruel world indeed

and its dips and dives

sooner or later

we all have to crash

vis a vis

so olde and tired

i end up in melbourne

ready to do 2 more nights of van park

come and see it for god sake

mechanics hall oakleigh fri and sat

it may be the final nights who can tell?

now im in a generic hotel cell

not the best or worst

everything muted

no fresh air available

ive done so much stuff lately

i cant even remember yesterdays name

or the music i made in some doped prism

i hurtle into the future nonetheless

hedges houses ditches

i write this and that

and things come together

fall apart

and yet some dream finds continuity in my sleep

where i’m hiding and persecuted in my underground

the traffic drones floors below my high room

mirrored in black glass that same old face

haggard rider of minds

diaspora of suburbia

ibis in glen waverly

tonight with vietnamese food

sam sejavka and john paul young

autumn rolls out of parks and drives

we go up to our rooms

and then sleep hits like a drug

and i dont care anymore

ive done my bit for a day

weary as weary can well be

goodnight

March 11 2013

March 11 2013

Regatta Point Stage

March 11 2013

Regatta Point Stage
Canberra

SETLIST:  Metropolis, Almost With You, Sealine, Reptile, Under the Milky Way, Block and The Unguarded Moment

Join our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/thechurchband

Regatta Point Stage, Lake Burley Griffin
Commonwealth Park, Parkes ACT

Subject to slight variations in time for any potential delays.

12.00pm    Royal Canberra Military Brass Band
1.00pm      George Ellis – Children’s Entertainment 1
2.00pm      George Ellis and Steve Kilbey
3.00pm      George Ellis – Children’s Entertainment 2
4.15pm       Machine Translations
4.40pm      Paul McDermott
4.55pm       Gadflys
5.25pm       Paul McDermott
5.45pm       78 Saab
6.15pm       Paul McDermott
6.30pm      Falling Joys
7.00pm      Paul McDermott
7.15pm       the church
7.55pm       Paul McDermott
8.00pm       Thom Buchanan Live Art Piece
9.00pm       Hancock Basement
9.30pm       Stateovmind
9.45pm       Fun Machine
10.15pm     Stateovmind
10.30pm    Super Best Friends

Free entry.

kil/ken i gloria excelsis

one of the best records i have ever worked on

you are everything

i loved our first minimalist outing

i thought our second one not quite so good as the first

but this….this….this is a magnificent collection

some people on here dont like me singing the praises of my other collaborators

feeling like “the church is my main axe why dont i just stick to that”

well as i said before

due to many many issues technical personal financial etc

there is no new church album

there still may be one day but really i wouldnt wait for it if i was you

i am telling you this new K/K album is as good as U23 as good as P=A

and even better in some ways…

first of all the sound

simon fucking polinski has given this record a sheen a gloss a depth

its like his whole life has lead up to mixing this

talk about lush talk about luxurious talk about organic

there is a cast of thousands

strings percussion backing vocals woodwinds pianos

i’ll grant you one thing there is no electric guitar interplay a la church

i know some of you love that more than anything else

martin kennedy is no jimi hendrix …ok

what he is is an amazing musical composer

hes taken a great leap forward between this and  “white magic”

an architect of song now

this mild mannered genius disguised as martin kennedy

has wrought 11  sonic masterpieces ; an honour to sing on them

this is like the blue nile or like talk talk or steely dan or something

not in sound but in the intelligence and love and maturity

it deserves to be number one around the whole world

its universal its personal its spiritual its for everyman

hard to believe that we even made this disc

that he came up with this music

that i came up with these words

it will be almost impossible to top this

where after all can you go after something like this

i want to excite you

i want to enthuse you

i want to make you quiver in anticipation

as i deliver possibly my best singing and lyrics

you want word play ?

you want songs where every line is a little fucking gem?

you want resonant deep soft notes and distant high choirs?

you want drugs and sex and love and death and god and all that jazz?

its no longer a pop record

it is beyond that narrow focus

we have stumbled on a universe of beauty here martin n i

not just one of the best records i ever made

one of the best records ever made period.

yes its that good

here is a track by track preview

the record starts with i wouldnt know

a dialogue with the devil

a chat to the cynical doubting darkness

super melodic as is the whole album

backing vocals la ooooh ooooh

pianos bent out of shape

the singing becomes higher and more plaintive as it goes on

wonderful stuff

next up is everyone

kinda like the title track

(but why do i think that)

it starts with that familiar old aussie/english voice

gruff doing a kinda kilbey rap

bitching about everything

the way only a white hippy elijah can

blaming god and even wondering if he exists

a girls voice comes in

“dear father send me money ”

more existential rapping and bitching

then a lovely oboe solo weaves in and out of nylon guitar

and then

and then martin pulls off his trick

where half way through a song changes gear and morphs before our eyes

this happens 3 times on this record

and every time its a corker

but here the shift is incredible

blinded by the holy light

everything swept up in the majestic strings

the prophet suddenly sees his god everywhere

(you are everything)

“hold on youre everyone” he exclaims

and did you ever really hear my voice sounding better than this

i havent

this is real singing

expressing the wonder and hurt of this world

everything swells up around my voice

repeating that simple phrase

the girl joins in

(leona gray)

she sings unison harmony and octave

and the mellotron strings pile in upping the ante

abloodymasterpiece!

lorelei is a like martin getting in touch

with his inner shoegazer

a huge dreamy soaring chorus

punctuated with twisted darker verses

you’ll hear my voice fucked with and fucked up

i like that

amongst the organic crooning

is some real electro babble

so may it be and so may it rock!

knowing you are in this world

a simple slow song

like spending the afternoon in a quiet monastery garden

or remembering someone who’s gone

or laying your world at someones feet

hushed reverential

you can almost smell the holy roman incense

i find  

weird song

a song about a tourist in trouble

hows this for a clever chorus?

“in brazil the eyes of love are on you

imbecile the highs are right above you”

ive done a remix of this one for the double cd

East side West side

a song of philosophy and hedonism

the second song that changes in the middle

martins music taunt threatening

so often reminding me of low/heroes

indeed david bowie is the godfather of much here

eno n berlin and all that

martin n i both revering krautrock its only natural

but this one is the most germanic of all

and then it changes

and the teutonic stuff all comes back in spades

man i wish i was in Cologne

“its so funny

the clowns that surround you

do you proud”

a better day

bewildered lost dislocated song

strings drifting along

a simple poignant song

always melodic always organic

all the world

starts simply strummed

but evolves into a revolving door of sound

strings and whispered voices come in

echoing things and electro spirit voice

then for the third time a song changes into another

and intersects with itself again

the strings bend in a seasick swoop

cymbals clash and drum machine starts up

effortless crossing merging styles

this is every good “adult contemporary” record you (n)ever heard

brother moon sister sun

a commissioned song martin fell in love with and couldnt let go of it

so he decommissioned it n brought it back in the fold

and its a rousing corker too

with anthemic chorus etc

it deserves to be here after all

cant get free

k/k go prince someone has already said

and who am i to disagree

sexy taut and terrific

one of my real faves!

finale

a twisted creepy little ender

scenes of a distant childhood

or some mad person in a garret?

ooh how strange……

so there you go

you are everything

to me and martin kennedy

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CD purchases are available here http://thetimebeing.com/shop/music/you-are-everything-cd/

Digital downloads here http://stevekilbey.bandcamp.com