burnished speared flanks advance through desert drinking lambarene laughing like fools men harder than rock yet elusive like snow a sea gurgles underneath us here somewhere i know it under limestone and black plates the teaming grey waters under cities and fields deep in some darkness deep in some nightmare approach it with caution its energetic influence is staggering a violent churning sensation then calm adrift in some faery tale bliss you never notice this white canvas of sky the clouds are a smear on chinese pearl heaven goes on and on forever as if in a painting the happy peoples of earth rejoice they care for everything they kill nothing to everything its own sweet life to be lived in peace and ahimsa
opening in
burnished speared flanks advance through desert
drinking lambarene laughing like fools
men harder than rock yet elusive like snow
a sea gurgles underneath us here somewhere i know it
under limestone and black plates the teaming grey waters
under cities and fields deep in some darkness
deep in some nightmare
approach it with caution
its energetic influence is staggering
a violent churning sensation then calm
adrift in some faery tale bliss you never notice this
crossing the synapse i blot out eyes the realms they travel outlandish sea world of whorled beginning we turn up in a cave somehow i will decipher meaning here this beast first creature by creature this tiny morning captured in stone this ice has cut deep planet chasm this volcanic heat we must muster you whirl around in a sudden blur something has come in upon us then in yesterdays scream i hear its death you hack away in a trance of burning stillness the poor thing groans its life out upon black floor glass exterior protects my skin from such occurrences my fingers collect data from bevelled sphered surfaces microscopic dust emits red giant charisma the readings take on a peculiar surge i blot out eyes yes
hemlock bound
crossing the synapse
i blot out eyes
the realms they travel
outlandish sea
world of whorled beginning
we turn up in a cave
somehow i will decipher meaning here
this beast first creature by creature
this tiny morning captured in stone
this ice has cut deep planet chasm
this volcanic heat we must muster
you whirl around in a sudden blur
something has come in upon us then
in yesterdays scream i hear its death
you hack away in a trance of burning stillness
the poor thing groans its life out upon black floor
glass exterior protects my skin from such occurrences
my fingers collect data from bevelled sphered surfaces
and maybe she will come from ethiopia in a caravan along side some barren coast a bridal pageant in an arbour be sainted afternoon in long ago from far away unto the never ending road rendered a quiet prayer black father who above beyond heaven in dark still stream i found a deepening dream the drumming sound of thundering sun the rain came down like diamonding drops some time in the morning time stops i saw an angel wrestle with a great worm who pulled against this world like a comet would inside a crystal ball frozen as the snow began to fall swirling around snorting horses and the assembled hosts and as the arrows dreamily fell all under the spell just died i tried to find a word to shout out i heard it inside….
honest engine
and maybe she will come from ethiopia
in a caravan along side some barren coast
a bridal pageant in an arbour
be sainted afternoon
in long ago from far away
unto the never ending road rendered a quiet prayer
black father who above beyond heaven
in dark still stream i found a deepening dream
the drumming sound of thundering sun
the rain came down like diamonding drops
some time in the morning time stops
i saw an angel wrestle with a great worm
who pulled against this world like a comet would
inside a crystal ball frozen as the snow began to fall
swirling around snorting horses and the assembled hosts
and as the arrows dreamily fell all under the spell just died
we had a great evening at the vanguard in sydney me and martin kennedy we did actually rock which was surprising a great band featuring craig wilson on keys n guitar lisa (lisa) gibbs on bass n b vox michael evans-barker on drums some early reports trickling through from america seems some people over there are digging YAE i stand by my opinion still one of my best records and one of the best records out there (of its type) now its in the lap of them gods if anything happens with it beyond this if only more people could find out about it…. we need some breakthrough somehow nevertheless with or without that it still is an amazingly beautiful and detailed disc we’ve been getting great reviews too but fuck its a philistine world out there just look at the cooking shows and the losing weight shows and all the rest i dont expect our lovely record to do well not in this universe at least still i am proud of it and wonder how martin n i can possibly top it i thank all the people who bought it and i thank all the people who came to melb and syd shows and i thank martin for providing this music for me to sing over anyway you never know maybe sheer quality can still prevail against all the odds (but i doubt it…)
just me again
we had a great evening at the vanguard in sydney
me and martin kennedy
we did actually rock which was surprising
a great band featuring craig wilson on keys n guitar
lisa (lisa) gibbs on bass n b vox
michael evans-barker on drums
some early reports trickling through from america
seems some people over there are digging YAE
i stand by my opinion still
one of my best records and one of the best records out there
(of its type)
now its in the lap of them gods if anything happens with it beyond this
if only more people could find out about it….
we need some breakthrough somehow
nevertheless with or without that
it still is an amazingly beautiful and detailed disc
we’ve been getting great reviews too
but fuck
its a philistine world out there
just look at the cooking shows and the losing weight shows
and all the rest
i dont expect our lovely record to do well
not in this universe at least
still
i am proud of it
and wonder how martin n i can possibly top it
i thank all the people who bought it
and i thank all the people who came to melb and syd shows
and i thank martin for providing this music for me to sing over
anyway you never know
maybe sheer quality can still prevail against all the odds
watched the whole thing again last night… you thought you knew the church….? i thought i knew the church…..? its amazing how the same bits make me laugh over and over the church in some hokey restaurant saying dopey things the waitress all puzzled you’ll hear my vegetarian battle over n over as i ask “has it got meat in it?” the church lurching round the world stoned and tired and having a laugh yes having a good fucking laugh we were relatively young we were doing relatively ok you’ll be surprised to see how big some of the places we were playing in were the audience goes on and on a sea of faces ( what a cliche!) we were living the good life it seemed things might go ever onwards and upwards but alas it wasnt to be (another cliche still) there were dark clouds on our horizon i was beginning to sense them though i couldnt say exactly what they would be i was about to hurl myself into a midlife crisis that would shut me down it involved women children money thailand music and finally heroin heroin sorted it all out by getting rid of the women children and money component i would crash down and it would take me a decade to fight my way out…. so here i am on the crest of a wave and almost unaware i was about to be dumped still its 1990 still it was last century no mobile phones no laptops (as such) no emails no instagram no facebook no hotelwomb or anything along those lines no youtube no amazon no paypal …you get the picture vinyl was still extant…it was about to fade away as well as me (we would both enjoy a modest revival too!) […]
watched the whole thing again last night…
you thought you knew the church….?
i thought i knew the church…..?
its amazing how the same bits make me laugh over and over
the church in some hokey restaurant saying dopey things
the waitress all puzzled
you’ll hear my vegetarian battle over n over as i ask
“has it got meat in it?”
the church lurching round the world stoned and tired and having a laugh
yes having a good fucking laugh
we were relatively young
we were doing relatively ok
you’ll be surprised to see how big some of the places we were playing in were
the audience goes on and on
a sea of faces ( what a cliche!)
we were living the good life
it seemed things might go ever onwards and upwards
but alas it wasnt to be
(another cliche still) there were dark clouds on our horizon
i was beginning to sense them
though i couldnt say exactly what they would be
i was about to hurl myself into a midlife crisis that would shut me down
it involved women children money thailand music and finally heroin
heroin sorted it all out by getting rid of the women children and money component
i would crash down and it would take me a decade to fight my way out….
so here i am on the crest of a wave and almost unaware i was about to be dumped
still its 1990
still it was last century
no mobile phones no laptops (as such) no emails no instagram no facebook
no hotelwomb or anything along those lines
no youtube no amazon no paypal …you get the picture
vinyl was still extant…it was about to fade away as well as me
(we would both enjoy a modest revival too!)
our last record had sold over half a million
this record GAF sold 250 thousand or so
the church had already had a chequered career
in australia we had already been thru a slump or 2 before coming back with UTMW
our career in europe fizzed and crackled but never really catching on fire
and yet on this tour we played 2 sold out nights in london at a big gig
the town n country club
and came back to play again at an even bigger one….
we are doing good business in italy and spain and germany
look at the crowds
look at the press conference in milano italy
theres a room full of geezers ready to hear about GAF…
so you listen and marvel and then guffaw out loud
at the churches pretentious answers
all delivered po-faced with heaps of quotes and analogies
you watching it always have a big fucking chuckle at the baffled italian journalists
sitting there trying to understand our hogwash n waffle
boy i wanna jump thru the fucking screen n grab my former self
AND SMACK THAT LITTLE SMART ARSE IN THE HEAD
but i cant
so i just have to laugh
what else can you do?
the stuff we come out would baffle anyone let alone a bunch of italian geezers in 1990
and the poor woman translating our high falutin’ replies
at one stage marty exclaims to the puzzled journos
“the trouble with a classicist ..he sees a tree he paints a tree….YOU KNOW……!!”
no they didnt know …and its hilarious
in another scene
after listening to some heavy flemish discussion of how i could get a veggie doo dah
i say to the belgian journo
“ok give me your cliched opening question!”
and he says
” ok this is your new album. how is it different to your last album?”
and we both break up guffawing
its the sheer idiocy of being a rock n roller
thats the beauty of my doco
the unexpected journey
the repetition will numb you
i left a lot of it out
we checked into and out of over 70 hotels
we tried to negotiate hundreds of veggie meals
shaking hands signing records by the thousands
another important juncture is caught on film here for you
2 years before in 88 i had had an argument with a little drip
from english rag melody maker
unfortunately said little drip was now the chief knob at said rag
and he sent a journo to finish us off in ghent belgium
and here she is
speaking in some hybrid transatlantic accent that would make
dick van dyke in “mary poppins” sound authentic…
shes a real little horror
demanding ” does being a popstar make you a prima donna?”
my reply of “why …HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THAT…?!!”
elicits no laugh from this dull bint
she goes on to actually say “ive come to bury the church not praise them…”
her journalistic chutzpah extends to such brilliant questions as
” if your fairy godmother appeared what would you wish for?”
and asking me if i’m jealous cos marty is better looking than me n gets all the girls?
which despite me saying no to…she keeps insisting…” oh yes you are”
she later wrote that i hurled food at the crowd
envious of the attention marty was receiving …
actually i used to share the chocolates we usually had backstage
i used to chuck em to the crowd
anyway this bint stitched us up good
and that was pretty much that
at least you can finally see how it went down….on here….
marty of course is the perfect rockstar of all time here on this vid
he looks like a mixture of jagger richards harrison jeff beck and all the faces put together
with his floppy perfect hair his floppy fringed jacket and his skinned rabbit white physique
look at him lying round indolently by the side of an indoor pool
when he finally gets up and flops in he does it in such a way
it seems like an act of the laziest rebellion possible
marty seems so fucking happy and comfortable with himself
he laughs and clowns his way through the four hour vid
occasionally strapping on a guitar and blasting us with his sheer pizazz
pete is pete is pete as hes always been
ive known him 40 years and hes always like the pete here
mostly quiet smiling sometimes getting excitable but usually taking it all in
quite inscrutable usually
onstage he tall and slim in his 3 quarter length jacket
creating his amazing sounds without much fuss
me…i got the beard and some iffy hair dos
a bit podgy as the bint from melody maker was kind to point out in her article
we all had our shirts tucked in to in 1990
even our t shirts
youll see jay dee daugherty too
man he was in good shape too back then (he still is)
he doesnt say a lot but hes a humble modest smiling guy
he could wallop his huge drumkit too
(enough spare parts to build a morris mini said the melody maker)
hes having a good time
hell we all are mostly
flying business class
staying in nice hotels
(i filmed all the rooms for you all to see
what constitutes a good hotel room circa 1990)
23 years ago so much has changed
be amazed to see how the crowds try to pour into our dressing rooms afterwards
half the audience tries to get back after every show
and here i am holding court clutching an ever present bottle of evian
expounding on this and that
who the fuck is this guy?
i like him i hate him he amuses me
what a toffee nosed git!
what a handsome devil!
what a pudgy sod!
what a goofy fool!
what a stuck up turkey!
what a kind man!
in one minute your opinion of me will go on changing
a real mercurial flake …no wonder no one ever really trusts me
i’m always mucking around half serious half bored half aloof
ive left some nasty things about myself i could have cut out
like me bitching about my hotel rooms mostly
how someone else got a bigger or better or higher room than mine
hell i aint no saint
i left some nasty sides of me in here
then theres the other characters too
get a glimpse of mike lembo looking like nero or caligula or something
our amiable lighting guy trevor…still with us to this day!
our sarcastic sardonic subversive tour manager
helping us plot our dismissal of lembo
and theres the other roadies
the massive gilbert our sound guy
and all the others goofing off and fucking about
all over the world
the same little bunch in paris in NYC in london in atlanta
some of the footage is missing
i dunno
the tapes broke or got lost
this is an incomplete fragment of a tour
its jerky it lacks continuity it lacks polish
but youve never been inside a tour before
not like this
you can practically smell the dirty socks on the tourbus
you can nearly smell the beer and smoke backstage
youre there with me as i get up as i go to bed
as i sign n meet and greet and eat often from my POV
endure the tyranny of distance and the loneliness of rock n roll with me
the gags and disappointments
the memories and the regrets
a slice of my life
hey i’m proud of my film
its been a long time coming
if you thought you knew the church wait till you see this
watched the whole thing again last night… you thought you knew the church….? i thought i knew the church…..? its amazing how the same bits make me laugh over and over the church in some hokey restaurant saying dopey things the waitress all puzzled you’ll hear my vegetarian battle over n over as i ask “has it got meat in it?” the church lurching round the world stoned and tired and having a laugh yes having a good fucking laugh we were relatively young we were doing relatively ok you’ll be surprised to see how big some of the places we were playing in were the audience goes on and on a sea of faces ( what a cliche!) we were living the good life it seemed things might go ever onwards and upwards but alas it wasnt to be (another cliche still) there were dark clouds on our horizon i was beginning to sense them though i couldnt say exactly what they would be i was about to hurl myself into a midlife crisis that would shut me down it involved women children money thailand music and finally heroin heroin sorted it all out by getting rid of the women children and money component i would crash down and it would take me a decade to fight my way out…. so here i am on the crest of a wave and almost unaware i was about to be dumped still its 1990 still it was last century no mobile phones no laptops (as such) no emails no instagram no facebook no hotelwomb or anything along those lines no youtube no amazon no paypal …you get the picture vinyl was still extant…it was about to fade away as well as me (we would both enjoy a modest revival too!) our […]
lights ! action! church!
watched the whole thing again last night…
you thought you knew the church….?
i thought i knew the church…..?
its amazing how the same bits make me laugh over and over
the church in some hokey restaurant saying dopey things
the waitress all puzzled
you’ll hear my vegetarian battle over n over as i ask
“has it got meat in it?”
the church lurching round the world stoned and tired and having a laugh
yes having a good fucking laugh
we were relatively young
we were doing relatively ok
you’ll be surprised to see how big some of the places we were playing in were
the audience goes on and on
a sea of faces ( what a cliche!)
we were living the good life
it seemed things might go ever onwards and upwards
but alas it wasnt to be
(another cliche still) there were dark clouds on our horizon
i was beginning to sense them
though i couldnt say exactly what they would be
i was about to hurl myself into a midlife crisis that would shut me down
it involved women children money thailand music and finally heroin
heroin sorted it all out by getting rid of the women children and money component
i would crash down and it would take me a decade to fight my way out….
so here i am on the crest of a wave and almost unaware i was about to be dumped
still its 1990
still it was last century
no mobile phones no laptops (as such) no emails no instagram no facebook
no hotelwomb or anything along those lines
no youtube no amazon no paypal …you get the picture
vinyl was still extant…it was about to fade away as well as me
(we would both enjoy a modest revival too!)
our last record had sold over half a million
this record GAF sold 250 thousand or so
the church had already had a chequered career
in australia we had already been thru a slump or 2 before coming back with UTMW
our career in europe fizzed and crackled but never really catching on fire
and yet on this tour we played 2 sold out nights in london at a big gig
the town n country club
and came back to play again at an even bigger one….
we are doing good business in italy and spain and germany
look at the crowds
look at the press conference in milano italy
theres a room full of geezers ready to hear about GAF…
so you listen and marvel and then guffaw out loud
at the churches pretentious answers
all delivered po-faced with heaps of quotes and analogies
you watching it always have a big fucking chuckle at the baffled italian journalists
sitting there trying to understand our hogwash n waffle
boy i wanna jump thru the fucking screen n grab my former self
AND SMACK THAT LITTLE SMART ARSE IN THE HEAD
but i cant
so i just have to laugh
what else can you do?
the stuff we come out would baffle anyone let alone a bunch of italian geezers in 1990
and the poor woman translating our high falutin’ replies
at one stage marty exclaims to the puzzled journos
“the trouble with a classicist ..he sees a tree he paints a tree….YOU KNOW……!!”
no they didnt know …and its hilarious
in another scene
after listening to some heavy flemish discussion of how i could get a veggie doo dah
i say to the belgian journo
“ok give me your cliched opening question!”
and he says
” ok this is your new album. how is it different to your last album?”
and we both break up guffawing
its the sheer idiocy of being a rock n roller
thats the beauty of my doco
the unexpected journey
the repetition will numb you
i left a lot of it out
we checked into and out of over 70 hotels
we tried to negotiate hundreds of veggie meals
shaking hands signing records by the thousands
another important juncture is caught on film here for you
2 years before in 88 i had had an argument with a little drip
from english rag melody maker
unfortunately said little drip was now the chief knob at said rag
and he sent a journo to finish us off in ghent belgium
and here she is
speaking in some hybrid transatlantic accent that would make
dick van dyke in “mary poppins” sound authentic…
shes a real little horror
demanding ” does being a popstar make you a prima donna?”
my reply of “why …HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THAT…?!!”
elicits no laugh from this dull bint
she goes on to actually say “ive come to bury the church not praise them…”
her journalistic chutzpah extends to such brilliant questions as
” if your fairy godmother appeared what would you wish for?”
and asking me if i’m jealous cos marty is better looking than me n gets all the girls?
which despite me saying no to…she keeps insisting…” oh yes you are”
she later wrote that i hurled food at the crowd
envious of the attention marty was receiving …
actually i used to share the chocolates we usually had backstage
i used to chuck em to the crowd
anyway this bint stitched us up good
and that was pretty much that
at least you can finally see how it went down….on here….
marty of course is the perfect rockstar of all time here on this vid
he looks like a mixture of jagger richards harrison jeff beck and all the faces put together
with his floppy perfect hair his floppy fringed jacket and his skinned rabbit white physique
look at him lying round indolently by the side of an indoor pool
when he finally gets up and flops in he does it in such a way
it seems like an act of the laziest rebellion possible
marty seems so fucking happy and comfortable with himself
he laughs and clowns his way through the four hour vid
occasionally strapping on a guitar and blasting us with his sheer pizazz
pete is pete is pete as hes always been
ive known him 40 years and hes always like the pete here
mostly quiet smiling sometimes getting excitable but usually taking it all in
quite inscrutable usually
onstage he tall and slim in his 3 quarter length jacket
creating his amazing sounds without much fuss
me…i got the beard and some iffy hair dos
a bit podgy as the bint from melody maker was kind to point out in her article
we all had our shirts tucked in to in 1990
even our t shirts
youll see jay dee daugherty too
man he was in good shape too back then (he still is)
he doesnt say a lot but hes a humble modest smiling guy
he could wallop his huge drumkit too
(enough spare parts to build a morris mini said the melody maker)
hes having a good time
hell we all are mostly
flying business class
staying in nice hotels
(i filmed all the rooms for you all to see
what constitutes a good hotel room circa 1990)
23 years ago so much has changed
be amazed to see how the crowds try to pour into our dressing rooms afterwards
half the audience tries to get back after every show
and here i am holding court clutching an ever present bottle of evian
expounding on this and that
who the fuck is this guy?
i like him i hate him he amuses me
what a toffee nosed git!
what a handsome devil!
what a pudgy sod!
what a goofy fool!
what a stuck up turkey!
what a kind man!
in one minute your opinion of me will go on changing
a real mercurial flake …no wonder no one ever really trusts me
i’m always mucking around half serious half bored half aloof
ive left some nasty things about myself i could have cut out
like me bitching about my hotel rooms mostly
how someone else got a bigger or better or higher room than mine
hell i aint no saint
i left some nasty sides of me in here
then theres the other characters too
get a glimpse of mike lembo looking like nero or caligula or something
our amiable lighting guy trevor…still with us to this day!
our sarcastic sardonic subversive tour manager
helping us plot our dismissal of lembo
and theres the other roadies
the massive gilbert our sound guy
and all the others goofing off and fucking about
all over the world
the same little bunch in paris in NYC in london in atlanta
some of the footage is missing
i dunno
the tapes broke or got lost
this is an incomplete fragment of a tour
its jerky it lacks continuity it lacks polish
but youve never been inside a tour before
not like this
you can practically smell the dirty socks on the tourbus
you can nearly smell the beer and smoke backstage
youre there with me as i get up as i go to bed
as i sign n meet and greet and eat often from my POV
endure the tyranny of distance and the loneliness of rock n roll with me
the gags and disappointments
the memories and the regrets
a slice of my life
hey i’m proud of my film
its been a long time coming
if you thought you knew the church wait till you see this
