beyonder

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    

Photo on 14-06-13 at 7.21 PM
opening in

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

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

 

 

empath desert

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

Photo on 13-06-13 at 5.25 PM
hemlock bound

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

microscopic dust emits red giant charisma

the readings take on a peculiar surge

 

 

 

i blot out eyes yes

black father

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….      

Photo on 11-06-13 at 9.43 PM
honest engine

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

i tried to find a word to shout out

i heard it inside….

 

 

 

you are everything and everything is you

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

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

(but i doubt it…)

 

 

Further thoughts

  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!) […]

Camera

 

Camera

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

its gonna put a real big smile on yer face

in spades and guaranteed

fuck.

i’m glad its all over!

sk bondi monday morning 2013

 

last thoughts on LONG DISTANCE CENTURY BUZZES AND FADES

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 […]

Screen Shot 2013-06-03 at 8.39.23 AM
lights ! action! church!

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

its gonna put a real big smile on yer face

in spades and guaranteed

fuck.

i’m glad its all over!

sk bondi monday morning 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

excerpt