The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

Steve and Marty did a one-off last minute gig together in Sweden recently. This is them performing Comedown.

Steve appears in film in the short film Comeback produced by Bernadette Keys. Join their Facebook page to find out more of what it’s all about! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Comeback-film/230149870436092

“One time teen idol Bobby Birdhouse has been living in obscurity since Funbury ’72 where he was booed off the stage in the midst of a crippling bout of stage fright. Many flashbacks later he is invited to headline at ‘Woodrock’ festival. Will Bobby get back in the game?”

while i was in sweden i had a listen to forget yourself

fuck what a good record!

i never stopped to listen to it at the time

but theres some great stuff on there

i mean obviously we never make bad records

although some we have made i really don’t care for

but they were not bad records

forget yourself is a fizzy electronic-y guitar-pedal kind of album

i had just moved back to sydney

and the ganja here was mind blowing at that time

plus i had finally thrown off the last shackles of heroin

and i was back on form again after a bit of a struggle

it was recorded at tims old studio in glebe

it was crammed with gadgets and equipment and stuff

for some reason we had this engineer nick hard

he didn’t really seem to understand

exactly how we thought we were s’posed to be

so forget yourself is a weird hybrid record

its noisy bright and a bit digital

pretty energetic tho for a bunch of old guys…eh?

i mean we are not going gently into that good night…are we…?

anyway i guess i never really understood what it was at the time

but listening to it for the first time in ten years i was kinda impressed

we put a lot of thought into what we do

and we argue and carry on during the creative process sometimes

i think everyone in the band goes out of his way to make each song special

peter with his apollo approach to guitar

marty with his dionysus approach to guitar

tim was the walloping drums n guy who understood pro-tools

i was the geeza who played bass and sang the songs

we don’t like to write stale hackneyed showbiz stuff

on this album it seemed our horizons suddenly exploded

especially compared to AENT..a very measured record indeed

this record reminds me of some of my paintings

lots of bright colours lots of naive joie de vivre

a sonic recklessness is afoot

after AENT and its tastefulness

FY comes unleashed fucked up squashed chopped up feeding back

a strong sense of some cartoon psychedelic trip

a sense of a rebellious looseness

i have come back to my full powers as a lyricist by now i guess

after some dodgier moments on the gear in the past

in fact at this moment i was on a roll

i wrote june and don’t you fall one night  about 5 minutes apart

despite the fact i was being hassled at the time by someone as i wrote em

it was a hassle-y period

lots of people dropped in

there were always someone hanging around

we went out n took long lunches and dinners

i usually turned up late n went home early

(tho i usually do that)

a lot of good songs from these sessions went on beside yourself

yeah thats a good record you should track down if you like this one

we recorded tons of songs

we went through a very productive streak writing wise

in fact it doesn’t seem possible the church could not write songs ever

we always come up with something

look we just muck around

we just fiddle about until a song starts to form

or we follow weird little strategies of writing

i said to peter one day

give me a chord progression any chord progression

on the spot he came up with the chords for sealine

its called sealine because it reminded us of i am the walrus (geddit?)

song in space sounds like some krautrock group from the seventies

i wrote june and don’t you fall on a bass guitar only

that hardly ever happens

nick hard and tim were doing stuff with the sound

was it meant to be like this ?    i used to wonder

now it doesn’t seem to matter

the record is a glorious accident

its got a couple of beautiful songs

june and maya for 2 at least

its got electro-euphorica e.g. reversal

its got a great slow dissolve ending in summer

which was the aural equivalent to being back in bondi beach

and its got some turbulent strident stuff

and its got some triply poppy stuff

hell you can’t go wrong with forget yourself

if someone else did it it probably woulda been huge

but the church were fated to be ignored for a while

even though we still made great music like this

if we aren’t the best band in this universe we’re not far-off

ie we have delivered interesting accomplished songs and music

for thirty 2 years now and we show no sign of getting soft

still too highly strung for our own good

eccentricity or just plain mad…?

thats the church

we will be back

eventually

the squalls and the warm calms

she starts with s she ends with t (and she's lost 7 teeth)

lily field at the edge of a forest

scarlet asks me : daddy what is a gnome?

a house in a tree

the little grey men

oh they fled their england so long ago

foxglove and poppy

violet and rose

watercolour childhood left out in the rain

south is the winter

north is the summer

at the edge of a forest we see lily field

we see arboreal spirits who tend to their tree

we see the ravens and castles and war for a crown

we see the lake of forgetting

we live the day of remembering

we dream of a night and then it comes into being

and the roots hammer deep under the oak

and the river rushes pleasantly along

a hundred years could pass this way it would seem in the end

just one day

lily field then in her patterns of june

her aprons of april

her man on the moon

lily field where witch hazel lie

where creepy bat and slow worm and trespasser die

she stands at the edge of a forest decor of dew

patiently waiting waiting for you

scarlet says : you should write the end

trans-ponder

when the elastic throttle of equilibrium lifts you off into either ether

and the whirring machine instruction increases peripherally

in both ear something whispers secret instructions you never really hear

at takeoff there is a stillpoint

in moment of long refracted reflection

in whistling shrieking cosmick winds

a catapult shoots you into the sky

a shot shoots through your systems

using star energy so quiet and pure

using star energy you silver between the streets in the sky

in puddles on the moon behold futures unwritten Khartoum

in solid space you shrink to nothing

in solid time you are still travelling into tomorrow at lite years

when your head explodes full of lithium absinth

dead star wormwood pounds on in din a time stamp

a machine gauges your etheric aura with pink painless implanted buds

a sensor directs you to your next plasmic fix

a ray alerts you as you approach terminal velocities

a dial indicates an arcane antequarium

a ratchet up the rounded numbers interlocking sequences concur

sudden sickness of reaching 0 speed

a communication from an outpost

please identify yourself 

do you read me?

but by then you are far/gone

already suffering space-lag

the body crashes against the mind

the spirit -driver impervious to all fire and ice

enters brief sanctuary

pondering beyond

at the edge of the land

at the edge of the world

at the edge of the known

final approach through blustering rain

i navigate the skies from my familiar room

the black cat takes fright and disappears into the wind

a silent black slit he makes exiting the plasmatic night

ten thousand fingered cyclone bringing it on

droplets hammered against glass and forced upwards back into the air

sibilant sutra of incessant precipitation

furious cold angry rain

the houses shake under such an onslaught

the mercury shudders within its glass

blood pressure drops suddenly away

dizzy beyond belief

coming down with the cold hard rain like reality itself

grim and in constant flux

what do you want ?

what do you believe?

what do you want to believe?

these questions interposed on some  inner nothingness

and asked by the rain

home word bound

i descended from the misty clouds which were ripped over the city

city of money city of crime city of wondrous things

things go better with power and money

winter a small hick up  in a long summer forever

the moon shadowed by a dwarf

rain so soft so invisible is it even there?

no you are walking through maya

warmth dreaminess i plunge into delicious darkness

falling flailing failing framed against forevers

spirits disembark the planes

pass out into the nights

the many nights of fresh storm

storms come and they blow away leaving only day

days come peopled in song that get sung by the throng at the end of the song

song of the people working star fields

fields of the heroes held onto the throne

thrown to the wolves the lamb has endured

lamb of this world world of this time

time of our forefathers time of our distance

we appear at entrances bound for outside

oh the night outside is blossomed with lights

the lights in the windows the lights in the sky

and chimney stacks jostle midst chrome and glass spheres

the black past humbles the silvery future

the night slides by like knife into butter

the night glides by like a travelling cheat

that glides beneath you and between your minds

the minds you never made up left behind

i sing then of sisyphus who shoulders the stone

and tantalus strung out in hades alone

man i sing the song of the clumsy ninja

boy i sing the song of the magicians nephew

foolish things for more foolish things

experimenting in profound things no one could understand

the night has wings its wings sing of the white night

white under lights yonder on city

city which crouches erect through the rain

a beautiful horror it glows and diffuses

the warm paradise a beckon too fast

a puddle a footstep a roar in the quietness

a slip a trap a tumble a learn

a tremor a fountain a merry go round a rosy oh baby

this is the place this is the turn

this is return eternal burn

A limited supply of signed copies of No Certainty Attached are available from our store signed by the author Robert Dean Lurie. Robert’s insight into the complexities of Steve Kilbey as a young artist  unfold into this personal story of a young american’s journey behind the scenes as he seeks to learn about his favourite songwriter and his favourite band and is also a testimony to the fact that  the church have maintained a very strong, loyal and growing following in America to this day.

me n the kid

well i like it here

well i love it here

even with its long cold winters

and sometimes short cold summers

i bloody like it here

and leaving for airport in one hour

makes me sadder than sad

all the times ive left sweden and left my kids

comes down on me and weighs heavy

a great gig last night with mwp

a lot of friends there

i will miss it here

how i wish i could stay longer

go out to the swedish countryside

i feel cut in 2

sad and already lonely

bye guys

see you soon

sk

graven imaged

in nordic graveyards where heroes are buried

gardens of the long gone dead

that sorrowful northern light

a single bird song in the twilights that linger on

oh this is as lonely as you can be

this is somewhere different

this cold cold water clear and under the bridge

old peasant types up against the nouveau riche

theres this lovely smell in all the shops and malls

the bathrooms all look the same no matter where you go

the lollies oh so good believe me

everything here in sodermalm is kinda top notch i’d say

and prices too

soder is like paddington in sydney i guess

you know that art cool expensive part of town that once was working class

anyway a pair of shorts on sale was about 200 bucks

(glad they was on sale …imagine the full price….!)

i eat at a veggie place called chutney on katarinabansgatan

that might be misspelt …..i apologise

the food is good and the atmosphere is….

its like being in someones cosy house

conversation is low

they have settees with red velvet cushions

theres interesting art and eastern religious figures on wall

there is NOTHING like this in sydney

the food a bit pricey but youd pay this at home too

everything is kinda top rate

thats hard to explain but australia and england are more shoddy

of course the reverse side of non shoddiness is its more straight too

but the swedes are kind of dependable people

not given to hysterical rubbish

(unless young blokes who are extremely drunk)

swedes are tending towards calm reason and fairness

even the many swedish dealers thieves and prostitutes

that i become friends with in my darkest days on earth

they were reasonable dealers thieves and prostitutes

they did what they did but it had a kind of layer of sordidness removed

the swedes do not think like us

many make the mistake to think that they do

but they do not

in some ways elektra and miranda are aliens to me

they see things from a point of view that is in their genes

you can maybe acquire a little if you live here

i already had grokked the nordic mojo when i was a kid

man i loved my norse mythology like a rabid fan

boy those stories seemed so familiar to me

they werent mythology to me like some dusty scholarly thing…

full of betrayal lust trickery and intrigue

people look here for the real genesis of tolkien and game of thrones

and you see the characters in norse mythology

well they are so fucking scandanavian

the gods and goddesses

they way they see n do things

its a fatalistic almost hopelessly sad feeling

oh yeah of course mr i bergman got it on film

but i feel it at every moment of every day

that longing

my longing to stay here much much longer

can you imagine i have 2 swedes of my own for daughters

they fascinate me

i see all members of both parents faces sometimes flash across them

some incredible computer figured out all the best DNA we had

chucked it together and produced them

but they are their own girls

they have gravitas

and they have that same skandic thing

that sad detachment

that reminds me of the elves in lord of the rings

the swedes are a handsome and beautiful lot

girls in fishnchip shops whod surely be models somewhere else

guys at starbucks who look like every rockstar ever but with blond dreads

serving coffee

no ones even looking at him

if that guy lived in sydney he’d be the lead singer of some newtown band

for sure

its overcast and coldish

this will make the swedes sad if it keeps up

these people need their fucking summer

and its a bummer if it never comes

sweden in summer is the nicest place on earth i swear

if you can get in with some swedes (or turnips ha ha)

and you get out to the summer house in the country

man after youve wound down you will love it

often with no electricity

candle lit meals outside in the daylight lasting till eleven

swimming in the cold brown lakes

the profound and holy silence of the gods forest

to me the archetypal swedish type is max von sydow in seventh seal

a handsome tragic uncomplaining doing his best to keep his head

cautious and alarmed by extreme behaviour

a little skeptical but underneath that sometimes

a desperate search for spirit

but the swedes are tuned into the weather

and some are tuned into a quite otherworldly gracefulness

until smoking drinking and eating rather lots of meat ruins it for them

oh and smoking loads of cigs and drinking lots of milk and cream

but by and large the people look younger than elsewhere

i guess thats the cold and long winters which preserve

personally sweden makes me feel very cosy and safe

although i know that is an illusion

it is the most sane place (in many ways) that you  ever go to

they look after people here children old people migrants everybody

its not like it used to be

but humanism certainly prevails

it isnt about a bunch of power drunk fatcats at the top

its different here although

they have a silly royal family

the princess christened her daughter

and the papers recounted every last detail

going over n over pathetic little snippets about shoes and bibs

and all these other royals from europe in medals n stuff

medals for what?

the king has been quite a naughty boy too

with a penchant for very rocknroll kinda things

strip clubs popsingers wild parties

how can ya take a king like that seriously ?

seriously if i was the king i wouldnt do stuff like that

he doesnt deserve it .hes a real twerp

kick em all out (but you’d decimate tourism !)

i reckon its day will have to come

swedes following their nose for progressive socialism

will one day ask the royal gooseballs to stand down

maybe a grandson of mine will marry a future princess

or a granddaughter will marry a norwegian duke

then i’ll be all for it! yes sir!

of course i’ll be the old guy in the admirals get up n medals

hanging around at weddings n things in europe

and spending christmas with the aga khan

if i had to leave australia then i would live here

it is still a very sane and civilised country