The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/the-church-launch-acoustic-tour-for-30th-1004082710.story

The Church is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an acoustic tour featuring songs from throughout its career, and the Australian group’s Steve Kilbey says he and his bandmates are proud and pleased to have gotten this far.

“I feel a bit like a very old man looking in the mirror saying, ‘I’m still handsome — but I’d rather be a young man,’ ” Kilbey tells Billboard.com with a laugh. “At least I can say we’re still trying. We still have integrity. We’re not on some kind of cabaret circuit going around in matching suits and playing on cruises. We’re still a rock ‘n’ roll band.

“The Church is a funny band because we’ve sort of gone off the map,” he continues. “There are no other bands like us, no bands from 30 years ago who sort of…they either got really famous on some mega level, like The Cure, or they cease to exist. But the Church as kind of kept going on the same level.”

And, he adds, the Church’s modest level of success has actually contributed to the band’s longevity.
“Anybody can cop a bit of luxury,” Kilbey explains, “but I think that kind of thing can put a lot of pressure on a band and a band breaks up because of that. We never really made a lot of money, so there was never a lot of greediness or arguments because of money. That kind of left us free to actually concentrate on the music.”

The Church’s show, dubbed An Intimate Space 30th Anniversary North American Tour 2010, features the group playing unplugged versions of a song from every album, in reverse chronological order and encompassing both rare tracks (“Ionian Blues” from 2005’s “Back With Two Beasts”) and the quartet’s lone U.S. hit, 1988’s “Under the Milky Way.” All fans attending the shows are given a free EP featuring “Deadman’s Hand” from the Church’s latest album, 2009’s “Untitled #23,” as well as some songs recorded since then.

Kilbey says the group hasn’t started working yet on its next album but is buoyed by the positive reception to “Untitled #23.” “It got really good reviews,” he notes, “so we’re thinking very carefully before jumping in to make our next one. We’re trying to compute all the data and try to figure out what people liked about it and try to take that into consideration when we start writing again.” Meanwhile, the Church’s current label, Second Motion Records, is working on getting some of the group’s older titles back into print and is also planning to release a box set of Kilbey’s solo material, titled “Monsters and Mirages,” in May, with a bundle of his side projects planned for 2011.

The An Intimate Space tour wraps May 1 in Atlanta. Kilbey says the group is then talking about going out on an electric tour during which it will play “Untitled #23” and 1988’s “Starfish” in their entireties.”

28 October 2010
by Jason Treuen
The Music Network

“How do you squeeze 50 years into five minutes?” music/television icon Johnny Young wondered aloud upon accepting his ARIA Hall of Fame induction.

Of course, it’s an impossible task for an awards ceremony but last night’s event, overflowing with rich rock ‘n’ roll stories and candid anecdotes, got as close as it could. As fellow inductees, ‘60s icons The Loved Ones, observed in their speech: “The true beauty of the Hall of Fame is the history it brings with it.”

Moving from its traditional home of Melbourne to Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, the ceremony combined a new Rockwiz format with a night of touching speeches, live tributes and standing ovations. Lots of standing ovations and deservedly so.

After a quick trivia game hosted by Rockwiz’s snappy duo of Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis, the night officially opened by ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin (AM) who welcomed the night’s inductees – Young, The Loved Ones, The Church, Models and John Williamson – as artists who “have truly taken their place in Australian music”.

Models kicked things off with a gritty version of their hit I Hear Motionbefore being inducted by former bandmate Wendy Matthews. She recounted meeting them for the first time playing indoor cricket in the studio, that they were “exquisite to look at” and deemed them her “merchants of happiness”.

The band (sans Jame Freud who’d had another “bicycle accident”) took the stage, acknowledged the traditional owners of the land and thanked pretty much everyone – former band members, former labels, media, roadies and the public – before playing their songEvolution.

Industry icon and promoter Michael Chugg spoke candidly about his love for The Loved Ones, confessing they were the reason he moved to the mainland from Tasmania aged 19. “They grabbed me by the balls!” he proclaimed.

The band accepted the accolade, thanked many and oddly argued for a better broadband network in Australia. Diesel saluted them with a rocking version of their seminal hit The Loved One.

Sara Storer performed John Williamson’s Mallee Boy while Greens senator Bob Brown seemed more nervous than his usual self as he inducted his mate. “His music makes us all feel good under the Southern Cross,” Brown declared.

Williamson was equally edgy on stage, stating: “I didn’t think I’d be shaking as much as I am” as he praised the music industry he’s spent 40 years in. He performed Raining On The Rock with the “best guitarist he’s ever played with”, Col Watson, and then did his classicTrue Blue solo, urging the audience to sing along.

Short Stack rocked out Johnny Young’s 1966 hit Caralyn. Amusingly, the Budgewoi pop-rockers were born more than twenty years after it was released.

Tina Arena flew in from Paris just to induct her Young Talent Time founder, mentor and “adopted father” Johnny Young. In a tender and teary tribute, she quoted ‘60s English icon Lulu, asking “How do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?”

A visibly touched Young spoke of length of his long career, a recent interview with a young journo, his favourite film (As Good As It Gets) and Eckhart Tolle’s motivational book The Power of Now. Then ‘Tiny Tina’, as she used to be known on YTT, sang Here Comes The Star, the 1969 song written by Young for Ross D Wylie.

Last but not least came The Church. Megan Washington joined the Rockwiz Orchestra to perform their classic, Unguarded Moment, while SBS presenter George Negus spoke highly of the band who’s “supplied thirty years of memories.”

“Wow, thanks George,” said Church frontman Steve Kilbey. “Next time I appear in Waverly court can you be my character witness?” referencing his recent court appearance after a domestic dispute.

Kilbey spoke animatedly and passionately about the many Aussie bands that came before them and heaped praise on his fellow inductees. About The Loved Ones, he said “even though I was 12, I knew there was something rude going on.”

Enthralling the audience for over twenty minutes, he also recounted great rock ‘n’ roll stories about signing with Chuggi in 1981 “because they were too scared to say no”, black eyes and getting flashed with “Tassie tits”.

“And I’m still amazed by Richard Wilkins‘ hair,” he beamed. “From behind, he looks like a schoolboy!”

“Well, that’s really demystyified us,” said bandmate Marty Willson-Piper when he finally got to talk. “For thirty years, we’ve tried so hard to be aloof.”

And lastly we’d like to thank God,” said the show-stealing Kilbey, reclaiming the mic, “for giving this country so much unbearable talent”. The band then hit the stage to play Under The Milky Way andTantalise before Johnny Young closed the night with his traditional send-off “Good night Australia”.

when i wake up with my kissed back someone hassles me over insurance

yeah the sacred river alph lady can you dig it indeed can you really dig it….?

we float through the cool roots of mountain

underground past the red n green lanterns where we swiftly drift

and it rains gently and the hissing drops melt on your skin

well we were making a movie werent we

i was trying to learn my lines

i was lucky to have got this role

i was playing this guy i guess

he wasnt that different to some version of myself

some kinda singer he had gone into hiding

in some foreign land

i sat in my caravan in my gown

my ipod oozing music

there was a knock at the door

spring had opened herself right up

i felt softly happy  for a little while

the wild raspberries with their certain scent

the calm warm feeling a kind of composure

david neil says man this is 1973 again

just before it all died

david neil carrying his guitar in its subjective case

david neil died so young now he’s singing a sad song

david catch up with me in hawaii

just before our show yes this was true

our show we had booked at the kon-tiki club

i was only 19 years old of course

i flew here on demetrius airlines

playing bass with davy neil at the kon-tiki bar

how wild that must have sounded to kathy and dad

boy how they musta teased me only i was never there

kathy came in smiling the kon-tiki hut has sold out

wow i said as i sat up suddenly

david was swimming in the pool

he’d been working on hollywood ending

it was the beginning of his magnum hopeless he said

a whole suite of songs it was supposed to be

david played it all to me one day

i was fucking gobsmacked

a blue crane flew overhead at that moment

i shivered even though the evening was transparently warm

i walked through that clear air towards you

kathy you were a sister to david too

or maybe you n he were lovers

dad said he liked david

he said david was an alright bloke

kathy said more than alright dad

dad said alright is alright

kathy said dad david is kinda….

dad said hes kinda alright

kathy hugged dad then

kathy said yes dad david is kinda alright….

when david passed away kathy never cried

the mornings just grew somehow shorter for her

she huddled down low to be so unnoticed

david never recorded hollywood ending suite tho

only the title song still remains extant in this universe #23

its a real fucking rocker

it travels past like a wild rhine-oceros

like a nibelung spell

like a strumpet from lyonesses old town

david what went on in your head

where did all that music go?

i pour thru davids record trying to find some answers

david took off my bass guitar parts replaced em with double bass

why did we have to argue man?

because steve you let me down

we stayed at a hotel called neptunes apts 13 strickland ave just by black sand beach

the morning we arrived

and the vista of fruit trees

we rehearsed cross legged under the lemons in the courtyard

i slapped my bass david strummed

the magic comes

holly wood end ing

we have a good fucking laugh right then

the future is obvious oblivious

the sunshine will last forever

the wheeling gulls echo in the sky

the fresh sea breezes

the honeycombed domed tower where we called home

kathy and dad stand waving goodbye against a whitewashed wall

david neil n his band of 2 aboard a ferry for illyria

lady is this illyria ..? david  would joke to kathy as they stood on the beach

now he was finally going there

the elysium club in the underworld district

where he had procured a long engagement

Click here to download the official newsletter:

18 Nov 2010 Newsletter

RAVE Magazine
November 16, 2010

hono lulu leilani tahiti seeker

hawaii is a b n w photo in my seaside hotel

i turn from a hundred sunsets red in the dying glow

the palm trees and the canoes

i was christian fletcher i was wandering your virgin soil

i was paulie go-gan i was painting your marvels in my image

i was some hippy surfer with a golden body and water on the brain

i was some fuckin’ buccaneer lucking into this isle

oh hawaii oh fiji oh suva oh bikini

the islands eruption red hot ash deep in green sea

but im down on a black sand beach waxing my fin

im shooting down the pipeline into a lemon juice future

i’m washed up in the ionian tropics cut by a hundred shells

i’m cast up on some distant strand rescued by an alien creature

we do not talk the same language

we do not see the same things

all my worries pull me to the floor

i wake up at a heathen ceremony

the aztecs cut the beating heart from a man

god damn you white man you always intrude

wait a minute where am i …..?

i wake up gasping in my hotel room

listen to them ukeleles in the darkness

listen to them maidens singing to the old dead gods

listen to the surf pound 7 mile beach

listen to your friend whose asleep

light up yer hawaiian spliff

snort yer crystalline love

shoot yer warm desire

the boards creak in the hold

i whip up some lash

the harpoons hideous barb

the shout the shot the ball crashes through rigging

the blue sea opens up to swallow

i see the sand at the bottom each tiny grain is different n counted

my hotel with its quik-chek out

neptune parade number 456

air condition

kava kava gets me all numb n stoned

i spear a fucking fish i cut my ankle open

the piano plays in a bar as the fan spins

jungle juice and indonesian cigarettes

i dance with some blurry woman

her breath is warm as she whispers in my ear

your ship has gone down again

i lurch about on a hopeless deck

someone chucks a bucket of water over me from the wings

oh yeah i’m an actor too, didnt you know

and i’m marooned 5 years to the daylight

and im understrung on the heliotropics bloomin’ in my head

and im funfreaking sun-hit like a coco cane baby in mirror

and im saint to fire fly all nightridden

and who is the neutronic lagoon boy

and among the cults of islet chicks tricked into lovelife

so i wander the way key ki

and my hotel casts a fortune

my card bounces in a cave casino and i bet all my clams

ok thats enough i suppose for now

its not often i get a chance to speak

hedonist shot

kilbey your mind

this is the day of choice

choose night choose day

you dribble out your feeble burst

you swim in the green n golden sea quite a sight to see

you talk about yerself i blah blah blah

you use yer gadgets touch touch touch

figures change in yer accnt

thanks texas david neil is under resurrection

david neil on the slab twitchin’ like a bitch

david neil coming back to life

ricky miami breathing life into his grooves

soon david soon

soon you will sing your long lost songs to the people of universe #23

was there ever talk of love asks neil

the days bring dark news my friend

all things put together must fall asunder

we see the dissolution we see the wide spread anguish

we see the diseases striking us down in our prime

we gotta live tho we gotta prevail

cmon sister i exhort thee from my wobbly pulpit

alkaline fine raw raspberries n cauliflower stew

all washed down with adams ale

swim through these days sleep through these nights

sit on a deck chair n eat breakfast

lie in a hammock listening to the vast silence

lie about the past lie about the future lie about the house

i drive thru streets in dream

my car purrs my tires roll my wheel turns

my daughters have flown

all five in stockholm now i wonder if its snowing

i turn up for church rehearsey

the boys ha ha

the instrumence

the talk talk talk

lets decide this

lets decide that

i cant concentrate

everything all behind

sorry bout that folks

premium sk still coming folks

so is david neil now thanks

david neil dead now so long so long david

baby im all confused see me drowning drowning on land

please come up to the cockpit i need a hand

boy i feel sleepy guys

i could just curl up here n ………

DEAD COOL namedrop the church in their super cool free daily email : “Church fans freak out! The back catalog reissues are finally here! Beautiful arty CDS remastered with rare bonus tracks!”

www.deadcoolshop.com/music+cinema/recommended-albums/the-church-reissued/

Peruse the church shopping mall for a wide selection of church products including :

the church albums – studio, remastered versions and compilations, solo and side projects, video, DVDs, t-shirts and occasional random items including quality artwork by Steve Kilbey.

Payment can be by online credit card and money orders are also accepted by snail mail. Visit Churchmerch to check it all out and bookmark the link below. If you have any general Churchmerch enquiries, send an email to : thechurchmerch@thechurchband.com

like a fine fuzz of water like a million points

tiny droplets of rain

we walk home from a hotel thru its mist

we stub our toe we sigh we laugh

strange days surround us have found us

things are weird things are distorted

i play behind the glass in a humid room

the people look in at me like i’m in a zoo

a performing beast at least i growl politely

i talk and i sing i dunno i ching

i jump up n down on the poor spot

i strummy  strum strum my old guild 12

thats it goodnight folks i finish in a sudden

whoah people smoking weed outside like its new orleans

the wine doth flow too like some martyrs blood

the fine fine rain you can only see in the lights

the lights question the night

although it never replies

the mist kissed my fist n i wonder why

the rain is suspended in mid air hanging there

the street is empty and shiny the trees are ultra green

its going on midnight

i wonder where everyone is never seen

where?