the new bass is fretless
i never really played a fretless before
gee its 1980
we feel like we’re living on the very edge of the future
1980…gary numan and everything…
this means nothing to me oh vienna
and i gotta new bass
no its not a fender but its an ibanez
i couldnt afford a fucking fender
plus i wouldnae have probably known the difference
anyway
on a complete fucking whim
ive bought this fretless bass
traded in my ibanez les paul bass copy with the red strings
you see folks
some instruments like guitars n pianos
well you know where the notes are
others like trombones n violins
you just have to feel
theres no markings or notches
the double bass is like that too
i bought a black fretless bass
and i stuck some wallpaper on it of a naked lady
everybody says its stupid for a singer to play a fretless
but there you go
i wanted to make it harder for myself, didnt i
i bet i played millions of notes that were slightly out too
flat or sharp just slightly
oh boy i loved to slide around on it though
if you plucked a note
and moved yer finger up or down
there was a smooth continuity of notes
not a rattle rattle rattle as your finger passed over the frets
i can sing and play at the same time
i can sing and play complicated bits too
not just boom boom boom
i sing all these words
at the same time
my fingers slide about my fretless
how did i do it?
i dunno
strapping on a bass
feels like putting on my comfy slippers
even stoned or tripping or legless drunk
look at me
i can still play bass and sing
we’re making an album up in a real studio
i am in constant conflict with everyone
i have to fight and fight and fight
not to be made 1980s over n over
no matter what it says
i produced that first album
my tricks
my ideas
my overdubs
all my 4 years on 4 track went into it
to maintain purity i needs must offend every bastard i work with
the engineers who dont understand how the church should sound
the producer all puffed up on his own self
the other guys in the band
all for different reasons
peter k n i have always argued
ever since we met
he n i arguing
we go fishing together as teenagers
we argued all the way there
all the way home
and even while we were catching fish
so now we’re back together again in the church
and we still argue
but one thing
when we argue
we normally get over it and back to normal quick
not like young mwp whose joined
i seem to upset him and he doesnt talk to me for a week
nick ward is hounding everybody
he is making this
my first record ever
into hell
picking on my words
picking on my singing
most of all
telling me what a rotten bassist i am
how i dont understand anything etc
i had fucking written a hundred great new songs
and all this idiot could do was whine
you see
none of them
except me
really knew what this all could be
dont get me wrong here
peter was already an accomplished and innovative player
but i had to fight to keep it all the way it was sposed to be
i didnt win that fight completely
you can hear that on that first record
the eighties had their way and intruded all over that
i rectified that on the blurred crusade
no more chuggalug guitars
we stopped being a cartoon n became a band
but on the first record
i was struggling with ole mr zeitgeist
and i was a dim visionary
trying to get the others to just trust it
and go with it
but you know
they gotta question everything in heaven n hell
why kilbey why?
dont ask…i cant explain
just fucking do it!
but i dont see why.. i dont understand…
ok dont understand it
just fucking do it like i asked
but i was tiptoeing round everyones ego
one day
walking in town
i went in a music shop
and discovered a brand new roland vocoder
it was a big hefty keyboard
it had these synthetic voice sounds on it
no one had used them yet
and i fell in love
and put it all over the next 4 records
the first time you’ll hear it is on
is this where you live
like the drone of a hundred synthetic monks
its all over blurred crusade
in almost every song
i figured out a lovely way the female voices
could shadow guitar lines
i brought this technique to fruition
on the instrumental remote luxury
hear the female vox with the guitar line
i was so cocky about my lyrics
jesus christ
when was the last time you heard an album start with
in the empty place the soul stripped bare…..?
you know
go back to 1980
and check out who was writing stuff like that
and all the chords in that song
including a few doozies i never used again
i never cared for unguarded moment that much
its ok i guess
i got no comment on it
other than every other person that heard it went nuts
and said
thats a hit
yeah im grateful to it i guess
i hear 3 bands in australia did a version each
and toured around with that as some common focus
so be it!
what i came up with almost thirty years ago
still has enough mojo left in it
for a buncha youngsters to still get off on it
god blessem
what i do lasts
yes
you will still be listening to painkiller in twenty years
one does not outgrow my stuff
it comes with a guarantee to suit all times n climes
the songs are eternal
they are not about youth or old age
they are pieces
fractions
merely tiny bits in the puzzle
clues
to people who were interested
my lyrics were pop lyrics granted
that was my canvas
the cartoon world of pop
it was 1980
c’mon!