The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

the church’s Sydney Opera House event “A Psychedelic Symphony’ on April 10th gets a special mention on the very Dead Cool site. The click-thru link is to the ARIA Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

http://www.deadcoolshop.com/music+cinema/live-show-picks/a-psychedelic-symphony/

www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/resurrection-men-20110329-1cedt.html

“Three turbulent decades after they formed, the Church have resurrected their hits, writes Sacha Molitorisz”

Click link to read the full article.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/9052418/the-church-looking-forward-30-years-on/

Steve Kilbey remembers the first time he was worried The Church might become irrelevant. It was just a few years into a career now spanning three decades.

The moment arose in Kings Cross during the early ’80s and his blossoming rock band had just finished playing one of their early shows when a fan accosted him outside the nightclub.

“This guy came up and told me about this band called Spandau Ballet and said we’d better get with it or we’d be finished,” Kilbey laughs.

“He was persuasively telling me that we should become new romantics.”

Thirty years on and The Church are still going strong. Three quarters of its members remain intact (Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes with drummer Tim Powles joining in 1994). They’ve watched by as musical fashions flashed and disappeared.

While Kilbey admits to enjoying a brief fascination with another English group, Simple Minds – it drove him to seek out their producer Peter Walsh to record The Church’s 1986 album Heyday – otherwise his band have remained fiercely loyal to their own ideology.

“In the early days all the different fads made me feel insecure but as each new thing came along it started to affect me less and less,” Kilbey says.

“Most things I’ve always purposefully reacted against, especially grunge, I had not time for that.”

Over three decades The Church have remained one of the most inventive and single-minded bands in Australian rock. Founded in 1981, the band have built and maintained a cult following here and overseas on the strength of songs like Under The Milky Way and timeless albums like Starfish and Magician Among The Spirits.

Spanning their 70-minute improv jam for 1998’s Hologram of Baal and a collaboration with a science fiction writer in 2008’s Shriek: Excerpts From The Soundtrack, of all the 27 albums arguably their finest was their last, Untitled #23, which won an unprecedented five stars in Rolling Stone magazine.

Last year The Church were inducted into the Australian Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame. Kilbey delivered a speech that has already gone down in music industry folklore. It would have been the perfect moment to bow out, Kilbey always subscribing to the idea that it’s better to burn out than fading away. But the 56-year-old singer still believes the band have more to offer.

“There’s always more songs to be written and I have things to achieve, to keep getting better and to make that perfect record,” he insists.

“You can never rest, as you do each thing you’ve got to reach for the next.”

In addition to pushing new ground, The Church are revisiting their admired back catalogue. It started in 2004 with the acoustic album El Momento Descuidado recreating a number of well known hits alongside new tracks, then continued with two greatest hits collections, Deep In The Shallows in 2007 and last year’s The Best Of The Radio Songs.

Kilbey is happy to relive the past for fans around the world so long as he keeps his better eye on the future.

“It is a fine line but I can appreciate how going back and reworking things can make the idea of pushing on with new music more attractive and can also help you understand and write better new stuff,” he says.

“Kind of like an ongoing process because no one can go back and rewrite a book or repaint a painting but I guess in music you can go back and rerecord a song.”

Next month The Church will play a sell out show at Sydney Opera House alongside a classical orchestra dubbed A Psychedelic Symphony. The marriage between seminal rock band and multi-sectioned orchestra is being overseen by the arranger George Ellis, a lifelong fan of the band who swears he met Kilbey on a street corner in Balmain in the ’80s. Kilbey can’t remember the encounter but is confident that someone who understands the band’s fluid style can successfully recreate it within the more rigid structures of classical music.

“George straddles both worlds effortlessly,” Kilbey says.

“Most arrangers wouldn’t know how to combine the two sides but he understands the problems and how to overcome them.”

Ten years ago Kilbey might never have entertained such a nostalgia trip. When he was young he’d rather go and see a 19-year-old punk strangle a guitar than delight in a 40-year-old master. Only recently has the singer mellowed his insistence that The Church must militantly look forward.

“I used to think that new ideas meant new songs and that was all I was interested in,” Kilbey explains.

“I’ve come to realise lately that you can have new ideas for old songs and new ideas of representing them to people.”

Part of the ageing baby boomer generation, Kilbey has noticed a shift in attitudes to fifty-somethings continuing to pursue credible careers in music.

As long as middle-aged music lovers comprise a dominant force in the market, and fresh faced kids continue coming to shows, he sees no reason to slow down.

“One of the things you struggle with in life and especially in the music business is growing old.

“But you have to take the passing years and use the experience you’ve gained to create a better thing.

“At my age I don’t traffic in youthful enthusiasm and anger of a young man, I traffic in experience and wisdom and technical excellence in playing and writing, or striving for it at least.”

Three decades of hard work appears to be paying off. The Church returned from the US last month to what band members and critics have described as perhaps their best ever tour. Sell out crowds and standing ovations greeted the band as they spanned their back catalogue to the delight of audiences. Kilbey believes that even now the band have turned a corner.

“It was as if we’d been learning a new language for the past 30 years getting better and better slowly but surely and then suddenly we were speaking the language absolutely fluently.

“Suddenly we were speaking the language of The Church perfectly and instead of being a bunch of rockers thrashing out a song on stage we were actually musicians carefully reproducing things accurately with all the colours of the musical palate being utilised.

“Through every last note, whisper and beat on the drum everybody was perfectly in the moment.”

The Church play A Psychedelic Symphony at Sydney Opera House on April 10.” –
Ross Purdie, AAP Entertainment Writer, AAP
March 22, 2011, 8:49 am

“As we now draw closer to the spectacular 30th anniversary concert event for Australia’s prolific and endearing ARIA Hall of Fame inductees, the church, please note that most tickets have sold out with just limited seating now remaining for sale.
Taking place on Sunday April 10th within the concert hall at the Sydney Opera House, this exclusive and one off extravaganza will see the church perform a selection of their greatest songs in a unique ‘best of’ event accompanied by the renown & respected conductor and musical director, George Ellis, together with his incredible orchestra comprising over 60 members.

Proudly presented by IMC in association with Max “A Psychedelic Symphony” is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the music of the church as they celebrate their illustrious 30-year career within the auspicious surroundings of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Sunday April 10th, 2011. *Last remaining tickets are available from the Sydney Opera House (phone 02 9250 7777) however please be quick to avoid disappointment.

And for another taste of what’s to come, check out the church performing an massive rendition of the incredible track, ‘Tantalized’ with the George Ellis Orchestra during their recent induction in to the Aria Hall Of Fame! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGjiZ9H3Pw “- IMC

TICKETS From SOH Box Office
PH: 02 9250 7777
Online bookings: Box Office Online at www.sydneyoperahouse.com
https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/tickets/reserve.aspx?performanceNumber=60478

Click on the heading to go to the latest church newsletter. Download here

This month’s edition of Australian Guitar magazine features a 3 page spread of Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper – Volume 84 with Jimi Hendrix on the cover
https://www.mymagazines.com.au/hzsub/submag?spub_id=166&a=1&c=v
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Australian-Guitar-Magazine/167259276634587

http://admin.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=45742&ref=quakeaid – 21st March 2011

Tim Powles and Steve Kilbey are amongst some of Sydney’s most popular musicians and entertainers who are joining forces to raise much needed funds for the Christchurch Earthquake relief effort. All money raised will go to the Christchurch Earthquake appeal via The New Zealand Red Cross. Click on this link to purchase tickets and help sell it out!

If you would like to make a further donation, please email quakeaid@y7mail.com

Download the post-tour newsletter. Click on the heading to take you there.

Newsletter 28th Feb 2011

http://www.thebackstagebeat.com/2011/02/the-church-future-past-perfect/

By Ange Alex – Feb 24, 2011 – THE BACKSTAGE BEAT (with photos)

When “the church” planned their US tour, they did it with amazing verve. It was an impressive feat to say the least as they were set to play three albums in their entirety in one night! The ‘Future Past Perfect’ tour was almost unbelievable as they would be covering each decades of the band’s career. Most groups, even young ones would never try to take on performing 34 songs in one night. Three amazing hours of music played to a packed house in the heart of trendy Little Five Points. the church pleased their fans in a way that only these Australian boys could do.

Steve Kilbey started the night off by welcoming his fans and opening up the first album of the evening “Untitled #23?. This album was by far their most progressive. All ten of the albums songs were performed during the first act. With the crowd at their mercy for more, the church paused for a quick ten minute break.

Coming back to the stage, it was time to take a trip back to that wonderful year, 1992. “Priest=Aura” was their seventh release and featured fourteen songs for your listening pleasure. However Tuesday night, it was only for the fortunate ones at The Variety Playhouse.

Finally, they made it to the breakthrough album from 1988 “Starfish”. This album was one of their most successful as it featured the popular song “Under the Milky Way” which is still heard on Atlanta radio to date. You could hear the crowd sing along as the chorus came in. I couldn’t help but sing along myself. When the full ten songs on the album were performed, everyone could feel that they had witnessed a great night in music and music history.

All in all, “the church” remains a solid, tight-knit band that will hopefully make their way back to the states and to the great city of Atlanta.