as most of you now know
we recorded an album between heyfish and starday
that never got released
it was called
was there ever talk of love?
and it was gonna be on warners spin off label
voodoo records
thats right
of course i know most of you have the bootleg by now
i hear its easy to come by if you know where to look
but several people have come undone pursuing it
so emptor cave….is that latin?
does it dye its mustache black?
anyway back to wtetol?
i had been living with billy idol for a while
and hanging out in l.a.
with the cult and guys like that
guys who’d been in the sex pistols and stuff
warners had accidentally slipped the church a million odd bucks
and i thought it was our golden handshake…
i grabbed my share and i was living it large in the canyon
no kidding
joni mitchell used to feed my axolotls for me when i went on hols
i dated that chick from melrose place or whatever it was
through her i got into a coven where we worshipped spirits
and practiced sorcery
wow!
standing in my cowl surrounded by the celebs of the mid eighties
that child star whatsername
i saw rock hudson there i think
and a few other quite famous guys
incredible days!
during that same period
while round at a certain journalists house
i took an experimental substance that we had obtained
through the journalists wifes brother
who was a doctor in the military
but he also liked to turn popstars on
anyhow this stuff didnt even have a name
no name just a number # 79
you rubbed the stuff on your wrist
and hey presto!
at first i assumed i had not been affected
and i wandered off into this huge tarzana garden
under a sickle moon and the hazy californian sky
i was struck dumb with fear
when They contacted me
i first felt Them as music
music wild deep and urgent
and utterly inhuman
incredible impossible music
music you would weep for joy if you heard but one stanza
music to make you cower
music to make you march
and the words
in some alien language
in some universal translator
in some way the most tender most violent poetry
poetry with colour and fragrance and flesh and spirit
i immediately began to make mental notes
phrases melodies etc
my impressions i mean
i could never remember or reproduce the real wonder
#79 had tuned me in to Their sphere of influence
i began receiving transmissions from that time until early 87
most of the music on wtetol? was from those transmissions
i arranged some more #79 and i secretely spiked my compadres wrists
(with disastrous consequences)
it was around this time i began seeing monsters in swimming pools
alone at the beverly hills hilton one night
i chanced upon a swim in the pool
i was beset upon by a strange tentacled phantasm
and rescued by 2 guys i now realise were neil diamond n willie nelson
they took me to some place in the hills
where i met prince charles and madonna
(who were having a secret fling)
the party was being hosted by phil spectors little brother inch
inch spector uh huh
he was to produce wtetol?
although how could i possibly know that
using some extraterrestial technology i was healed
although many freckles appeared all over my body
(compare to pre starday!)
i was later horrified when inch and our keyboard player billy
were arrested for trading production secrets with the soviets
but it was never proved
anyway you guys all remember
how voodoo records collapsed being implicated in some phony eclipse
how the tapes went missing in the bermuda triancle
(gees it sounds like a sci fi storey!)
how shorty messhuggah who managed us briefly got offed
how They transmitted utmw but i got it mixed up
how #79 became a brief street sensation
before being blamed in the death of actor lake byrd
the doctor in question
later turned up as governor of nevada for a while
was also dick cheneys golf caddie until a mysterious accident
(involving a niblick!)
which ended his career
billy idol took # 79
and mentions it and me on the track
the fatal sure
which came out on voodoo records in brazil 86/87
one member left the band briefly to cope with his #79 traumas
one member remained unaffected
and one member was never the same again
me…?
i was hauled before congress
i was debriefed and sent back to australia
parts of my personality were erased
but my supervising torturers also slipped me MEMORY
a then new treatment for metaphysical delusions of grandeur
end of steve kilbey mark 1
several people disappeared
several more reappeared as presidents and popstars
the wheels were in motion
but what about
wtetol? itself
ah why bother…?

youve already heard it, aint ya?
cmon…its everywhere
i picked up my copy in a street market in mongolia
there it was
with the cover by warhol n everything
(cost the warner brothers a small fortune)
peruse the songs on this cheap cassette copy
yep thats it alright
was there ever talk of love?
ha!
what a story!