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ARTIST/BAND/ALBUM: CHRIS THILE/DECEIVER LABEL: SUGAR HILL PERSONNEL & EQUIPMENT: Produced by: Chris Thile, Gary Paczosa Engineered by: Gary Paczosa Studios: Minutia Sound, Seventeen Grand, Starstruck (Nashville) Equipment Notes: (Seventeen Grand) Neve VR Legend console; Digidesign Pro Tools; Genelec 1031A studio monitors --- ARTIST/BAND/ALBUM: SILVERTIDE/SHOW AND TELL LABEL: J PERSONNEL & EQUIPMENT: Produced by: Oliver Leiber, Kevin Shirley, David Ivory Engineered by: Brad Cook, Mark DeSisto, Brian Golder Assistant Engineers: Jason Cupp; Dean Nelson; Chad Essig; Dan Bucchi; Greg Price; Brian Hearit; Drew Griffiths Studios: Ocean Entertainment, Grandmaster Recorders, Ollywood, Sunset Sound (Los Angeles); Hit Factory (New York); Dylanova (PA) Mastered by: Ted Jensen, Leon Zervos at Sterling Sound (New York) Equipment Notes: (Hit Factory) SSL 9000K console; Digidesign Pro Tools HD; KRK 6000 studio monitors --- ARTIST/BAND/ALBUM: TWINEMEN/SIDESHOW LABEL: HI-N-DRY PERSONNEL & EQUIPMENT: Produced by: Twinemen Engineered by: Tom Dube, John Overstreet Studios: Hi-N-Dry, Camp Street (Cambridge, MA) Mastered by: Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital Equipment Notes: (Camp Street) Tweed/Neve M3024 console; Ampex ATR tape machine http://prosoundnews.com IN
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PG 7 LA English CY (c) 2004 Chicago Sun Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved. ***
"Forget Yourself," the 17th record from Sydney, Australia's the Church causes a listener to do just that. One minute, the swirling soundscapes driven by rippling acoustic guitars are just so much inoffensive background music in the manner of Afghan Whigs and Pink Floyd. The next minute, though, Steve Kilbey and band offer a sonic slap upside the head by way of demanding attention. Kilbey &Co. may have appeared briefly on American radar with songs including "Under the Milky Way" and "Reptile," but, Down Under, they've worked steadily, crafting an impressive catalog of moody, mellifluous pop-rock. "Forget Yourself" continues that tradition. Jeff Wisser Note: The Church will appear Friday at the House of Blues. ART
Though piano prodigy Lang Lang can be a distracting presence in concert, swaying to and fro on his bench, he appears at his most majestic on the recital disc, "Live at Carnegie Hall." NS gent : Arts/Entertainment | gmusic : Music | nrvw : Review | gcat : Political/General News | ncat : Content Types RE usil : United States - Illinois | namz : North American Countries | usa : United States | usc : Midwest U.S. IPD ARTS &ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWS MUSIC - CLASSICAL MUSIC - POPULAR REVIEWS CDs albums recordings McCue, Anne Wisser, Jeff Vargas, Ramon Kelly, Paul McKAY, NELLIE PUB Hollinger AN Document CHI0000020040311e03700082 HD DINO - the truth the whole truth and nothing but gossip. BY By DINO SCATENA. WC 1167 words PD 16 July 2003 SN Daily Telegraph SC DAITEL LA English CY (c) 2003 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd LP sir dave's good egg It goes something like this. Comedian and now film director Tony Martin walked into David Graney and Clare Moore's home studio and, not having the musical tools to describe exactly what he wanted his soundtrack to sound like, he acted the whole thing out. "It's difficult to communicate musical ideas if you don't read music, which I don't and Tony doesn't," says David Graney (or Sir David, as he refers to himself these days). "So it involved him coming to our studio and acting out scenes. He told us the story and would act out each part." TD
The movie, of course, is Bad Eggs, which opens in cinemas across the country next week. But David and Clare's CD soundtrack is out already. It wasn't an easy project, admit the pair, but was one of the most challenging and ultimately rewarding of their careers. "We enjoyed it greatly," says David. "In many ways, less abstract than doing our own music but it frees you up and gives you licence to dip into all sorts of sounds without having to second-guess whether it could be approved by whatever radio formats are available in Australia." As inspiration for the Bad Eggs music, David and Clare turned their minds back to their favourite TV shows of the past. "We've got major PhDs in loungeroom studies," says David. "We really liked the music of TV cop shows. We grew up in the golden age of television, like The Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-0, The Rockford Files, all that kind of big band music. All very lurid and vivid stuff." David and Clare ended up writing and recording more than four hours of music for the film. The whole thing took some six months to pull together, then another couple to compile the CD version of the soundtrack. In between, David and Clare reformed their '80s band, The Moodists, for a quick national tour. "It was a bit like letting some big, scary, hairy monster out of your attic," says Clare. "It was really strange. It's almost like it's not us. We don't know where that's coming from." David and Clare more recently recorded a new album with their current band, The Royal Dave Graney Show, which is scheduled for a September release. stereo for nix Want something for nothing? Well, those crazy kids from the Stereophonics are putting on a gig at the Gaelic Club on Sunday, July 27. It's the only show they'll play in Sydney. And it's absolutely free. It starts at 4pm and the first 500 people get to see one of the UK's biggest bands for nix. family reunion Placebo head back our way in a couple of weeks with memories of their last trip here still fresh in their minds. "It was amazing," Brian Molko says of their 2001 Big Day Out tour. "Well, you know, Limp Bizkit weren't mixing with the rest of the bands, which was great. "The rest of the time, At the Drive-In were there, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Coldplay, The Go-Betweens. Everybody was having a laugh, everybody getting on with each other, hanging out on the in-between days. "We built serious friendships, lasting friendships. Even Rammstein, how could I ever forget, the incredible, unstoppable Rammstein?" Placebo play Splendour and then it's three nights at the Enmore on July 25, 26 and 27. alone a lane It's suddenly as if the world has rediscovered the singer/songwriter in recent times. And one of the finest in the land lives just around the corner from here. David Lane's new album, Eleven Reasons To Sing, is one of the quiet achievers of this year's release scheduled. Although technically a solo album, David has gathered together some of the finest talents Sydney has to offer. For starters, his rhythm section has been transplanted directly out of The Cruel Sea, featuring Jim Elliot on drums and Ken Gormley on bass. "It's such a pleasure playing with them," says David. "Obviously they know each other's playing like the back of their hands. Sometimes I find myself not even playing and just listening to them, especially the first few times I played with them." Then there's the former stars of Leonardo's Bride - Dean Manning (who produced the album) and Abby Dobson (on backing vocals). Also dropping by during the recording process was The Church's Steve Kilbey, just to have a listen to what David had done with one of his songs, the album-closing Providence. "He came in and actually put the bass on during the mix," says David. "Which was really nice of him, because there was something not quite right and he came in and had a go. "He also informed me that it needed a second lower voice in the second verse. "He was saying, `It's a different character there, David - it's got to sound different'." David Lane plays the Annandale Hotel on Saturday night. Steve Kilbey won't be there so David can play whatever he wants. reed it here A couple of tours by genre-defining rockers were announced late last week. First, that cheery, charming fellow Lou Reed is heading back our way, probably in support of his wacko Raven album. However, he has also just released a greatest hits package too, so hopefully we'll hear a few more of the old hits compared to his last visit in 2000. Lou won't be bringing a drummer but he'll be joined on stage by Tai Chi Master Ren Guang-Yi. Lou plays the State Theatre on September 4. Tickets go on sale next Tuesday. Also coming out, former Pixies leader Frank Black. He's coming all on his lonesome and playing the cosy confines of the Annandale Hotel. This from the man that Kurt Cobain cited as his greatest musical influence. So, Mr Black plays the Annandale on August 19. The show will feature material from Show Me Your Tears, the upcoming album from Frank Black and the Catholics. The only thing now is deciding which show to go and see. So many choices, so little time. macy's away In case you haven't heard yet, the great Macy Gray has blown out her Australian tour which was scheduled to take place at the start of next month. According to the tour promoter, the cancellation was "due to a change in recording commitments" that would force Macy "to return to the USA after completing her tour of Japan, unfortunately resulting in the cancellation of the Australian dates." Gee, that all rings true, doesn't it? Full refunds are now available at your point of sale. No word on if she plans to reschedule at all. NS
GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment | GMUSIC : Music RE AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia IPC S30 | Magazine | SLM | Music PUB Nationwide News Pty Ltd AN Document daitel0020030716dz7g00085 HD New Releases. BY By Dino Scatena, Neala Johnson, Cyclone Wehner. WC 871 words PD 21 February 2002 SN Daily Telegraph SC DAITEL LA English CY (c) 2002 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd LP under rug swept (alanis morisette) * * * * To the world at large, Alanis Morissette apparently lost her way on her last album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. How else to explain someone releasing arguably one of the greatest rock/pop albums ever (1995's Jagged Little Pill ) and then turning around and going all, for wont of a better phrase, arty. Well, now everyone can relax - the Alanis of old is back, only much, much wiser. Superficially, at least half of the songs here could have easily slotted on Jagged Pill - only the sources of the pain, glee and exaltation here are much more complex than the young Alanis could have ever pulled off. For instance, Narcissus reeks of a nastiness that only a woman - not a girl - could conjure. Likewise, you wouldn't get the authority of 21 Things I Want In A Lover from a teenager either. Not that Under Rug Swept is another purge of angst. A lot of it finds the artist in love all over again, and hence is as romantic as An Affair To Remember. TD Musically, Morissette has only retained the best aspects of her recent experimental phase and learned that experimentation is best served in conventional, singalong parcels. dino scatena dabble (steve kilbey) While seemingly the whole world is heralding The Church's return to form with After Everything Now This (hey, some of us maintain they never lost it!), singer Steve Kilbey has quietly also gone about the business of releasing his first solo album in over a decade. Recorded in America while Kilbey spent a year stuck living in Delaware (his wife's hometown), Dabble picks up where records such as Remindlessness and the EP Narcosis dropped off. It's unmistakably the work of the Church man, but Kilbey has always managed to sustain a continuity to his solo material (which at one point was quite prolific) that runs parallel to his obviously overt influence over the band that made him famous. Alone, he's even wordier than usual (when he chooses to uses words at all) and prefers to give his voice the accompaniment of electronic sounds rather than chiming guitars. While his earliest solo efforts were free-wheeling, arthouse affairs, Dabble is full of conventional structure, while still not quite suitable - or aiming - for widespread public consumption. Rough-edged and ready, indulgent and explorative, this is music with a greater purpose than simply shifting units. Beautiful, meditative stuff. Dino Scatena cocky (kid rock) Before his single Forever crashlanded in the Top 30, there was a perception that Kid Rock's flag-waving, white trash Yankee pride was just a bit too much for Australia. About 10 million US sales failed to convince any Aussies to buy the Kid's breakthrough Devil Without a Cause, and when his DJ Uncle Kracker hit No.1 last year with Follow Me, we became practically the only country where the protege was more famous than the master. Enough hype surrounds Cocky to set this error straight, but beyond Forever, the Kid's mix of swampy metal, languid country, white boy rapping and Southern rock will have trouble making friends at radio stations. But as an album, it makes for a unique, hilarious ride. First, no one boasts better than the Kid. The words '10 million' appear again and again, and his manhood is accorded only the highest praise. Such fare could be unbearably lame, but as the Kid puts it: 'It ain't braggin', motherf...er, if you back it up.' And back it up he does, with unmatched flair at adapting classic Yankee sounds to his own blueprint. Cocky presents itself with such friendly ease that you can't help but agree with his policy of honest-to-goodness rock over 'edgy' twaddle, as laid out in Lay it on Me: 'I got rich off a'keepin' it real, while you Radioheads are reinventing the wheel.' There is more country than is healthy (the duet with Sheryl Crow is a step too far), but the Kid knows better than anyone that too much country crooning will drive a rap-rocker mad. Part way through Midnight Train to Memphis, David Spade (who starred with Kid Rock in Joe Dirt ) drops in to quip, 'I thought he was American Bad Ass. He's putting me to sleep!' The stream of rock obscenities that follows almost makes enduring the country snooze worthwhile. neala johnson kelis (wanderland) Kelis broke out of the R&B scene with her innovative debut and captivated the media with her sass - not to mention her fiery 'man-hating' hit, Caught Out There. Kaleidoscope also introduced hip-hop producers the Neptunes, who have since produced everyone from Britney Spears to No Doubt. Here Kelis and her cohorts essentially remake Kaleidoscope - but, unfortunately, it's not as good. Young, Fresh n' New is caustic metallic hip-hop that grates, No Doubt reject Perfect Day rocks out Pink-style and there's a gentler side on the freeform Little Suzie. Ironically, the spacey Star Wars theme framing the album is the best thing on offer. cyclone wehner * * * * * Lord of CDs * * * * Messiah-esque * * * Mere mortal * * False prophet * Just crap. NS
GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment | GMUSIC : Music RE AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia IPC Features | Review | New | Releases | 7 | Days | Access | All | Areas PUB News Ltd AN Document daitel0020020220dy2l000uj HD Music-review. BY By DINO SCATENA. WC 1073 words PD 28 February 2002 SN Daily Telegraph SC DAITEL LA English CY (c) 2002 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd LP Regular readers of these pages will know we've never had a problem with displaying our undying faith in The Church whenever an opportunity allows. And, we're glad to note, the numbers of devotees around the world are again growing, almost like it was in the 1980s all over again. "Even though we're oldies and goldies, even if we don't have youthful anger and enthusiasm, we have this sleek, BMW-like proficiency," said Steve Kilbey last week during a fly-by visit to Sydney before his band's world tour. TD
"I think we've reached a new level of glasnost in the band, perestroika. I've had some very happy times with the band lately. We're happy with what we're doing at the moment. We're happy with each other." And all that happiness has helped the band produce its most critically acclaimed album in years entitled After Everything, Now This. "I think this record is the business," Kilbey says. "It's quite an essential record. "And things seem to be going quite well now. We're getting played on radio in America, we're getting good reviews, going to countries that we haven't been to in a long while. It feels kind of good." Things weren't so great for Kilbey last year when he found himself stuck in - of all places - the US state of Delaware (his wife's birthplace). Delaware, declares Kilbey, was horrible. Now Kilbey, his wife and their two sets of twins are back in Sweden. "Sweden and Delaware are quite different. And so is Sydney. They're like three different points on a weird compass. Sydney and Stockholm I don't mind but Delaware, Jesus, it's terrible." The one good thing to come out of his year in America was Dabble, Kilbey's first solo album in a decade. Despite the passing of time, it sounds as though not much has changed in Kilbey solo land. "I don't ever strive for continuity," he says. "It's a good thing but I think it comes of its own accord. I don't think you should ever get hung up on trying to have continuity. I'm always trying to push the envelope a bit." From Sydney, Kilbey was heading to Essex in England to meet up with the rest of the band and begin their three-month world tour. Kilbey says the band's pre-album shows at the Basement late last year - where After Everything, Now This was performed in its entirety - were some of the singer's favourite gigs in years. "I enjoyed those shows so much," Kilbey says. "I mean, for me nowadays, the way I feel at my age, the kind of music I'm into, I feel like I've done my days on the stage with blaring, screaming amps. "When you do it for 22 years, it just burns your ears out. I just can't tolerate it any more. I'm glad we've discovered this way. It's the first time with the band that I've heard myself sing." The Church will be back in Sydney to wrap up the current world tour with a show booked for the Enmore Theatre on May 2. "We're using the world as a warm-up so that when we come back to Australia it will be absolutely perfect," smiles Kilbey. kasey tuned up What a week it's been for Ms Kasey Chambers: her album (Barricades and Brickwalls) finally hits No. 1 in Australia, while the girl herself collapses on stage in the US and gets put on the first plane home. While Chambers wasn't taking any calls this week - she's taking some well-deserved R&R with partner Cori - her record company assured us that all is fine in Kasey land. The expectant mother (she's due to give birth in May) has been told to take it easy for the time being but that doesn't mean she has any intention of pulling out of her show at the Metro on March 8, nor her slot at the Byron Bay Blues Festival. As for her support spot on Steve Earle's show at the Metro on April 2, well, we'll just have to wait on that one. As for last week's fainting spell, Chambers' people say the whole incident was blown way out of proportion. Chambers was performing a showcase gig at San Francisco's Bimbo's 365 Club when, four songs in, she slowly slipped to the floor. A representative of Chambers' US label told reporters afterwards: "Doctors have advised her to go home immediately." Chambers arrived home on Saturday and, according to her record company here, is fighting fit. The problem with the San Francisco show, they told us, was that it was a hot and smoky room and Chambers was not feeling the best before the show. By the way, there are still 300 tickets left for Chambers' Metro show. oil coating If you watch Midnight Oil's Cold Live at the Chapel performance on Channel 10 this Saturday night, you might wonder what has happened to all the signage for the beer company that sponsors the event. Well, true to form, the Oils demanded that backdrop billboard be covered up. The band also used towels to cover up emblems painted on the stage. chair's timetable silverchair's new album Diorama finally has a release date set in concrete (although the concrete still needs to dry a little). The album will be out locally on April 1. The delay was caused by the US deciding when they would release the record. They've now settled for July 9. Meanwhile, the band is back in rehearsals, preparing for what may well be the biggest rock festival Tasmania has ever seen. The Gone South Festival, which takes place in Hobart on March 16, will also feature Incubus, Grinspoon and Something For Kate. kylie's hitch Aside from taking out a couple of BRIT Awards last week, Kylie Minogue was also awarded NME's best pop act prize. Asked if she was indeed getting hitched - as the world media has reported during the week - a surly Minogue replied: "No. For the record, I'm not getting married. Do I look like I'm getting married?" Whatever the hell that means. NS
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LA English CY (c) 2002 Nationwide News Pty Limited LP Under Rug Swept Alanis Morisette 5 Stars (Rating) To the world at large, Alanis Morissette apparently lost her way on her last album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. How else to explain someone releasing arguably one of the greatest rock op albums ever (1995's Jagged Little Pill) and then turning around and going all, for wont of a better phrase, arty. TD
Well, now everyone can relax - the Alanis of old is back, only much, much wiser. Superficially, at least half of the songs here could have easily slotted on Jagged Pill - only the sources of the pain, glee and exaltation here are much more complex than the young Alanis could have ever pulled off. For instance, Narcissus reeks of a nastiness that only a woman - not a girl - could conjure. Likewise, you wouldn't get the authority of 21 Things I Want In A Lover from a teenager either. Not that Under Rug Swept is another purge of angst. A lot of it finds the artist in love all over again, and hence is as romantic as An Affair To Remember. Musically, Morissette has only retained the best aspects of her recent experimental phase and learned that experimentation is best served in conventional, singalong parcels. Dino Scatena Dabble Steve Kilbey 4 Stars (Rating) WHILE seemingly the whole world is heralding The Church's return to form with After Everything Now This (hey, some of us maintain they never lost it!), singer Steve Kilbey has quietly also gone about the business of releasing his first solo album in more than a decade. Recorded in America while Kilbey spent a year stuck living in Delaware (his wife's hometown), Dabble picks up where records such as Remindlessness and the EP Narcosis dropped off. It's unmistakably the work of the Church man, but Kilbey has always managed to sustain a continuity to his solo material (which at one point was quite prolific) that runs parallel to his obviously overt influence over the band that made him famous. Alone, he's even wordier than usual (when he chooses to uses words at all) and prefers to give his voice the accompaniment of electronic sounds rather than chiming guitars. While his earliest solo efforts were free-wheeling, arthouse affairs, Dabble is full of conventional structure, while still not quite suitable - or aiming - for widespread public consumption. Rough-edged and ready, indulgent and explorative, this is music with a greater purpose than simply shifting units. Beautiful, meditative stuff. Dino Scatena Digital Bullet RZA 3 1/2 Stars (Rating) WHEN members of the Wu-Tang Clan are not producing a team effort it means they're busy working on solo projects. During the past six months the Rza has been hard at it, crafting the third and fourth Wu offerings while splitting time to knock out his own album Rza as Bobby Digital in Digital Bullet. And though this has been on the streets for a minute it's worth tuning in especially if you're a fan of that amalgamation of twisted loops, bytes and beats which are the mainstay of the Wu. Rza takes a step by step, graphic, punishing look at the New York projects (high rise housing commision blocks). It's a tale of what he sees is what you get and believe me it's ugly. The lyrics are cold and hard, but after all they're factual. He tackles Domestic Violence Pt.2 with what can only be described as something you would hear on a Friday night coming from a neighbour's lounge - it's "life in the projects". Fellow Wu bretheren Method Man flows on the erotic, piano-driven latin beat La Rhumba as does Killa Sin and Beretta. Somehow the then fugitive Ol' Dirty Bastard dropped in to add his two cents worth on Black Widow Pt.2. Veteran reggae artist Junior Reid does his thing on Righteous Way. Produced by Rza, Tru Master and a welcome return to the fray by Tony Touch this is worth a taste. Tony Grant. NS
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POLYSERENA George 777 LIKE Jeff Buckley, George's brother/sister team Katie and Ty Noonan have such heart-stoppingly pure voices that crowds respond with an instant fanaticism. Their beautifully textured debut Polyserena is good in parts (Special Ones, Run) and curiously unsatisfying elsewhere. Like Buckley, their gift overshadows the strength of the actual songs. TD
Fragile melodies float uneasily among too many instruments, and almost every song builds to a hysterical crescendo that demonstrates the Noonans' vocal power, but snuffs out the flame of the original emotion, or idea. What George take out, not what they put in, will determine whether they achieve the international recognition their talent commands. - ANDREW McUTCHEN DABBLE Steve Kilbey 7771/2 WHILE seemingly the whole world is heralding The Church's return to form with After Everything Now This (hey, some of us maintain they never lost it!), singer Steve Kilbey has quietly also gone about the business of releasing his first solo album in over a decade. Recorded in America while Kilbey spent a year stuck living in Delaware (his wife's hometown), Dabble picks up where records such as Remindlessness and the EP Narcosis dropped off. It's unmistakably the work of the Church frontman, but Kilbey has always managed to sustain a continuity to his solo material that runs parallel to his obviously overt influence over the band that made him famous. Alone, he's wordier than usual, preferring to accompany his voice with electronic sounds rather than chiming guitars. Rough-edged and ready, indulgent and explorative, this is music with a greater purpose than simply shifting units. Beautiful, meditative stuff. - DINO SCATENA JEBEDIAH Jebediah 777 PERTH quartet Jebediah describe Yesterday When I Was Brave as a turning point. Why? It's longer than three minutes, doesn't feature a chorus you need therapy to get out of your head, and it's got, like, piano in it. It's also really good. Emotional without being earnest, important without being awkward. This is the new Jebediah and they sound more like Blur's Song 2-phase than their previous annoying teeny pop. Still ultra-melodic, Jebediah swing between the stomping bagpipe-pop of Fall Down to Country Holiday Song's country holiday style, never forgetting a five-minute tune is two minutes too long. Those over 16 need now apply. - ANDREW McUTCHEN. NS
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The Church will never match its masterful 1988 album "Starfish," which was full of perfect pop-rock, including "Under the Milky Way," one of the finest pop songs of the '80s. So there's no use comparing. The band has made great records since, from the sprawlingly desolate "Priest = Aura" to the epically prog-rock "Sometime Anywhere." For its 15th album, the Church abandons its eight-minute experimentations and returns to five-minute rock songs, which is perhaps why the new album is called "After Everything Now This." Still, it's easy to see why the Church isn't on a major label anymore. This sounds a lot like an old Church record, with Steve Kilbey's brooding baritone vocals and the band's sometimes plodding melodicism. But that's why it's so good. TD
Even though the band's leaders, Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper, have been at this for 20 years, they are still able to come up with two of their prettiest songs yet, "Song for the Asking" and the almost ambient "Invisible." The Church is at the Paradise next Friday. RF
WEEKEND / MUSIC / CD REPORT / NEW ON DISC NS GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment RE NAMZ : North American Countries | USA : United States IPD LIV Kilbey, Steve Willson-Piper, Marty AN Document bstngb0020020420dy4j0002h HD The Church still stands rock solid W D. BY By SALLY FISHER. WC 1531 words PD 28 April 2002 SN Sunday Herald Sun SC SUHERS LA English CY (c) 2002 Herald and Weekly Times Limited LP Rock is strewn with acts that hit the big time, only to lose momentum, breaking up then reforming to play tawdry tributes to themselves. Not so The Church - now on a world tour to promote album number 16. Just don't ask these Aussie rockers to play their golden oldies. SALLY FISHER talks to frontman Steve Kilbey Groupies are chasing them and strangely some of them are now guys. The lead singer was in a drug bust and the whole band stormed out of a US radio station last month when asked to play one of their '80s hits live on air. And a recent brush with death haunts them still. The Church may be middle-aged and showing a bit of paunch, but they're all rock 'n' roll cred. TD "We're getting older but we're no nostalgia act," fumes frontman Steve Kilbey, 47, referring to his rejection of Unguarded Moment and Under the Milky Way as playable songs. These and a clutch of other Church classics made them a household name more than 20 years ago. It was a time when pop owed more to Molly Meldrum and tight denim than knowing your Stratocaster from your Telecaster. Today they're in the middle of a world tour and promoting their 16th album. "I get f-ing annoyed when people tell us to dwell on the old days. I pretty much excommunicate anyone from my circle if they say that," says Kilbey, speaking drowsily from a hotel room in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the US leg of their tour. He has just woken up. It's 3pm and he has been napping. Middle age is like that. The band has been on the road for a few months promoting their latest album, after everything. now this. "It's not that we're ashamed of our past, everything we do is based on development from that, it's a continual evolution and you have to move forward. We're just not interested in playing (the '80s music). There may be short-term gain but in the long term it's negative," he says, winding up as he wakes up. Rock is littered with names who cracked it big but ran out of ideas, broke up or, worse, turned into bands playing tributes to themselves. Church contemporaries of the 1980s who have all but vanished include Pseudo Echo, The Models, Real Life, Dynamic Hepnotics, Icehouse, The Saints and The Reels. For the band, replaying golden oldies is insulting and creative suicide. And anyway, they'd never fit into their 1980s jeans, even if they tried. "I'm lucky that despite being well into my 40s I still have most of my hair. Twenty years ago I was very skinny, I weigh more now but am not hugely overweight. I don't have any debilitating health problems. yet," he says. He reckons a fat rock star could be tolerated by fans, it just depends on the music and the performer's image. "I mean if Prince gets all fat and bloated and came out singing Cream then that's not going to work. But look at Elton John, he's pretty thick around the middle. He could be totally toothless, fat and bald and he'd still be a celebrity." "Now if we're talking New Order (who toured Australia last summer) who are showing a bit of middle-age spread, then it's okay to be overweight and a rock star," Kilbey says. He reckons the fans would tolerate even a bit more flab in The Church than they're showing now. "We could be Elton John's size I reckon," he speculates. "We haven't made our name on being sexually desirable young men but as a group making good music. And it's much better if you can grow old into your career. It's like being an AFL player who's finished at 40 compared to a golfer who's just getting going at the same age." Tell that to the groupies. The band still attracts women offering sex but intriguingly the hangers-on are men. Kilbey says these guys aren't offering a good time, they just want to be with a celebrity, to sneak a little of the aura, especially in the US. "Because we're not from America we're exotic. And being an entertainer here is a valid thing to do. People here treat you really well," he says. According to Kilbey the audience reception for the band's acoustic tour has been good. Reviews of the album have been glowing and despite their being banned from the radio station they walked out on last month, college radio that plays alternative music has picked up after everything. now this. And The Church's sound is unmistakable, despite line-up changes, fights and predictions the end was nigh. It's still stripped-bare guitar and lyrics that are a little too disturbing for the Top 40. It doesn't sell like it once did but now they're playing for themselves. "I wouldn't say there has been a huge change in our music, more of a continual evolution. And if the reviews are good, and for this album they've been brilliant, then we're doing something right," Kilbey says, adding they're picking up some new fans along the way, with shows in the US attracting people in the 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. "But the average seems to be 30s." The Church's sense of mortality was sharpened late last year when their Sydney-bound Qantas 767 was forced into an emergency landing. Only minutes after leaving Melbourne, the passengers heard a loud bang as one of the engines blew a hole in its casing. For Kilbey the experience may as well have been yesterday. He has lost his tolerance for travel. "This morning we were flying from Seattle to Salt Lake and I realise being in that plane, when I thought I was going to die, has left a scar on my psyche. I get strange feelings, even if I'm on a train, that something's wrong," he says. Kilbey and co have spent their lives flying around the world as the band members are scattered around the globe. Marty Willson-Piper lives in New York, Peter Koppes and Tim Powles are in Sydney and Kilbey lives in Stockholm with his wife, Natalie, and the elder of his two sets of twin daughters. The other two live in America. Being a dad has exposed his musical tastes in a new way. His elder daughters are 11-year-olds whose tastes turn to empowered black girl rappers and angry teen queen, Pink. Guitar-based music like The Church is dismissed as boring. "They're proud of what I do but they don't really like it. And when they play their CDs I say, just like my dad did, 'You call that music?' and 'Turn that down'." They have inherited his desire to perform and have already appeared on TV and in films in Sweden. "They have definitely caught the bug and I'd be surprised if they don't end up in showbiz somehow." Touring in the 21st century is a simplified, family affair compared to how The Church got around in the 1980s. Where they used to go by bus, they're now using planes - and flying economy to save cash. They have no entourage, it's the band and guest performer David Lane. And because they've known each other so long, there's less bickering and griping. Some of the experiences Kilbey probably wishes hadn't happened. In October 1999 the band was forced to play on in New York while the lead singer spent a night locked in a cell with 30 others. He was nabbed for trying to buy heroin on the street and ordered to clean subway carriages for a day. "A drug bust is something every ageing rock star should have under his belt," he said at the time. For better or worse all the band's experiences, separately and as a group, have impacted on their music. "We must be a superior group to one that's playing some pub for the first time but we don't have the same adrenalin, anger and enthusiasm we did. But having experience makes our improvisation much better," he says. In an industry where bust-ups are the norm, The Church - with Kilbey and Willson-Piper as the remaining founding members - persist as a band with cred despite their age. On a par with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and New Order. The ingredient behind their longevity is no secret. "I read it recently, someone who has been together longer than we have said 'We haven't finished with each other yet' and that's how it is for us. We have shared so much, we're beyond friends, we're like brothers. And we haven't finished." The Church plays an acoustic concert at Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre on May 5. NS
GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment | GMUSIC : Music RE AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia IPC Sunday | Magazine PUB News Ltd AN Document suhers0020020427dy4s0009k HD The church resurrection. BY By DINO SCATENA. WC 606 words PD 16 March 2000 SN Daily Telegraph SC DAITEL LA English CY (c) 2000 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd LP It's one of those once rare yet increasingly frequent occurrences where all the members of The Church are in the same place at the same time: in a studio in Melbourne, working on a true follow-up to 1998's Hologram TD
Of Baal. By traditional Church standards, it's been a busy few years. There's been a couple of albums, a couple of US tours, and another Australian visit (only half the band live here), the third since Steve Kilbey's premature announcement of a farewell series of gigs. "I never took seriously for one second anything Steve said about the band not being together," says guitarist Marty Willson-Piper. "I never did. He was going through something for 10 minutes. But then we got signed [to an English label], we made a record that got good reviews. It was kind of all back on again." Willson-Piper says he rarely sees or speaks to the other members of The Church unless there's work to be done. He now lives in London while Kilbey has moved to Sweden, leaving only Peter Koppes and Tim Powles as Australian residents. "I get copied on a couple of e-mails that Peter sends to other people," says Willson-Piper about communication with the others. Yet The Church has seemingly been going through one of the most productive, at least busiest, phases of its 20-year-plus career. "We've been doing quite a lot of things as far as The Church is concerned," says Willson-Piper. "I guess it's just subject to demand. It's all a matter of going where you're wanted, really. We're not the kind of band that can go anywhere unless there's an interest." This isn't to say it's all gone to Church-by-numbers these days. In fact, the band's last proper studio album, Hologram Of Baal, rates as one of the band's best works. "It does everything a Church album should do," says Willson-Piper. "It's intriguing, it's contemporary, it's moody, it's lyrically strong, it's got good guitar lines, good guitar sounds. It's got a certain magic all of its own, it's uncompromising. "For The Church to be taken as an important group, we always have to do something that far exceeds the record that we did before it. It seems a lot of bands are able to make an average record and everybody says it's good. "But with The Church, we have these demands on us, from outside and from inside, to make some kind of special record every time we go into the studio." This philosophy was put on hold last year when the band released Box Of Birds, a loose collection of covers recorded and mixed in 10 days. "I think the attitude towards the covers album was very natural," says Willson-Piper. "It was great to do all those sorts of songs, lots of one-take stuff." Less fun for Willson-Piper was the infamous show in New York late last year where singer Kilbey failed to materialise because he was ... er, otherwise detained. "The Church has had lots of strange evenings but that was probably one of the best," he says. "Yeah, Steve didn't show for the New York show. "So, anyway, I just went out and did it. I was in a pretty good mood that night and I managed to pull it off." the church plays the metro on saturday night and march 31. (c) Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd, 2000. NS
GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment RE AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia AN Document daitel0020010805dw3g00p4m SE Metro HD Inner-city Blues BY Nick Leys WC 1709 words PD 31 March 2000 SN Sydney Morning Herald SC SMHH PG 4
LA English CY Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd LP In a back-street recording studio in Surry Hills, broken young lives are being rebuilt through music. NICK LEYS reports. Jamie Ryan is the next Michael Jackson - just ask him. TD
"I'm on my way to stardom, kid!" he says, standing in the rain in a Surry Hills back street, cigarette held defiantly between thumb and forefinger. At 21 he's all attitude and defiance. The crossed-arm stance and hip-hop inflected speech are adopted from high profile rappers and adapted through eight hard years living on Sydney's streets. "I know it's [stardom] out there and this place is going to help me," he says. "This place" is the Sydney City Mission's Creative Youth Initiatives centre (CYI) in Little Albion Street, Surry Hills, an inner-city locale that is sought out, rather than stumbled upon. Behind the heavy security grill and up two flights of stairs, people like Jamie - the "marginalised youth" described in government departmental reports into homelessness, drug dependency, mental illness or all of the above - are being given an opportunity to pick themselves up from their back alleys and refuges. When Lou Reed sang about Jenny -"her life was saved by rock 'n' roll" - he could have been describing any of the students in the Sounds of the Street (SOTS) program. Since 1993, SOTS has taken in people aged 16 to 25 who have fallen between the cracks and put them through a crash course in music production. The bare-knuckle studio where they meet three days a week is a mixture of threadbare furniture and donated musical equipment ranging from chipped guitars to the latest music-sequencing software. The program scrapes by, thanks to the support of the Sydney City Mission, The Baxter Foundation and the Raymond E. Purves Foundation. This funding (as well as sponsorship from corporations including McDonald's) is necessary in the absence of any government funding. The resources are modest, but the results have been inspiring, not just to those involved in the program, but to anyone who has listened to the nine CDs the program has produced. The latest, a compilation of the first six CDs titled The Only Limit That I See Is The Sky, is an idiosyncratic mix of styles - the odd folk ballad rubbing shoulders with death metal and hip-hop. Its launch will see artists from the program on-stage alongside local musicians including Steve Kilbey, Carla Werner and Leonardo's Bride. Program co-ordinators Steve Bull and John Kilbey (Steve's brother) are both musicians in their own right. They've also become counsellors of sorts to the kids who come through the door. "There are two levels of success here - those who go on to become musicians and those who come and get the confidence to go and get a job," Bull says, as he waits for the current intake to arrive. "That's really the primary aim - building self-esteem - but it's also about building skills and creative expression." They are, as Kilbey jokes, "the unearthed of the underclass". The scheme recruits via youth centres, refuges and word of mouth, interviewing potential students to determine who will benefit the most. Some have basic musical skills, others can barely read or write. The one basic prerequisite is a desire for self-sufficiency. Bull and Kilbey are by now used to the fact that if a student hasn't appeared by mid-morning, they probably aren't coming at all. "If they're not here three days running, we assume they've gone AWOL and we give the place to someone else," says Kilbey. The normal drop-out rate is about three out of 12. He estimates 70 per cent of the students are or have been homeless. "Something I've realised since I've been working here is that being homeless isn't just about not having somewhere to live, but is also about not having support from family and friends." The transient nature of the group makes contact problematic, Kilbey says. Circumstances also interfere with a student's ability to complete the course. "We had one guy who wrote a really good song and had only to finish the vocals. The night before, he had trouble with the law and had to split. I was disappointed, but it made me realise it was up to them." Back in the studio it is hard not to see the child in Jamie, especially when his energy fluctuates and swings so frequently. He parades around the room giving a high voltage freestyle rap performance to anyone who will listen, then slumps, head down on a couch, silent, yawning and red-eyed. When he raps, Jamie is lucid and demonstrates a real talent for rhyme, rhythm and expression. "I've always had to be the man of the house - rap's kept me strong, helped me be up, up, up and support my Mum," he says Jamie, back outside for a smoke after laying down some fresh freestyle to a hip-hop track. "I was never able to be a child, I had to be the man. It's not her fault, it's just the way it was." After his methadone-addicted father left the family, Jamie's life became textbook urban dysfunctional. He was involved in a gang in the Parramatta area, was homeless at 13 and began suffering bouts of depression - "from constant failure and trying to please my Mum" - by the time he was 18. He hasn't seen his father in several years, nor does he want to. "My mother had traumas through her life and was always an angry person. She'd go off at me, I'd go off into my room and play rap. I can't stop; I like to be cocky. A lot of men have made her sad in her life. She told me once she had big expectations for me. This is something to give back to her - I don't want her to think she was a failure. "I've come to terms with it all. I've been taking it slow, but it's going to work." Among the rappers he emulates - Busta Rhymes, Ice-T, Run DMC, Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur - Jamie looks up to artists who have come through the program and have continued making music with some success. Among them is Lez Bex, 21 years old and a 1998 graduate. Originally from Cunnamulla in Western Queensland, Lex is a guiding light for many of the students. He has recorded five tracks through SOTS, has been involved in several other projects and performances and is recording a debut album at the Community Youth Initiatives studio. Among them is Lez Bex, 21 years old and a 1998 graduate. Originally from Cunnamulla in Western Queensland, Lex is a guiding light for many of the students. He has recorded five tracks through SOTS, has been involved in several other projects and performances and is recording a debut album at the Community Youth Initiatives studio. His music reflects "everyday living from someone without much". "I've had a great life, but a prick of a life as well," he says. "There have been lots of challenges, but I use those as a learning facility instead of a downfall." Homeless for almost 12 months before he joined the program, Lez spent about nine years living on the streets. He has also spent time in prison. "It's something you get over," he says. "Other people have it much harder than you do." It's a positive approach mirrored by Jamie and his classmates who have assembled in the studio to work on a track. Matt, 24, has been on methadone for the past three years. "This is a good outlet. If you are using drugs, it does take the place of that. Boredom is a big thing - using for a while was great, but it hasn't been for a long time. I can't convince myself it's fun. It's nice, like a hot shower, but ..." He says he is also interested in the scriptwriting course, one of many creative projects the centre offers. Ex-student Bobby D, a 23-year-old drug-user who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, drops in. "If it hadn't been for this course, a lot of people would be f---ed. I came out of a psych ward straight into this place. I left and fell apart again. Rehab can detox you, but leaves you at square one. This place can take you to squares three, four or five." As he speaks, 18-year-old Josh Moala records a Barry White style vocal he has written. He skipped court last year - "taxi assaults, rolling people, a few robberies, nothing big" - and returned to his native Tonga. On returning to Australia, Josh handed himself in and is now on the straight and narrow. "It worked out for me. At least I didn't have to see the inside and I've got a clearer state of mind." Josh says he hopes the course will enable him to record music with his gang, FOB. "Our studio is a back lane - when we drink up, we sing and jam," he says. "We're natural street kids; it's in our blood. And it's natural for Tongans to fight, but we're going to fight through our music." At the end of the day, the organisers are philosophical about the role they are playing. "We are dealing with people the education system has failed, some who would find it difficult fitting into other places. For us it is about giving a positive experience to people who haven't had many positive experiences," Bull says. The launch of The Only Limit I Can See is the Sky featuring performances by SOTS artists and Leonardo's Bride, Steve Kilbey and Carla Werner is at the Basement on Thursday. It's just the way it goes, see, not everything in life goes planned or red rosy. Sometimes you've got to take it on the chin. You got problems, walk it off with a grin. An extract from Respect by Jamie Ryan AN
Document smhh000020010813dw3v007p9 HD Write on, rock star. BY By Iain Shedden. WC 1059 words PD 17 July 1999 SN The Australian SC AUSTLN LA English CY (c) 1999 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd LP
Stephen Cummings has lasted a quarter-century in the rock business by taking control of his own destiny, as Iain Shedden reports. ROBERT Moore is a rock star in the world-acclaimed band the Honeys. Feted everywhere he goes, his celebrity status starts to wilt in his adopted country, the US. He returns to Australia, whereupon the inevitable slide towards rock 'n'roll obscurity begins. As if that isn't bad enough, during a performance he's hit by a bolt of lightning and killed. So begins the latest tome by Stephen Cummings - Melbourne singer and tunesmith, former Sports frontman, occasional storyteller and author of two novels, the latest of which, Stay Away from Lightning Girl, features the tragic Moore. TD
Lightning aside, it's an ominous and familiar tale, one that the casual observer might assume pertains in some way to its author. (In fact, the book draws on a similarly titled and themed song by 60s American popsters Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra.) While there are parallels to be drawn between his protagonist and himself (including a nice little sideline doing jingles for TV commercials), Cummings sees his writing career more as a bit of fun than an excuse for a thinly disguised autobiography. His raison d'etre remains music, which is why he's taking off around the country once more, this time with a new album, Spiritual Bum, in tow. The album marks another turn in Cummings's musical journey. After his 80s flirtations with dance music, which spawned a string of minor hits such as Backstabbers and Gymnasium, and his occasionally ambient dabblings in the 90s facilitated in part by Steve Kilbey of the Church, Spiritual Bum is a more laid-back acoustic affair, reminiscent of late 80s albums Lovetown and A New Kind of Blue. "It is more of a singer/songwriter record," he says, lolling back on the comfortable sofa at Festival Records in Sydney, his new home in terms of CD releases. "Because I'm on a modest budget, I have to do what I do a certain way." That means recording most of his work at home in his garage-cum-studio in Melbourne, which doesn't lend itself to large groups of personnel and instruments. "After doing two records with Steve Kilbey, where it was a more atmospheric mix, I wanted to take control more myself," he says. "I had the idea to make it more singer-songwritey [his term] ... keep the backing really simple. I tried to make the songs less about little stories and make them more direct. I'm not trying to cross over, more just broaden what I do." He was looking to emulate the subtle textures of Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, for whom he has much admiration. The two have a similarly melancholy view of life, although on titles such as Such Luck to be Alive (a musical It's a Wonderful Life), Wishing Machine and Because It's Spring, Cummings shows he's just as adept at combining wry observation and optimism in a love song. There are also plenty of delicate textures from guitarist Ashley Naylor, from Melbourne band Even. The term rock star has never fitted Cummings as well as the suits he likes to wear. Rather than reaching the peaks of fame and then sliding down, he has maintained a steady presence in the Australian rock'n'roll vanguard throughout his 25-year career. He's also written music for films and for Australian Dance Theatre, and penned a screenplay with Melbourne film-maker James Clayden. Indeed Melbourne has played a crucial part in his musical survival. Cummings is just one of many musicians who thrive on the city's healthy live circuit, while those in Sydney struggle as venues continue to close. "People go out more [in Melbourne]," he says. "There's lots of smaller and medium-sized venues, which makes it easier to keep going. There are people who come to play from Sydney who have never played in Sydney." Such an imbalance also makes it difficult for an artist such as Cummings to travel interstate. "You can only play one or two shows in Sydney. If you have a whole band, you have to have a record company or somebody to pay for it." During the 90s Cummings has released quality self-penned albums that generally attract critical acclaim and limited but loyal buyers. It may not generate vast wealth but it's a living, one that he says is "about the same as a schoolteacher". "The bonus is I have lot of free time," he adds. This is where the books come in. Cummings got the idea from his girlfriend, Kathleen O'Brien, who turned her hand to writing romance novels after moving from Sydney to Melbourne. She encouraged her partner to do something similar. His first book, Wonder Boy, published in 1996, had an autobiographical strain, concentrating on the relationship between a father and his 10-year-old son (Cummings has a son, Curtis). The new book draws heavily on the foibles of the music industry, something in which Cummings is equally qualified. He calls it a "musical comedy without the music". Becoming a novelist would seem a logical progression for someone whose live performances are noted as much for their introductory anecdotes as the songs but he admits the process is not easy for him. Shy by nature, his witty and often lengthy ramblings at shows developed from an entertainer's fear of silence. Nor is he intent on becoming another Henry Rollins, alternating between music, novels and the spoken word. The anecdotes are a way of "breaking the ice", he says. "It's more about making myself relaxed." The books are "not high literature". "Books are something I have to force myself to do. I went to film school for a year and a half and made little films at home. So as I look at it, they're more like making little films than novels. It doesn't cost anything to do. It's kind of like a hobby for me." Spiritual Bum is out on Festival Records. Stay Away From Lightning Girl (Allen & Unwin, $17.95) is published on August 8. - SECT-Review - TYPE-Feature Music Review. (c) Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd, 1999. NS
GCAT : Political/General News RE ASIAZ : Asian Countries | AUSNZ : Australia and New Zealand | AUSTR : Australia AN Document austln0020010901dv7h00gh1 HD Pace heating up. BY By Geoff Harden. WC 558 words PD 23 January 1998 SN Belfast News Letter SC BELNEL PG 17 LA English CY (c) 1998 Century Newspapers, Ltd. LP
Visitors and familiar faces AFTER the usual post-holiday lull, it's all happening over the next few days with visitors from America and Australia, old hands the Fureys and Tommy Makem and even a Burns supper without the supper. TD
English based American tenor sax player Spike Robinson and jazz/bluegrass banjo player Alison Brown lead the pack with gigs this evening at the Belfast Boat Club and Front Page respectively. Robinson hit the London jazz scene when he was in the US navy in 1949, playing with Ronnie Scott, Johnny Dankworth and Vic Feldman. Since then he has played with a raft of top names and recorded a couple of dozen albums of his own. He is a smooth, breathy player tending towards the classic ballads. After the Belfast gig, he plays the Charlemont Arms in Armagh tomorrow with local man Mike Quellin on bass, joining Dublin piano and drums team Jim Docherty and Johnny Wadham. Alison Brown and her Quartet play early at the Front Page, in the comfort of the back room, before heading down to UTV for a spot on Kelly. Tomorrow they are in Peter Bryson's Town and Country, Magherafelt and on Sunday they play Sandino's in Londonderry. The third visiting American is acoustic blues guitarist and singer Eric Bibb who was a big hit at the Guinness Spot during last years Festival at Queen's. A nephew of MJQ founder John Lewis and son of folk singer Leon Bibb, Eric has carved his own niche with a distinctive blend of soulful and gospel-influenced country blues. His music comes from the same direction as Mississippi John Hurt and Rev Gary Davis but with a modern touch. His gig at the Front Page starts around 8.30pm. The Australian visitors are two members of Sydney based band The Church. The full band, which has recorded eleven albums, sold out Whelan's in Dublin a couple of years ago. This time, Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper decided to come on their own, with just their twelve-string guitars and a sackful of songs, for a short Irish tour which takes in the Dungloe in Londonderry tonight and the Dufferin Arms in Killyleagh tomorrow. Two Irish names in the international big league play tomorrow. New York based Tommy Makem, who was part of a super closing show at the Festival at Queen's in November, plays the Ardhowen Theatre. The Fureys, without Finbar these days, return to the Waterfront Hall; they still play most of the hits along with one or two newer numbers. The Burns night, also tomorrow, is at the Crescent Arts Centre. The evening of songs, music, poems and stories will include a contribution from the not very Scottish (but very wonderful) Appalachian Strings. GIGS Tonight: Alison Brown Quartet - Front Page. Spike Robinson Quartet - Belfast Boat Club. Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper - Dungloe Bar, Londonderry. Saturday: Alison Brown Quartet - Town & Country, Magherafelt. Tommy Makem - Ardhowen Theatre. The Fureys - Waterfront Hall. Spike Robinson Quartet - Charlemont Arms, Armagh. Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper - Dufferin Arms, Killyleagh. A Night With Robbie - Crescent Arts Centre. Sunday: Alison Brown Quartet - Sandino's. Londonderry. Tuesday: Eric Bibb - Front Page. For further information on the Belfast News Letter please call 01232 68000. Copyright Century Newspapers Ltd, 1998. NS
GCAT : Political/General News | GENT : Arts/Entertainment RE EURZ : European Countries | UK : United Kingdom | WEURZ : Western European Countries AN Document belnel0020010922du1n00if4 SE Saturday Extra HD On The COUCH BY Chris Beck WC 1376 words PD 21 June 1997 SN The Age SC AGEE PG 2
LA English CY Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd LP You're interested in surrealism. Can that be used in ways of conducting your life? There is that saying that the ultimate surrealist act is to walk into a street full of people and start shooting them down. But no one is going to look at Martin Bryant and say: "What a crazy surrealist guy.'' The surrealists themselves had all these grandiose ideas which, as far as I can tell, none of them actually lived their life by. TD
Is it applicable to music? Oh absolutely. That thing of trying to deal directly with your subconscious. Trying to bypass the conscious mind, which is trying to filter out everything it thinks is irrelevant. I'm sitting here and I'm just seeing things that are relevant to me as an egotistical 42-year-old man. I'm thinking: "There's another man here. How old is he? Would he compete for a woman I'm interested in?'' And "this chair's comfortable and I'm a bit cold''. But, really, if I were a five-year-old child, there would be a wealth of information absolutely bombarding me. As we get older, we learn to filter out all the useless information until we are just living this survival, competitive, kind of thing. You meet kids before they start going to school and they are walking around like everything's a trip. After starting school the focus changes ... To walk down the street, get a job and catch a train home. You can't be concerned with how beautiful your hand is or how beautiful the sky is because you'd never get anything done. But you tap into your subconscious for your songs with the Church and your solo material? I tap into it for a song and I pull the song back into the world. But I'm as much a victim of the mundane. I know so much about that other world by reading the surrealists and taking mind-expanding drugs. I know that it's out there. We are this tiny invisible frame away from all this wonderful stuff, but I'm locked into the nine-to-five, pay-the-bills humdrum as much as anybody. In your book Earthed, you wrote that the magic is fading from this world. What was the magic that you wish could come back? I feel that the more computers and TVs there are, and the more advertising there is, and the more machines and stuff, I think the other things are being squeezed out - if they ever existed. I feel like all the books that we read as kids wouldn't appeal to us so much if there hadn't been, at some stage, you know, the fairies and the dragons and all the things that apparently aren't here anymore. And one feels as a child that they should exist. Magic isn't important any more. Do you want to have an influence over your two children? The only message I want to get through to my two girls is be a child as long as you can. Unfortunately, girls have this incredible pressure, especially these days, to go on diets and put on lipstick and drink beer and smoke cigarettes and kiss boys. I want to say to them, if you are 16 and you want to do childish things, do it. Don't conform to that stupid world out there. Do you enjoy the feeling of melancholy? A long time ago, I perceived this wonderful contradiction in art that very sad films, songs, paintings, photos, books, bring out this wonderful feeling of triumph. You would think if you read a really happy book, it would make you happy. And yet the greatest books tend to be sad. I realised that by writing sad songs I could make people happier. I'm not quite sure how that works. Is the melancholy you enjoy in your reality or more in prose? It's both. If your girlfriend has just said goodbye for ever and it's a cold, rainy day and you are walking along the side of a grey beach and you are totally on your own, I think there is a certain sort of pleasure in that. What makes you happy? The only thing that gives me any real happiness is my two daughters, because when I play with them. I can stop being me and go back to being a kid. You have a loyal following. Having met dedicated fans who see you as a special human being, how do you see yourself? Sometimes it makes you feel more of a fraud than ever when someone comes up and says, you're music has really helped me. I got an e-mail from a girl who said: "When I was 18, I read your book Earthed and now I'm the associate professor of ancient history at Harvard and it's all because I read your book.'' And I thought: "Wow that's f...ing amazing.'' Then you think, well, why am I such an incompetent person going around causing pain to people I know? You use the image of the heart in your music and some of your cover art. Is it a bit of a symbol for you? I guess it's the heart as opposed to the head, I'm trying to get at. I wish that everything I did was coming from my heart. But my mind gets in the way. You know your mind is your worst f...ing enemy. You are associated with magic and the mystical, but it seems like you academically desire it rather than have a natural connection? That's true. That's why drugs came into it so much because I am so much a sensible person and am analysing so much that I have to get out of it ... I envy that innocence or whatever it is. Have you had an omen in your life? I will tell you the turning point in my life. In 1985-86, I was very happy. I was doing a lot of yoga, meditation, a lot of exercise. I stopped taking drugs, I was eating very healthy food, I was spending a lot of time with Karin (the girls' mother) and I started to lead this utterly blissful life. I used to get out of bed every morning and think: "What wonderful thing does the day hold?'' I'd walk down the street and feel like I could communicate with the cats and dogs. The Church was putting along, not big, not small. (Then the album Starfish sold a million copies in America.) Suddenly, it was all about figures. I was listening to people telling me I had to get an apartment in New York. People were saying your next record is going to be bigger than U2. The outside was affecting you on the inside? There's no way if you do a big show in America and you meet the schmoozers and do 10 lines of cocaine and drink a bottle of Jack Daniels that you are going to go back to your hotel room and do yoga. I stopped meditation and exercise. I broke up with Karin. I started taking lots of drugs again. I really feel like somewhere up there just went: "This is your big test." I really f...ing blew it. The way I handled success took me off this really wonderful path I was on. I don't think I'll ever get back there. I read somewhere that John Lennon said you can fill the bed up with groupies and have a wad of money in the bank, but it doesn't fill the big hole in your heart. And that's really true. Who were you in a previous life? Well, I actually had a past life regression. I was a Sikh in the last century, fighting and hating the English. I thought that was amusing because of being born English and that old axiom that you always become what you hate. * Narcosis + by Steve Kilbey, and Gilt Trip, by Steve and Russell Kilbey, are released on Vicious Sloth. AN
Document agee000020011009dt6l0018z SE NEWS
HD No-one Tells Kev What To Do BY PETER HOLMES WC 809 words PD 26 November 1995 SN Sun Herald SC SHD
PG 137 LA English CY Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd LP
KEV Carmody is not the easiest of musicians to get in touch with. A genuine rough diamond in an industry littered with fakes, Carmody lives in Queensland with no phone and no television. "It's been a Godsend," he laughed. "I put the telephone and the bloody TV in the wheelie bin years ago, and I've got space to think. God, that bloody TV was just off the planet, and the phone was ringing all the time. I can still use my Phonecard to get where I need, but I feel as if I'm a bit more in charge." TD
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