"That has stayed with me all my life. I like the feeling of being backstage and waiting to go on. It still gives me a thrill."
Kilbey returns to the region this weekend for a gig at the Yallah Roadhouse.
The performance promised to be different from anything The Church fans had experienced before.
"We all got together and had rehearsals for five or six days last week and it's sounding very promising," he says.
"It's all completely acoustic. We have never really toured anything like this before. We have had a go but people started bringing on electric guitars. This is the first time it has been acoustic all the way through."
The tour follows on from The Church's release El Momento Descuidado; an album which featured reworked versions of some of the group's most popular songs as well as a few new recordings.
The album, which was nominated for an ARIA award and listed in the top 5 for Best Adult Contemporary Album for 2005, was recorded in only two or three days and was a surprising success, Kilbey says.
"We're really trying to strip back to the essence and rebuild with as little fuss and fanfare as possible," he says.
"The music is very much stripped back. We're not attempting to re-present the songs ... The Church has always piled on the extra stuff because we're good at that and known for that.
"This just accidentally came out good. (When I got my copy) I came home and played it to my wife. We just sat there in the dark and listened to it for the first time.
"I was pretty surprised by the effect of the album. It was great but it wasn't something we were aiming for. It just snuck up."
The Church's history dates back to 1981 and the release Of Skins and Hearts which featured the hit single The Unguarded Moment.
From there the group released a number of albums including Heyday, Starfish, Priest=Aura and, in 1999, a collection covers titled A Box of Birds.
Kilbey says El Momento Descuidado explores songs from across The Church's diverse history including The Unguarded Moment, which has been redeemed in his eyes thanks to the acoustic version.
"The Unguarded Moment I really hated about two minutes after it was a hit and I went on hating it ever since," he says.
"I realise now it's not the song that's so bad. Just the performance because it's all guitar fanfare and melodrama. Now we have found that stripped back way of doing it it's not too bad."
In fact, Kilbey says the acoustic versions of the songs have been such a hit with the band, the group was planning to record another album.
That would come after the release of an album in February of songs recorded around El Momento Descuidado.
"Uninvited Like The Clouds was made before and after El Momento Descuidado. That record we worked on for months doing this and that to it and jam sessions to write it, mix it.
"El Momento Descuidado was just bang. We went in played, mixed over and obviously that works for us. It's funny because sometimes the simplest thing can be the hardest thing to take the time to do. It's taken me a long time to know less is more and sometimes simple is better."
- KILMENY ADIE
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CAUGHT OUT
Dressed head-to-toe in white with Steve Kilbey looking eerily like a psychiatric nurse, The Church played an acoustic set to soothe the most frazzled souls at @Newtown on Friday, according to Lisa Sinclair. With the help of Go-Betweens violinist Amanda Brown and cellist Sophie Glass, they worked through the ARIA-nominated El Momento Descuidado and threw in some more old favourites including Two Places At Once, Just For You, Don't Look Back and It's No Reason. Shimmering layer upon layer of guitar combined with those gorgeous tunes made for some enchanted evening, despite the pervading smell of joss sticks.
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HD Begone, Satan
BY JACK MARX
WC 884 words
PD 19 November 2004
SN The Sydney Morning Herald
SC SMHH
ED First
PG 3
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CY (c) 2004 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited. www.smh.com.au Not available for re-distribution.
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THE CHURCH
Where Metro Theatre, 64 George Street, city
TD
When Tonight at 8.30
How much $25
Booking 9287 2000
The Church's Steve Kilbey wants to exorcise the creativity-killing spirit of the corporate world from rock'n'roll, reports JACK MARX.
Many years ago, riding high on a wave of chart success, members of the Church stood in a studio, posing for publicity shots under the watchful eye of their record company. Suddenly, Steve Kilbey, the singer-songwriter already renowned for his youthful arrogance, complained that the photos being taken were not to his liking. He said they made the band "look like a footie team".
Kilbey was then ushered outside the studio and given some "friendly advice". The photographer had worked with Rod Stewart and the Little River Band, no less, and didn't need some disrespectful little twerp telling him what to do.
The person guiding him out said the Australian music industry was a proud and professional family and he spoke for everyone when he said that jumped-up ponces such as Kilbey were not welcome in the machine.
"I mean, f--- off!" Kilbey says. "Those sorts of people - the record company people and the people who hand out awards - they're not equal to us and never were. We're not a family. They're just people who couldn't get jobs at ad agencies and are now making money out of us, acting like we're all partners in some huge enterprise. I don't feel a part of that and never did, ever. Not even back then."
Back then was the '80s, a decade when Kilbey and the Church played peek-a-boo with the mainstream charts. The Unguarded Moment and Almost With You were Top 40 hits in '81 and '82 respectively, while Under the Milky Way hit the Australian and US Top 20 in 1988. They walked the same stages as INXS, Men At Work, Split Enz.
But the Church remained distant from the flashy commercialism of the '80s Australasian boom. They were thoughtful, otherworldly, yet marketable; their spectral jangle and neo-psychedelic fashion sense as appealing to the kids of Countdown as it was to the sombre creatures of the post-punk underground.
Kilbey remembers the '80s fondly, but says his memories cannot entirely be trusted.
"But there were those times when everything seemed to be accelerating; like I'd be at a party and somebody would run in with a review from Melody Maker that said we were fantastic, or I'd hear The Unguarded Moment was in the charts, or Molly Meldrum wanted us. There were those sorts of magical days."
Things started to change in the '90s. Troubled drummer Richard Ploog disappeared off the radar and guitarist Peter Koppes departed after the 1992 album Priest = Aura, which many presumed was the band's last.
For the rest of the decade, Kilbey and guitarist Marty Willson-Piper struggled to keep the Church alive, regularly abandoning each other for solo projects, only to return when finality seemed too dismal to bear.
Then came the band's 16th album, last year's Forget Yourself. It was a return to the original line-up (except with Tim Powles replacing Ploog, who's still out there somewhere) and a sound that had matured without ageing. Next to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, no other Australian band from the '80s can claim such a feat. It's doubtless due, in no small part, to Kilbey's arrogant enthusiasm, undiluted after all these years.
"Rock'n'roll was, in Jack Black's words, invented to stick it to 'the man'. To stick it to the guys in the suits, the soldiers, the politicians, our mothers and fathers - anyone who was making things bad or holding us down."
Kilbey says it was about the people seizing control of their own art form.
"It was alive, it was real and it was free. It's heartbreaking to see what has become of it, and what the young generation will now accept.
"Today's rock'n'roll star can go on stage and cut the heads off a baby, spit blood, shoot heroin and vomit, but as soon as someone offers him an award, there he is up at the podium, shaking hands with some rich bastard who's saying, 'Good boy for being a cog in the machine.'"
Kilbey says this is just "the man" coming back to take over the revolution.
"Stardom, you know? I was always really embarrassed by that pop star, Countdown thing. Today, I just want to be a musician more than I want any sort of hullabaloo. Hullabaloo is for the young. That's the way it should be."
The Church have three albums out now.
El Momento Descuidado is part of the Liberation Blue acoustic series and contains old and new material. Beside Yourself is a collection of B-sides, rarities and unreleased tracks from the Forget Yourself sessions on Cooking Vinyl through Shock Records. Jammed is even more material from the Forget Yourself sessions available through the Church's website, www.thechurchband.com
Listen to single Jazz off the Beside Yourself album at smh.com.au/entertainment
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HD Church lets guard down
BY GRAEME HAMMOND
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PD 28 November 2004
SN Sunday Herald Sun
SC SUHERS
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PG E15
LA English
CY Copyright 2004 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
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The Church has finally bowed to pressure to play its "old stuff", reports GRAEME HAMMOND
IT WAS only two years ago that Steve Kilbey, frontman for The Church, was fuming about those infuriating, incessant requests to play "the old stuff" -- The Unguarded Moment, Almost With You, Under the Milky Way.
TD
"We're getting older, but we're no nostalgia act," he hissed back then. "I get f---ing annoyed when people tell us to dwell on the old days."
But what's this? A new Church album that is no less than a collection of acoustic reworkings of some of the golden oldies, including that trio of hits that has haunted the band for its 24-year career.
So why the change? Has The Church finally bowed before the mighty dollar to abandon its melancholy, ambient leanings for a return to spangly guitar pop? Has Kilbey suffered an attitude-adjusting blow to the head?
"Liberation Blue (the record label) approached us with the idea as part of an acoustic series.
"We'd never thought about it," Kilbey said without a trace of embarrassment.
"We decided it could be an opportunity to reinterpret our old numbers. We wanted to do it in a relaxed, stripped-back way. We tried to treat them as new songs.
"People always said we were so arrogant because we wouldn't play the old songs. The problem was we could never work out a way of handling them. Where do you put them in a set when you don't do that style any more?"
Drummer Tim Powles recalled: "We played The Unguarded Moment once in LA and we sounded like a covers band.
"We didn't know how not to do that version."
Kilbey said: "I was nervous about doing The Unguarded Moment again. The song had grown out of all proportion.
"But when we did it I thought, well, it wasn't such a bad song, as long as you could strip away all that angry young angst around it."
And so back in to the studio the band went, plucking nine tracks from its career -- from 1981's The Unguarded Moment to Sealine from last year's Forget Yourself. And between them the band interspersed five superb new tracks.
BUT more importantly, the inclusion of the old tracks, in all their reborn, shining glory, allows the band to exorcise old ghosts. They also have proved they can face the music of their youth and appreciate its beauty, yet still be free of accusation that they are no better than acts such as the Psychedelic Furs, last seen by the band touring with Berlin and rasping out Love My Way on the dreaded revival circuit.
The acoustic album, El Momento Descuidado, was an astonishingly rapid project. Determined they would not labour over the new arrangements, they rehearsed, recorded and mixed the album in only five days, resisting even the temptation to return and lay down harmonies to fatten it up.
"We'd never done any of the arrangements before we went into the studio," Marty Willson-Piper said. "It was all very fresh."
The session was slipped into the last days of studio time for a new album, to be released next year. Willson-Piper promises that album, yet to be titled, is lighter in mood than the most recent ones.
The band insists its albums bear only a part resemblance to its live performances, which tend increasingly to be 20-minute jams.
The evolution of the band's sound has long ago driven a cleft between it and commercial radio, though there is a faint hope one or two new tracks might appeal to the Nova or Triple M networks. Not that the band cares much.
Said Willson-Piper: "It's better not to be successful on your own terms than to be successful on someone else's terms."
Kilbey laughed as he said: "And we're very unsuccessful on our own terms."
El Momento Descuidado is released by Liberation Blue on November 29. The Church play at The Famous Spiegeltent, Melbourne Arts Centre, on Wednesday.
RF
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BY GRAEME HAMMOND
WC 633 words
PD 4 December 2004
SN Hobart Mercury
SC MRCURY
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PG A38
LA English
CY Copyright 2004 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
LP
IT WAS only two years ago that Steve Kilbey, frontman for The Church, was fuming about those infuriating, incessant requests to play "the old stuff" -- The Unguarded Moment, Almost With You, Under the Milky Way.
"We're getting older but we're no nostalgia act," he snapped back then. "I get f . . . ing annoyed when people tell us to dwell on the old days."
TD
But what's this? A new Church album that is no less than a collection of acoustic reworkings of some of the golden oldies, including the trio of hits that has haunted the band for its 24-year career.
So why the change? Has The Church finally bowed before the mighty dollar to abandon its melancholy, ambient leanings for a return to spangly guitar pop? Has Kilbey suffered an attitude-adjusting blow to the head?
"[Record label] Liberation Blue approached us with the idea as part of an acoustic series. We'd never thought about it," Kilbey said.
"We decided it could be an opportunity to reinterpret our old numbers. We wanted to do it in a relaxed, stripped-back way. We tried to treat them as new songs.
"People always said we were so arrogant because we wouldn't play the old songs. The problem was we could never work out a way of handling them. Where do you put them in a set when you don't do that style any more?"
Drummer Tim Powles recalled that "We played The Unguarded Moment once in Los Angeles and we sounded like a covers band. We didn't know how not to do that version."
Kilbey agreed. "I was nervous about doing The Unguarded Moment again," he said. "The song had grown out of all proportion.
"But when we did it I thought, `Well, it wasn't such a bad song, as long as you could strip away all that angry young angst around it'."
And so back into the studio the band went, plucking nine tracks from its career -- from 1981's The Unguarded Moment to Sealine from last year's Forget Yourself. And between them the band interspersed five new tracks.
But more importantly, the inclusion of the old tracks in all their reborn, shining glory allows the band to exorcise old ghosts. They have also proved they can face the music of their youth and appreciate its beauty, yet still be free of accusation that they are no better than acts such as the Psychedelic Furs, last seen by the band touring with Berlin and rasping out Love My Way on the dreaded revival circuit.
The acoustic album El Momento Descuidado was an astonishingly rapid project. Determined they would not labour over the new arrangements, the band rehearsed, recorded and mixed the album in only five days, resisting even the temptation to return and lay down harmonies to fatten it up.
"We'd never done any of the arrangements before we went into the studio," Marty Willson-Piper said. "It was all very fresh."
The session was slipped into the last days of studio time for a new album, to be released next year. Willson-Piper said that album, yet to be titled, was lighter in mood than the most recent ones.
The band insists its albums bear only a part-resemblance to its live performances, which tend increasingly to be 20-minute jams.
The evolution of the band's sound has long ago caused a cleft between it and commercial radio. Not that the band cares much.
"It's better not to be successful on your own terms than to be successful on someone else's terms," Willson-Piper said.
And Kilbey laughed as he said, "We're very unsuccessful on our own terms".
RF
[MER_T-20041204-1-A38-622917 ]
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HD Let us pray
BY KATHY MCCABE
CR MATP
WC 407 words
PD 3 December 2003
SN Daily Telegraph
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ED 3
PG S31
LA English
CY (c) 2003 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd
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The Church's frontman Steve Kilbey admits to being "anti-festival". But one of Australia's most enduring bands join Homebake for the first time this weekend.
"We'll try this one and see what happens," Steve says.
TD
"We are a night-time band but we'll be playing during the day. And it's a bit hard to decide what songs to do. I don't want to play any old songs at all but the rest of the band believe we have to do a couple at least. I'm not sure what people at Homebake want to hear but I am not a fan of nostalgia."
Like most artists who have managed to eke out a career in the fickle music business, Steve has neither the time or inclination to examine their legacy.
He does not think in terms of the hits - Under The Milky Way, Almost With You and Unguarded Moment - but of the exciting prospect of turning fans onto their new repertoire.
With the band's current album, Forget Yourself, marking their return to an edgier rock sound, The Church's Homebake gig couldn't be more timely.
Their inclusion on the bill with the Beasts Of Bourbon and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds highlights the ever-expanding eclecticism of the Sydney festival, which endeavours to highlight the best of Australian music.
Organisers Joe Segreto and Jessica Ducrou dispute they are attempting to pay tribute to the legacy of these bands. "I've been trying to get Nick Cave for four years but he only got the message this year," Joe laughs.
"The Church though, above and beyond, is a national icon who have had huge international hits and are still making excellent music. You will always find a legendary act on these festival bills and we just happen to have three this year.
"And these acts sell tickets as well as being personal favourites."
The Church perform at 6.20pm on The Dome stage at homebake.
kathy mccabe
Didn't The Church call it quits in the '90s? Despite a Spinal Tap roster of drummers, the only other founding member to quit was Peter Koppes and he's now back in the fold.
Will there be a moshpit in front of the Dome stage? Probably not but you never know what can happen with late thirtysomething Beasts fans and too much VB.
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HD CALLING ALL CHURCH FAITHFUL TOGETHER
WC 503 words
PD 10 December 2003
SN Leader Messenger
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LA English
CY (c) 2003 Nationwide News Pty Limited
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THE Church is back in the City of Churches this weekend.
Founding members Steve Kilbey (bass, vocals), Marty Willson-Piper (guitar) and Peter Koppes (guitar) are still on board, having released 16 albums and kept the band going through occasional splits and solo side projects since 1980.
TD
The Sydney band is best known for certified classics The Unguarded Moment, Almost With You and international hit Under the Milky Way, along with acclaimed albums Of Skins and Heart, The Blurred Crusade and Starfish.
Kilbey has also produced albums for Stephen Cummings and Margot Smith and formed duo Jack Frost with Grant McLennan (The Go-Betweens).
His solo albums include Unearthed, Remindlessness and The Slow Crack.
More recent Church releases include covers album Box of Birds and last year's After Everything and Now This.
Attend The Church at the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel next Wednesday, December 17.
BUCK 65 (aka Rich Terfy) is seasoned to perfection.
He's established his place in the world as a vessel for truly unique thought and expression, rather than simply being a hip hop artist.
He's all about looking ahead, taking hip hop to places others only dream about.
Buck 65 has done the cool and quirky stuff, from an NBA commercial to appearing on Sesame Street, along with impressive achievements such as deejaying for the Beastie Boys and collaborating with Kool Keith.
He has just released his seventh album, Talkin' Honky Blues, which follows Square, Synesthesia, Man Overboard, Vertex, Language Arts and Weirdo Magnet.
Catch Buck 65, with Music vs Physics, MKB and the New Pollutants Sound System, at the Enigma Bar this Thursday, December 11.
NATHAN Kaye is a folk/roots album making an impression on the national circuit.
Nathan combines roots-style guitar with an emotive, soulful vocal delivery and funky didge playing in his blend of R&B, soul, folk, reggae and eastern influences.
Nathan has toured in China, the UK and Europe, supporting acts such as The Corrs and Little Birdy.
A video for The Shift has been broadcast on ABC TV's Rage.
"One of the most surreal experiences I've had was playing to 4500 screaming people in the People's Liberation Army barracks in China," Nathan says.
He says his sound could be described as a fusion of Bob Marley, Ben Harper, John Butler, Nick Drake and Jack Johnson mixed with a world music flavour.
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