The Church: Now Hear This.

The Church

The Church play The Zoo on Saturday.

It was a weird week in the muzak interview rounds. Usually, it takes a lifetime and a day to talk to people that have held special relevance in your musical education, and then I get two such interviews in two days. Steve Kilbey, leading beacon of Australian jangle pop proponents The Church followed by Chris Bailey from proto punk act The Saints. Like they say, it never rains, it’ll always pour.

Since 1980 when The Church released the groundbreaking Of Skins & Heart LP (with the instant classic Unguarded Moment), bassist/vocalist Kilbey alongside band mates Marty Willson-Piper, Peter Koppes and Richard Ploog have been hard at it. Nary a year has gone by without a Church or Kilbey related side project cropping up. Apart from the revered Church releases Starfish (with the huge hit Under The Milky Way) and Priest=Aura, Kilbey has been known recently for his Jack Frost project and the Gilt Trip act with brother Russell, plus his most recent solo outing Dabble. Currently sitting in a café in Glebe, Kilbey’s voice sounds warmer and sexier then I originally thought possible. Semi star-struck teen angst afflicts me in one foul swoop.

“You’re weirded out talking to me? Why’s that?” he asks gently, like the Grade 10 English teacher you had a crush on. I explain history and the importance of The Church and wonder if any sort of recognition bothers him.

“Well, it doesn’t affect me too badly, but I guess it gets to people like Mariah Carey and all those people that end up as Marilyn Monroe’s and Elvis Presley’s, I guess that’s the dichotomy, that dilemma of seeing this beautiful photo of yourself and reading this article saying your such and such a person and there you are standing in your kitchen at six o clock at the morning. I think it does some people’s concepts of reality right in.”

“As for me… umm… I guess it mixed me up for about the first year or two and then after that it’s only occasionally a very, very good review or a very, very bad review would get me upset. I don’t really think about it that much. I’ve got four children and they’ve kind of grounded me in reality more then anything else I‘ve ever done. Cause they don’t give a damn if my record is good or if I think I’m a good lyricist or anything like that, do you know what I mean? They just want me to push them on a swing and hold their hand while they’re going to sleep.”

The Church have always occupied a very special place in The Australian sentiment, and as a result, a healthy fan base has grown locally and internationally. Kilbey admits that it can be a delicate dance, keeping himself and his fans satisfied. And that sometimes, fans can be too serious.

“You have to take it with a pinch of salt? You have to differentiate between when someone has got you on a pedestal and when someone really enjoys what you do. But, when I write songs, I try to write things that are gonna connect with people personally, so I’m not really surprised when people take it like that And I have a lot of time and respect for those people. I think it’s a really nice loop we have with our fans. There’s no stalker type ones out there, they are all pretty cool.”

While experience has taught Kilbey many things, it seems his longevity still doesn’t give him the leverage at the record company as he would like (hence the number of bootleg and independent releases from the Kilbey stable). And while he has made more LP’s then most band boys have had hot dinners, the current album After Everything Now This was no easier a birth then previous releases.

“It was a hard album to make, the first sessions didn’t seem to be very productive and then there was this thing in America that I couldn’t attend cause I had legal problems getting into America and then we came to Australia and worked and worked and then we went away and Tim mixed and mixed and played around with his computer, and we came back and had a listen then went away again… then everything was done and the record company said ‘Now we want to wait until February 2002’ which at the time just seemed like 50 light years away. So yeah, it was a real long time coming, I don’t want to wait that long again.”

The current work feels comfortable and warm, like an old mate you haven’t seen in a while.

“I think this album is a good compromise. A guy said to me yesterday ‘its new and familiar at the same time’, I think that’s an ad- man’s dream! I think we’re lucky with the record, there’s a lot of serendipity involved. Everything just came together. People’s reactions have been really good… I dunno… it’s funny, sometimes my brain can’t seem to come out with any decent explanations or anything. Sometimes I’ll sit back and this little man in my head does the interview for me, then like today, he is not home.”