Steve Kilbey Quits The Church Over Frustration with the Music Business

In disgust over a $400 royalty check, Steve Kilbey posted the following statement to his Facebook page: "I have decided to leave my own band permanently as a protest to being fucking treated like this. I have decided to illegally and eventually put all Church records up on my bandcamp. You can buy them from me and make sure the money is going to a member of the band."

Second Motion label owner Stephen Judge posted a rebuttal (full text on The Church's Facebook page) and here is a snippet from the message: "First and foremost, the comments about the band making only “$100 each” is totally false. The rest of the band shares our frustrations in the fact that there is information out there saying otherwise, its simply not true and every other member of the band will tell you this is not true and are doing so where appropriate to respond to these comments."

Kilbey posted a furious response to Judge's letter (full text on Steve Kilbey's blog): "i am so fucking sick of being ripped off and underpaid. you are the final straw that broke this camels back. let me make this plain. i am leaving the church because of you"

It is sad to see Steve Kilbey bow out on this note but not shocking as I've been reading about a number of musicians who go out on a sold-out tour and come back owing the label money. For anyone who wants a more in-depth look at the inanities of the music business, Tim Quirk (Too Much Joy) posted on in-depth write-up of the misaccounting on his band's royalty statements.

Links:
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The Church: Live Photos from "Future Past Perfect" Show at BB King's, NYC 2-17-11

This past Thursday, The Church brought their "Future Past Perfect" tour to a full house at B.B. King's in Times Square. The concept of the evening was that the band would play the following albums in their entirety: Untitled #23 (2009), Priest=Aura (1992), and Starfish (1988). Over the last few years, some indie and alt-rock bands have played one of their classic albums from start to finish, this is the first time that I've heard of any band taking this concept to such a grand scale.



The concert was nothing short of impressive. As the band took the stage, Steve Kilbey came to the mic and said "We are called The [pause] Crouch and we are going to give you Untitled #23". There was a minimal amount of stage banter after this as the music and the art (projected on the screens) did all of the talking needed. This first set was stellar so it is hard to pick out a individual song or two but "Anchorage" was particularly stunning as the band added a backing vocalist (Tour Manager Tiare Helberg) and an additional guitarist to create a haunting and memorable soundscape.

After a twenty minute intermission, the band returned for Priest = Aura and gave a shout-out to Jay Dee Daugherty who was in the audience (Jay Dee played drums on Priest = Aura and toured with The Church for a few years). While I don't think I gave this album the time of day when it originally came out, the band's live performance made me realize that I have been missing something. Particularly stellar was "The Disillusionist" where Steve Kilbey became more animated than I've seen once he put his guitar down. The other track of note was "Film" where this melancholy instrumental seemed to perfectly ramp-down the second set.

As the band went off for the second intermission, I could hear Marty saying something about needing to rest his hands and that made me really pay attention to the amount of energy and precision that went into this 3+ hour show. On the audience side, not everyone was able to appropriately pace themselves. One "nice" young man staggered right into me after the second set and I watched as his date was trying to help him get his arms into his jacket sleeves as he was having no luck on his own.

For the last set, the band played Starfish from start to finish and the album has aged well. While I've heard "Under The Milky Way" way to many times, the overall album doesn't have that "big" (aka dated) 80's sound that many bands were utilizing at that time. Songs like "Destination" and "Hotel Womb" sound just as vital today as they did when originally released.

Someone sitting on the floor obviously brought a pocket camera into the show and filmed the last song of the night - "Hotel Womb". My post-show thoughts are that an official live album/DVD from this tour is really needed as this was a show not to be missed.



Links:
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The Church - "Deep in the Shallows: The Classic Singles Collection" CD Review (Second Motion Records)

STREAM: The Church - Live on KEXP 2/8/11

There was a guy on my hall in college who ran out to buy R.E.M.’s Fables of the Reconstruction right when it came out and the only song he would play was “Driver 8” over and over (and over) again. This is the sort of person that I think singles compilations are designed for.

When Pink Floyd won their court case blocking iTunes from selling single song downloads, David Stubbs lamented in The Independent that the rise of iTunes has led to “fewer groups hav[ing] license or encouragement to express themselves across the album format, à la Radiohead. It's all about those 79p downloads. This is a shame and a loss, since the album listening experience is cumulative and greater than the sum of its single-track components…if it has taken a rock dinosaur to help stave off this idea from extinction, then so be it.”

The Church have some glorious singles but I don’t consider them a “singles” band. There is a context, mood and overall aesthetic to each of The Church’s discs and, to apply Dave Stubbs’ comment from above, the overall album listening experience is greater than the sum of the singles. (…or, to put it more crudely, this isn’t like recent output from a band like The Rolling Stones where there are two or three good songs per disc and the rest is filler).

On the positive note, this compilation contains some 7” versions and tracks from the “Too Fast For You”, “Sing Sing” and “Persia” EPs that aren’t available on any of the current reissues.

CD 1:
1. She Never Said (from the 7” “She Never Said”, 1981)
2. The Unguarded Moment (from Of Skins And Heart, 1981)
3. Too Fast For You (from “Too Fast For You” EP, 1981)
4. Tear It All Away (from “Too Fast For You” EP, 1981)
5. Almost With You (from The Blurred Crusade, 1982)
6. When You Were Mine (from the 7” “When You Were Mine”, 1982)
7. A Different Man (from “Sing-Songs” EP, 1982)
8. It's No Reason (from Seance, 1983)
9. Electric Lash (from Seance, 1983)
10. Constant In Opal (from “Persia” EP, 1984)
11. Already Yesterday (from Heyday, 1986)
12. Tantalized (from Heyday, 1986)
13. Columbus (from Heyday, 1986)
14. Disenchanted (from Heyday, 1986)
15. Antenna (from Starfish, 1988)
16. Reptile (from the 7" “Reptile”, 1988)
17. Destination (from Starfish, 1988)
18. Under The Milky Way (from Starfish, 1988)

CD 2:
1. Metropolis (from Gold Afternoon Fix, 1990)
2. You're Still Beautiful (from Gold Afternoon Fix, 1990)
3. Russian Autumn Heart (from Gold Afternoon Fix, 1990)
4. Ripple (from “Ripple” CD Single, 1992)
5. Feel (from Priest = Aura, 1992)
6. Two Places At Once (from Sometime Anywhere, 1994)
7. Welcome (from Magician Among The Spirits, 1996)
8. Comedown (from Magician Among The Spirits, 1996)
9. Louisiana (from “Louisiana” CD Single, 1998)
10. Numbers (from After Everything Now This, 2002)
11. Song In Space [Short Trip] (from “Song In Space” CD Single, 2003)
12. 0408 (from El Momento Descuidado, 2004)
13. Block (from Uninvited, Like The Clouds, 2006)
14. Unified Field [Short Circuit Mix] (from “Unified Field” CD Single, 2006)
15. Easy [Sliced Mix] (from “Easy” CD Single, 2006)
16. “Pangaea” (from Untitled #23, 2009)
17. “Operetta” (from Untitled #23, 2009)

Links:
The Church

The Church - "Heyday" CD Review (Second Motion Records)

DOWNLOAD: The Church - "Tantalized" (free download on Amazon.com)

Aside for the bad 80's mullets on the cover photo, Heyday is a major leap forward from Seance. This is the first disc that sounds like The Church were working as a cohesive unit and eight of the disc's original ten tracks were co-written by all four members of the band. As an interesting footnote, Steve Kilbey co-wrote one track, "Youth Worshiper", with then girlfriend Karin Jansson who later co-wrote "Under the Milky Way" on Starfish.

Peter Walsh (who helped Simple Minds and China Crisis break into the US market) produced the disc and gave the band a bright and energetic sound. Walsh layers strings, keyboards and horns into the mix but these accompaniments are tastefully integrated into the songs so none of the tracks have the dated feel of Seance. The disc is also helped along by what sounds to be "real" drumming (as opposed to the drum trigger sound of Seance) and Richard Ploog adds some innovative rhythms to songs like "Myrrh" and the Middle-Eastern flavored "Trance Ending".

There are some serious memorable melodies and hooks on this disc which are powered by the ringing guitar sounds of Willson-Piper and Koppes and a good starting point into this disc are the songs "Tantalized" and "Already Yesterday". The majority of the songs keep to this upbeat pace with the only exception being the moody instrumental "Happy Hunting Ground".





There are three bonus tracks this time around: "As You Will" (the b-side of "Already Yesterday" which is sung by Peter Koppes), "The View" (the b-side of "Tantalized" which is sung by Marty Willson-Piper) and "Trance Ending" (the b-side of "Columbus" which is noted in the liner notes as being one of Steve's favorite songs from the Heyday-era sessions).

While Starfish received the mass-media acclaim, Heyday is really the album that broke The Church into the US market.

Links:
The Church

The Church - "Seance" CD Review (Second Motion Records)

The Church's third disc, Seance, was released in May 1983 and, while there are some stand-out tracks, the overall sound of the disc is a step in the wrong direction.

This time out, Steve Kilbey wrote all of the tracks, aside for the glorious space-rock jam "Travel By Thought". The band self-produced the record and utilized engineer Nick Launay for the final mixes. While the band continues to move yet further toward the textured, neo-psychedelic sound of their later discs, the mixing left the disc sounding flat and the dated "80's" pre-programmed drum effects make less of the songs stand out than on the band's two previous discs.

While there are elements of some of the jangly power-pop sounds from the prior discs on Seance, prominent keyboard and strings push the disc closer to the "new romantic" camp of OMD and Lloyd Cole & the Commotions. The stronger cuts on the disc are the one's where the band's music is able to shimmer outside of the murky mixing. These include "Electric Lash" and "Travel By Thought" (both of which feature stream-of-conscious lyrics from Kilbey) and "Dropping Names" and the slow burning "Disappear?".



The two bonus tracks - "Someone Special" and "Autumn Soon" - were originally the b-sides of "It's No Reason" and "Electric Lash". "Someone Special" is pleasant but somewhat bland but "Autumn Soon" features some soaring guitar leads and what sounds to be a "real" drummer.

Links:
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The Church - "The Blurred Crusade" CD Review (Second Motion Records)

The Church's second disc, The Blurred Crusade, was released in March 1982 and the songwriting seems more focused than on Of Skins and Heart. This is the first disc where other band members outside of Steve Kilbey contributed to the songwriting and that may have played a role as the band's music moves further toward the neo-psychedelic sound of their later discs.

Even as the band embraces more of an atmospheric melancholia across different track on this disc, they haven't fully given up the ringing Byrds-ish guitars or the psychedelic-tinged post/power-punk sounds of their previous disc. The disc starts out strong with two power-punk tracks - "Almost With You" and "When You Were Mine" - before heading into the atmospheric "Field of Mars", where Willson-Piper takes lead vocals and sings with a world-weary Bowie-ish voice. "An Interlude" and "You Took" were co-written by the four members of the band and both songs provide clear indication of the sound that The Church were chasing as a collective unit.

Similar to Of Skins and Heart, there are two b-sides added to The Blurred Crusade as bonus tracks. “Life Speeds Up”, the b-side to “Almost With You”, is a strong 7+ minute power-punk single that is equally as good as "Almost With You". “The Golden Dawn”, the b-side to “When You Were Mine”, is a pleasant but unremarkable instrumental.



The Church are playing two local shows next week on their "Future Past Perfect" electric tour. This unprecedented touring event continues their 30th Anniversary celebrations by performing three classic albums in their entirety in one night: Untitled #23 (2009), Priest=Aura (1992), and Starfish (1988).

"Future Past Perfect" Tour Dates
Feb 16 - New York, NY. - Highline Ballroom
Feb 17 - New York, NY. - B.B. King's

Tickets for the show at Highline Ballroom are $39.50 in advance and $45 (DOS). Doors are at 6PM and the show starts at 8PM. Ticket prices and door/show times are the same for the show at B.B. King's the following night.

Links:
The Church

The Church - "Of Skins and Heart" CD Review (Second Motion Records)

To mark the 30th anniversary of the band, The Church started ambitious campaign last fall to reissue their back catalog (via Second Motion Records). All of the reissues come with bonus tracks and new liner notes from Marty Willson-Piper. As most of The Church's discs were previously out of print in the US, these reissues should strike a positive chord with both new and long-time fans and the digital remastering does a wonderful job of bringing out all the dimensions of the band's music.

Starting with the band's first disc, Of Skins and Heart was originally recorded in 1980 and released in 1981 in Australia. A resequenced disc, with some track swapped out for tracks from 1981's "Too Fast for You" double-single, was released in the US the following year. This new remaster contains the nine tracks from the original Australian release along with the bonus tracks "In a Heartbeat" (b-side of "She Never Said") and "Busdriver" (b-side of "The Unguarded Moment").

The early works from The Church are often lumped into to the post-punk genre but Of Skins and Heart has more in common with the bands from Los Angeles' "paisley underground". There is little of the atmospheric neo-psychedelia of the band's later releases as the music on this disc is much closer to the then budding new-wave scene. Steve Kilbey's vocals are clear and engaged and there are some rich vocal harmonies across the disc. All of this is complemented by the ringing Byrdsish sound of Marty Willson-Piper's Rickenbacker.

The Church touch on a variety of sounds from the original new-wave movement on different tracks which range from the aggressive, angular rocker "Fighter Pilot...Korean War" to the cool, Ric Ocasek-like detachment of "Heartbeat". The almost eight-minute hazy "Is This Where You Live" foreshadows the evolution of The Church's later-day neo-psychedelic sound. The first single from the disc was the quirky Gary Newman-ish "She Never Said" but the real gem on this disc is the band's second single "Unguarded Moment".



The Church are playing two local shows next week on their "Future Past Perfect" electric tour. This unprecedented touring event continues their 30th Anniversary celebrations by performing three classic albums in their entirety in one night: Untitled #23 (2009), Priest=Aura (1992), and Starfish (1988).

"Future Past Perfect" Tour Dates
Feb 16 - New York, NY. - Highline Ballroom
Feb 17 - New York, NY. - B.B. King's

Tickets for the show at Highline Ballroom are $39.50 in advance and $45 (DOS). Doors are at 6PM and the show starts at 8PM. Ticket prices and door/show times are the same for the show at B.B. King's the following night.

Links:
The Church