French magazine ? - 1982

(Translated using Google Translate and DeepL - some of it may be lost in translation!)

 

The horse galloped with its rider on the brown sand of Bondi Beach. Hair blowing in the wind, he watched surfers propelled on the steamroller of a wave. Steve Kilbey's vision of Australia recalls Banjo Paterson, his favourite colonial poet, a fine writer from the Victorian era.

The Church, the clergy, more connected than the CIA, richer than the Mafia, more powerful than Conan the Barbarian: a macrocosmic concept for a neo psychedelic group. Australia, its kangaroo pouches, its deserts, hard-rock sound: roses are tattooed, heavy metal lives under the sign of sail / steam, but the island is large enough for other cultures.

"Not all Australians listen to hard rock; even if AC / DC are very popular, they're not the only ones who can fill stadiums."

Steve, under his makeup, has wide open eyes when he tells the latest gigs of The Church in sunny amphitheatres where 5,000, 6,000 spectators are squeezed to vibrate on their melancholic acid rock.

“Australia is a melting pot for me, I am from England, my parents took me there when they emigrated twenty years ago. Marty, the guitarist, left England a couple of years ago. As for Richard and Peter, the drummer and the second guitarist, they are originally Dutch."

Steve lives in Bondi Beach, the Malibu of Sydney, in a "mansion" built in 1880, it mixes in a bit of all styles: antiques to computers by way of a magic mushroom cellar.

"I worked for two years in a computer company to pay for a studio with some effects. I work there alone with a drum machine, my bass and my keyboards; then, I bring the demos to the group and we adapt them."

Steve, at twenty-eight, continues to make smoke rings with his cigarettes.

"Sydney is the twin city of San Francisco: they date from the same time and they have a very strong feeling in common. I've never been to San Francisco, but something tells me I'm going there and I'll feel at home."

Sydney and Melbourne are separated by nearly a thousand kilometers and constitute two independent scenes : "You can go down very well in Melbourne and not in Sydney or vice versa. The Church was actually pushed by the Melbourne DJs, whereas back home they ignored us."

On the group's rental bus, the number plate indicated "POP 431 H": pop, it's only a coincidence?

"The Church is not a pop band. For me, this is a negative notion, insincerity and superficiality are the reciprocal of it, I'm not interested. All the times we've made poppy stuff I was disgusted afterwards. I refuse to be a sweet boy: we will not be drowned in molasses. Sometimes we are disillusioned or sad and our music is like us. In any case it is not cheerful, even if it is, it is sometimes flamboyant."

Bob Clearmountain stepped out of his Power Station to go to Australia to produce the second Church album. He took the opportunity to produce a mini LP of five titles available (for the moment) in Australia. To write his lyrics Steve uses a very local technique: the automatic technique: the automatic writing of André Breton and the surrealists, which he on a rock with the Sixties standards.

And the spiritual, Mr. Kilbey?

"I prefer not to talk about it. This kind of feeling is too personal, it has no place in a rock magazine."

On stage, the Churchmen do not lack practice, it's a pity they are so static. The Church reminds me of a whole bunch of sounds, from the Velvet to the Kinks passing by the Floyd of "Saucerful of...". The potential of Steve and his countrymen seems unlimited provided that The Church doesn't burn the candle at both ends ... (G. B.-D.)