TWO FOR ONE SAIL
THE CHURCH
by Rey Roldan

(the previous paragraph mentions Peter Koppes' leaving)

"We thought about splitting the band up or naming it something else, but Steve and I realized that the Church was always the two of us with other people around. And we knew that we could still write great songs. Our side projects are still just that. My side project All About Eve is split up, but I'm still working with the other two Eves, Andy and Mark, in a band called Never Swallow Stars. We haven't gotten a deal yet; Arista passed on it. Steve's got a solo thing called Fate (sic.) that he's been working on. Plus, we have our own studios that we're hoping to turn into businesses. But the Church isn't over yet. We still know how to write great songs together."

The great songs the duo wrote together-alone were so plentiful that they wanted to release SOMETIME ANYWHERE as a double disc, but Arista felt the jacked-up price of a double set would hurt sales. Arista limited the songs to 13 and included, as a special offer to the first 25,000 buyers, a second disc with another seven songs. Unfortunately for the Church, the songs that made it onto the actual album aren't the ones the band wanted.

"The songs on disc two are extra songs we recorded for the album and should not, I repeat, should not be considered songs that didn't make the album," he [Marty Willson-Piper] snarls sharply. "They're as good as the songs that did make the album. It's a damn shame that those songs are going to be classified as 'not as serious' just because they're on another CD. 'Cut in Two' and 'The Time Being' were our first choices for the album. Arista, who usually doesn't get creatively involved with us, wanted 'Business Woman' and 'Authority' on the record, which we resent and did not want on the record. 'Authority' and 'Business Woman' should NOT be on the record . Underlined. Italicized. 'Cut in Two' and 'The Time Being' should be on the record."

"I don't think that it's the record company's business, to tell you the truth, especially if the songs are not singles. They have this theory of 'oh, we wanted the record out more in a pop way' and then we get intellectual journalists calling us up and saying, 'What the fuck is 'Business Woman' doing on your album?!' So who's fucking making the right decision there? Arista supports us, tries hard, spends money on us and they're working to make our record successful, but that's a gripe." Understandably, those two songs don't mesh well with the general feel of the album. "Business Woman" has a rather '70s prog-rock feel to it, somewhat Allman Brothers-like and completely unhip. But the Church have never been really hip or trendy. When their music hit it big with "Under the Milky Way" and "Reptile," it hit in a radical, weird pop way, rather like Radiohead's "Creep" or Timbuk 3's "The Future's So Bright." It was way too buff and opaque for the polished pop world, but somehow it worked.

Whether SOMETIME ANYWHERE makes it in a similar fashion is anyone's guess (predictions run high for another breakthrough), but the Church know how square they are. Willson-Piper is even first to offer his view: "We're unfashionably layered. Very anti-pop and anti-rock. And I'm much too damn cynical."

***END***

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