Opinions about Steve Kilbey

Fan (and non-fan) opinions about Steve Kilbey

"I've got some 1000 CDs but no one gives me more pleasure than Steve Kilbey. It's his voice,you know what I mean?" --Jean

"Steve Kilbey and GW Mclennon are Jack Frost and if you don't have this album, Snow Job, you're misssing the true meaning of ecstasy." --MExstacy123

"I just cracked out SK's solo "The Slow Crack." I haven't listened to it in about 8 years. This disc is excellent, if you have it in your collection put it on NOW. He is a genius, like wine, better with age. Steve should be the voice of the snake with the apple if they ever make a movie about Adam & Eve." --echounit

I have a comment on your site about the lyrics from Ricochet, and how one night I was really stoned and while listening to that song with headphones on I thought SK was talking to me in my right ear... "You can't be a lover if you wanna keep on using..." --echounit

"I prefer to listen to Steve, but I recognize the fact Marty is the only one in the band with any vocal ability. No offense." --Tim Prochnow

"Hey.....what about Church action figures? Now THAT would be cool!" --Mike

"the church are that rare occurrance in rock..a group of mutually compatable musicians who can achieve that 'chemistry' and groove the way they want to in a recording studio. it is deceptivley simple. a group must be personally tight, and they must be musically 'sympathetic' to each other, even if they never play a note together as a live band while recording an album, the church somehow pull it off. i have been 'with' them since around '84 or so and they have never left their habitat of inspired church-music (it's not pure rock and roll, and the 'surrealist' tag does not fit too well....i'll call their product 'church music')" --victorwasright@aol.com

"SK is the reason I was attracted to this band so strongly in the first place; his potent, intelligent lyrics, facility with the language,imagery, ability to give voice to my unspoken thoughts and feelings, and also the quality of his voice - its range and timbre - he has that kind of strong presence with his voice that conveys emotion for me." --Jerry Jascomb

"While Marty's solo show in 1990 stands out as the best solo show I've ever seen, for me, Steve is the heart, the soul, the brain, the spirit, the wisdom, the beauty of the Church. Marty is completely mesmerizing on stage, a whirling flash of kinetic energy and hypnotic charm, sex appeal and talent, I admit it, but Steve posesses a quiet elegance and myterious countenance and really gives new meaning to the phrase "still waters run deep." Oh yeah and THAT VOICE. Sorry, there aren't words for that. He's a puzzle I believe I could never full put together..." --Denise Salonen

"it had to be 'under the milkeyway' that pulled me in, however it was the opening lyrics of 'starfish' that really broke-into my perception... weaving a 'warm spell' through my person and creativity ever since. what i know of steve, i know through his lyrics and prose, his throaty voice, a kind but warry temperment. i can say he is as much an influence of my etheral mastery as alister crowley or william s burroughs [not that i expect he has too much in common with either].

1988 i started exploring the back catalog of the church. i believe it was 'the blurred crusade' that was first. i remember traveling down I-93, my way home from tech-school, listening to that casset for the first time... a few weeks later it was 'seance', then 'remote luxury', 'heyday' and then the last of the artista collection, 'of skins and heart'. it was just after i moved to san francisco that 'gold afternoon fix' was released. I really loved that album, especially 'monday morning', 'city', 'laughing'. those songs were so full of meaning and discovery and relevance to my life at that time.

about then i started tracking down and getting into 'earthed', 'unearthed', 'the slow crack', 'narcosis', 'remindlessness' (always thought "hel-iopo-lis" was sang "feelthe-alpha-rhythms"...)

the first time i met steve face to face was briefly after a performance. i wished him 'a happy 44', then disappeared into the crowd. it had been an action packed evening...

lately i've been listening to 'transmigration'. one of the first mp3 i've ever downloaded, it has this strange 'hollow-tiny' sound on my laptop, its quite a lovely song. i can hardly wait for the rest of isadore.

a friend once said listening to Steve's music is like looking for the lost continent, you always know there is something more out there and never exactly sure what or where it is..."

-- mark merrill 13.9.00

"I'VE BEEN FOLLOWING STEVE AND THE CHURCH FOR CLOSE TO FIFTEEN YEARS NOW ,AND I'VE STILL NOT BEEN ABLE TO DISCOVER ANOTHER BAND OUT THERE WHO CAN BOAST SUCH AN IMPORTANT SONG WRITER . I THINK ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT STEVE IS THAT HIS LEGION OF FANS ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN, AND WHEN YOU MEET A "FELLOW FOLLOWER",-- IT'S REALLY INTERESTING TO SHARE ANY STORIES OR INFO ON S.K.,---SORT OF LIKE SHARING A WELL KEPT SECRET. --I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO MEET STEVE FACE TO FACE BACK STAGE AT THE BELLY-UP SHOW IN SAN DIEGO,CA. IN SEPT.99----SPErCHLESS!!!"-- Mike Plarski

As a Virgo man and all the "wonderful" things that come with it, I was more than happy to find and find out about a man like Steve Kilbey. Though feeling alone in opinions, thoughts and ideas is not a bad thing in this "just be original, man" world, feeling like there was someone else that I believed thought and looked at life in a similar way to me is, I must admit, gratifying. I remember feeling a deep connection to Steve Kilbey through his music and especially his lyrics. It wasn't until I really paid attention to the words of "Almost With You" and "Tear it All Away" that I understood that it was more than coincidence. There was perhaps something more cosmic about the similarities....nothing too deep about a birth sign, but discovering Steve was a Virgo made all the sense in the world. There is a connection shared by people of the same sign and Virgos, the most misunderstood of them all, are especially connected, more often than not. Anyway, I experienced this before when I felt something similar to two other half-crazed, but interesting people: Peter Sellers and clothing designer, Geoffrey Beene- Virgos, as well. Deep without a meaning.... AB

" There has been a spy in the alcove, god in a cab, a priest in a tree wearing olive drab. In childhood not suspecting or needing a thing. Untill they showed me the troubles and the fears that they bring. As somewhere inside me, I still exist , I still love the music, fuck the list. Hear and there in the songs, and in the cloudy gone past, kilbey's song skeletons, wear the flesh of my past. He'll never know me , and I never him, nore do we need to, as the dusk is past dim. I just hope he remembers what I have forgot, so I can just listen , and have my own plot." --Bradley Albert Burkley

"I think that Kilbey has something that Bolan had, which I always find kinda nice: the ability to be completely preposterous with a straight face." --Tim Gadd

"Steve strikes a 10 out of 10 for the ability to send shivers up and down a woman's spine and make her knees wobble....sensuous, sultry, erotic." --Jenny

"I remember watching the speed of Steve's hands on his bass and thinking how orgasmic it all seemed." --Nancy's Little Sister

Steve is the rare man who is completely without macho positioning...he is vulnerable, sad, deep, and self-conscious... Steve should be granted sainthood and given a medal for being so open in such a cold-ass world. More of him is all this world needs. --Paula K.

"Steve's butt looks fantastic in those black Levis. I'm not gay, but I know a nice butt when I see one. He turns around a lot." --Tim P.

A friend of mine kindly picked up Steve's new-ish little book for me [Nineveh/The Ephemeron] and once again I think it's brilliant! I wish he'd write an a entire novel or something - a nice 300 page stream of consciousness diatribe would be fine. --Denise Salonen.

"Until I learned of existence of Steve, I thought I was all alone. In those merciless teenage years, I felt like I found my twin when I heard Steve. His voice is monotonous but he knows that and doesn't try to be more like Simon Lebon. Certainly, I've never heard another voice like his. It's tragically sad and cold at the same time warm and comforting. He's a natural born genius ... . I think that Steve attracts people who are interested in depth and mystery. Steve's the greatest lyricist. I envy his brain." --Autumn

"Mighty Willson Pecker? Who's that?" --The Anti-Steve, after I mentioned that Marty Willson-Piper was working on a new CD. He honestly thought I'd said that! Ok, not an SK opinion, but still I couldn't resist.

"Steve Kilbey is an original and very identifiable artist, like Neil Young, John Lennon, Mick Taylor, Keith Richards,Tom Verlaine and Miles Davis. " --Jack

"Who the hell is this? Sounds like Nirvana, but with no talent." --TJ (close friend of the Anti-Steve), as he listened to "Linda Wong."

"SK is a genius who possesses a mastery of the English language like none other...As such, he succeeds in painting a vivid and larger than life picture of a character we have all met in our personal lives, to one degree or another." --Gary

"Listening to "The Faith Healer," I suddenly had a moment of sadness. My Church records are in N.Y. State, and I'm far away in Florida. His voice brought it all back..,kinda depressed now that I"ve let myself stray." --Jon M.Crocker

"Hearing Steve Kilbey sing is like briefly remembering something a dead relative told you." --MountCore

"How come he got to all the good ideas before me?" --Kate

"I have a suspicion that Kilbey uses his music to teach - that the truth is horribly frightening, but it will ultimately set you free."--Eve

"Steve Kilbey is a piece of shit, worthless, no-good poet, fuckin' whiny-ass, can't sing for shit . . . and . . . well, that's all I have to say about that." --Anti-Steve

You are welcome to submit your own opinion