Phone rings:

me: Hello?

Deep voice: Craigie? How are you?

me: Fine, what can I do for you?

Deep voice: Do you know who this is?

me: No, haven't a clue...

Normal voice : It's Steve Kilbey...

At this point I can't remember if I actually fell over or whether I just felt like it...

Anyway, we exchanged greetings, how are yous etc. I asked about the injuries and he was a little down about it, his arm isn't getting better as fast as he'd hoped and what with the gig in Spain coming up he was really worried that he wouldn't be able to play guitar (he says he may have to ask Marty to play guitar yet... whoo hoo! Especially if you're going to Spain...).

We touched on tons of stuff. I haven't spoken to Steve for about eight years (after the 1990 tour in Manchester) but I have known him since the first Church tour in 1982. We go back a long way...

After that we talked about the [Howard] DeVoto book for a while, his favourite songs are "Motorcade" (from "Real Life") and "Redneck" (from Luxuria's first album).

Talk turned to kids, Steve's twinnies turned seven last week (the 7th) and he took them shopping. They went to some toy shops, but Ellie and Minna wanted to buy shoes! On the Underground they saw a poster for raft-skiing

"Can we do that, Daddy?" they asked.

"Sorry," says SK, "You have to be an adult...".

They think about this for a while then Minna (I think) says,

"Can't you tell them we're dwarves?"

Kids, eh? He also told me that he uses the Spacemen 3 track "Recurring" to get his kids to sleep...

We talked about the recent releases, what I thought about "Gilt Trip", Narcosis +, Pharmakoi etc, as if what I think matters... Incidentally, the 'new' tracks on N+ weren't recorded at the same time as the original ones but not long after. And the line in 'White Star Line' is definitely:"You wake up in the suffocating Arabic darkness...", we also talked about "Some Lysergic Africa" and how the lyrics are some of his best (and most difficult to hear!). Maybe I'll ask him to write me the complete lyrics next time.

The website was next for dissection. Steve *really* likes it, he has nothing but admiration for Uncle Brian, in common with us all, hey?

[Humble Mode Activated: Thanks Craig and Steve ! My pleasure :-)]

He asked if I'd heard the new record yet (I haven't...but if anyone wants to send me a tape....?) and we talked about the title(s). Apparently the Hologram of Allah idea was Marty's and neither Steve nor Tim felt comfortable with it. Tim phoned Steve to say he was having nightmares about Fatwa's ("A thinwa is bad enough... but a FATwa..." said Steve) but they figured there wouldn't be that many disgruntled Ba'al worshippers so...

Steve also told me that the titles of the songs are chosen after the music but before the words, Buffalo was suggested by MWP as was Dome, he finds the discipline imposed by this to be encouraging creatively. He also said that he was coming in for some flak for having put a ballad as the last track on the new record. People keep asking him why he did it. I said it was because he could... he preferred the explanation that it was the music which inspired the words, so why not? That's how it made him feel.

Talk turned to critics, and their almost unerring ability to grasp the wrong end of the stick where the Church are concerned and then beat about the bush with it. Steve has been accused of tantrums sparked by his "jealousy at Marty being the most attractive in the band" (not true) resulting in his "pelting the audience with fruit" (he was throwing fruit out at the end of a show as presents, he has this on video, too). Some journalists even deny slating the band when Steve can *quote* their reviews... It's no wonder they get exhausted.

At the moment though, they all have a renewed confidence and desire for the band, partly due to the level of commitment they are recieving from Cooking Vinyl. Worth its weight in gold, apparently.

Then we talked about Ba'al, gnostic gospels, the gospel of St Thomas, Carthage etc, Steve has heard from a fan in the States who is now Assistant Professor in Ancient History all because she read his Carthage story in Earthed when she was younger. It gave him great satisfaction to know that he wasn't just throwing bottles into the sea with no messages getting through.

We discussed Ephemeron and Ninevah, Ephemeron is an Erskine novel, and Ninevah was the city to which Jonah was (reluctantly) sent. We talked about his short stories, Steve wanting to know what I thought of each, which was my favourite and why...

The big news though, at least for UK fans, is that the Church will be playing London (at least) in November! (and I'm on the guest list!)

Anyway, that's about all I can remember for now, if anything else occurs to me, I'll be sure and let you all know. It was really nice to hear from Steve after all this time, I just wish it hadn't been prompted by his waltz with a ton of steel...

later

craigie*

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