The Church - C or D/S&D/CB&TT

With both Willson-Piper and Koppes gone, we're deep into Ship of Theseus territory. SK is undoubtedly the wellspring of inspiration, but so much of the appeal of the classic Church era derives from their fantastic musicianship and sound.

username checks out

Hey c’mon, he replaced them with the guitarists from two of the most boring bands of the ‘90s — that’s real value!

I missed Television on their reunion tours, but I did get to see Verlaine once in late 1988: a solo acoustic set opening for The Church & Peter Murphy at the Hollywood Palladium. Verlaine joined for The Church’s encore of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” and then The Church’s own “You Took.” A spectacular 3-guitar blowout. The Church were touring Starfish and just unstoppable live. Kilbey later writes in his book that Ploog was playing so fast because he wanted out of the band and therefore would finish the set as fast as possible.

No recording of the LA show exists but two other nights of the tour with Verlaine are here: (SLC sounds good)
https://shadowcabi.net/concerts/1980s-rev.html

I saw the Denver date on August 18 of that year. It was a really good show.

(xpost)

I will say that I think Ian Haug's style meshed really well with Koppes on Further/Deeper.

yeah I saw them on that tour and the band was dece tbf

Hey c’mon, he replaced them with the guitarists from two of the most boring bands of the ‘90s

Bores of the new Church

Man, I had a tape of a show from the Starfish tour — I think it was even a King Biscuit Flower Hour or some such, I taped it from the radio — it was fantastic and I've never found it on the internet.

I was a big fan but didn't really follow them in the later years. But then they came through my hometown a couple years ago (last tour with Koppes I think) playing Starfish and then lots of later stuff and I was totally blown away.

I had a cassette of a Westwood One recording from that era, it was only about 40 mins long, as it was shared with another band (can't recall who), but it was fantastic.

Yes! That's the one I'm thinking of. Aside from its being great, I just remember that it was heavy on the Starfish cuts and ended with Hotel Womb. Would be great if it turned up somewhere.

Whoops looks like my memory was wrong:

https://www.discogs.com/release/8062807-Rhythm-Corps-The-Church-Westwood-One-In-Concert

So delayed reaction here but The Hypnogogue has ended up sinking in with me -- it took a couple more plays but it's its own enjoyably moody listen. Meantime the show this past Tuesday was way better than I would have hoped for. Wrote up a lot of thoughts for the weekly Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-70-80117464

Whoa, Steve Kilbey is 68? Looking at his bio, I guess he was already 27 when they released their first album.

I've made a mix of the songs they're playing on this tour to study up for my first time seeing them live, and it's really striking how consistent they are across the decades. The songs from The Hypnogogue sit quite comfortably next to the songs from Seance, with just a few 80's production signifiers to distinguish them.

Whoa, Steve Kilbey is 68?

It's crazy to realize it but totally true! And you're correct about the consistency but it's not a flaw in the slightest, more just a real continuum, and you can sense the difference between eras easily enough -- the turn towards crypto-prog in the late 90s on was exactly what they needed.

I'm seeing the Denver show tomorrow. My first time. Super stoked!

Saw them in Cambridge MA last night, 68 year old Steve was funny, charming and played for 2.5 hours!!

"We're *obliged* to play this song for you" he said before going into "Under The Milky Way".

Yeah, Kilbey was may more of a stage presence than I was expected. My favorite moment was when someone correctly guessed the name of the song they were about to play next, and he replied, with mock wonder, "that's a great idea... you just changed the trajectory of this whole fucking gig!"

He's apparently also still bitter about a 2-star review from Rolling Stone from 30 years ago.

My partner (who never listened to the Church) pointed out that without any nostalgia bump, the show was pretty unremarkable. But that's kinda true for most touring bands of this vintage.

saw them the other week too, and my dubiousness upthread about adding an uninspired '60s pastichist certainly played out in unremarkability; they played well (and Kilbey was having a great time wrt banter) but especially with two other guitarists now, Koppes' departure could have been a chance to get in someone who would reshape the old songs, or have a more idiosyncratic approach to the prog aspect of the group. call up, idk, Buckethead, or Kirin J Callinan.

also guessing that few other US gigs had as big a cheer when they announced the home of the touring drummer.

"sic otm" - Steve Kilbey

If you were the manager of a football team, would you rather have a team full of absolute stars who cooperate or would you rather have a team of guys who perhaps weren’t so absolutely starry but they were more interested in the teamwork idea. That’s how I feel with Jeffrey in the band and Ash in the band.

That’s a good interview :) Thanks for the link!

Agreed, that is a really, really good interview. Probably the most forthcoming I've ever seen Kilbey be. It's interesting to hear that he allowed the band to operate as a democracy during the recording of Man Woman Life Death Infinity, and that he believes that's why the album is so mediocre.

xxp That two star review of Priest=Aura was not one of Ira's better efforts

Love SK declaring his love of Prog :)

I hope folks have this: https://stevekilbey.bandcamp.com/album/space-bootleg

My partner (who never listened to the Church) pointed out that without any nostalgia bump, the show was pretty unremarkable. But that's kinda true for most touring bands of this vintage.

― enochroot, Sunday, April 2, 2023 10:32 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I saw them at an outdoor fest in LA and had the opposite instinct -- they seemed like one of the 'aged-best' bands for n00bs in the whole festival lineup, stuff really connected well in that setting maybe

i delivered food to this band last night! they were playing at the venue attached to my workplace and i caught a tiny bit of the show. Hotel Womb sounded great, ngl, but I do think they might sound like "generic rock band" if you are not already on board with the whole thing/a fan already (which fortunately i am so i enjoyed it)
I smiled at Steve K but did not talk with him. On my way out, the show was still going and he thanked a person who he said has bankrolled their last 4 albums and supported their last few tours? And that person was in the room? I have no idea what that's all about but it was news to me.

also their fog machine set off the smoke alarm the night before and everyone had to evacuate lol. total Spinal Tap moment :)

I had been listening to solo SK albums in preparation of this and really had no idea how influential Unearthed/Earthed was for me. when i got both albums in hs i was perplexed by Earthed but now it sounds SO good.

We were at last night's show LL, sorry we missed you! They were heavier than expected and I thought the band was great. "Metropolis" is still a lovely song, even if it seemed like they kinda just wanted to get it over with. "Grind" and "Tantalized" were highlights for me. "You Took" was fantastic -- from smouldering to scorching and back. Watching Kilbey's fingers keep pace as the band kept speeding up was fun. His voice sounded great, too. I even liked a couple of songs from the new concept (!) album. Wouldn't have gone had it not been so close to home, but we left glad we went.

It was the last night of the tour and Kilbey thanked everyone for coming out saying "This may be the last time, who knows? I'm turning...40 next year"!

> total Spinal Tap moment :)

I kept thinking the guitarist stage right somehow looked like both Nigel Tufnel *and* David St. Hubbins

Yeah I've heard about this guy who apparently bankrolls a lot of their stuff. Like some huge fan who is also a high-flying dentist or something? Elvis Telecom may know more.

Also, did anyone grab that tour only release and can they share a rip, please.

that's so cool LL! I'm sure if MWP had been there you would have said hello... I saw them in Austin last week, but they played an abbreviated set because it was part of a festival so I didn't get to hear Metropolis or Kings, cry cry cry. Still, they sounded great and I still heard a few deep cuts (An Interlude and Hotel Womb the latter I guess they play all the time but I really wanted to hear it)

I was at the Tuesday night show. The band sounded great, particularly on "Tantalized", but yeah, some distinct Spinal Tap vibes with Nigel Tufnel on guitar and SK taking time on multiple occasions to explain the extremely convoluted plot of The Hypnagogue to the small crowded of mostly-seated attendees.

@ john -- wish i had known you were there! we were busy though and if you weren't in my section i probably didn't see you. agree about the heaviness -- one of the things i love most about this band! they are both transporting and grounding at the same time, pure magic. i think i caught an instrumental part of "Grind" and I was proud of myself for recognizing it without any vocals

@ f hazel -- yes, i absolutely would have debased myself to say hello to MWP. i was about to interrupt SK but it was a meet & greet thing and people had paid for their access and i didn't want to misuse my immense privilege of carrying their salads and pizzas back to the green room lol. i also did mention MWP to several of my tables to demonstrate that i am a trve head lol

@Andy - one of my tables told me they read the book and it was "better than they expected" but that he should stick to writing songs, which we all agreed he is very skilled at

v curious about this loaded dentist!!

I've certainly been skeptical of the loss of Koppes and MWP, but it is Steve's band after all.

Actually, the current lineup is playing very well - even or maybe especially on the older stuff. Seattle show had maybe the best performance of Grind that I recall seeing in person. And as much as I think Powles helped hold things together through some rough years, I think the change in drummer has paid off on this tour. (But I swear I've yet to hear Haug play MWP's part on Reptile w/o fucking up the riff at least once per performance...)

New tour-only EP is decent enough.

Have also heard the dentist rumor. Maybe on this board some time back.

Dartmouth business professor Kevin Keller (who has a very popular textbook) was "executive producer" for some recent Church albums, which is mentioned in his textbook bio. Guessing that means he partly financed them and advised on marketing.

first gay in Archie comics, ILX poster, business professor and Steve Kilbey investor

Some lovely memories here, also confirms it was due to a stroke suffered two days ago in Prague.

https://www.facebook.com/luca.signorelli.33/posts/10230859418609528

Whoops wrong thread! That sadly was for the Killing Joke thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXBasxt6FYo

(just posted today)

Awesome

Really great!

was present for this radio session. really excellent. I nice follow-up to the show the night before. hoping audio surfaces of the pre-session warmup (video is very unlikely).

US tour dates on the way. Also Eros Zeta... is getting a full-release
https://www.thechurchband.com

Well that's good, I'm still a bit sore they didn't have it with their merch at Hardly Strictly!

This last December my dad ran into Steve Kilbey at the local post office in our small regional little surf town. He's a massive fan, said g'day, and ended up scoring some free tickets for a solo acoustic gig that night.

Apparently Steve was a really lovely bloke to chat with and the gig was fantastic. My dad has been a fan his whole life; a very lucky encounter

That's great! Love stuff like that.

Looks like they are touring with the Afghan Whigs here?

Huge Church spree the last couple of weeks here. The post-stardom stuff has really opened up to me now.