STEVE KILBEY

artist profile

Steve Kilbey is the band’s singer, bassist and main lyricist. As well as this he has been one of the most prolific songwriters of the last twenty years. His own creative tally outside of the band includes six solo albums and numerous collaborative projects and production credits.

Both of Steve’s brothers, Russell and John, have also fronted successful Australian bands. On account of his paternal career (being the father of two pairs of twin girls), Steve currently divides his time between Stockholm, Sweden and Delaware, USA.

As a founding member of the band along with Peter Koppes, Steve tells how their musical relationship stretches back nearly ten years before the band.

" When I was about 17 I joined a cabaret band to make some money but soon got kicked out. After that I was in a Glam Rock band called ‘Precious Little’ with Peter on drums. I first met Peter in 1973 when the bands we were in got double-booked at a rehearsal studio.
Later on, around 1978, I was in another band in Canberra called ‘Baby Grand’ and we got some demo time from EMI. They didn’t sign us up so after that I bought a 4-track and dropped out for a couple of years to write songs. When I played some of them to Peter he could see the potential in them so we teamed up with Nick Ward on drums and Marty soon came along as ‘The Church’ drifted into being."

That was the beginning and now, over twenty years later Steve has a theory on why it has lasted so well.

"The main thing we had going for us at the start was having our own way of doing things at a time when there was big a lack of originality on the Australian music scene. We’ve been that way ever since.
We do what we want to do musically and don’t take too much notice of what’s going on around us. We’ve always strived to make good records and never really got complacent."

With two of the band living in Europe and America, and the other two still in Australia Steve doesn’t believe that the distance is too much of a disadvantage to the band.

" I think the distance has harmed us in some ways, but it’s helped in as many others. It’s a strange set-up for a band to live on 3 continents but it may just be the reason why we’re still together.
If we all lived in each others pockets we’d have probably split up years ago." 

Nowadays the band are signed to independent labels and enjoy more creative control over their work which Steve finds refreshing after years with major labels.

"Bigger record companies will always tell you how you should sound —like somebody else! Our current labels aren’t looking over our shoulder so in that respect our new records stand a better chance of being good. The new record is going to be great —when we all get to hear it."

Music has been Steve’s life and he has no intentions of changing that in the future.

" Creative people aren’t 9 to 5 people. Before the band I worked reluctantly as a civil servant for a while and my boss told me that he didn’t mind that I didn’t want to work there but did mind that I was stopping others from working. I was frustrated and distracted in that environment — it just wasn’t me.
The first time I met Marty he said something that I always stayed with me 'If I can’t make a living making music I won’t do anything else.'"

Steve’s creative leanings have also stretched into to the realm of literature and he has two had two books of his prose writings published to date. He also contributes shorter writings to the ‘North, South, East & West’ fan-zine from time to time.

His second solo recording, ‘Earthed’ was an instrumental album accompanied by a book of his prose poetry, to be read while listening to the music. This was followed up in 1999 with the combined publication of two extended prose pieces ‘Nineveh’ and ‘The Ephemeron’. The initial print of this book has also sold-out, making both volumes quite sought after by Church mavens.

Although the style of the writing is unmistakably his own, Steve’s literary influences are drawn from among the likes of Arthur Rimbaud and John Milton. He has a preference for writing in the medium of long prose poetry and has not expressed any aspirations to enter for the ‘Pulitzer Prize’ in the near future.

The Church may not be the biggest band in the world these days, but many of those who have stayed tuned to them would still rank them up there among the best.

" We live in a world where a Mills & Boon romance novel sells more than ‘The Iliad’. So things of a more esoteric nature don’t sell as well!

I’m sure Vauxhall’s sell more than Jaguars too.

The fact that we can still make a good album after 20 odd years that’s got as much love in it as this one (‘After Everything’) vindicates our continued existence as a band for me."

Frank Donnelly © July 2001

for more info on steve see: karmichit.com

steve kilbey original new art, prints and cards now available at www.stevekilbeyart.artspan.com