Steve Kilbey is best known as the frontman of Australian legends the Church, whose “Under The Milky Way” was one of the defining alt-rock singles of the late ’80s. He has also released records with the likes of Grant McLennan, Martin Kennedy and Donnette Thayer, as well as a number of solo albums. Aside from being a member of the Australian Songwriters Hall Of Fame, Kilbey pens poetry and is an accomplished painter. His latest CD is Life Somewhere Else (Communicating Vessels) by Isidore, a collaboration with Jeffrey Cain (Remy Zero). Kilbey will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Kilbey: The sound of space travel. The repetition, the metallic heaving rushing feeling of hurtling through the cosmos at 10,000 miles an hour. Oscillators whirr and ooze. Guitars and woodwinds rerouted through flanging phasing distortion and harsh echo. A voluptuous naked dancer hurls herself around the stage strung out on space itself, an incredible light show. Lemmy on bass guitar and vocals. His chops are surprisingly good. The poet Bob Calvert on announcements, pronouncements and prophecy, your zen master of ceremony and ritual. And Dave Brock, the spirit of Hawkwind and the engine of their music. Brutal hard unrelenting music like space itself. The physicality of liftoff . The weightlessness of deep space. The scraping shifting electronic mess will blow your tiny mind. Never before had anyone charted these voids and darknesses, an incredible voyage. “Technicians of spaceship Earth this is your captain speaking: Your captain is dead!”
This then is the real deal. No one would ever approach space again in this way. This noisy screaming floating pulsating sheer bloody racket. I love it. I always have!
Video after the jump.
