The Church - any of the congregation here? (Part Two)

It would’ve necessitated flying or driving up from Melbourne and booking accommodation, time off work, etc, but it definitely would’ve been worth it judging on the results!

 

Listened to Psychedelic Symphony again, and "Anchorage" jumped out at me. The first time listening to it, and the three or four times listening to Untitled #23, this song never made an impact on me, but HOLY %$#@, this song is incredible! Vocally, Steve bares it all. He sings this song like his life depends on it. The music and lyrics are among the band's best as well.

This is off the same album as "Pangaea" and "Space Saviour". There's only a handful of albums that have even two songs of this caliber. And there's still seven more songs on this album!

 

I love Psychedelic Symphony, and was so grateful to find both the 2cd and DVD available at merch stand for a Church gig on Further Deeper tour.

I will have to pull that DVD off the shelf again soon!

 

Shame the DVD for Symphony seems to be out of print. Ditto the Future Past Perfect set as well. Actually, roughly half of Unorthodox's catalog. Coffee Hounds, Operetta... Come on, Steve!

And it's a real pity the Second Motion thing crashed and burned the way it did; mastering aside, that was looking to be the ultimate Church experience. From what I've read, getting the albums back in print was only to be the tip of the iceberg. I feel really bad for Stephen Judge. He pretty much single-handedly revitalized the catalog, as much of it was either out of print, or in the case of the EMI 2CD issues, never even released in America. That had to be a real labor of love, and I read an interview where he stated that the Church had been his favorite band since he first heard them (I think he said it was Heyday but I can't recall). To have your idol attack you like that must sting really, really bad.

But to run that reissue campaign was to sit between a rock and a hard place. Either give the artist 100% of the profits (which, in a perfect world, would be the ideal solution), which would quickly cause the label to go under and the material to fall out of print again... or keep as much money as is reasonably possible in order to keep afloat, still losing money hand-over-fist in a no-holds-barred reissue campaign of an obscure artist, only to appear greedy and money-centric to said artist. And they call this carnival progress...

 

I've wondered if the whole Unorthodox issue, or more accurately Kilbeys behavior, is what pushed MWP to leave the band. He may have sided with Judge.

 

Some Australian tour dates have been announced for next month.
https://thechurchband.net/category/news/

Link for the March 31 gig.
Grove is in the Heart - Line Up

 

I believe Marty. I think he said everything he needed to say as guitar man for the Church. He certainly could have gone on to make more great music with them, but it's not like we have a shortage of that already. He seems very happy now and the stuff the Church is doing with Ian is top-notch as well. Would I prefer that he stayed? Yeah, but if everybody involved is happy and making great art, I see no reason to push it.

He's playing a gig in Woodstock this Friday. That's about a three-hour drive one way. I'd love to go but I can't drive and I don't think I can convince anyone to drive me. Oh well.

 

Marty's heart wasn't in it the last few times I saw them. I keep thinking that he'll come back at some point, but who knows. I'd go see him but New York is too far to travel.

 

I read a very recent interview with MWP. He seemed to be trying to hard, referring to the church as "that band" (or something equally passive aggressive). Kilbey ripped him a new one on Facebook, basically stating that MWP was a bully and quite unpleasant to be around, among other things. The fact that MWP, in the aforementioned interview, would not comment on his departure from the church says a lot. See ya later- the band seems very happy onstage with Ian Haug, and Steve said the vibe is way better now. I lean more towards Steve's side of things at this point.

New album is so good.

 

Whether a personality clash led to Marty's departure will probably always be up for debate... it's clear that nobody involved wants to talk about it. The band have always stated that they really weren't friends and focused solely on the music. When it was just Marty and Steve in the mid '90s, Marty went the extra mile because Steve was slipping more and more into his addiction. Marty always fought for his songs to be on albums and "Insanity" ended up an ignored B-side to an EP that only diehards bought off a Kilbey-dominated album that got rave reviews. And that's not even taking into account how much of an ass Steve can be (and he'd be the first to admit it).

That said, with Psychedelic Symphony and Future Past Perfect, Marty really gave it 110% the whole way through. It takes a fierce level of dedication and passion to do what he did on "Tantalized" from Symphony for almost nine minutes straight, after nearly two hours of playing beforehand.

Whatever it is, Marty seems to be happier away from the band, the band seems rejuvenated with Ian Haug, they're all still great regardless of what they may or may not think of each other, life's too short to care about what someone thinks about someone else, etc.

I for one believe Marty when he says he was just tired of being in the Church. Maybe because of personality clashes, maybe because of Steve's ego, maybe because the hotel put blue M&Ms in the dressing room dish. Maybe it's because of the whole Second Motion thing. Maybe he'd just said his peace, done everything he wanted to do, and decided to move on. It's his decision, and it's his decision to keep it private. If you had thousands of people asking you a question that you didn't want to answer, after you told them you wouldn't answer it, you'd get upset too.

 

Marty and his (then) girlfriend managed the band the last few years he was around, including putting together the deal with 2nd Motion. I have to imagine having Steve go public with the dirty laundry, after doing all that work for several years, caused a lot of frustration for MWP.

 

Apparently she was a real handful to deal with.

 

And Kilbey isn’t?

 

I think its all of the above and then some. Marty and Steve were together for a very long time as collaborators. That can take its toll.

 

Once again, in '94 when Steve was completely out of it, Marty kept him on his feet. It takes dedication to do that for anyone, but exponentially more for someone like Steve who openly doesn't care about very much beyond his own interests.

That said, while I don't think that wasn't a factor, I still think Marty just "outgrew" the Church rather than left for a more specific reason. And if he seems bitter about "that band", I'd wager it's because of people who won't stop asking him why he left "that band". Imagine being told for years that you should have married that crazy ex who almost drove you to murder. You get cynical really quick.

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt that particularly when Steve had his issues with heroin. With Marty helping to manage the band, etc. it could have continued to fray edges later on when Steve came back fully. The issue with their reissue label, Kilbey quitting the band (and probably blaming Marty to a degree), etc. I don't doubt that Marty genuinely felt he went as far as he could BUT I also suspect that there was too much bad blood for him to go the distance with the band.

 

Got Life Before Starfish in the mail, hoping to digitally edit "Fly" to remove the error...

"Made By Discovery Systems - An American Company"

Damn!

Well, it sounds like a nice click-free needledrop now...

 

Me too.

 

Yes, a VERY long time, and I think that all of the hypothesis' being offered for MWP's departure were contributing factors.

2nd Motion launched too late in the CD game. It was a huge reissue campaign for a band that plays modestly-sized venues. I can't imagine that they sold a fraction of what they were hoping. I saw The Church on the Further Deeper tour at the Music Hall of W'burg and I'd guess that 35-40% of the tickets were sold. After the first clutch of songs Kilbey said, "I'm glad that you all could make it to the We Overstayed Our Welcome Tour."

I talked with Stephen Judge at length several years ago at The City Winery, he was operating the merch stand. His dedication to the band and the immense pleasure that he took in his role were palpable. He sunk a lot of money and a huge amount of time into the Church catalogue. Nobody else would have done it. And if they did, Kilbey & Co. probably would have seen even less money (read: none at all).

Bad blood is sad.

 

Really?

 

SK wears his emotions on his sleeve - for better or worse.

But as a huge fan of MWP's guitar playing (which SK praises even while "ripping MWP a new one), when he referred to "that band" multiple times, it came off as a bit caustic, as if he held some sour feelings.

They're both very expressive men - probably why Koppes endures, he seems more like the strong/silent type.

 

Has anyone heard the new album on vinyl?


The previous one was kind of sound so-so...

 

Great post. I seriously doubt Stephen Judge had any malicious intent at all. I also don't believe that Steve K. doesn't understand that the Church aren't stars in America. Judge worked his ass off to give this band the treatment they deserved, but the twisted nature of business made it blow up in his face.

Maybe a bit unrelated, but I always loved Yep Roc Records for their music-friendly approach and fantastic roster. I've been planning to move to North Carolina for a long time, and for years wanted my own music to be released through Yep Roc (until I realized none of it was finished, haha). I can't remember if I found out about Judge's involvement with them before or after I read Kilbey's rants against him, but I'm of the opinion that somebody who could be that heavily involved with their artists can't possibly be as evil as Kilbey seemed to portray him as.

I ordered the Unorthodox El Momento Siguiente from Schoolkids a few months back. They had at least three copies, possibly more. When I move, I'll have to make sure Schoolkids is a relatively short drive away!

 

When you've got an itch, it should be scratched:

"Under the Milky Way" - The Church.

 

InStepWithTheStars said:
And it's a real pity the Second Motion thing crashed and burned the way it did; mastering aside, that was looking to be the ultimate Church experience. From what I've read, getting the albums back in print was only to be the tip of the iceberg. I feel really bad for Stephen Judge. He pretty much single-handedly revitalized the catalog, as much of it was either out of print, or in the case of the EMI 2CD issues, never even released in America. That had to be a real labor of love, and I read an interview where he stated that the Church had been his favorite band since he first heard them (I think he said it was Heyday but I can't recall). To have your idol attack you like that must sting really, really bad.......

I worked with Stephen on a lot of cd's, some i designed (the SK box i did came out, well, just okay, imho...) some i just helped with UPC codes here and there, looked at some of the Church proofs, etc, but a more passionate fan and label-head you could not have found....i read Steve's take on the whole thing, and his bitterness with the profits, etc, but you're right, this was a reissue campaign that was NOT going to sell truckloads, and i have to think Steve had to consider that, but i am sure we are all glad Stephen at least funded and released what he did....he's a top gent in my book.