The Church 2003: Q&A with Tim Powles
Frequently asked and often answered questions:
Q. When did the church form?
A. 1980, Sydney, Australia
Q. Wow, that’s a long time (actually a frequently made exclamation) !
A . Exactly
Q. How did the church form ?
A . When cooling masses of northern prog came in contact with hot glammy rock then pressurized by surrounding forces of nasty synth pop and
congealed heavy metal, the church were extruded forth to play twin layers of guitar and spout literary stuff
Q. Exactly how many albums have the band made ?
A. That’s simple, are you counting the compilations and the remixes or the rarities and e.p.s ? ………… Australian and/or Europe and or the U.S. versions….. anyway it’s around about 16-ish, give or take one or two
Q. Who were your guys influences?
A. Between us, everybody! And the stuff we hated influenced us worse than the stuff we liked
Q. It said somewhere that you guys were the antipodean equivalents of REM only not nearly as rich or talented
A. That’s not a question
Q. OK it also said that the band has survived plane crashes, overdoses, jails, riots, persecution and bad exchange rates
A. What a day!
Q. Did the success of under the milky way change your lives?
A. Not any more than you’d expect from a mega selling record and its subsequent catapulting of us headlong into the bewildering spectacle that is pop success in all its temporary absurdity
Q. What are some of the strangest places you guys have played?
A. Roman tv shows, Swedish museums, Australian school assemblies, Scottish discos, unplugged bookshops, bouncing ballrooms, punk infernos, empty
ice rinks, Seattle laundromats, swishy theatres, french garages, a steelworks in alabama, houses of blues, piers, fields, municipal halls, gold coast bloodbaths, arctic nightclub mayhem, gearless in carolina, dutch
pot fuelled jamming, adriatic marketplaces miming mindlessly, operas , fiascos and pubs.
Q. So how do you guys get on after all this time?
A. Like a house on fire
Q. OK and the bands biggest problem..?
A. Smoke inhalation
Q. You’ve had lots of drummers. You guys kinda remind me of spinal tap…….
A. No kidding
Q. Seriously though, what happened to all the others..?
A. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
Q. OK so you’ve made this new record. Why "Forget Yourself"?
A. Who? Me?
Q. What?
A. See, it works
Q. Do you guys still have something to say after all these years?
A. Yes
Q. Well, what’s that?
A. Well, we’re not sure but we’re sure it’s important
Q. How is this one different to the last few?
A. We came to hold the position that when all was said and done that perhaps we had been a trifle remiss as of late in the serious rockin’ dept. and we took the steps of cranking up the olde amplifriers and hitting the “boogie button” hard ! as well as rock we added the extra precaution of a little roll.
Q. What’s it like doing an interview with yourself?
A. You should know
Q. So.. ( the sound of a mobile phone ringing..) hello..oh, hello sir…yes, but…yes, but…..ok, sir,.. loud and clear, sir…………um, listen they’re saying this bio will be shortly terminated unless we start downsizing the fluff and maintaining our factual oriented goals.
A. So ask me where we recorded the new record
Q. OK
A. Tim Powles studio in Glebe, Sydney…..spacejunk
Q. Why did you record there? Why not some leather encrusted ultra tech futuristic top dollar joint run by gangsters and frequented by dealers and bimbos?
A. Hang on, that is spacejunk
Q. Was it weird having the drummer produce?
A. We didn’t like the fact that we called him Tim when he was drumming but Mr Powles when he was producing
Q. What are the songs about?
A. They’re about 3 or 4 minutes
Q. ….(sound of mobile ringing) .. hello, yes sir… yes, I told him sir..very well sir I’m afraid that’s it
A. Damn
Q. And I never asked you why are you guys called The Church
A. No, you never did.