In the realm of bands that never managed to be the arena-sized, global-scaled sensations they deserved to be, The Church looms fairly large. Formed in 1980 by bassist/frontman Steve Kilbey and guitarist Peter Koppes, the Australian quartet had Top 25 hits with its debut album, 1981’s Of Skins and Heart, and second single, “The Unguarded Moment,” which launched the band’s massively successful career at home and ultimately resulted in its induction into the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame in 2011.
During The Church’s nearly 40-year run, the band has had only four lineup changes, three of those in the drummer’s chair (Tim Powles has been the beatkeeper since 1994) and the latest occurring just four years ago when original second guitarist Marty Willson-Piper moved to Sweden and cut off communications with the band. His defacto resignation led to the hiring of former Powderfinger guitarist Ian Haug, who added a brilliant new facet to the band’s psychedelic Pop/Rock sound on 2014’s compelling Further/Deeper.
The Church amassed a global fan base with critical acclaim and substantial album and ticket sales in North America and Europe, especially on early works like The Blurred Crusade, Seance and Heyday, but poor sales of the latter lost the band its EMI contract. After signing with Arista, the group recorded in Los Angeles and the alienation and discomfort caused by the living and studio accommodations translated into The Church’s first worldwide smash with 1988’s Starfish and its defining single, “Under the Milky Way.” The song was Australia’s Single of the Year for 1989 and wound up causing a resurgence in the group’s career when it was included in the soundtrack of cult classic Donnie Darko 12 years later.
Although The Church has teetered on the brink several times during its tenure, the band has remained a consistent musical presence over the past four decades with an astonishing recorded output, including 25 full-length studio albums (counting outtake and acoustic remake collections), various hits compilations and one lone live album, 2014’s A Psychedelic Symphony, a recording of a 2011 show at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney University Symphony Orchestra. Throw in 14 solo albums from Kilbey, seven from Koppes and one from Powles (who’s working on a second) and The Church may well be among the most prolific bands of Australian musicians in history.
The band recently released “Another Century,” a new single ahead of its forthcoming 26th album:
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This article appears in Jun 28 – Jul 5, 2017.
