Church, The

From the release of their single She Never Said in November 1980, this unique Canberra-born, Sydney-based band produced a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic blend of music that alternately found favour and disfavour in Australia.

An initial rush of success saw The Church burst onto the Australian singles charts in 1981 with The Unguarded Moment from their debut album, Of Skins and Hearts. Co-produced by the legendary Bob Clearmountain (and mixed by him at the Power Station in NY), the LP was an accomplished and intriguing work that gave the band a base to journey to the UK and Europe in 1982.

The band’s 1960s Byrds revivalist stance, coupled with a distinctive 12-string, jangly guitar approach, was exemplified on the album The Blurred Crusade (1982) by songs such as Almost With You and When You Were Mine.

In July 1987, frontman, bassist, and primary songwriter Steve Kilbey published a book of his prose entitled Earthed. He also released a purely instrumental solo album also titled Earthed to accompany the book.

Starfish (1988) saw the band gain college radio play in the US, earning them a US Top 30 hit with Under the Milky Way. The prestigious Los Angeles Times described their sixth album as “dense, shimmering, exquisite guitar pop”. Such reviews helped the album climb to #1 on the American Alternative and AOR charts.

By 1993, both Richard Ploog and Peter Koppes had left the band, leaving Kilbey and Wilson-Piper to bring on board session musicians, although Kiwi drummer Tim Powles would end up staying with the band for two decades.

By 1996, everything had fallen apart, Kilbey and Wilson-Piper weren’t on speaking terms, and Kilbey was engaging lawyers to track down the money.

The original four members agreed to play a string of farewell concerts around Australia, which were extremely successful. The roaring success of the intended “final concert” in Sydney quickly ended talk of the band’s demise.

Despite many more lineup changes, Steve Kilbey plodded on as the sole original member, and in 2010, the band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

With more than 25 studio albums, they continue to release new material and tour globally.