The Church (band)
The Church are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave, neo-psychedelia, and indie rock, their music later came to feature slower tempos and surreal soundscapes reminiscent of alternative rock, dream pop, and post-rock. Glenn A. Baker has written that "From the release of the 'She Never Said' single in November 1980, this unique Sydney-originated entity has purveyed a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic-tinged sound which has alternatively found favour and disfavour in Australia." The Los Angeles Times has described the band's music as "dense, shimmering, exquisite guitar pop".
The founding members were Steve Kilbey on lead vocals and bass guitar, Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper on guitars, and Nick Ward on drums. Ward played only on their debut album, and the band's drummer for the rest of the 1980s was Richard Ploog. Jay Dee Daugherty played drums from 1990 to 1993, followed by "timEbandit" Tim Powles, who remains with them to the present day. Koppes left the band from 1992 to 1997 and again in 2020, with Willson-Piper departing in 2013. Ian Haug, formerly of Powderfinger, replaced Willson-Piper, with former touring multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Cain and Even guitarist Ashley Naylor joining after Koppes' later departure. Kilbey, Koppes, and Powles also recorded together as the Refo:mation in 1997.
The Church's debut album, Of Skins and Heart, delivered their first radio hit, "The Unguarded Moment", and they were signed to major labels in Australia, Europe, and the United States. However, the U.S. label, dissatisfied with their second album, dropped the band without releasing it. This put a dent in their success in the U.S., but they returned to the charts in 1988 with the album Starfish and the U.S. Top 40 hit "Under the Milky Way". Subsequent mainstream success has proved elusive, but the band has sustained a large international cult following and earned consistent critical recognition for its later work, including being inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in Sydney in 2010.
The Church continue to tour and record, releasing their twenty‑sixth studio album, The Hypnogogue, in February 2023, and their twenty‑seventh, Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars, in March 2024.
History
1980–1981: Early days, ''Of Skins and Heart''
Singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist Steve Kilbey first played with guitarist Peter Koppes in a band called Baby Grande in Canberra, Australia in the mid-1970s. After each had left to travel and play in other bands, including Tactics and Limazine, they met again in Sydney in March 1980 and formed the initial three-piece version of The Church, with Limazine drummer Nick Ward. The name was a shortened version of the original name proposed by Kilbey: "The Church of Man". A month later, Marty Willson-Piper, originally from Liverpool, United Kingdom, witnessed one of their gigs and met Kilbey afterwards. That same night he was invited to join the band on guitar, establishing the classic two-guitar formation.A four-song demo was recorded in Kilbey's bedroom studio and sent to Chris Gilbey of ATV Northern Songs. The song "Chrome Injury" attracted the attention of managing director Gilbey, who signed the band to his recently formed record production company, in association with EMI and their recently resurrected Parlophone label. Gilbey went to band rehearsals and helped shape their sound—he bought Willson-Piper a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and equipped Koppes with an Echolette tape delay. Of that first batch of demos, only "Chrome Injury" would go on to be recorded for release.
The band's debut album, Of Skins and Heart, was recorded late in 1980, produced by Gilbey and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Seven of the nine tracks were written solely by Kilbey and two co-written with others. The first single, "She Never Said", was released in November, but did not chart. At the start of 1981, Ward was replaced on drums by Richard Ploog. Ploog was recruited by their manager, Michael Chugg, after hearing of his reputation in Adelaide. Ploog's arrival established The Church's first stable line-up. The second single, "The Unguarded Moment", co-written by Kilbey and Michelle Parker, was issued alongside the album in March 1981, but only in Australia initially. "The Unguarded Moment" became an Australian top forty hit, reaching No. 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, while Of Skins and Heart went gold, achieving the same position on the related Albums Chart. To promote the releases, the band undertook their first national tour.
The first recordings with Ploog were released as a five-track double 7-inch EP, Too Fast for You, in July. It included the first collectively written track, "Sisters". Another track, "Tear It All Away", later released as a separate single, showed a development towards the more elaborate guitar structures which would become part of the band's signature sound. Their image and sound now evoked comparisons with 1960s psychedelic groups, with tight jeans, paisley shirts, and Byrds-style jangly guitars.
The commercial success of Of Skins and Heart enabled Gilbey to present the release to Freddie Cannon of French label Carrere and Rupert Perry of U.S. label Capitol. Both labels released the album in 1982, renaming it simply The Church and slightly altering the track listing to include songs from Too Fast for You and using a crop of that EP's artwork as the cover. The Church peaked at no. 7 in the New Zealand Albums Chart and no. 13 in Sweden. Ploog was incorrectly credited as the sole drummer on the release, despite only playing on one or three tracks, depending on the version. Capitol also released an edited single version of "The Unguarded Moment", without the band's approval.
1982–1985: ''The Blurred Crusade'', ''Seance'', ''Remote Luxury'', and ''Persia''
The band's second album, The Blurred Crusade, was issued in March 1982 and was both produced and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. "With its mystical lyrics the second album... brought the group's own style more into focus". The album peaked at no. 10 and its first single, "Almost with You" resulted in a second Top 30 hit, peaking at no. 21.The Church undertook a second Australian tour, while Carrere released the album in Europe, generating enough sales for them to tour there in October. However, Capitol declined to release The Blurred Crusade in North America and demanded that they write more radio-friendly material, as exemplified by their stable-mates Little River Band, which horrified the band. After another recording session, five new songs were offered to Capitol but the label was still unimpressed and dropped the band. The five songs were later released in Australia as the EP Sing-Songs, which reached the Top 100 Albums Chart in December. Meanwhile, their manager, Michael Chugg, arranged a U.K. tour supporting the hugely successful pop group Duran Duran, but after eight gigs The Church pulled out, feeling that audiences were unsympathetic. Chugg later recalled, "They were hard work. All four of them were strong-willed and had their own ideas of how things should be."
In May 1983, the band released their third album, Seance, co-produced by The Church and engineer John Bee, which peaked at No. 18. It used more keyboards and synthesizers and has been described as "That stark release explored the band's darker side, and tracks... were awash with strings and other effects". The accompanying live shows included a guest keyboardist, Melbourne-based session player Dean Walliss.
For Seance, the band employed mixing engineer Nick Launay, who had worked with Midnight Oil. He favoured a gated reverb drum sound, popular in the 1980s, which produced a staccato-like snare sound. Unsatisfied with this, the band asked Launay to redo the mix, but the effect was only lightened. The first single, "Electric Lash", featured this effect especially prominently and it was likened to a "machine gun". Despite dissatisfaction over the mix, Seance featured a lusher, more atmospheric sound with highlights including "Now I Wonder Why" and "Fly". Internationally, the album sold poorly, being considered dark and cryptic. Some critics in Europe and the U.S. did like the album however, with Creem hailing the band as "one of the best in the world".
Seance was again dominated by Kilbey's songwriting. Some 20 songs were put together on his home 4-track. Only one band composition made the album: the experimental "Travel by Thought". Kilbey and Willson-Piper had co-written another track, "10,000 Miles", but the label rejected it. Kilbey was upset by the label's interference, finding the track essential to their live set. Despite the difficulties, the album yielded two minor hits—"It's No Reason" and "Electric Lash"—and stayed in the British independent charts for several months.
Following the release of Seance, they toured Australia and New Zealand for the rest of the year to pay off debts incurred on the European tour. Meanwhile, Capitol Records released their first album in Canada, where it reached the Top 20. The Sing-Songs EP also became one of the bestselling Canadian imports of 1983.
Forgoing a full album, the band released two EPs in 1984, Remote Luxury in March and Persia in August, but only in Australia and New Zealand. Both EPs reached the Top 50 on the Australian Albums Chart. Again, almost all tracks were written by Kilbey, but compared to Seance, the atmosphere was lighter and less gloomy. The band's trademark guitar sound was complemented by the keyboards of guest musicians Davey Ray Moor and Craig Hooper, who joined as an auxiliary member. Hooper soon left to form the Mullanes.
The band then signed to Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Internationally, the two EPs were repackaged as a single album titled Remote Luxury. Its U.S. release was their first record there since the debut album – although The Blurred Crusade and Seance had sold well on import. Due to the interest raised in the U.S., they left Michael Chugg Management in Sydney and signed with Malibu Management's owner John Lee. They toured the U.S. in October and November and while venues in New York and Los Angeles saw audiences of about 1,000 people, other gigs had as few as 50. In financial terms, the tour went poorly and the band lost thousands of dollars a week.
Unable to repeat the commercial success of the first two albums, there was a perception by the band that their creativity was declining. Kilbey later said: "I think we released a few dud records that weren't as good as they should have been, after The Blurred Crusade... The band was just drifting along in a sea of apathy, I was writing not-so-good songs and the band wasn't playing them very well, so everyone's enthusiasm just waned".
The start of 1985 was quiet for the band as members spent time apart in Stockholm, Sydney, and Jamaica. Kilbey's debut solo single, "This Asphalt Eden", was released by EMI Parlophone and he was also the producer on the single "Benefit of the Doubt" for the Crystal Set.