For everyone who has ever heard of a band called THE CHURCH, which I like to think most Australians have, there’s a lot to be said for them.
Their best known track, Under The Milky Way, has often been called one of Australia’s best songs of all time, and like only a small handful of other Australian artists, their music has stood a test of relevancy and dating that never strips them of meaning or pleasure. “The Church is described in negatives. We didn’t want to be punk, we didn’t want to be political, we grew our hair long and wore paisley shirts,” explains lead singer Steve Kilby. “Looking at video clips from bands that were around at the same time, you can laugh at their haircuts, or the really bad use of keyboards, and in ways it often takes away from their sound. As a band we just never listened to any of that because we knew exactly what we didn’t like.”
Celebrating their thirtieth year together, and the major success of their latest release Untitled #23 (Amazon.com named it one of the best albums of all time), the band are returning to their home territory of Canberra, and allegedly, the birthplace of The Church.
“Let me set the record straight about Canberra, once and for all,” says Kilby. “I grew up there and so did Peter [Koppes, guitarist], and we both lived there until we were about 20. We played in a band called Baby Grande for a while, that was our Canberra band. We both moved to Sydney, and that’s where the Church was formed.”
Seeming fairly adamant and almost protective of this fact, Kilby plainly states “Canberra was never open to my ideas; I had to flee. It was good because it helped me focus my thoughts. The sterility forced me to concentrate, because there was nothing to do and no one to do it with. The Church would never have been accepted there in 1980.”
Since fleeing the capital, the band has managed to amass 23 EPs, work on solo projects, and in Kilby’s case, become an accomplished poet and artist. With almost all of their contemporaries either long split or only occasionally on the road when a reunion tour is called for, the band’s innate sensibility of the product and not the timeline is rather incredible. “We’ve always been a very intuitive band,” Kilby admits. “No one ever gives direction, and actually, our music couldn’t take direction. When I wrote Under the Milky Way, no one thought of it as a hit, it was only when the record company saw potential in it. People say ‘you should write another song like that,’ but in a way that was how I learnt my lesson artistically, from just letting things flow. And for us, there’s never really been a point in taking time off,” he states simply. “We’re still productive. No one wanted to break up, so we didn’t.”
Catch The Church at Tilley’s Devine Café on Wednesday February 17. Tickets from the venue for $38 + BF.
