Formed in Canberra, Australia, in 1980, the Church, led by Steve Kilbey (b. 13 September 1954, England; bass/vocals), who emigrated with his family at an early age, originally comprised Peter Koppes (b. 21 November 1955, Australia; guitar/vocals), Marty Willson-Piper (b. 7 May 1958, Liverpool, England; guitar/vocals) and Nick Ward (drums). Richard Ploog (b. 22 March 1962, Australia; drums) would replace the latter after the completion of the band’s debut album. That release came in 1981, when Of Skins And Heart gained some radio and television exposure. The European release The Church, which included stand-out cut ‘The Unguarded Moment’ (with its accompanying early pixilated image effect video), gave indications of great promise. The Church’s 60s/ Byrds revivalist stance, coupled with a distinctive 12-stringed ‘jangly’ guitar approach, was exemplified on 1982’s The Blurred Crusade by such songs as ‘Almost With You’, ‘When You Were Mine’ and ‘Fields Of Mars’. Starfish resulted in the band gaining college radio airplay in the USA, earning them a US Top 30 hit with ‘Under The Milky Way’, and strengthened their audiences in parts of Europe - although generally they found themselves restricted to a loyal cult following.
The band’s activities have been interrupted periodically due to internal problems and extensive solo projects and collaborations. Ploog’s departure in 1990 resulted in the addition of former Patti Smith and Television drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who appeared on 1992’s Priest=Aura. Willson-Piper released several solo albums and took on a part-time role as guitarist for All About Eve in 1991, appearing on their final two releases Touched By Jesus and Ultraviolet. Kilbey also recorded several solo albums, as well as publishing a book of poems. In 1991, he teamed up with Go-Betweens guitarist/vocalist Grant McLennan under the name of Jack Frost, recording a self-titled album for Arista Records in 1991. Peter Koppes completed an EP, When Reason Forbids, in 1987, and embarked on his own sequence of album releases, briefly leaving the group in the mid-90s (Sometime Anywhere was recorded by Kilbey, Willson-Piper and new drummer Tim Powles). Kilbey and McLennan made a second Jack Frost album, Snow Job, released by Beggars Banquet Records in 1996.
The Church signed a new recording contract with Cooking Vinyl Records in the late 90s, releasing the covers collection A Box Of Birds and a series of new studio albums including After Everything Now This (2002) and Uninvited, Like The Clouds (2006).
