Australian seminal psych-guitar masters, The Church have announced a national headline tour of Australia – their first in four years, playing shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Margaret River this September.
Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips caught up with The Church main man Steve Kilbey to discuss the ‘The Slings And Arrows Of Outrageous Fortune’ tour, songwriting methods, the new lineup (which has recently become a 6 piece band featuring two drummers), their upcoming album The Hypnogogue, and his dislike for nostalgia.
Entering their fourth decade of making music and playing live shows with all the fierce creative energy of their early years, ARIA Hall of Fame inductees, The Church will treat fans with two remarkable sets over 2 ½ hours with a taste of new songs from the band’s forthcoming 26th studio album, ‘The Hypnogogue’ – plus performing a string of hit songs across their expansive music career including ‘Under The Milky Way’, ‘Reptile’, ‘The Unguarded Moment’ and ‘Almost With You’.
The 2022 epic line-up, now a 6 piece for this tour features bassist, vocalist and founder Steve Kilbey; with long-time collaborator TimEbandit Powles, drummer and producer across 17 albums since ’94; guitarist Ian Haug formerly of Australian rock icons Powderfinger, who joined the band in 2013 and Jeffrey Cain (Remy Zero), touring multi-instrumentalist who is now a full-time member of The Church since the departure of Peter Koppes in early 2020. The band have also recruited Ashley Naylor, long-time member of Paul Kelly’s touring band and one of Australia’s finest and most respected guitarists (Even, The Grapes, The Stems), and just recently they’ve added a second drummer Nick Meredith.
The group has an unwavering desire to carry on performing the immense body of work that stretches back in a continuous line to classic early albums such as ‘Of Skins and Heart’, ‘The Blurred Crusade’, ‘Starfish’ that has been put together from past to present to future.
Kilbey says: “A band is like a family and over 40 years it is only natural that families will change. It’s too big a body of work not to keep exploring it. It’s a psychedelic walk down memory lane from a band that spans four decades—and continues to create thought-provoking music in the Millennium.”
The band recently completed a headlining tour in the U.S which included an invitation from Coachella’s promoter, Golden Voice to perform at their inaugural Cruel World Festival that saw a crowd of fifty thousand in attendance playing alongside new wave and post-punk contemporaries Blondie, Devo, Echo & The Bunnymen, and The Psychedelic Furs.
TOUR DATES
Thursday, September 1: The Astor, Perth
Friday, September 2: The River, Margaret River
Sunday, September 4: The Gov, Adelaide
Thursday, September 8: The Metro, Sydney
Friday, September 9: The Princess Theatre, Brisbane
Saturday, September 10: Northcote Theatre, Melbourne
Tickets sbmpresents.com/tour/the-church-2022
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