The Church Tickets

Short Biography
Performing three classic albums in their entirety

the church's 30th Anniversary year has taken the band all over the USA and Australia with the induction in October 2010 into the ARIA Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.  In April 2011 the band played their "A Psychedelic Symphony" concert at a sold out Sydney Opera House with the 70-piece George Ellis Orchestra.

To conclude these celebrations the band are pleased to announce the Australian "Future Past Perfect Tour" in December 2011. The band will perform an album from each decade of their existence - the critically acclaimed Untitled #23, perennial fan favourite Priest=Aura and the iconic Starfish. In America the shows were rapturously received and reviews were outstanding. As this tour comes to Australia it is an opportunity to experience the past, present and future of one of Australia's best and most intriguing bands.

Untitled #23 released in 2009 is widely regarded as a modern classic and has received glowing reviews from the music press, including an unprecedented 5 star review in Rolling Stone magazine. Priest=Aura (1992) has constantly been voted as a favourite of church fans over the years and Starfish (1989) is the album that put the church on the map in America. Starfish features along with The Blurred Crusade (1982) as one of two entries by the band in the "The Best 100 Australian Albums" book published in 2011.

The ticket price includes an exclusive A4 program featuring album and single sleeve artwork, selected lyrics and photographs of Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Tim Powles and Marty Willson-Piper. This seated show will include two intermissions and will last for three and half hours with no support. Playing the albums in reverse chronological order the band ask you to simply close your eyes, sit back and join us on this special journey through the decades.


"Future Past Perfect Tour"
FRI 30TH   DEC THE FORUM Melbourne VIC

In-depth Biography
Best known for the shimmering "Under the Milky Way," their lone Top 40 hit, the Australian band the Church combined the jangling guitar pop of '60s icons like the Byrds with the opaque wordplay of frontman Steve Kilbey to create a lush, melancholy brand of neo-psychedelia rich in texture and melody. Formed in Sydney in 1980 by vocalist/bassist Kilbey with guitarist Peter Koppes and drummer Nick Ward, the Church recruited second guitarist Marty Willson-Piper before debuting the following year with Of Skin and Heart, an evocative collection highlighted by the ringing "The Unguarded Moment," a major success down under.

After replacing Ward with drummer Richard Ploog, the group resurfaced in 1982 with The Blurred Crusade, a stunning effort featuring mature standouts like "Almost With You" and "When You Were Mine." 1983's Seance continued to refine the Church's atmospheric sound, and the subsequent success of the EPs Persia and Remote Luxury helped earn the band an American deal with Warner Bros., which issued the excellent Heyday in 1986. After moving to Arista, the Church teamed with famed session guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel to record 1988's Starfish, their most artistically and commercially successful effort to date. Highlighted by "Under the Milky Way," the album also featured the minor hits "Reptile" and "Spark," a marvelous pop blast penned by Willson-Piper.

The follow-up, 1990's Gold Afternoon Fix, failed to repeat the success of its predecessor as the single "Metropolis" garnered only minor airplay. Ploog left the Church prior to the release of 1992's Priest = Aura, which featured former Patti Smith Group drummer Jay Dee Daugherty; by 1994's Sometime Anywhere, only Kilbey and Willson-Piper remained, recording with the aid of a drum machine. When the album failed to crack the charts, Arista dropped the group from their contract, and with new drummer Tim Powles, the Church issued 1996's Magician Among the Spirits on the tiny White label; a subsequent tour marked Koppes' return to the fold. Hologram of Baal followed in 1998, and a year later the Church released the covers collection Box of Birds. After Everything Now This and the double album Parallel Universe both appeared in 2002. The group signed with Cooking Vinyl in 2003, releasing Forget Yourself, a magical collection of new songs that harkened back to their "Metropolis" days. In 2005 they released Momento Descuidado, an unplugged collection of old and new tracks for the Liberation Blue acoustic series. It was followed by Uninvited, Like the Clouds in 2006. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi