The Church return to the U.S. in April and May for the second leg of the Starfish 30th Anniversary Tour. The band will be celebrating their breakout album Starfish, playing the album in its entirety along with a selection of tracks from their 26 album catalogue. The Starfish Anniversary tour has taken the band across the globe: to the UK, their native Australia and the first American leg this past fall.
Tickets are on sale now with general admission and VIP options available. More information can be found on the band’s website: www.thechurchband.net
A ringing 12-string guitar introduction. A dreamlike lyric that seems to hold the cosmos in its hands. It’s still the most recognizable, covered and widely beloved song in the catalogue of a band that’s released a remarkable 26 albums.
And it’s 30 years old.
The song is ‘Under The Milky Way’, from the church’s most successful album, the undisputed classic Starfish.
In June 2018, the Australian paisley underground pioneers are enjoying a year of unique celebrations, which started with a sold-out appearance at the Meltdown Festival in London on the personal invitation of curator, The Cure’s Robert Smith.
Followed by a string of dates in the UK – including a sold-out fan convention in Shepherds Bush which saw the band perform their second album The Blurred Crusade in its entirety for the first time in that country – the church arrived in the US on September 30th for a month’s worth of shows, now returning this spring to complete the US circuit. Joining the band onstage once again is ex-Remy Zero guitarist Jeffrey Cain who is also Kilbey’s partner in side project Isidore.
For these shows, Starfish will likewise be performed in its entirety, along with a selection of other gems from the band’s career, which now spans an incredible 38 years. The band returned briefly to the UK in late October as very special guests of Fields of the Nephilim, a band whose music displays similar spectral soundscapes and whose leader, Carl McCoy, remains a big fan of the band.
From there a flight home to a sold out Starfish 30th Anniversary National Tour of homeland theaters in Australia concluded the year.
Starfish remains best known for its iconic singles Under The Milky Way and Reptile. But like all classic albums, it’s a journey – and it starts with Destination, the six-minute epic that opens the album. In between it takes you to all point of the compass: North, South, East and West.
The sound of Starfish is open and uncluttered. That was a change for the band after the dense orchestrations of the previous album, Heyday. All 10 songs are individually memorable, yet speak to one other, making for an entirely cohesive, satisfying listening experience.
From there, the list of hits, band and fan favourites is long. Myrhh, which leader Steve Kilbey described in his memoir Something Quite Peculiar as the definitive Church song. Ripple, from the masterful Priest=Aura. Almost anything from 1982’s The Blurred Crusade.
Expect songs from Hologram of Baal, itself celebrating its 20th anniversary. And, of course, there’s The Unguarded Moment, the single that launched the band onto world stages on its release on its release in 1981.
But this is not just a nostalgia trip. The Church have been revitalized since 2014 with the addition of guitarist Ian Haug, formerly of another iconic Australian band, Powderfinger. Haug’s first outing with the band was on the acclaimed Further/Deeper, which yielded a new dynamic set-closer, the infinitely psychedelic and earth shaking Miami.
Last year’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity strengthened the bond, cementing Haug’s place with long-time fans, as well as with the rest of the band: singer, bass player and songwriter Kilbey, fellow guitarist Peter Koppes and longtime drummer Tim Powles. “Ian is a big part of the band now,” Koppes says. “He’s a consummate, intuitive musician with fantastic tones.”
Koppes goes on to sum up the band. “Music is like inner space and we’re astronauts,” he says. It’s a spellbinding thing, it’s hypnotizing. That’s why people like it. It takes them into another world and we’re here to open those doors.”
The Church’s strange journey remains an endless sea of possibilities. In 2019, it’s time for the band to celebrate one of their crowning glories, but always with an eye to the future. Further. Deeper. The Church truly are a rock band for the ages.
Tour Dates:
April 11 – Ferndale, MI – The Magic Bag
April 12 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
April 13 – Ithica, NY – The Haunt
April 14 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
April 16 – Jersey City, NJ – White Eagle Hall
April 17 – Annapolis, MD – Ram’s Head
April 18 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
April 19 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
April 20 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
April 22 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room
April 23 – Orlando, FL – The Social
April 24 – St. Petersburg, FL – Palladium
April 26 – Houston, TX – Heights Theater
April 27 – Austin, TX – 3Ten @ ACL Live
April 28 – Dallas, TX – Kessler Theater
April 29 – Austin, TX – 3Ten @ ACL Live
May 1 – Santa Fe NM – Meow Wolf
May 2 – Tucson, AZ – 191 Toole
May 3 – Los Angeles, CA – Regent Theater
May 4 – Santa Barbara, CA – Soho
May 6 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
May 7 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
May 9 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy & Harriets
May 10 – Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theater
May 12 – Sonoma, CA – Gundlach Bundschu Barn
