If you've been following this blog, you already know how much I love The Church, aka - the band that never released a bad album (well, Gold Afternoon Fix wasn't as good as the others but it has its moments). The main reason that this band sounds fresh and exciting after all these years, is [...]

Good reviews are coming out for Australian band The Church's new Past Present and Perfect tour, where the band is playing THREE complete albums, each from a different decade: "Untitled #23" (2009), "Priest=Aura" (1992), and "Starfish" (1988). From the recent show in Los Angeles came this awesome review : "Following an intermission, the Church returned for the second hour-long set, centered on 1992's Priest=Aura, an esoteric collection that became a band and fan favorite despite modest sales. This time, the music did all the talking. Audience members [...]
This past Thursday, The Church brought their "Future Past Perfect" tour to a full house at B.B. King's in Times Square. The concept of the evening was that the band would play the following albums in their entirety: Untitled #23 (2009), Priest=Aura (1992), and Starfish (1988). Over the last few years, some indie and alt-rock bands have played one of their classic albums from start to finish, this is the first time that I've heard of any band taking this concept to such a grand scale. [...]

STREAM : The Church - Live on KEXP 2/8/11 There was a guy on my hall in college who ran out to buy R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction right when it came out and the only song he would play was "Driver 8" over and over (and over) again. This is the sort of person that I think singles compilations are designed for. When Pink Floyd won their court case blocking iTunes from selling single song downloads, David Stubbs lamented in The Independent that [...]

DOWNLOAD : The Church - "Tantalized" (free download on Amazon.com) Aside for the bad 80's mullets on the cover photo, Heyday is a major leap forward from Seance . This is the first disc that sounds like The Church were working as a cohesive unit and eight of the disc's original ten tracks were co-written by all four members of the band. As an interesting footnote, Steve Kilbey co-wrote one track, "Youth Worshiper", with then girlfriend Karin Jansson who later co-wrote "Under the Milky Way" [...]

The Church's third disc, Seance , was released in May 1983 and, while there are some stand-out tracks, the overall sound of the disc is a step in the wrong direction. This time out, Steve Kilbey wrote all of the tracks, aside for the glorious space-rock jam "Travel By Thought". The band self-produced the record and utilized engineer Nick Launay for the final mixes. While the band continues to move yet further toward the textured, neo-psychedelic sound of their later discs, the mixing left the disc sounding flat and the dated "80's" [...]

The Church's second disc, The Blurred Crusade , was released in March 1982 and the songwriting seems more focused than on Of Skins and Heart . This is the first disc where other band members outside of Steve Kilbey contributed to the songwriting and that may have played a role as the band's music moves further toward the neo-psychedelic sound of their later discs. Even as the band embraces more of an atmospheric melancholia across different track on this disc, they haven't fully given up the ringing Byrds-ish guitars or the psychedelic-tinged post/power-punk sounds [...]

To mark the 30th anniversary of the band, The Church started ambitious campaign last fall to reissue their back catalog (via Second Motion Records). All of the reissues come with bonus tracks and new liner notes from Marty Willson-Piper. As most of The Church's discs were previously out of print in the US, these reissues should strike a positive chord with both new and long-time fans and the digital remastering does a wonderful job of bringing out all the dimensions of the band's music. Starting with the band's first disc, Of Skins and [...]
[Audio] STR Mixtape - Too Lazy To Work Download Subscribe to the weekly Mixtape with Rss Title Artist Starting Time Collibosher Small Faces Murder In My Heart For The Judge Moby Grape 03:07 Kamera Wilco 05:58 Feel So Bad John Martyn 09:23 For The Sake Of Mary Richard Thompson 12:37 Exodus Davey Graham 16:46 Borodin Butterfly Lanark 18:34 Do It Jack Wilson 20:40 Dolly Parton's Guitar Lee Hazelwood 26:44 Slave Girls Lime Spiders [...]
Get yo' ass to the Church.Just announced: world-renowned Australian pop band the Church is coming to the VooDoo Lounge on June 19, with support from former Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin. Nostalg... Continue reading "Incoming: The Church, Adam Franklin to VooDoo Lounge" >

There are few active bands that have released material as often and consistently as The Church. They have averaged an album every year or so since their 1981 debut, releasing over 20 albums and a handful of EPs over the span of 28 years. While it is impressive that the core members have remained throughout the entire duration and they continue to work well and often together, it is their consistency that has allowed The Church to be widely considered one of the best Australian bands of the past two decades. Western fans are likely to associate The Church with [...]
Hola! It's been a crazy month. Some good. Lots not so good. I'm tired. :) Life has a way of knocking a person around sometimes, doesn't it? I'll keep on keeping on, though. It could be so much worse. ETA: Holy mackeral! This post is too large! So, um, I'll split into two. :::: Sunday, June 1, 2008 Hola! It is me! Migraine free and [...]

The guitarist of the Church has never received the amount of acclaim or popularity that his recent solo work deserves.
As I said in my last post, I'm having to divide this in two... Saturday, April 19, 2008 My cousin has come from West Virginia to visit my grandmother because chances are very good that she won't go home again until we take her casket to be buried next to my grandfather's. Her health has been failing for a long time and the prognosis is not promising. I hadn't seen my cousin since before Cecily's born, since before his father, my uncle, died. [...]
This Saturday, April 19, is Record Store Day . Why should you take this opportunity to support your local owned independent record store? Not surprisingly, Nick Hornby says it much better than I ever could... "Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing on your favourite download store when you walk into it? Nothing, that's what. Who are you going to meet in there? Nobody. Where are the [...]

I love a good theme, so in honor of every child's favorite holiday, all of this month's monday morning b-sides will be loosely Halloween related. Marty Willson-Piper is a guy who really doesn't enjoy free time very much. As if being guitarist for The Church hasn't kept him busy enough for the past 25 years, he's also been a full time member of All About Eve, The Saints and Nocturum, recorded with Cinerama, Tom Verlaine, Jules Shear, and Rob [...]