Peter Koppes - The Church

The Church

By 1977, Kilbey had purchased a four-track reel-to-reel tape deck. In March 1980, they formed a three-piece band, Limosine, in Sydney with Nick Ward on drums and began performing. A month later Marty Willson-Piper (originally from Liverpool, United Kingdom) joined on guitar, and the band was named The Church.Supposedly, the name was chosen as it was unclaimed, but later allusions to spiritual interests by Kilbey hint that it was less coincidental. Initially, only Koppes was a fully proficient musician, Kilbey was an erratic bass guitarist and Willson-Piper was searching for his guitar style.

On his return, he moved to Sydney to join a short lived band called Limazine before again teaming up to play music with Steve Kilbey who had recently moved too. Following an invitation to play a support from a manager/promoter friend, they formed The Church. Included was ex-Limazine drummer Nick Ward, aka Nigel Murray on drums, who interestingly was a less than favourite school colleague of Steve. Together they arranged and completed Steve's song ideas, and made a demo tape utilising studio time at a friends 4 Track studio to record backing tracks that would later be overdubbed at home using Steve and Nick's recorders.

At this time, Marty arrived in Australia. He attended a show with a friend of Peter's and was asked to join the band because he could play guitar, looked like he belonged in the band and the music needed another player to develop it further. Marty contributed to the demo, and with Peter spent a week arranging his parts for some live shows. At the same time Peter had garnered interest from publisher Chris Gilbey, of The Beatles publishing company Northern Songs who then witnessed the first and only rehearsal with Marty before the gigs, however missed the first show and the second was cancelled due to the band not wanting to risk being unable to pay for the PA and lights. So Peter announced to Chris that the band couldn't continue and was disbanding. Chris said he would sign the band anyway, paying them a stipend, putting them in a rehearsal studio, recording an album, found them an agent, and then a record release with EMI!

The Church achieved early chart success in Australia with songs such as 'The Unguarded Moment' and 'Almost With You' that were also released internationally. The band also gained recognition for its' distinctive jangled harmony guitar style which was originally instigated by Peter and sometimes mistakenly attributed solely to 12 string electric guitar.

Soon after recording the second album 'The Blurred Crusade' however Peter became disenchanted with several non-musical aspects of the band and chose to depart. He was convinced to return to participate in an Australian tour to promote the album which was then followed by a US visit with Steve to meet Capitol Records who were interested in signing the band.

Thereafter Peter continued with The Church to tour internationally, recording several more albums though recommenced to write and also to record his own songs. His song 'As You Will' was included as a B/side and extra CD track for the band's 'Heyday' album and some of the demos were released in 1987 as an EP called 'When Reason Forbids -A Requiem' and the album 'Manchild And Myth' on an independent Australian label. Later Rykodisc would combine them for release in the USA with it attracting favour in Billboard magazine's 'Recommended' section.

In 1988 The Church had strong chart success in the USA and Australia with 'Under The Milky Way' and its corresponding album 'Starfish' that included a song written earlier by Peter called 'A New Season. Pressures and extended absences may have brought about the split in Peter's marriage and it features in some songs on his second album 'From The Well' recorded and released soon after. At the time, Steve also invited Peter to write and record some songs for his double solo album called 'Remindlessness' and he contributed 'Danielle' and 'Soul Sample'.

The Church then recorded 'Gold Afternoon Fix', which featured Peter's song 'Transient'. This soon became a fan favourite and a much loved inclusion in their live set. This was followed by ‘Priest= Aura'. Koppes has been a continuous (as well as founding) member of The Church except for the four-year period 1992-1996. Due to mounting frustrations with artistic constraints on his input, Peter again felt disconnected from the band. After recording the Priest=Aura album with the band, Koppes departed, leaving Steve Kilbey and Marty Wilsson-Piper, the only remaining members (drummer Jay Dee Daughterty lingered for a while but not for long). Kilbey and Wilsson-Piper recorded Sometime Anywhere as The Church even though they were at that time a duo.

Peter pursued his interest in his solo band The Well with ex-Flowers/Icehouse keyboardist Anthony Smith, and bassist Jim Leone of the Celibate Rifles. This band also included recently removed drummer of The Church, Richard Ploog, who had earlier invited Peter to record and perform with Celibate Rifles' Damian Lovelock's solo project The Wigmen. They also performed some of Peter's songs from his first album when they played live.