The Church celebrate 30 years of biggest album and song with special anniversary tour

THE Church’s Under the Milky Way has become the song for all occasions. And frontman Steve Kilby has revealed the unlikely inspiration behind the much-loved Aussie anthem.

Steve Kilbey (right) and Peter Koppes from Australian band The Church. Picture: Tony Gough

STEVE Kilbey says he composed one of Australia’s best known and loved songs to get out of drying the dishes.

The Church front man wrote the band’s Under the Milky Way, with his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson, as the lead single from its 1988 album Starfish, which the band will perform in full in a special 30th anniversary tour at the end of the year.

“I was at my mother’s and my she cooked dinner and me and my girlfriend Karin were sitting there and I thought if I pretend that I need to go and play the piano Karin will probably stand and talk to my mum and dry up,” says Kilbey.

STEVE KILBEY: ‘I MADE A LOT OF MISTAKES ALONG THE WAY’

Former Powderfinger guitarist Ian Haug (right) newest member of The Church with band members Peter Koppes, Tim Powles and Steve Kilbey.

Under the Milky Way became the signature song and one of the biggest hits of the revered Aussie band’s long career, covered by artists from Jimmy Little to The Killers to Sia, winning an ARIA Award, featuring in movies such as Donnie Darko and Looking for Alibrandi, and was performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in at the MCG.

Kilbey says the song, which also broke the band in the US, was a fluke but touched a chord with fans around the world because “it means nothing and it means everything”.

“It’s an all-purpose song,” he says.

“It’s been used in movies in funeral scenes, on Miami Vice when guys are jumping on yachts with machine guns and chucking cocaine in the water. I played it at a funeral two weeks ago. Three weeks before that I played it at a wedding, I play it at birthday parties. It fits every occasion and it’s what ever you want it to be because we are the masters of ambiguity.”

An Evening With the Church: Starfish 30th Anniversary Tour Anita’s Theatre, Wollongong, November 23; NEX: The Arena, Newcastle, November 24; QPAC Concert Hall, November 25; State Theatre, Sydney, November 30; Palais Theatre, Melbourne, December 1; Royal Theatre, Canberra, December 2; Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, December 7; Perth Concert Hall, December 9.

Tickets on sale July 13.

Details: frontiertouring.com/thechurch

EVENTS THAT SHAPED OUR LIVES IN 1988