Steve Kilbey grew up in Canberra and Lyneham High School. Photo: Supplied.
From humble beginnings at Lyneham High School to international stardom, singer-songwriter and bass guitarist Steve Kilbey of The Church has come a long way since his formative years in Canberra in the seventies.
Steve recently sat down with Belco Arts Live Programs Officer, Sammy Moynihan to reflect on growing up in Canberra in the 1970s.
“It’s funny the things you remember,” he says.
“There were no trees when I was living there, and it was very dry.” But Steve admits that Canberra is now a very different place than the one he left to escape to Sydney.
Steve says his years in Canberra shaped him in many ways. He spent his adolescence from age 10-21 in Canberra, attending Lyneham High, which Steve remembers as “on edge of the wilderness”, and where he met his future band member Peter Koppes when they played together in glam rock band ‘Baby Grande’.
Steve Kilbey describes his show at Belco Arts as a time capsule of the rock explosion in Sydney. Photo: Supplied.
Founded in Sydney in the late 1970s, The Church has released 25 studio albums and 37 singles over the years. They found international success with their famous track Under the Milky Way that reached both the US and Australian top-selling album charts, and the band continues to tour and make music together. It has been more than 40 years since they started making music together, and Steve has decided it’s time to go ‘back to the 1980s where this whole thing began’ in his upcoming performance of the first two albums produced by The Church.
The sold-out show at Belco Arts is billed as An Intimate Evening with Steve Kilbey and will be supported by local Canberra band The Dalmatians.
Just a man and his guitar, Steve describes the show as “a time capsule of the rock explosion in Sydney, raw and unplugged, the way [the songs] were written”.
He tells audiences to “expect a bit of humour and a bit of pathos as we find ourselves walking down memory lane with our rose coloured glasses on.”
Local Canberra band The Dalmatians. Photo: Supplied.
Steve Kilbey’s show will be the first of many live music performances at the new Belco Arts Theatre, in what promises to be a new must-visit destination for music in Canberra. Steve agrees, admitting he’d “rather play in a theatre than a pub any day”, saying he’s looking forward to a theatrical adaption of the show and expects it to be a great night of music and memories.
To stay up to date with what’s on at The Theatre at Belco Arts, be sure to check out the Belco Arts website and subscribe to the mailing list: belcoarts.com.au.
Loading ...
