The Church are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave, neo-psychedelia, and indie rock, their music later came to feature slower tempos and surreal soundscapes reminiscent of dream pop and post-rock. Glenn A. Baker has written that "From the release of the 'She Never Said' single in November 1980, this unique Sydney-originated entity has purveyed a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic-tinged sound which has alternatively found favour and disfavour in Australia." The Los Angeles Times has described the band's music as "dense, shimmering, exquisite guitar pop".
Marty Willson-Piper is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as a former long-time member of the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church. He joined in 1980 after seeing an early gig where they were performing as a three-piece. He was an integral member of the band for 33 years. He was also the guitarist for the English alternative rock band All About Eve from 1991 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2002. He has also worked with Swedish progressive rock band Anekdoten.
Barbara Manning is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist whose albums blend elements of rock, folk, pop and proto-punk. She's also known for her cover versions of often obscure pop songs. In addition to an acclaimed solo career, Manning has been active in a number of bands, including 28th Day, World of Pooh, SF Seals, and The Go-Luckys!.
Martin Rössel, is a Swedish musician and producer. Together with Lars Cleveman, he founded Sweden's first electronic underground group, Dom Dummaste.
Touched by Jesus is the third studio album by All About Eve. It was the first album to feature Church guitarist Marty Willson-Piper on guitars. Despite this, the album fell short of the commercial achievements of both the first album and Scarlet and Other Stories, reaching No. 17 in the UK charts. Of the three singles released only "Farewell Mr Sorrow" charted, reaching No. 36.
Heyday is the fourth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in November 1985. The album marked the first occasion when group compositions dominated one of the band's releases. Steve Kilbey has said: "The demo situation was getting to us - me writing the songs on my eight-track and bringing them along to the band. It sounded too stiff. We'd reached this new energy level on stage which by far superseded anything we'd ever recorded, so we knew the only way to get sounding like that was for the whole band to write together."
Gold Afternoon Fix is the sixth album by the Australian alternative rock band the Church, released in April 1990. It was their second album for Arista Records in the US and was expected to capitalise and build on the success of 1988's Starfish. The album saw considerable promotion upon its release, but despite moderate success in the US, with the single "Metropolis" reaching the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, the release failed to deliver mass commercial appeal.
Priest=Aura is the eighth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in March 1992. It peaked at No. 25 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
The Rain Parade is a band that was originally active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and that reunited and resumed touring in 2012.
Forget Yourself is the fifteenth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in October 2003. It was recorded at drummer Tim Powles' Spacejunk studios in Australia and features many straight-to-tape recordings with few overdubs.
Sometime Anywhere is the ninth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in May 1994.
Back With Two Beasts is the nineteenth album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, released in November 2005. The material was recorded during the Uninvited, Like the Clouds sessions but released first, as a teaser for that album, and was originally only available from the band's website or at their gigs. It was re-released by Unorthodox Records in 2009. The title is a play on the euphemism for sexual intercourse, "the beast with two backs", to which both of the track titles on the band's previous self-released album, Jammed, also referred.
Hologram of Baal is the eleventh album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in September 1998.
Jammed is the sixteenth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in August 2004. It was their second album of entirely improvised material, following the Bastard Universe bonus disc from Hologram of Baal and consists of only two extremely long tracks. It was only available from the band's website or at their gigs and is now out of print.
Magician Among the Spirits is the tenth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in August 1996. The album title was inspired by a book written by Harry Houdini and C. M. Eddy, Jr. (uncredited) in 1924, in which the famed magician discussed his investigations of spirit mediums. A photographic negative of Houdini is incorporated as the centrepiece of the album artwork. The album was reissued with a revised track listing as Magician Among the Spirits Plus Some in 1999.
A Box of Birds is the twelfth album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, released in September 1999. It consists of cover versions of tracks by artists who were influential on the group's music.
After Everything Now This is the thirteenth album by the Australian alternative rock band The Church, released in January 2002. It was produced by group member Tim Powles and the rest of the band.
Seeing Stars was the only album by the band Seeing Stars. It was essentially intended to be the fifth studio album by UK band All About Eve. In the aftermath of the Ultraviolet album's release – its bad reception and lost recording contract – whilst this album was being recorded in early 1993, lead singer Julianne Regan left the writing and recording session.
Pat Thomas is a San Francisco-based musician, music journalist and compiler of music reissues.
White Rose Transmission is a musical project which initially consisted of Adrian Borland and vocalist Carlo van Putten. It started in 1995 when Adrian Borland started working together with a singer Carlo van Putten. They released two albums before the sudden death of Adrian Borland on 26 April 1999. In 2006, Carlo van Putten invited his friend Rob Keijzer to join in and to carry on this project along with David Maria Gramse and Florian Bratmann, who also played on the first two albums. They recorded the album Bewitched & Bewildered with Marty Willson-Piper performing on the bonus tracks "Martha's Harbour" and "Circle". In 2008, a fourth album, Spiders in the Mind Web was recorded, mixed and produced by Frank Weyzig who joined the project on guitars.
