A quick chat with STEVE KILBEY

The Church frontman, 63, tells WHO’S Cynthia Wang about marking the 30th anniversary of classic album Starfish in An Evening with The Church, a nine-date New Zealand and Australian tour starting in November. What intrigues you most about playing the album all the way through? We will render these songs exactly as they are on the record but with an added intensity and power, yet not let that overwhelm them. Let the fragility be there. Did Starfish have a theme? All the albums I’ve ever done, the songs were randomly put together at the end, like, in a random order. But the theme has always been melancholy. You know, there’s a huge difference between melancholy and depression. I have never written a

depressing song in my life.

How would you describe your music? I’ve written lots of sad songs because of the paradox that melancholy in art can produce happiness in the listener. So you find the saddest love song ever, then you listen to it and you walk away happy. I don’t know how that works, but I’ve spent my whole life devoted to that idea. The biggest track off Starfish is “Under the Milky Way”. Will it be fun just to play it in its album order? Yes. We walk on stage. It’s the second song. They know it’s the second song. That’s it. You don’t have to say anything. I like that. You know, it’s a mixed blessing because our real fans sigh and groan when [it] starts. They go, “Why can’t you give it a f--king rest?”