Steve Kilbey set to replay and reimagine classic tunes for the first time in Albany

The Church are one of Australian music’s success stories. Through the 1980s, the band produced a string of hits including The Unguarded Moment, and Under the Milky Way that gave them fame around the globe. Now the band’s frontman, singer-songwriter Steve Kilbey, will perform in Albany for the first time. He will be joined by The Hoffmenn With Strings Attached, as they play songs from The Church’s albums Of Skins and Heart and Seance. Of Skins and Heartwas the first band’s debut album, released in 1981, which featured their breakthrough single The Unguarded Moment. But as Kilbey explains, many of these songs will be reimagined this time around. “In the early days when we had The Church, everything was terse and angry and I was and they were and they didn’t like me and they didn’t like each other and I didn't like them,” he said. “It’s not trying to recreate the pomp and glory of a rock band — there is that — but it’s also about finding other flavours. “Skins and Heart is now 40 years old and I think that some of the songs can be reimagined a bit, they don’t have to be quite as brittle as they were.” Kilbey will be backed by a hand-picked team of Fremantle musicians in Shaun and Adrian Hoffmann, Shaun Corlson, Anna Sarcich on cello and Rachael Aquilina on violin. Their musical and creative expertise will provide new dimensions, possibilities and “flavours” to the Church’s classic tracks. “Two string players are a marvellous thing,” Kilbey said. “Two girls that can play with orchestras and classical music but they can also jam and it’s not often you find that. “We were in some really far flung place and we did a little set and everything just fell into place; it was the violin, the cello and the lazy ambience of the other players. “With these guys you can freely and easily improvise.” Nevertheless, Albany’s history certainly seems to have captivated Kilbey from across the Nullarbor. Although he cannot quite put a finger on what it is about the city that has piqued his curiosity. “It’s very hard to explain — it is a sort of distant and free, the sea and the sky, the sailors and the history. It feels like a very romantic place,” he said. “I can imagine a movie made there. I really do want to see it.” Kilbey will perform at Albany Entertainment Centre on Friday, May 14. “When I go on stage I'm just trying to do my very best. I put everything I have into it until after a show I’m absolutely exhausted like a vacuum cleaner has just sucked out the content of my brain,” he said.