


Steve Kilbey’s Australian band The Church, formed in Sydney in 1980, broke through with Starfish (1988) and its enduring single “Under the Milky Way.” A 2008 readers’ poll voted it the best Australian song of the previous twenty years, and it was performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. A song that grew past indie radio into something like a national anthem. Kilbey, the sole remaining founding member since 2020, has led the band on through Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars (2024).
From the notes for Episode 03 · fact-checked Oct 4, 2026.