As we reported last week, The Church is embarking on a major reissue campaign to mark its 30th anniversary, and today Second Motion Records announced the first phase: a new 2CD singles anthology called ‘Deep in the Shallows,’ plus expanded reissues of the Australian rockers’ first four albums.

To mark its 30th anniversary, Australian rock act The Church this fall will embark on a major reissue campaign, releasing digitally remastered editions of its first eight studio albums — 1981’s ‘Of Skins and Heart’ through 1994’s ‘Sometime Anywhere’ — along with four early EPs and a new 2CD singles compilation.

Today we mark the 56th birthday of Steve Kilbey — writer, artist, solo musician and, of course, lead singer and bassist for Australian rock act The Church for the past three decades. To commemorate the occasion, we present these vintage clips of The Church playing live on Italian TV in 1988.

Highlights from last night’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave include an always-welcome Depeche Mode B-side (‘Sea of Sin’ off ‘World in My Eyes’), a dash of Swans (‘Saved’) and a particularly great three-song run by Sinead O’Connor, Cocteau Twins and The Church (‘Jerusalem’/’Ivo’/’Tantalized’).

This week’s new CD releases include the new solo album from Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr, ‘Lostboy! AKA’; an eight-disc box set from The Church’s Steve Kilbey; and reissues from The Charlatans (‘Some Friendly’) and Modern English (‘Stop Start’).

With Australian rockers The Church currently in the midst of a 30th anniversary tour of the U.S., we thought we’d check in with an expert: Robert Lurie, author of last year’s biography ‘No Certainty Attached: Steve Kilbey and The Church.’