“I’VE always been an argumentative little bastard”, poet, artist, fashionista and long-term lead singer and bass guitarist for The Church, Steve Kilbey tells me by phone from his Coogee Beach home. 

The legendary alt-rock artist, though born in England, grew up in Canberra and he’ll be here at Belco Arts and Tallagandra Hill Winery later in February for two marathon acoustic performances in which he revisits the debut albums by The Church, the 1981 “Of Skins and Hearts” and its successor, “The Blurred Crusade” from 1982. 

Kilbey concedes that Canberra has changed a lot since the boring 1970s, when all bands were cover bands, but if I’d expected a genteel paean of praise for the nation’s capital, no chance.

“I didn’t like Canberra and Canberra didn’t like me… of all the places where The Church has played, it’s done the worst in Canberra,” he says, adding philosophically, “You’re never a prophet in your own land”.

Nor does he have much time for his alma maters, Lyneham Primary and Lyneham High, then famous for maths, science and footy.

“It was a bit rough and tumble, that was how it was in those days, but it’s a real shame that nobody was there to say, ‘this kid is no good at maths and science and footy, so let him do his own thing.”

Kilbey is astonished to hear that Lyneham High is famous for its elite music programs these days.

Music runs in Kilbey’s blood. His dad, uncle Joe, sister and mum all played the piano. His two eldest daughters had a band, and brothers John and Russell are music lecturers.

“I formed and got kicked out of bands all over Canberra, always writing my own music. Also, I didn’t like the cold and frost or the dry in the summer, I was a fish out of water. 

“I moved to Sydney in 1978, it’s my favourite city. But I’m glad I was brought up in Canberra because I got used to rejection in a tough business… I’m glad it was inhospitable.”

Kilbey plainly has the gift of the gab.

“Some musos can’t talk about what they do, but I’m one who can both do it and talk about what I’ve done – I like to sling words around.”

“I need to get back into a bit more poetry… I’ve released a lot of records lately. I’m getting my poetic fix by writing lyrics, which is not really the same thing.”

Talking of talk, there’s a famous story that when Kilbey was a high-school debater representing the ACT, his family billeted the 18-year-old Malcolm Turnbull, who charmed his mum but not Kilbey, who says he was “a real square, but charismatic and as a debater, dynamite”.

Kilbey’s 40-year career has been quite an extraordinary one. An international figure with a cult following, a 2010 induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame and upward of 30 albums produced over 40 years, he prefers not to dwell too much on his former glories.

Like Paul McCartney and Sting, whom he acknowledges, he combines the role of bass guitarist with that of lead singer and says: “It takes a bit of getting your head around… It’s like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time. Sometimes it’s too much and I have to fudge it a bit.”

He won’t be fudging it when he performs a “complete show with a bit of talk” at the state-of-the-art new theatre in Belconnen Arts Centre, the venue’s first music gig.

“I’ve done a lot of living,” he says.

“I’ve done a lot of good stuff and I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff – it’s a miracle I’m still here to tell the tale.”

He’s not planning on saying anything much about his well-publicised former addiction to heroin, but he doesn’t mind sending out the cautionary message: “Don’t do it. It’s a bad deal”.

But the two albums he’s going to perform as “a kind of time capsule” solo are both pre-heroin.

“I’m telling the life and times of myself, the people in the band, the technology and the pub rock scene, the engineers and the producers – everything I can think of… I don’t just stand there and play the songs, I’m trying to truly reflect the music, the words and the zeitgeist of the age,” he says.

“The Church is still going strong, it’s an ongoing idea,” he’s keen to remind people.

He’s the only original member, although drummer Tim Powles has been with the band for 23 years.

“It was my idea, it was my band, a vision of how a type of music could be… It’s bigger than the individual people so if I should fall off my perch, I hope they’ll find a lead singer to replace me so that the band plays on,” he says.

“An Intimate Evening With Steve Kilbey” supported by The Dalmatians, Belconnen Arts Centre, 7pm-10pm, Saturday, February 20, book here. 

Steve Kilbey supported by Woodface, Tallagandra Hill Winery, 4pm, Sunday, February 21, book here.