Options Magazine 1988 (Excerpt)

Keeping the Faith:
The solo pursuits of the members of the Church
by Brad Bradberry

P E T E R  K O P P E S
“My stuff is far poppier than the Church,” Peter Koppes states plaintively.
“Not in that it’s lighter, but that it’s hookier.” As a guitarist in the band,
he’s largely responsible for the echoing, string-like guitar sounds, playing
finely-crafted dulcet arpeggios in tandem with Marty Willson-Piper’s more
aggressive strums and leads.

Koppes’ role as a guitarist is in direct contrast to his recently established
solo career, in which guitars take a back seat to Koppes’ prominent keyboard
work. “I play keyboards a lot because that was one of the first instruments
that really interested me. I’m in love with the instrument and I just adore
playing them. I came from a home where there were plenty of instruments to
play and there was a Hammond organ there for a short time . . . and I loved
that,” says Koppes. “It wasn’t there for very long and I ended up playing
drums actually soon after that. But my introduction to music was definitely on
keyboards.”

Koppes’ first solo release was When Reason Forbids: A Requiem, a three-track
EP that served as a tribute to the late Greg Hickman. Though primarily
relegated to his chores as the band’s lighting engineer, the group considered
Greg to be their fifth member. He died abruptly at 22, the result of a brain
hemorrhage while swimming at the beach. “I was trying to write lyrics for a
piece of music that I had and my concentration was constantly upset by
thinking about him,” recalls Koppes. “I thought, this is a way of coming to
terms with it. If I try to write a poem or something like that, that might
reconcile it somehow.”

More typically for his lyrics, like the other two songwriting members of the
Church, Koppes is influenced by cinema, usually of a surrealist, experimental
nature. One of the few Church songs written by Koppes was “As You Will.”
Though perhaps the most commercial song recorded during the Heyday sessions,
it didn’t fit in thematically and was cast off the album proper. Koppes
doesn’t appear to be frustrated about its omission (it appeared later as a B-
side) and seems excited as he elaborates on the song’s origin, which proves to
be quite revealing. “It’s a song about a movie, a very old German movie,
before 1920 . . . I’m trying to remember the name of it  It’s about this woman
who had to buy back the soul of her husband who was killed prematurely. She
followed the devil, who took her husband away into this building that had
walls and no doors. She just fell through the wall somehow. She arrived at a
room that was full of candles that were burning for everybody that was alive,
and she made a pact with him. It was a really great movie, I thought, and it
just stuck in my mind as an image.”

[2024 Editor: the movie is “Destiny” by Fritz Lang]

Manchild & Myth is Koppes’ recently released debut album. Relying on his moody
keyboards and appropriately precise drum programming, subtle guitar textures
and occasional vocal help from wife Melodie, this 50-minute, 13-track
collection is divided by side into two themes: “The Present” and “The Past
And Future.” Within these loosely constructed time frames, Koppes creates his
image-laden song structures and eerie instrumentals. It’s clear at this point
that it’s Koppes who has strayed furthest from the original band sound. “I
deliberately avoid sounding like anybody else or any melody that reminds me
of somebody else’s songs,” he states firmly. “I avoid that at a very early
stage, and it sometimes leaves me tapped.”

Koppes seems most comfortable musically with lush, lavishly polished
arrangements. There’s a decidedly orchestral feel to many of the compositions
on the new album, though it is his pop inclinations that immediately catch
the ear. “I like the idea of dimensioning the music . . . orchestrating,” he
confesses. “There’s different ways you can approach a guitar. One way is
plucking out strings that compose a melody along with a bass note movement.
You can find it in classical music. I’ve found that my guitar style and the
things that I like a lot in music tend to be keyboard things, and I’m tempted
to recreate them on guitar.”

Koppes is quick to realize the dichotomy between success as a group member and
acceptance as a solo artist. “I could probably have a hit that I wouldn’t be
surprised to get a load of shit for, because people will compare it to the
artistic platform that the Church has. We are at a point in our careers now
where we are strong individuals with desires to create, and sometimes you need
your own platform.”