The Church: Keeping the Faith : Pop music: The Australian duo, down from a quartet, continues to believe in itself and says it still has ‘something to give.’

Having lost two band members and its recording contract, Australian pop-rock band the Church understandably could have called it quits after 14 years.

But nobody’s reading last rites in this church yet.

Formed in 1981 as a quartet, the band lost drummer Richard Ploog over creative differences in 1990. Then in 1992, guitarist Peter Koppes abruptly exited.

According to singer-bassist Steve Kilbey, who continues in the Church as a duo with guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, some mystery still surrounds Koppes’ departure.

“Peter turned up one day and simply said, ‘I’m leaving,’ and he left,” Kilbey recalled by phone from San Francisco during a recent tour stop. “He seemed pretty set on it, and no one asked him to stay. It was very sudden, but he’s gone, and no one’s seen him since.”

Kilbey and Willson-Piper have no plans to break up or pursue solo projects, as each did briefly in the 1980s.

“Marty and I want to carry on together because we feel the Church still has something to give,” said Kilbey, who cites T. Rex, Television and Patti Smith as major musical influences. “Peter’s decision to leave actually ended up being a good thing because it freed us up to do different things that he didn’t want to do.”

Another potential setback was the band’s release last year from Arista Records, their label of nearly 10 years. Asked if the parting was amicable, Kilbey groaned, paused briefly and answered: “It was about as amicable as giving you the sack can be. I mean, Arista’s money men got together and decided we just didn’t sell enough records. . . . That was it, really.”

A spokesman for Arista declined comment on the circumstances of the group’s departure.

The Church, which performs unplugged this weekend at the Coach House, hit its creative and commercial peak with 1988’s “Starfish” album. Highlighted by “Under the Milky Way,” “Reptile” and “Spark,” the album smoothly blended Kilbey’s wistful, melancholy vocals with Willson-Piper’s sharp, shimmering guitar leads.

Although subsequent albums including “Gold Afternoon Fix” (1990), “Priest-Aura” (1992) and “Sometime Anywhere”(1994) generated only moderate public interest, Kilbey believes their quality was on par with that of “Starfish.”

“We’re obviously glad the success of ‘Starfish’ happened, but I think our following albums were just as good, frankly. . . . Unfortunately, they didn’t sell nearly as well,” he said. “Maybe we’re doomed to have only one successful LP.”

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Now in search of a new recording contract, Kilbey and Willson-Piper are determined to keep the faith in themselves. According to Kilbey, their love of music-making and chemistry keep them enthusiastic and optimistic.

“Marty and I have had the luxury of playing together for 15 years--after a while you (each) intuitively know what (the) other is gonna do,” he said. “That’s not to say we haven’t had our creative differences, but we’ve learned to make them work for us. Now, our differences are the lubricant that keeps the machine going well and not the sand that grinds the mechanism down.”

The current tour in California has given them the opportunity to be “more intimate, naked and real . . . and less electronically oriented,” he said. “You can let the music speak for itself without all the trappings.

“What I’m really enjoying is not having to compete with a loud band while I’m singing,” he said. “There’s no wall of volume between me and the audience, and the subtleties can come through. It’s very satisfying for me.”

* The Church plays Saturday with Killing Lisa and on Sunday with Psychic Rain at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 8 p.m. $19.50. (714) 496-8930.