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Martin Phillipps'
Chills
The
Chills are one of New Zealand's most legendary bands, creating a legacy of
stunning guitar pop records which found a following around the world,
almost despite the group's history. Innumerable musicians went through The
Chills' ranks as leader Martin Phillipps crafted the lush pop music which
made the Chills famous. His songs and Martin himself are the one constant
in The Chills' story.
That
story began in late 1978 when Phillipps was just 15. Inspired by the punk
movement, and in particular the godfathers of the "Dunedin Sound"
The Enemy, Phillipps formed The Same, first as guitarist but soon taking
over as principal songwriter and vocalist. Already his group was constantly
changing around him. In 1980 Phillipps formed the first Chills line-up with
Peter Gutteridge of seminal New Zealand group The Clean.
Within a
year The Chills had to be put on hold. Gutteridge left out of musical
differences. Others left to go overseas or further their education. For the
first of many times to come Martin found The Chills to be a band in name
only. Phillipps toured with The Clean, as well as playing keyboards on that
group's breakthrough hit before returning to Dunedin in July 1981 to form
The Chills line-up which would be offered a Flying Nun Records contract.
Before they could release their first album the band had changed yet again.
Then the new line-up had to be put on hold over drummer Martyn Bull's
leukaemia. The band was unable to promote its single, 'Rolling Moon'.
After
Bill died in July 1983 Phillipps' appearances in public were limited to the
occasional solo performance. In December 1983 the band was reformed with a
new line-up as A Wrinkle In Time but soon reverted to calling themselves
The Chills again. The group's first hit `Pink Frost' (recorded with Martyn
Bull two years earlier) was released in June 1984. In November they played
the high-profile support on the Split Enz farewell tour.
Throughout
1985 the band toured New Zealand extensively to finance a trip to England,
shelving an original plan to try their luck in Australia. By the time the
journey to England came, in October, two of the band had already decided to
leave at the end of their time in London, frustrating the trip's purpose.
However they still managed good reviews for their gigs, and recorded four
tracks for BBC Radio legend John Peel.
While
the English press was raving about them The Chills was back in New Zealand
minus half its members. When bassist Terry Moore also decided to leave, for
a career as a sound engineer Martin Phillipps thought the end of The Chills
had surely come. He started looking around for a new band while Flying Nun
and companies in England, Germany and the US released a compilation album,
'Kaleidoscope World'.
The band
Phillipps put together in October 1986 became The Chills' tenth line-up and
recorded the single `I Love My Leather Jacket', which reached No. 4 in the
New Zealand charts and No. 3 on the London alternative charts. The song was
inspired by the leather jacket Martyn Bull had bequeathed Phillipps. It was
also this Chills line-up which relocated to London in February 1987 and
recorded the long-awaited debut Chills album, 'Brave Words'. As well as
touring Europe, the band crossed the Atlantic to America where their gigs
were attended by capacity crowds and received rave reviews. In late 1987
The Chills played sell-out concerts around New Zealand and in early 1988
finally ventured to Australia.
By 1989
The Chills were based in London to write and record a new album with Pixies
producer Gary Smith. Apart from a change in drummer (there had to be one)
this line-up had now been together three years. This time everyone
contributed to the songs and the resulting 'Submarine Bells' album was a
pop triumph, reaching number one on the US college radio charts. All their
concerts for a `homecoming' tour to New Zealand in July were sell-outs,
with the album number one in the charts, buoyed along by the success of the
`Heavenly Pop Hit' single. But at the end of the tour Phillipps again found
himself bandless.
The next
album was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Gavin MacKillop with a
combination New Zealand/American line-up. Guitarist/keyboard player Peter
Holsappple had worked with Van Dyke Parks, a legendary and eccentric artist
much admired by Phillipps for his work with the Beach Boys and Randy
Newman. With encouragement from Holsapple, Phillipps approached Parks to do
a string arrangement for the song `Water Wolves'.
Following
the 'Soft Bomb' album sessions a thirteenth Chills line-up emerged. The
album and its first single 'The Monster From The Id' again made a big
impression on US college radio. The resulting tour brought another change
at the drumkit, but worse, one by one The Chills' international record companies
decided to cut their losses and withdrew tour support. At their final
American gig in New York Phillipps announced that this was to be the last
ever Chills concert. As Phillipps had effectively become employer of the
band, he was left with very substantial personal debts.
Following
the end of the band he returned to Dunedin and began trying to sort through
the legal and contractual hassles he had inherited. With the help of
lawyers and accountants he avoided bankruptcy, and used this period to do a
lot of writing and recording at home, occasionally performing live with
various other artists. By 1995 Phillips had assembled a new line-up, now
deciding to play and record as Martin Phillipps and The Chills, giving the
band a separate identity and also allowing Phillipps to perform solo.
In July
he returned to London for album sessions, with the band to follow a few
days later. When they arrived visa complications meant the band was sent
straight back to New Zealand. Phillipps had no choice but to enlist session
musicians and was thus joined by XTC members Dave Mattacks and Dave Gregory
for 'Sunburnt', recorded with Ramones and Blondie producer Craig Leon.
Somehow,
happily, the Martin Phillipps/Chills story continues. On 15 November 1980,
Martin marked the twentieth anniversary of the Chills with a debut live
performance of two songs at a Bored Games/Clean gig. He had planned to
assemble a "best band of Chills, old and new" to record an album
of the many early years songs which remain unrecorded. Instead he compiled
a 3-CD set of rarities 'The Secret Box', available only through the Chills'
website.
The
Chills reformed for a second time in 2003, and have since been working on
new material, some of which appeared on a mini-album, 'Stand By', in 2004.
In May 2005 The Chills performed in Australia for the first time in over 15
years.
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