The Chills by Martin Aston

Where The Chills are concerned, there’s no simple summary of who, what and why. Perhaps only ‘when’, and even then the last 30 years seem to blur. This is testament to the physical persistence of Chills founder and centrifugal force Martin Phillipps, but also his kaleidoscopic, obsessive and idiosyncratic nature. For no other Flying Nun associate had such gumption to reach out overseas, nor was beset by both simple and turbulent twists of fate. Which meant no one could keep up with Phillipps’ wayward path - hence The Chills’ now infamously documented personnel changes (there are over 20 line-ups to peruse if you choose).

Martin Phillipps

At least the music remains, and here there is much more certainty. The Chills were exemplars of the so-called Dunedin Sound – an often moist and melancholy, simultaneously dark and breezy amalgam of Western garage-pop roots but invested with an otherworldly aura, as if those overseas influences had indeed seeped in upside down. But only Phillipps was this quixotic, bridging folk and bubblegum, Bowie and Syd Barrett, with feverish shivers and childlike whimsy. (No one else would have dared wear pixie boots with no irony, only joy.). If music has a psycho-geographical bent, then it’s the air, waves and light of the Otago peninsular, and the spaciousness and remoteness of NZ itself, that glows and thrums through his songs.

The Chills - Pink Frost (1984)

Local minister’s son Phillipps began in 1978. The Same were much punkier, and soon gave way to The Chills, though their debut recording – three tracks on 1982’s four-band 'Dunedin Double' - was by the third line-up. 7” beauties followed – 'Rolling Moon', 'Pink Frost' (their most celebrated track, a spare, heart-aching ballad that located a similar heart of darkness as Joy Division’s 'Love Will Tear Us Apart') and 'Doledrums'. But in 1985, UK indie label Creation licensed the early tracks for the 'Kaleidoscopie World' compilation, and The Chills went overseas in support. Two years later, Chills Mark 10 returned to base themselves in London for much longer, and finally nailed a debut album, 'Brave Words'.

The band – new drummer alert! - stayed on to record the second Chills album. 1990’s 'Submarine Bells' remains their long-playing masterpiece; Phillipps’ hallucinatory visions and domestic anxieties met head on, with a sometimes symphonic songcraft that had developed far beyond any of his (still sublimely gifted) NZ peers. The Brian Wilson of the Antipodes? Well, it wasn’t so far-fetched. One of those inexplicably shoulda-been singles, 'Heavenly Pop Hit', showed what was possible. As did with LA luminary - and Brian Wilson associate - Van Dyke Parks agreeing to write the string arrangements for the next album.

Yet the next step – recording in America, having signed to Warners subsidiary Slash for 'Submarine Bells' – showed what wasn’t possible. A long way from home, sky-high expectations and personnel fragmenting, the burden was too heavy - even if the resulting 'Soft Bomb' was a slice of flawed brilliance, But the newly conjoined NZ/US line-up couldn’t survive its continental divide. When Phillips returned home, he was forced to consider a new line-up, or to commit The Chills to posterity, which is why 'Heavenly Pop Hits: The Best Of The Chills' emerged in 1994.

But there’s more, even if the path turns crooked, years fade away, and Phillipps couldn’t work out how to survive his legacy. If he had essentially gone solo, 1996’s 'Sunburnt' (is anyone paying attention to his run of ‘S B’ album titles?) was released as Martin Phillipps and The Chills, but his backing band were English veterans Dave Mattocks (Fairport Convention) and Dave Gregory (XTC) after his chosen rhythm section was turned back at UK customs. Phillipps fell prey to even more unfortunate circumstances, and the long slow climb to a clean bill of health has hindered songwriting and recording, with just 2004’s eight-track 'Stand By' to show for it (not forgetting the 'Sketchbook 'home demos and the fabulous three-CD 'Secret Box' which compiled all the unreleased songs - remember, The Chills were going for seven years before they made an album), alternative and live versions.

'Stand By' was long on fragility but also hope, with the album’s official finale 'True Romance' and secret track stressing dignity in survival. Even now, Phillipps is fronting another Chills, has honoured Pink Frost’s 25th anniversary with a special show, and he’s started recording again, in the words of 'Heavenly Pop Hit', “for those that still want it.” 

Martin Aston - is a UK-based music writer for The Guardian,  and has also written for  'Q', 'Mojo' and 'The Times'.