Obituary
Died suddenly and unexpectedly early this morning.
Lead singer and lyricist for the Chills. One of my favourite Flying Nun bands.
Very sad news
Martin Phillipps R.I.P
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This is my favourite song by my favourite Kiwi band. Night of Chill Blue
That’s one of my favourites too. Though my favourite albums are the non Flying Nun releases ‘Submarine Bells’ and ‘Soft Bomb’ when they replaced a bit of the jangle with slightly more muscular guitars.
That’s a real shame. I liked The Chills without ever catching them live, and enjoyed the Brave Words reissue last year.
This was on the Kaleidoscope World comp that was once a favourite cassette on my Walkman.
That’s a real shame. Having seen The Chills live a couple of times, I can attest they were equally as great onstage as on record. I’d agree with posts above that suggest Night Of Chill Blue is one of their best.
Am I right in thinking he hadn’t been in the best of health for some years?
I think you’re right. Some quite serious issues I believe but I thought he’d addressed them and was coming out the other side.
There’s this documentary which is supposed to be very good but I’ve yet to track it down.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9617712/
I’ve long liked Pink Frost (originally discovered as a House of Love B-side I think!) and Heavenly Pop Hit but never dug further. This sad news has set me to right that wrong. The Kaleidoscope World comp is proving right up my street. Submarine Bells next.
Doledrums was the first thing of theirs that I heard on Peel back when I was in my teens and I’ve been a fan ever since. We finally got to see him live a couple of times when we moved to New Zealand and it was absolutely brilliant. As were the supports for those gigs, Tiny Ruins in New Plymouth and Anthonie Tonnon at the Wanganui Opera House.
The last 3 Chills albums that he put out since he returned to music were brilliant too. Aside from him passing on so young it’s doubly sad that we won’t hear any more great music from the man while he was in such a purple patch.
That House of Love EP was one of the best things they did in the post-Bickers incarnation. Girl With The Loneliest Eyes, Purple Killer Rose, Tea in The Sun, Pink Frost. Four absolute crackers there
Yes! Thanks for the reminder. I just dug mine out. V good indeed.
@guiri
Just had Submarine Bells on as I did low level chores. It’s a lovely album.
Gave it a first go earlier. First impressions are v positive.
I’ll have to revisit those later Chills albums. Remember them being much better than anticipated, which sounds like I’m damning them with faint praise but I hope you know what I mean.
Submarine Bells is a really really good pop rock album. Constant Top Tenner of mine.
A long piece about him on TVNZ news tonight – which was nice to see.
Submarine Bells is a Top 10 album for me. I return to it often. Beautiful but a bit quirky and off-kilter. Soft Bomb had its moments but it was overlong – CD bloat. But I believe Mitch Eater was involved? No – Gavin McKillop produced – just checked. He did The Church’s Priest = Aura around the same time. Another career high for SK.
I saw the documentary. Well and lovingly made. I don’t know that he came across as likeable as such; a very complex man going through health issues, exacerbated by an obsessive streak. Worth a look though.
But those talking about investigating Submarine Bells, you won’t be disappointed,
Great description of Submarine Bells there. Beautiful, quirky and off kilter.
You might be right about Soft Bomb too . A bit overlong but still decent if not quirky. I will give it a blast tomorrow.
P = A is another of my top tennners btw