The Chills are a New Zealand rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band is essentially the continuing project of singer/songwriter Martin Phillipps, who is the group's sole constant member. For a time in the 1990s, the act was billed as Martin Phillipps & The Chills. In the 1980s and 1990s, The Chills had some significant chart success in their homeland and were a cult band in other parts of the world as one of the earliest proponents of the Dunedin sound.

History

Early years and first breakup (1980–1983)

Singer-songwriter Martin Phillipps formed The Chills in 1980 with his sister Rachel Phillipps on keyboards and

Jane Dodd Jane Dodd (born 1962) is a New Zealand musician and contemporary jeweller. From 1982 to 1984 she studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Otago, majoring in Phenomenology of Religion with additional papers in Anthropology, History, Ar ...

on bass after the demise of his punk band, The Same.

The Chills' bio on Billboard.com ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

/ref> Also included in the initial lineup were guitarist Peter Gutteridge and drummer Alan Haig. Phillipps's earlier band, the Same, had formed in 1978 and performed alongside punk bands Toy Love and The Enemy. The Chills were initially signed by Flying Nun Records and were one of the four bands recorded for the '' Dunedin Double'' EP in 1982. By this time, the band consisted of Martin Phillipps, Alan Haig, keyboard player Fraser Batts and bassist Terry Moore. One of the tracks recorded, " Kaleidoscope World", became a signature song for the band's early years. Rachel Phillipps returned (replacing Batts) and Martyn Bull took over from Haig on drums in time for the band's first single "Rolling Moon", which was a chart hit in 1983. However, Bull's sudden illness caused the band to then take a year off.

Reformation and international success (1984–1992)

After Bull's death in July 1983 (from leukaemia), the Chills changed their name to A Wrinkle in Time, as Phillipps was initially unwilling to continue performing under a name associated with his late friend. The name change was brief, and although the band performed under the alternative name, no recordings were produced under it. Once the Chills name had been reestablished, The Chills became essentially a solo project spearheaded by Martin Phillipps, the band's lead singer and sole songwriter. Band personnel turnover was near-constant—The Chills went through over 20 different lineup changes with Phillipps as the only constant member. Members of the band from 1984 on have included Terry Moore, Alan Haig, Peter Allison, David Kilgour, Steven Schayer,

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, Justin Harwood, Caroline Easther, Jimmy James Stephenson, Jillian Dempster, and

Oli Wilson Oli Wilson is a New Zealand ethnomusicologist and a member of The Chills. Academic career Wilson was raised in Palmerston North, the son of deer researcher Peter Wilson, who retired as Professor Emeritus at Massey University. He graduated wit ...

among others. Several of these musicians went on to further success in bands ranging from The Verlaines to Luna. The band's first post-Wrinkle in Time release was the 1984 single " Pink Frost", which became the band's biggest hit to that time. It was initially recorded in 1982 by the three-piece band of Martin Phillipps, Terry Moore, and Martyn Bull, before receiving new overdubs in 1984. This single was followed by the #12-hit single "Doledrums", and then a six-song EP called ''

The Lost EP ''The Lost EP'' (also known as ''The "Lost" EP'' and ''Lost EP'') was a 1985 release by New Zealand band The Chills. The title originates from the fact that the recordings which make up the EP were thought to be lost for some time, resulting in t ...

''. This EP did not feature any of the band's previous (or future) singles and peaked at #4 on the New Zealand singles charts in 1985. The Chills undertook their first European tour that same year. In 1986, the band issued the minor international hit "I Love My Leather Jacket", recorded at The Point Studio by Danny Hyde. "I Love My Leather Jacket" was dedicated to late drummer, Bull, who had bequeathed the said item of clothing to Phillipps in his will. The Chills finally released their first album, ''Kaleidoscope World'', in 1986; the album was a compilation of various previously released singles, EP tracks, and songs from the ''Dunedin Double'' EP. The band released their first proper album, ''Brave Words'', in 1987. The band spent most of 1987 (February through mid-December) promoting the album by touring Europe, interspersed with four July dates in New York and Boston. A full-fledged North American tour occurred in the fall of 1988; tour dates would be a regular part of the band's life for the next several years. In 1990, the band were signed to a worldwide record deal with their music appearing on the Warner Brothers imprint Slash Records in North America. Their 1990 album ''Submarine Bells'' included their biggest international hit, the whimsically titled "Heavenly Pop Hit". The tune was also a hit in the US, charting at #17 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay Chart; it remains their only American chart appearance. The group's follow-up album, 1992's ''Soft Bomb'', featured a totally different Chills lineup (save for Phillipps), and spun off the hit "The Male Monster from the Id".

Second reformation (1995–present)

Phillipps announced the dissolution of the Chills after the ''Soft Bomb'' tour, and joined David Kilgour in a loosely organized covers band known as The Pop Art Toasters, which released a self-titled EP in 1994. Shortly thereafter, though, the 'Toasters dissolved, and Phillipps put together another Chills lineup and resumed gigging. This seemingly constant turnover of personnel is often cited as one of several reasons for the band's lack of consistent "saleability", and is referred to by the local music scene as "the curse of the Chills". The "curse" struck again with the recording of the album ''Sunburnt'' in England, in the summer of 1995. Two band members were refused entry into the UK, so session musicians had to be recruited at the last moment. Dave Mattacks of

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

and XTC's Dave Gregory provided drum and bass work for the album, with Phillipps the only other credited musician (aside from guest keyboards played by producer Craig Leon). This album was issued in early 1996 under the group name Martin Phillipps and The Chills. After that, the band again split, with Phillipps appearing in another one of David Kilgour's bands, the Heavy Eights. Nevertheless, Phillipps continued to recruit new Chills members for live shows and played at least a few shows as The Chills every year from 1997 on. For much of the late 1990s, though, Phillipps was laid low with

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...

, a side effect of drug addiction problems. He released an album of solo home demos (''Sketch Book: Volume One'') in 1999; the demos themselves dated from 1988–1995. In 2000, ''Secret Box'', a three-CD box set of Chills live tracks, demos, radio sessions, and rarities was released. In 2004, an eight-song Chills mini-album called ''Stand By'' was issued, the first all-new Chills material in nine years. Phillipps's album liner notes promised: Despite Phillipps's claim, however, no new Chills album appeared for over a decade. In May 2010, the band played two shows in Australia, their first shows outside New Zealand since 1996. Three years later, after another nine-year hiatus from the recording studio, a single newly recorded Chills track called "Molten Gold" was issued. The track, released on Martin Phillipp's 50th birthday (July 2, 2013), was a non-album 7” single with the rerecorded "Pink Frost 13" as a B-side. In October 2015, the band issued ''Silver Bullets'', their first album-length release in 19 years. In February 2017, the band released the David Bowie song "Conversation Piece". On September 14, 2018, the band released its seventh album, ''Snow Bound''.

The Chills on film

The Chills have been the subject of numerous documentaries, predominantly produced for New Zealand TV. In March 2019, a feature documentary exploring the history of the band and Martin Phillipps's contemporary struggle with hepatitis C, directed by Julia Parnell and

Rob Curry Rob Curry is a British film director, best known for his work on theatrical documentaries. His films include TEMPEST (released in UK cinemas in 2012), and Way of the Morris (co-directed with Tim Plester), which premiered at SXSW and was released ...

premiered at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

before being released theatrically in New Zealand and Australia. It was broadcast in New Zealand on Prime TV.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

EPs

Singles

Timeline of personnel

ImageSize = width:850 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1980 till:01/07/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:guit value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:violin value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:lines value:black legend:Studio albums and EPs Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1980 BarData = bar:Martin text:"Martin Phillipps" bar:PeterG text:"Peter Gutteridge" bar:DavidK text:"David Kilgour" bar:Steven text:"Steven Schayer" bar:Rachel text:"Rachel Phillipps" bar:Fraser text:"Fraser Batts" bar:PeterA text:"Peter Allison" bar:Andrew text:"Andrew Todd" bar:Jillian text:"Jillian Dempster" bar:Lisa text:"Lisa Mednick" bar:Dominic text:"Dominic Blaazer" bar:SteveS text:"Steve Small" bar:AndrewT text:"Andrew Taylor" bar:TomM text:"Tom Miskin" bar:JamesD text:"James Dickson" bar:Erica text:"Erica Stitchbury" bar:Oli text:"Oli Wilson" bar:Jane text:"Jane Dodd" bar:Terry text:"Terry Moore" bar:MartinK text:"Martin Kean" bar:Justin text:"Justin Harwood" bar:SteveW text:"Steven Shaw" bar:PhilK text:"Phil Kusabs" bar:Rodney text:"Rodney Haworth" bar:Callum text:"Callum Hampton" bar:Alan text:"Alan Haig" bar:Martyn text:"Martyn Bull" bar:Caroline text:"Caroline Easther" bar:JamesS text:"James Stephenson" bar:Earl text:"Earl Robertson" bar:Craig text:"Craig Mason" bar:JonA text:"Jonathan Armstrong" bar:Todd text:"Todd Knudson" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Martin from:01/10/1980 till:end color:guit bar:PeterG from:01/10/1980 till:01/12/1980 color:guit bar:Rachel from:01/10/1980 till:01/05/1981 color:keys bar:Rachel from:01/05/1982 till:01/06/1982 color:keys bar:Jane from:01/10/1980 till:01/05/1981 color:bass bar:Alan from:01/10/1980 till:01/04/1982 color:drums bar:Alan from:01/07/1983 till:01/02/1986 color:drums bar:Terry from:01/09/1981 till:01/07/1983 color:bass bar:Terry from:01/11/1984 till:01/02/1986 color:bass bar:Terry from:01/12/1990 till:01/10/1992 color:bass bar:Fraser from:01/09/1981 till:01/04/1982 color:keys bar:Martyn from:01/05/1982 till:01/08/1982 color:drums bar:PeterA from:01/04/1983 till:01/02/1986 color:keys bar:DavidK from:01/04/1983 till:01/07/1983 color:guit bar:MartinK from:01/11/1983 till:01/10/1984 color:bass bar:Andrew from:01/09/1986 till:01/07/1990 color:keys bar:Justin from:01/09/1986 till:01/07/1990 color:bass bar:Caroline from:01/11/1986 till:01/06/1988 color:drums bar:JamesS from:01/07/1988 till:01/12/1991 color:drums bar:Jillian from:01/11/1990 till:01/02/1991 color:keys bar:Steven from:01/01/1992 till:01/11/1992 color:guit bar:Lisa from:01/01/1992 till:01/11/1992 color:keys bar:Earl from:01/06/1992 till:01/09/1992 color:drums bar:Craig from:01/09/1992 till:01/11/1992 color:drums bar:JonA from:01/06/1995 till:01/04/1997 color:drums bar:SteveW from:01/06/1995 till:01/06/1996 color:bass bar:Dominic from:01/06/1995 till:01/02/1996 color:keys bar:SteveS from:01/12/1995 till:01/01/1996 color:keys bar:AndrewT from:01/03/1996 till:01/07/1996 color:keys bar:PhilK from:01/08/1996 till:01/04/1997 color:bass bar:TomM from:01/08/1996 till:01/04/1997 color:keys bar:Todd from:01/08/1999 till:end color:drums bar:Rodney from:01/08/1999 till:01/01/2006 color:bass bar:JamesD from:01/09/1999 till:01/01/2006 color:keys bar:JamesD from:01/01/2006 till:01/04/2019 color:bass bar:Erica from:01/01/2006 till:01/02/2010 color:keys bar:Erica from:01/02/2010 till:end color:violin bar:Oli from:01/02/2010 till:end color:keys bar:Callum from:01/04/2019 till:end color:bass LineData = at:07/11/1982 color:black layer:back at:07/01/1985 color:black layer:back at:07/03/1986 color:black layer:back at:07/01/1987 color:black layer:back at:01/03/1990 color:black layer:back at:19/03/1992 color:black layer:back at:07/06/1994 color:black layer:back at:12/06/1996 color:black layer:back at:28/06/2004 color:black layer:back at:28/03/2013 color:black layer:back at:23/10/2015 color:black layer:back at:14/09/2018 color:black layer:back

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chills, The APRA Award winners Creation Records artists New Zealand alternative rock groups New Zealand indie rock groups Flying Nun Records artists Jangle pop groups Dunedin Sound musical groups Fire Records (UK) artists Slash Records artists Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1983 Musical groups reestablished in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups reestablished in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups reestablished in 1999