The Chills Photo: Supplied
The Chills are about to embark on their 'Vigorous and Far-reaching New Zealand Tour' starting in Wellington on Wednesday, April 26th.
To whet the nation's palate, we got some fans and friends of RNZ Music to choose their favourite track.
Full tour details at the bottom of this article.
John Campbell - Submarine Bells
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
If I had a top ten favourite bands, and I don’t, but if I did, The Chills would be in it. Martin was so brilliant, so driven, such an Icarus character (forgive me, Martin), that when Michael Hann wrote about The Chills for The Guardian in 2014 the article was headlined: “The Chills: the band who fell to earth.”
And if I had to pick a single song to summarise the brilliance and the precariousness, the tightrope walk of being Martin, I’d pick the tile track of their 1990 album, Submarine Bells.
Jesus, this is a beautiful song. 27 years after I first heard it, it still makes my eyes go faraway.
In part, it’s the temerity of it I love. On an album with the radio perfection of Heavenly Pop Hit, and the fast, fast, faster guitars of The Oncoming Day and Familiarity Breeds Contempt, Submarine Bells is a bewitching way to end. And the very end of the song (and therefore of the album), in which Martin begins with “okay” and ends with “oh, Kay”, was such a state of the art example of my favourite genre, the completely hopeless love song, that every time I hear it I’m delighted afresh, again.
“I know deep down, hidden in you, submarine bells chime.”
I don’t even really know what it’s about. Not exactly. But I don’t need to know that. It’s the way the music invites us to bring ourselves in. And for me, it’s a song about longing and hope and shyness and possibility. Or something.
Martin was flying then.
We all know what followed.
And on the 13th of May, I’ll be at the Kings Arms in Auckland, rejoicing in his genius, his survival, and in the wonder of the journey.
Karyn Hay - Doledrums
Karyn Hay Photo: Supplied
Doledrums perfectly captures the ennui of being on the dole, all jangly pop and lyrical listlessness; the friendly organ giving us the will to live until salvation appears at the end, but not really: ‘The benefits arrive and life goes on … and on and on.’
Wallace Chapman - Pink Frost
Wallace Chapman Photo: RNZ
Pink Frost is my favourite. It’s an obvious choice but the ‘vibe’ of the song is so intertwined with my memories of what Dunedin was like, I can’t go past it.
Walking through the woods, big baggy jersey on, looking for lost golf balls ( aka mushrooms ) listening to the Sony Walkman. Classic.
Anthonie Tonnon - Heavenly Pop Hit
Anthonie Tonnon Photo: RNZ/Supplied?
A couple of years ago the band and I learned this song for a Flying Nun anniversary show at The Kings Arms. Often, learning how to play a song robs it of its mystery, but in this case, it made the song more magical and mysterious. It sounds simple while being deceptively complicated, dashing through chords from different keys inexplicably, and both the lyrics and the music never resolve - they just move on to the next breathless metaphor about the earth or the experience of being alive, or they leap onto some grammatical pun (I love the line, 'the tension is ended, the sentence suspended'). It sounds like a hyperactive mind in love. And that chorus - it comes out nowhere, it's almost wordless, and it's one of the most moving fragments of music I've heard in pop. With typical South Island humility, Phillipps then dismisses his miracle with the refrain - 'it's a heavenly pop hit - if anyone wants it.'
Anothony is supporting the Chills on their nationawide tour.
Paz Lenchantin - I Love My Leather Jacket
Paz Lenchantin Photo: Wikimedia Commons
I love this song ... the story of this song is that [The Chills'] original drummer passed away from leukaemia and he was Martin Phillips best friend. The story goes, when he passed away he put his leather jacket in his will for Martin ... that to me is really ... touching, that interplay between the band members and the story. But by the same token, anyone can hear thie song ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’ and relate to their own leather jacket. It’s everyone’s leather jacket. You just make it your own. And anyone who owns a leather jacket knows, "Hey, I’m wearing this to the grave!"
Catch the band at a venue near you this April/ May:
The Chills Vigorous and Far-reaching New Zealand tour
With support from Anthonie Tonnon*
April 26th - San Fran, Wellington
April 27th - St. Peter's Hall, Paekakariki
April 28th - The Cabana, Napier
April 29th - The Royal Wanganui Opera House, Whanganui**
May 4th - Blue Smoke, Christchurch
May 5th - The Scottish Hall, Invercargill***
May 6th - The Sherwood, Queenstown
May 11th - Totara St, Mount Maunganui
May 12th - The Raglan Club, Raglan
May 13th - The King's Arms, Auckland
Tickets From UnderTheRadar.co.nz
*Anthonie Tonnon plays all shows except Queenstown
