...Chills defrost

Rip It Up, Issue 59, 1 June 1982, Page 12

...Chills defrost

Ann Louise Martin

The Chills have been around for nearly two years, initially as a five-piece with two guitars. The second line-up was a fourpiece, when guitarist Gutteridge left, with Alan Haig (drums), Rachel Phillipps (keyboards), Martin Phillipps (vocals, guitar) and Jane Dodd (now of the Verlaines) on bass. Bassist Terry Moore joined the band last July. Both the girls left, and Fraser Batts (ex Bored Games) joined on keyboards and guitar. Three weeks before the Chills were'due in Auckland Alan Haig left the band. One week before the Chills were due in Auckland Fraser Batts left the band. Three days before departure, the Chills realised the Clean had sold their van, and the hoped for ride was no more. Enter Franz with deposit for a van, drummer Martyn Bull, and Rachel, for a fill in keyboards spot. When Rachel went back to Dunedin, Martyn, Martin and Terry remained to fulfil Auckland gigs as a three-piece. The band is looking a for a permanent keyboardist. "We can manage as a three-piece," remarks Terry, "the sound we achieve is quite wide, but to add the extra edge and heighten the songs, the keyboards need to be there." The Chills dropped a number of songs from Rumba nights because they felt they needed, the keys. Their songs on the Flying Nun double Dunedin EP were

recorded at Paul Kean's house in Christchurch. "It was a lot of fun," says Martin. "It was our first time and it took a long time when you look back. We must have wasted a lot." The four track TEAC suited the band's requirement. They don't feel 24 tracks are at all necessary to get good sound. "The sound doesn't actually require anything a 24 track can give us," Martyn comments. "We're getting by: really : well, : recording on a four track and mixing it down. Soon we'll be able to mix our own tapes. We're keeping it small and independent." The three EP songs are a selection of older Chills' material. Martin: "It should be said that I really screwed up the mixing on 'Satin Doll', because I spent a lot of time trying to get the right guitar sound. It turned out to be about the only thing you

can hear. We'll probably remix that and release it some other time. With the first track, Kaleidoscope World' we brought the vocals up for radio but they've come too high really. 'Frantic Drift' is all right. We can live with them all, but it's not as good as it could be."

The addition of Martyn on drums has changed the band's sound.

"The recordings we're working on now actually capture the real spirit of the group," Martyn reflects. "For me, and I think I speak for the rest of the band, it's the first time the combination has gelled. There's so many different avenues we can take with songwriting and ideas and inspirations we can use." Martyn played for the Chills' forthcoming single Rolling Moon', with two B-sides, 'Bite' and 'Flame Thrower', which was recorded live at the Rumba. The other fwo tunes were recorded at the Frontier Hall and mixed at Mandrill by the band. The songs are mostly penned by Martin, although Terry has started to write. "Sometimes I write a lot of rubbish," Martin states. "But most of the time I try to sing about things, usually personal, something that's happened to me. I don't make political or social comment." What about 'Frantic Drift'?

"I was really depressed when I wrote that," Martin replies. "I was still at school and wanting a break. It's not now very important, it was at the time." "The good thing about a lot of the songs," says drummer Martyn, "is that they are old, as Martin says, in his terms. But for me they're new, and they're new for most of New Zealand as well. They've evolved, it's taken such a long time to play outside of Dunedin. The music hasn't been rushed, it's taken its time."

The mood is regarded as crucial in instrumentals. "It's the only thing," notes Martin. "Most of them are named after what they conjure up in our minds. Like 'Donald Duck In Chicago'. That was before Martyn joined. We just all started playing. It happened within about 30 seconds." The Chills' songs can be related through theme. Most of them are in pairs, or in threes, for example 'Purple Girl', 'I Saw Your Silhouette' and 'l6 Heart Throbs' are all about the same person. "I find it good, because you're not playing a set with all these different songs. They're joined up, and you can flow through the night," says Martyn. The Chills are able musicians. There is plenty of stage variety with Martin and Terry swapping instruments. What do they prefer playing? "Guitar," says Martin. "But I play quite a bit of piano at home. I wrote most of the keyboard lines, but basically, I prefer my lovely little Fender." Terry: "I used to be a guitarist before I became a bassist. I didn't think I'd like bass, but I felt in a rut with my guitar playing, and now I enjoy bass'. Having a break and going back to the guitar is good." Martyn: "I am happy playing drums. I feel like I'm not being held back. I've played a lot of guitar and it's a good change. I seem to extend myself all the time, physically and mentally, and I'm getting a lot of benefit from it." "Because we all play each others instruments it helps when we're writing, we can understand the problems," Terry points out.

As far as influences go, the Chills have open minds. "We were talking the other day," says Martin, "and agreed our music is the good bits taken out of the last 20 years, and most of it has come from outside of the popular. More the offbeat.

"I'm quite taken with the Cramps, the Velvet Underground, and Syd Barrett is one of my favourite people. I started off listening to glitter music, and then new wave, missing out all the stuff before that. With new wave you get an attitude where it’s difficult to listen to anything else, and it takes a long time to break out of that."

"That's why trends are so dangerous, because they blinker you," Terry adds. "You get a cynical attitude living in Dunedin. The place looks at the rest of the country in a funny way. You inherit that and apply it to music from a critical point of view, taking the best of what you see." The Chills are not going to Australia and we've got it on tape.