The Chills frontman Martin Phillips dies at 61

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Ricky Maymi of the famous American psychedelic band Brian Jonestown Massacre also paid tribute to the mysterious lead singer. “Martin and I eventually became friends, and over the next few years we saw each other all over the world. I am very grateful to have known him, to have been able to see his performances many times around the world, and to have known him as a friend.”

Phillips’ musical journey began in 1980 with The Chills when he was just 17 years old, and he quickly became known as a prolific songwriter.

Many of these songs feature familiar keyboard and guitar sounds with psychedelic lyrics.

This was evident in the band’s first single, ‘Rolling Moon’, released on the fledgling Christchurch label Flying Nun Records, which laid the blueprint for The Chills’ future work.

The song remained a hit for live performances for decades and reached number 26 on the charts despite receiving little airplay on commercial radio.

The single follows three songs including Kaleidoscope Worldon the acclaimed Dunedin Double record. The EP cemented the band’s status as one of the standouts in the growing “Dunedin Sound” scene, which also included bands like The Clean, The Verlaines and Straitjacket Fits.

On July 18, 1983, drummer Martin Bull died of leukemia, which had a severe impact on Phillips and the band, which by then had seven members. But a single-minded Phillips continued to write, creating a series of songs that audiences still love decades later.

The band went on to sell thousands of compilation albums. Kaleidoscope Worldand recorded another fan favorite in late 1986: I love my leather jacketin homage to the gift Bull left to Phillips.

The band’s debut album, Brave words (recently reissued on vinyl) was released a year later and was followed by an extensive tour of Europe.

In 1989, the band signed a multi-album deal with the record label Slash, which included the band’s most successful album, Submarine clockThe album’s lead single is the perfectly named Heavenly popular hitsanother staple song on The Chills’ future tracklist.

While the band seemed destined for mainstream success, years of touring, lineup changes, and what Phillips calls the “chill curse” took its toll.

Subsequent albums received poor reviews. Soft BombThis, combined with Phillips’s increasing addiction to alcohol and drugs, meant that the band fell out of fashion in the grunge era.

It was during that decade that Phillips contracted hepatitis C, a virus that attacked his already alcohol-affected liver and threatened his life.

Although Phillips battled depression during this period, he continued to make music and ultimately experienced a career renaissance in his later years.

Phillips began to mine his creative trove of unfinished songs from decades past, including Snow Bound In 2018, careless In 2022, domestic and international tours will begin.

Phillips mentioned a new album in his last interview. Springboard: Early Unrecorded SongsThe film, which was due to be released later this year, stars Neil Finn, Julia Deans and Troy Kingi.

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