The Chills

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) After the demise of the Same, one of the earliest punk rock bands in New Zealand, vocalist and guitarist Martin Phillipps started a new band, the Chills, in Dunedin in 1980. The initial line-up also featured his sister Rachel Phillipps and former the Clean frontman Peter Gutteridge on guitar, Jane Todd on bass and Alan Haig on drums. They made their first live performance supporting Bored Games at the Coronation Hall in Dunedin on November 15, 1980, after which Gutteridge departed. By June 1981, Dodd and Rachel Phillipps had also left, leaving the Chills on hiatus. Martin Phillipps became a short-lived member of the newly reformed the Clean, serving as their keyboardist on tour and for their debut single "Tally Ho!" (1981). The following month, the Chills reconvened with Phillipps, Haig, and Fraser Batts and Terry Moore of Bored Games, on keyboards and bass, respectively. They provided to songs to a local various artists EP, Dunedin Double by Flying Nun Records, marking their recording debut. Shortly after the EP's release, Haig left to join the Verlaines, being replaced by Martyn Bull. Rachel Phillipps temporarily returned after Batts departed, prior to a tour of the North Island with the Clean, though did not stay for the whole tour. The remaining dates of the trek had the band performing as a trio; this iteration of the band recorded two singles, "Rolling Moon" (1982) and "Pink Frost". Their subsequent plans were put on pause when Bull got a leukemia diagnosis, with the band re-appearing after when his health allowed over the next six months. Peter Allison then took on the keyboardist role, with the band performing sporadically. In the meantime, Phillipps jammed with David Kilgour of the Clean in the band Time Flies, though they never performed live. By June 1983, Haig was asked to re-join them after it became clear that Bull was unlikely to recover, dying the following month.