The Chills with Blam, Blam Blam and the Newmatics

By GRAHAM REID

Scan the lineup of tonight's True Colours gig at the St James and the waves of nostalgia come rolling in: those ska-smart Newmatics, whose Riot Squad was timely during the '81 Springbok tour, Blam Blam Blam, whose catalogue of brilliant songs looked poised for international acclaim until the car crash which halted their career in '82, and the Chills.

Ah, yes, the Chills led by Martin Phillipps, whose vision of the elevating power of pop music saw him take on the world only to return to New Zealand defeated after a crucial Stateside tour in '92 when he dramatically retired the band on stage.

Phillipps came home broke and broken, and headed back to his hometown of Dunedin. Tales of his melancholy and depression seeped out, he had to sell off a substantial part of his extensive record collection just to survive, had a breakdown, took solace in opiates, got himself off through methadone and reassembled his head.

That much is widely known. What has been less well told is how he resurrected a Chills lineup four years ago and how they have been playing a couple of times a year around his hometown.

So unlike the Blams and Newmatics, the Chills are still a going - if slightly faltering - concern. And Phillipps - who turns 40 in July and has 23 years of Chills history behind him - is still writing furiously and hoping someone with money and a similar commitment to the Chills will step up to allow them to record and tour again.

Phillipps has been down this path before (he took an ad in Art New Zealand looking for a sponsor when things were especially low) but believes the time is now ripe. It is a great period for New Zealand music and the Chills have something to offer.

"We're ready at the right time and just need someone to take us up. I can understand a company would much rather spend the money on a new and upcoming group because there are heaps to choose from.

"But our sales pitch is if they want reliable quality and a mature attitude, then give me a call," he laughs as he adopts the measured tones of a salesman.

"I'm hoping something will come of this visit to Auckland, and it might sound a bit dramatic but I can't see [the Chills] progressing otherwise. I don't want it to be this frustrating. This [band] will go ahead pretty quickly once someone comes to the party with a bit of finance."

He has already had interest from some American indie labels but doesn't know enough about them yet. He believes the Chills - bassist Rodney Haworth, drummer Todd Knudson, keyboard player James Dickson and himself - need to do another international tour to remind people they are an ongoing concern "and not some retro, cash-in thing".

"I've been trying to get that across to people and this is a good way for us to get out and play largely a set of older material, but also showing the band is vibrant and forward moving. I didn't want to come to Auckland until we had a whole new presentation."

While the Chills will play some of Phillipps' most recognisable material in concert, the songwriter continues to be almost unnaturally prolific. He speaks of having around 1000 "bits of songs" digitised and stored away for constant reassessment. Four years ago he released Sketch Book through an English-based website and two years ago put together a three-CD anthology of rarities, Secret Box.

The interest in those and ongoing messages from ICE, the International Chills Enthusiasts fan club, has been encouraging.

"I only did 1000 [of Secret Box] and could have easily done three times that without going near record stores, except for one independent shop in each centre. What I'd like to do, because I am fairly prolific and don't want to squeeze all these styles on to one record - which I think has been a shortcoming with all Chills' albums - is to keep to a small range of styles on the album and make other projects available for those who want them."

These days Phillipps sees himself working in a manner other than the traditional songwriting pattern he has established over the decades. He speaks of the next album being a jump stylistically.

"I want to embrace new technology. For example, record waves crashing against a cliff face to get that deep boom, and work out what frequency it is. Then you can replicate it with instruments and build on that and create a musical approximation. Then I can loop those and put my riffs on top.

"What I'm hearing in my head I've not heard being done by others. It's a way of using the technology to do something more true to your environment. I want to capture the New Zealand environment and atmospheres in a musical sense, but not in a tedious manner, and allied to rock music.

"The band understands what I am trying to do and are excited, but it will involve me going off by myself on one of my Central Otago songwriting sabbaticals and coming back with demos for them to listen to. I think what we'll do is maybe a band version and my version, then chop the best together.

"That would mean [live] we would use some sequenced backings as well which would be different from the past, too."

After what might charitably be called "a difficult time", Phillipps is bubbling with ideas. He is looking forward to playing with the band, but also to the singer-songwriter session on Sunday night, informally exchanging musical ideas with Liam Finn and Chris Knox in a lineup which also includes Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Anika Moa and the reformed Waves.

And if that wealthy patron or enthusiastic record company exec comes to the party for the Chills, Phillipps can promise something different to what they were.

"I've also got ideas on how I want the band to look with special clothing and backing visuals. Dunedin has a very good fashion scene bubbling away and I've spoken to a couple of designers.

"The band is not going to be packaged into Beatle suits and look uncomfortable, but it will be each person's natural tendency in clothing but with a linking theme.

"The overall theme is kind of realistic magic and illusion happening in front of you. Beautiful bright things happening in the darkness, and that would happen in what we are wearing and the way the whole concert is put across.

"I'm comfortable with my limitations as a performer. I've got a certain type of charisma which appeals to a smaller audience and they like watching me move and the sound of my voice, but it's never going to be a Mick Jagger pull-you-in thing. I'm comfortable to step back and let other things be the eye candy.

"I'm very optimistic about what we have to give, but it does depend on other people coming to it. I don't believe we can keep playing as strongly as we are and not get somebody interested.

"We've got something to offer that is not being done, and which is very New Zealand. It's still special."

* At True Colours, St James, tonight