The Chills offer U.K. advice

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 18

The Chills offer U.K. advice

By ROBIN CHARTERIS, London Correspondent

Martin Phillips, the lead singer for The Chills, has some advice for other Kiwi musicians who come to Britain hoping to hit the big time.

“Whatever yon do, never go outside the front door without going to the toilet first,” he joked.

“You can't seem to find a toilet anywhere here when you need one." But being caught short is not the only experience Phillips and the other three members of the former Dunedin band are taking home with them after two months in London.

An aspect of Britain’s busy rock scene which has intrigued them is the diversity and number of sub-cults young people join, affecting

not only their clothes and appearance, but also which bands they like.

“We were told before we came that one of the problems we might face was the image thing,” Phillips said. “We had the difficulty of having no particular crowd who would come and see us because we’re not into any one scene.”

The group drew a very interesting cross-section of pop fans, however, including many expatriate New Zealanders. Some of the pub gigs seemed to be an excuse for Kiwi parties.

The tour is seen as a make-or-break venture for The Chills. They have sunk all their savings of about $25,000 into it.

They did not arrive in Britain as complete unknowns. British fans already

knew of the band from rave reviews of their singles in "New Musical Express,"“Jamming,” and “Zig Zag” music magazines. One thing they have had to get used to here is shorter playing times, which, for a group with about 40 songs in its live repertoire, has meant careful selection.

“In New Zealand, audiences like it if you play all night—here, your set has to be short,” Phillips said. The Chills, voted most promising band in the N. Z. Music Awards last year, have recorded four songs for the B. B. C. ’s Radio One disc jockey John Peel, who has enthusiastically backed the Kiwis for some time, playing their records at a time when they were unavailable in Britain.

“The B. B. C. session was a bit chaotic, mainly because our keyboards player, Peter Allison, overslept by a couple of hours. “We never met John Peel either. He’s an extremely mysterious person,” Phillips said.

The band played last Sunday at a Hammersmith Odeon concert with three other groups, including The Hoodoo Gurus, from Australia, and have one final appearance planned yet before leaving for home. They have been working on a new song, “Oncoming Day,” and compiled a greatest hits album, “Kaleidoscope World,” especially for the British market. Both will be released early next year.

Phillips believes the group has achieved much of

what it set out to do. “The John Peel session alone was enough to make it worthwhile for a first trip. “I think our coming here has paved the way for other Kiwi bands. We’ve established contacts, which is most important, because the rock business here is not so much what you know but who you know. “We were lucky because we knew people here. If we hadn’t I’m sure we would have been ripped off. “There’s a huge gulf between the very successful bands and the smaller bands in the way they get treated.”

Phillips, Allison and the other two members of The Chills, Alan Haig and Terry Moore, plan to return to Britain as a group next May.