The Unwashed Truth

Rip It Up, Issue 85, 1 August 1984, Page 6

The Unwashed Truth

Russell Brown

David and Hamish Kilgour seem to have a knack for being in the vanguard of local musical developments. As two-thirds of the Clean they were a seminal influence and inspiration on other, younger, musicians in Dunedin and then In other centres. The band that got Flying Nun on its feet with Boodle, Boodle, Boodle (which is still selling). The band that made North Islanders pay attention to the South again.

Now they’re half of the Great Unwashed (along with original Clean bassist Peter Gutteridge and Ross Humphries, formerly of the Pm Group) and English guru DJ John Peel has been playing 'Duane Eddy’, from their double 45 (sold out but now available as a 12") a lot and wants to know more. London’s Rough Trade shop has been get-

ting a bundle of enquiries from people who’ve heard the song on the radio. Maybe somebody over there wants to listen at last... For all that, the two Kilgours aren't the sort of people who’d plan or even envisage that sort of thing. They're small thinkers if anything, accountable to themselves. Some people would even say they’ve been preciously antisuccess. After all, they broke up the Clean when they were getting really big ... "The Great Unwashed won’t get like the Clean got,” says Hamish. "You just burn yourself out too quickly if you play too much. And you also start to destroy the music to some degree. There's only so much you can do within a song with the instruments you’ve got and you can end up killing the song, taking everything out of it that was fresh and interesting for a start. “You get yourself in a situation where if you’re going to play a lot you constantly want to come up with new material but you’re always playing old material. I suppose the ideal situation would be to take a four or six month break every now and then and just sort of forget about it for a while.”

If the Kilgours are generally thought of as the band’s base unit then it must be recalled that Gutteridge's contribution thus far has been very significant. He was responsible for three of the songs on the record and about half the songs in the live repertoire are his. But he chooses to live in Dunedin rather than Christchurch, which is why Humphries was asked to join. As well as adding another writing input, his inclusion means the Great Unwashed can play (with almost constant exchanges of instruments on stage) as a four piece or, without Gutteridge, as a trio.

There were many words of praise written about the Clean when they were going was there a sense of pressure to deliver with the Great Unwashed? Hamish: "Not really. I think with the Clean to a certain degree we never did properly deliver especially with a lot of the recordings.” The fact remains that a lot of people who bought the double single and went and saw the Great Unwashed live did so because you used to be in the Clean. "That’s good in a way because if they didn’t know who we were we’d be starting at the bottom again," says David. "This makes it a little easier for us. I think now people are just going to have to decide whether they like us or not.” With current developments in England it looks like things might be opening up in that part of the world. If they did, would your attitude change? David: "I’d consider going over

for a while but I wouldn’t go and try and make it. It would be great to play over there ... ” "I wouldn’t think of going over there in terms of chasing for success,” Hamish continues. "I think Split Enz has been the greatest example of a New Zealand band going to Australia and England and making it but I think their music was gradually diluted all along. Whatever originality or indigenous content that was there was gradually overcome." Is it possible.to achieve your aims within New Zealand? "It depends on what your objectives are. I think ours is primarily to make the best music we can and the other aim is to keep the music part of this place, the place where we live, and sell it to other people who live here. It’s a musical progression rather than anything else you keep trying to stretch yourself all the time,” Hamish says. So what would you like to happen in the next year?

David: “It’d be nice to be in a position to be able to go over to Australia every six months or so for a couple of weeks and not come back broke or owing money. Hopefully that’ll happen.” Hamish: "I’d like to do some more recording, better recording than we've done so far. Everything we’ve ever recorded in a studio or on a four track has always been under immense pressure and rush. We recorded the double single in Auckland in two or three days under real pressure we were playing at the time.” It would be unwise to lay odds on what the Great Unwashed will be doing this time next year or the year after. But as far as the two Kilgours, it’s almost certain that they’ll continue to mine their own peculiar musical lode. As they say, they’ll always be playing together, it’s just a matter of the circumstances.