RIP Martin Phillipps

I interviewed Martin once  - early '87 I think (the piece is below). He was probably the quietest interviewee I ever had. Most likely I'd not met a New Zealander before, so would have been unaware of the way they take deadpan dryness even further than the Australians. This, though, was something else, beyond nationality. How, one wonders, did such a shy, subdued, self-effacing character manage to leverage himself onto a stage and perform - in, like, public! So much of the gravity and privacy of the Chills sound seems to emanate directly from Martin's personality.

In that sense, The Chills were possibly the ultimate indiepop group - its oxymoronic essence, the embodiment of its predoomed dream that one day the meek would inherit the earth, somehow displace all the pathological attention-seekers and egomaniac exhibitionists from the pop charts.  

Some latterday work  - this song has a "meek shall inherit" theme, with a funny twist.

Via Andrew Parker, a documentary about The Chills made in their prime

Via Matt M in comments, a much later doc about The Chills and Martin Phillipps, dealing with his struggles with drugs and consequent health problems

A 1982 report on the Dunedin scene includes The Chills