The Chills perform Pink Frost
by 
|Oh man! Take me back. Yup, drag me kicking and screaming into those halcyon days of the mid to the late 80s when all I cared about was Archie Comics, extra full cream milk, and getting my hands the latest release off New Zealand’s Flying Nun label. This track — Pink Frost — from Dunedin band, The Chills, is a window back to a time when melody ruled, guitars were always slightly out of tune, and haircuts were just five dollars down at your local barber shop.
Tagged: Archie comics, Flying Nun bands, Flying Nun records, New Zealand, Pink Frost, The Chills
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The Chills were the first band I ever saw. Well, actually, they were the first band I never saw, despite my best intentions. I was fifteen at the time, and my friend got word that the seminal Flying Nun act, who hailed from the deepest, darkest trenches of Dunedin, New Zealand, were to play a show that night at the now long gone Max’s in Petersham, Sydney. We had to go. It was The Chills, the very symbol of low-fi sullen rebellion, with their ruddy cheeks and out of tune guitars. So we whacked handfulls of gel in our hair and resolved to sneak our way past the doorman. Only my friend arrived at the venue a little earlier than me (his Dad was clearly a better driver than mine) and promptly sauntered into the venue, while I was turned away for ‘obviously being a minor’. Dammit! They were probably better on record anyway.
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At first listen, The Chills were like nothing else when they burst out of the relatively cloistered confines of the Dunedin student set way back in the early 1980s. Only, in retrospect, they were kinda like so much of the rest of the Flying Nun roster: lo-fi, wearily melodic, understated, and joyously brash in their use of lush vocal harmonies and ringing guitar licks. It was simply divine. And the first time I heard this song, Heavenly Pop Hit, I thought it was exactly that: the most decadent single imaginable. Some twenty years later, it still sounds fresh. [Click here to listen to Heavenly Pop Hit]
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The Bats play Mastery live on New Zealand TV
When I was teenager, I was obsessed with the bands that seeped out of sleepy Dunedin, in New Zealand’s ruggedly beautiful South Island. There was an absolute contrast back then between those acts on the Flying Nun label, presided over with paternal wariness by the godfather of low-fi pop, Chris Knox, and the slicker bands that emanated out of the upper reaches of the North Island. I liked the immediacy and the accessibility of the South Island acts, particularly The Chills, The Clean and The Bats. This grainy, weather-beaten footage captures The Bats at their melodic best; bass clunkers, pasty faces and all.
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YOU'RE SAYING (2)
paul said | 12 September, 2009
You can watch the original video for ‘Pink Frost’ here:
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/pink-frost-1984
Also recently uploaded to the NZ On Screen site is the excellent 2002 documentary on Flying Nun – Heavenly Pop Hits – in full length:
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/heavenly-pop-hits-the-flying-nun-story-2002
“This documentary tells the story of the legendary Flying Nun music label up to its 21st birthday. The label became associated with the ‘Dunedin Sound’: a catch-all term for a sprawl of DIY, post-punk, warped, jangly guitar-pop. The Guardian: “[it's] as if being on the other side of the world meant the music was played upside down”. Features interviews with key players, the spats and the dark-but-breezy glory. The label’s influence on the US indie scene is noted and Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus covers The Verlaines’ ‘Death and the Maiden’.”
I’m sure many Lost readers will be interested in watching the doco – Chris Knox, The Chills, Straitjacket Fits, The Clean (MGMT recently covered The Clean’s classic single ‘Anything Can Happen’ in concert) … are all featured in their southern south seas prime.
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James Lillis said | 13 July, 2009
Damn! When I first saw the video for Pink Frost I was BLOWN AWAY. You’re speaking my language… so many memories.