RECORD TURNOVER 80s HITS #142
The first time I heard about The Clean I was probably around 17, around the time that Comet Gain from the UK covered their song “Beatnik” and turned into a much longer mess. Not long after that I got enamoured by all things Flying Nun – the label that was started in Christchurch, New Zealand, to share groups like The Clean with the rest of the world. First I fell in love with The Bats, which was formed by their bass player Robert Scott after their first hiatus. Then The Chills and eventually, deeper into obscurity.
The first Flying Nun record I got a hold of was the 1989 compilation In Love With These Times. It’s a perfect snapshot of indierock before it happened – as American and UK bands had started to catch on to the ‘Dunedin sound’. At the same time The Clean got back in the studio to record their first proper album Vehicle, which came out in 1990. This video was shot in New York when they were on tour in the USA in 1989.
What I didn’t know when I got the compilation was that “I’m In Love With These Times” was actually the title of a song written by Hamish Kilgour, the drummer in The Clean and older brother of guitarist David Kilgour. The song was released in 1987 with his then-new band Bailter Space. They were also included on the compilation with their track “Grader Spader”.
Hamish also wrote songs for The Clean of course, something all three members did and perhaps the reason why they were so great. In the video at the top you can see them playing the song “Quickstep” live in 1982 with Hamish singing from behind the drum kit. It was probably a staged concert, since there are also other videos from the same location (Rumba bar in Auckland) and the lighting is much too bright for a real rock’n’roll gig.
The Clean and of course Flying Nun was actually one of the main reasons why I moved to that very city in 2009. While I was there I got to see some of the musical legends of the first Flying Nun era, like Sneaky Feelings, The Chills and The Puddle. Hamish Kilgour was living in New York at the time and The Bats were touring Europe simultaneously. Ironically, The Bats actually played live in my hometown in Sweden while I was in New Zealand.
A few years later Hamish appeared in another great band, Roya from New York, formed by Rahill Jamalifard of Habibi. In this band he played drums again and they released one great album in 2017. But it wasn’t until 2020 that I finally got to meet Hamish and see him play live. He had just recently come back to New Zealand and was playing a show in Melbourne with local musicians as his backing band.
I was living in Melbourne at the time and I remember it as a perfect night at The Curtin, with support from Ostraaly and Lower Plenty. As far as I know it might have been one of his last gigs as Australia (and New Zealand) went into lockdown about a month later. A few days ago we heard that Hamish had passed away after having been reported missing in November.
Tributes and essays have been flooding in from all over, but I really recommend reading the piece Roger Shepard of Flying Nun wrote about his one-time colleague at the label headquarters. And why not listen back to The Clean’s essential Compilation, which was how many people overseas discovered the band. I’m so grateful I got to meet Hamish Kilgour and he seemed to be incredibly friendly, open and entertaining.
