Read tributes to The Chills’ Martin Phillipps from Neil Finn, Flying Nun Records, Nada Surf and more

Martin Phillipps, frontman for New Zealand indie legends The Chills, died unexpectedly over the weekend and tributes have been pouring in since.

Flying Nun Records, who released all the classic Chills records of the ’80s and early-’90s, wrote: “Martin and his band, the Chills, were an integral part of the 1980s Dunedin scene and of the bigger Flying Nun Records family. Martin was a single-minded talent who took all components of a musical career seriously: song writing, performance and in the studio. Demanding of perfection in others and himself, songs such as ‘Rolling Moon’, ‘Pink Frost’, ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’ and ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’ were increasingly commercially successful and helped define the best of New Zealand music in the 1980s. This last song and its album, Submarine Bells, almost broke the band internationally. After a pause, he then pulled himself up to reinvigorate the Chills and his career in the mid 2010s. With a stable unchanging band line up Martin once again was producing fine new albums and undertaking extensive New Zealand and international tours. Gone too soon, he will be greatly missed.”

Fellow NZ music legend, Neil Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz, wrote, “He was a good friend, wonderful musician and one of NZ’s greatest songwriters. A true original, fascinated by and devoted to the magic and mystery of music. His recent work was as good as anything he’s done. Martin’s songs live on with his spirit.”

Another of Phillipps’ contemporaries, Don McGlashan (Blam Blam Blam, The Muttonbirds), said, “He was a beacon to all of us, a wonderful songwriter, and a dear, kind man. He was one of the first musicians who showed us that you could wear your heart on your sleeve and be an artist in this strange country. His subconscious was never far from the surface, and that’s what gave his work such mystery and heft, and made him such an inspiring artist.”

Matthew Caws of Nada Surf called Phillipps “wildly and beautifully talented,” adding “he was one of the sweetest and kindest people i had ever met, an absolute diamond.”

“Martin Phillipps would often keep his heavy emotional cards close to his kaleidoscope beating chest but it was through his songwriting that he found his true voice,” wrote James Nicholls of Fire Records who have released The Chills’ three most reccent albums. “He had a unique way of introspection that was never, ever, self indulgent, the kind of nuanced pop perfection that modern pop itself couldn’t hope to understand. His songs were always his own unique take on teenage symphonies to a higher power. He was our Brian Wilson.”

You can read more tributes to Phillipps from Glenn Donaldson (The Reds, Pinks & Purples), Emma Anderson (Lush), Peter Bjorn and John, Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Unwed Sailor (who opened for The Chills on their 2023 North American tour), Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey, music writer Michael Azerrad, and more, below.

The Chills have announced that Phillips’ funeral will be held August 9 at 2 PM NZ time in Dunedin and that it will be livestreamed with details to follow.

In other news, we will hopefully still get one more Chills record. Onstage at The Chills’ Brooklyn show last November, Phillips told the crowd he had been working on a “lost” Chills album that would feature songs from the band’s first seven years before they released their debut album, 1987’s Brave Words.

Brave Words was reissued in remixed and remastered form last year by Fire Records, along with an expanded edition of their essential singles collection, Kaleidoscope World. Listen to those below.

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