The Clean - Biography
Brothers David and Hamish Kilgour formed the Clean in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand in 1978. Original bassist Peter Gutteridge only lasted until 1979, when he left the band and formed the Chills with Martin Phillipps; Gutteridge shares a writing credit with the Kilgours on the Clean classic “Point That Thing Somewhere Else.” With Robert Scott on bass, the Clean enjoyed a short but successful career in New Zealand, where they inspired numerous new bands to form before breaking up in 1982. Though initially scarce outside New Zealand, the Clean’s early records gained cults of followers all over the world, and the Clean has remained sporadically active since reuniting in 1988.
The Clean’s first single, “Tally Ho!” b/w “Platypus” (1981 Flying Nun) featured Martin Phillipps on keyboard and reached the Top 20 in New Zealand. The single was the second release on the New Zealand independent Flying Nun Records, and its success helped to establish the label. Two great Clean EPs followed, both in the NZ Top Five: Boodle, Boodle, Boodle (1982 Flying Nun) and Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-So Sounds So-So, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten!! (1982 Flying Nun). The band split up before the release of its second single, “Getting Older” b/w “Scrap Music,” “Whatever I Do Is Right” (1982 Flying Nun). Live tracks from ’81 and ’82 later appeared on the Live Dead Clean EP (1986 Flying Nun). After the breakup of the Clean, the Kilgour brothers formed the Great Unwashed and Robert Scott formed the Bats. Hamish Kilgour subsequently formed the experimental band Nelsh Bailter Space, a/k/a Bailter Space or Bailterspace, who made their vinyl debut around the time Flying Nun issued the Clean collection Compilation (1987).
The Kilgours reunited with Scott for a London show in 1988, recorded for the in-a-Live (situation at the Fulham Greyhound 13/7/88) EP (1989 Flying Nun). The reunited Clean subsequently toured and returned to London in July 1989 to record the band’s first proper album, Vehicle (1989 Flying Nun/Rough Trade). Hamish Kilgour had moved to New York, David Kilgour had a solo career and Scott still played with the Bats, so nothing more issued from the Clean until the band reunited in Dunedin in 1994 to record Modern Rock (1994 Flying Nun); they also released the rarities compilation Odditties [sic] (1994 Flying Nun). A third album, Unknown Country (1986 Flying Nun), followed, after which the three members seem to have gone back to their respective lives until they agreed to play a festival organized by the Dunedin Arts Council in 2000. That performance led to more shows and the new album Getaway (2001 Flying Nun/Merge), the first Clean album released in the United States.
The Clean’s early material finally became available in the United States with the release of Anthology (2003 Merge), a double-CD that collected all of the Clean’s early recordings and presented selections from the first three reunion albums. After a series of live albums—Slush Fund (2001 Arc Café), Syd’s Pink Wiring System (2003 Cleano) and Mashed (2008 Arch Hill)—the Clean returned to the studio for Mister Pop (2009 Merge).
