Kilgour formed The Clean in the late 1970s in the wake of the English punk rock explosion.
My first appointment to speak with David Kilgour, guitarist and vocalist with cult New Zealand lo-fi band The Clean, is delayed a couple of days while he and his brother (and drummer in The Clean) Hamish travel to Christchurch to ensure their mother is safe after the city’s violent earthquake. Thankfully, all is well, and Mrs Kilgour is safe and well and transported back to stay with her sons. "My mother gave us money for a lot of things back when The Clean first started out," Kilgour says a couple of days later. "She bought me my first electric guitar, and our first PA. She was a great supporter of what we were doing, even though she thought we were a bit crazy," he laughs.
Kilgour formed The Clean in the late 1970s in the wake of the English punk rock explosion. His attraction wasn’t so much to the ideological pretension of punk rock as its championing of the DIY ethic. "We’ve always carried the DIY ethic right the way through our time together," Kilgour says. He had originally started playing guitar as a 13 year old, before putting down the guitar until punk rock proved that technical ability was not a mandatory prerequisite to playing music in a rock ‘n’ roll band.
Around the age of 16 Kilgour picked up his guitar again and began seeking out like minded young musicians to share his fledgling musical vision. While Dunedin was what the Americans would call a ‘college town’, and arguably rife for the experimental brand of rock ‘n’ roll The Clean would eventually become known for, Kilgour says The Clean’s early audience was simply the sum of the disaffected adolescent parts of the local area. "It was more younger crowd of disaffected youth," he recalls. "The young kids had nowhere else really to go. We used to hire out halls and put on our shows, and people would come along there because there was nowhere else to go."
By the early 1980s The Clean had established a small, but dedicated local following. The Clean’s first single, Tally Ho, became the second single to be released on the nascent Flying Nun label established by Roger Shepherd. Being part of the Flying Nun stable offered The Clean the benefit of the mutual support provided by the tight-knit community. "We helped each other," Kilgour replies. "We were never a mainstream band, so we were always up against it in New Zealand. The music industry couldn’t believe it when we had success on the charts."
It was Kilgour who allegedly first coined the term ‘Dunedin sound’ to describe the consistencies and commonalities between The Clean and its like-minded contemporaries, including The Verlaines and The Chills. "It was more of an attitude than a sound particularly," he muses. "When it comes down to it there are distinct differences in the sound between the various bands. But I suppose we all shared a similar lo-fi approach, we liked ’60s pop, we had a similar backbeat and we weren’t really post-punk or new wave."
Despite their initial success – or maybe because of it – The Clean disbanded in 1982, not long after Tally Ho made a serious splash in the New Zealand charts. In the late 1980s The Clean reformed, and began a pattern of recording and touring, punctuated with long periods of inactivity while the various members (including bass player Robert Scott) pursued solo and other competing projects. "I thought we’d broken up for good when we stopped playing in 1982," Kilgour figures. "But since we started up again in the late ’80s it’s been a going concern ever since. We get together every few years, and every time we’ve got together we’ve done new material. The regular breaks allowed the band to recalibrate, and enrich, their songwriting style. "In the early days," Kilgour reflects, "we were always rehearsing and writing, but by the time of the reformation our songwriting was more intense."
It was during one of The Clean’s periodic reformations that the Kilgour brothers and Scott found themselves right in the middle of one of the most significant, and frightening, events in modern history – the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001. Hamish Kilgour had moved to New York, and David and Robert Scott had flown into New York prior to the commencement of a US tour on the evening of September 10. "Just thinking about that time gives me goose bumps," Kilgour nods. "We were trapped on the island for a few days, but we decided eventually to keep going with the tour. It was about as surreal as it gets – in fact, going back to Christchurch to get our mother brought back a lot of memories of the scenes in New York," Kilgour adds solemnly.
Over thirty years after their initial formation, The Clean enjoy a healthy following across the world, also championed by the likes of Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and Ricky Maymi from the Brian Jonestown Massacre. In New Zealand, The Clean are almost guaranteed to pack out any venue they play. A few years ago Kilgour was even honoured with a New Zealand Order of Merit award. "Yes, that was alright," he says modestly. "Initially I didn’t know how to take it, but eventually I did it for mother – she looks after the medal these days," he laughs.
It’s been over 20 years since The Clean set foot in Australia, though Kilgour says the band has been keen to come back here long before next week’s Australian tour. "We’ve talked about it a lot, but it just hasn’t worked out – maybe it’s because Australians hate New Zealanders," he laughs. "But we’ve been sending Bob (Robert Scott) over a bit recently to test the waters, and he seems to have gone OK."
Finally, it’s asked of Kilgour what it’s like being in a band with his brother for so long. Is there any hint of Davies family dysfunction? Kilgour defers to his brother Hamish, who is conveniently in the same room as David. "You have to have a big heart and big mind and give up your prejudices," Hamish offers. "As Iggy Pop once said, if you have blood, you have the blood pumping. If you have brothers, you can’t beat it. It’s double trouble, and you can’t beat it!" he laughs.
THE CLEAN play two shows at The Corner Hotel on Friday March 11 (with Sonny & The Sunsets, Gary Olson and Actor Slash Model) and Sunday March 13 (with Sonny & The Sunsets and Panel Of Judges) – tickets from The Corner box office, 9427 9198 or cornerhotel.com. They also play GOLDEN PLAINS on Saturday March 12 (tickets and info goldenplains.com.au).
