Martin Phillipps, founder of New Zealand rock band the Chills, dies at 61

Martin Phillipps, the founder of the New Zealand rock band the Chills, has died at the age of 61.

Phillipps’ death was announced on Sunday on the band’s’ social media channels.

“It is with broken hearts the family and friends of Martin Phillipps wish to advise Martin has died unexpectedly,” the post read. “The family ask for privacy at this time. Funeral arrangements will be advised in due course.”

The guitarist and lead singer founded the Chills in 1980 with his sister Rachel Phillipps on keyboards, Jane Dodd on bass, guitarist Peter Gutteridge and drummer Alan Haig.

The band soon built a devoted fanbase in New Zealand before garnering a cult following in Europe and the US. They released a number of hits, including Pink Frost, Heavenly Pop Hit, I Love My Leather Jacket and Kaleidoscope World.

Their 1990 album Submarine Bells was a commercial success, with the British music weekly Melody Maker calling it “a magical experience”. The band’s success stalled later in the decade and their US label folded.

Speaking to RNZ in 2019, Phillipps said: “No one foresaw the impact of the digital revolution, of massive changes in music, with Nirvana, with hip-hop, and all sorts of things, that we could so quickly become redundant and old-fashioned.”

During this period, Phillipps battled with drug addiction, alcoholism and hepatitis C. “It was after that, retreating to Dunedin, tail between my legs, everyone saying, ‘Oh you gave it a good go, time to get a real job,’ all sorts of things conspired, but there was some sort of breakdown, mental breakdown involved there,” he added.

The musician told the Guardian in 2014 that having hepatitis C meant he had to have a closer relationship to mortality. “I’m on the list for some of the new trial drugs, but in the meantime I’m up to stage four of the disease. Stage five is cancer. So it’s already cirrhosis of the liver, and that means I really don’t know long I’ve got,” he said.

The Chills released Silver Bullets, their first studio album in 19 years, in 2015. It was followed by their sixth studio album, Snow Bound, in 2018, and Scatterbrain, the last studio album, in 2021.

A documentary about the band, The Chills: The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps, in 2019 shone a light on Philipps’ life , including being told he may only have months to live due to the hepatitis C he contracted in the 1990s. He had said the film forced him to look at himself closely, and open up old wounds.

The Chills’ remaining members are Callum Hampton, Todd Knudson, Erica Scally and Oli Wilson.

The band’s official website referred to Philllips as having a “single-minded determination to take quality, original NZ-sounding, melodic rock music global”.