I really never thought the eventual documentary about Martin Phillipps and The Chills would begin with Martin getting a diagnosis about his hepatitis C prognosis. It's a grim start to a film about the man who, for more than 30 years, has been more than capable of writing music that's timeless, bright at times, and life-affirming always. Ever since I heard "Look For The Good in Others and They'll See The Good in You" 32 years ago, I've been a fan. In an era when grunge and shoegaze were giving listeners ways out of this world, Martin Phillipps down in New Zealand was, like many of the Flying Nun Records crew, writing what could be called smart pop, a very warm and intellectual form of the kind of indie that was coming out of the U.K. at the time. That Phillipps has survived, and revived The Chills when the whole idea seemed dead, is a perfect subject for a documentary as The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps illustrates.
Beginning with a history of the band in its early formation, and an overview of the appeal of The Chills, the film takes off, entering the world of Martin Phillipps and his "stuff". The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps has an intimacy in these scenes that's disarming. The Chills leader seems nearly a hoarder, but a hoarder with fantastic taste. His home, as shown here, is full of DVD's, records, toys, trinkets, and Chills memorabilia. With Phillipps prepping the stuff for a museum exhibit, there's a sense in these scenes that his quirks have not been in vain. The film really works well when flipping between the rise of the band, and Martin's life and health, and his collection of things, bringing in talking heads like Dr. Graeme Downes (The Verlaines) and Hamish Kilgour (The Clean) to provide anecdotes along the way.
For many long-time fans, the real success of The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is how it brings so many past and current members of The Chills to sit in front of the camera and talk. For a group centered so much around the prodigious talents of the leader, it sometimes needs reminding that the band benefited from many musicians, such as Caroline Easther and Terry Moore, for example, playing on the classic stuff. At times, it seems as if Phillipps has been collecting musicians just like he's been collecting toys for so many years, even as the current line-up of The Chills is the longest-serving one to date. This stability in the line-up seems to parallel a more recent stability in Martin's own life, despite his health scares.
In 1990, I was working at a college record store, already a Chills fan, when a plain blue-label promo tape of Submarine Bells showed up in the store. I listened to "Heavenly Pop Hit" and thought, "Oh no, this is so good that this band's now going to be as big as R.E.M.!" I needn't have worried as, despite the majestic perfection of that 1990 record, the band remained a cult proposition for years. This whole sequence in the film provides necessary background on The Chills signing to a major label in America, the trials and struggles of that period, and the drink and drugs that fueled their brief rise and fall thereafter. The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps becomes a bittersweet thing here as it chronicles the time between Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb (featuring Van Dyke Parks and Peter Holsapple, seen here in background clips).
What follows this time was, as we know, messed up, with The Chills becoming a solo act, essentially, and Martin not recording much for years and years. Thankfully, Fire Records gave Martin another chance, and Silver Bullets (2015) and Snowbound (2018) revealed that he could still bring his skills to a band setting. The whole process of making these records, and coming back into the light with the current line-up of the group, seems a bittersweet way to bring things to a close here in The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps. And while his health issues are the real drama here, the fact that Phillipps was able to thrive again is what seems so wonderful throughout this film. In that sense, given the multiple personnel changes in the past of The Chills, the fact that Martin's been able to keep this set of players together for so long to support his talents up front seems a sort of miracle,.
The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps reveals a talent, ebbing and flaring up over the course of a few decades, with other players orbiting that talent, adding to it, and keeping that original fire burning. That the consistency of The Chills has been maintained for long is down to Martin, of course, and for all the sadness here in portions of the larger story, The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is a film of hope, and a testament of how something excellent can be nourished. On a practical level, the fact that director Julia Parnell told such a complicated story so succinctly in a little over 90 minutes is a thing to be applauded.
The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps is out now on streaming services worldwide.
The Chills are now on Fire Records.
My 2015 interview with Martin Phillipss is here, and my 2018 interview with him is here.
[Photos: Fire Records]