I visited Dunedin a lot in the early 1980s but gradually shifted further away (from Christchurch to Auckland and then London). I’m close again now in Wellington and realised the many of the people I know well from that time are still in Dunedin, still my very good friends, still very creatively active and still maintain an interest in things social.
Like my earlier visit this year Dunedin was so hot and sunny I managed to get sunburnt again. So hot that I had to check out the Emerson’s Brewery who are very nice people who are currently making a series of Flying Nun themed tap beers. The first being the Flying Nun Amber Wit which I test tasted on my visit. Eventually my driver escorted me from the premises suggesting food and a lie down.
This is where I went for my lie down afterwards
I managed to get up again in time for Friday night entertainment at the enigmatically “iconic” and infamous Cook. Squirm are on when I arrive and there are few punters as the students have departed for the year. I’ve heard people talk about the Pyschic Maps and I know both Chris Heazlewood (Sferic Experiment and King Loser) and Simon McLaren (Loves Ugly Children and Subliminals) are talented crazy boys on guitars. Chris Matthews and his Robot Monkey Orchestra finish off with new songs intercut with older Childrens Hour and Headless Chickens material. I am driven home needing more rest late in the evening
But Saturday is the day. I am thankfully awake in time to attend a Chills matinee performance. It’s their 30th anniversary and they are playing an afternoon show in the venue they debuted in, the Coronation Hall in Maori Hill. It’s full of the young and the old, earplug wearers and the deaf, those who have aged well to do and those wretchedly wreaked. A perfect audience for this special Chills experience.
Martin Phillipps and Peter Gutteridge who formed The Chills mid 1980. Photo: Roger Grauwmeijer
Martin Phillipps looks well and relaxed too. His latest Chills lineup work through the songbook. A lone conservatively dressed middle aged women idiot dances. I envisage a future music video concept with the dance floor packed with them. I must be over stimulated by the Emerson’s Rolling Moon Wheat beer that is available on tap. The “special surprise” is the original Chills line up that appeared on this very stage 30 years previously. Martin with his sister Rachel on keyboards, Jane Dodd (later in the Verlaines and the Able Tasmans) on bass, Alan Haig (Snapper) drumming and the one and only Peter Gutteridge guitaring. Peter has trouble finding the stage, takes a while to plug in what must the worlds longest guitar lead and subtly adjust all his amplifier knobs to 10. While the rest of the band dutifully play “Motels and Cars” and “I Saw Your Silhouette” Peter just fuzzes his screamingly distorting guitar. Rock and roll magic made possible by Martin’s quest to replicate and celebrate the early experience and a good natured tolerance of divergent musical development. Time for a nap before the evening’s entertainment begins.
Jane Dodd playing at The Chills 30th Anniversary. Photo by Roger Grauwmeijer
Robert Scott (The Clean and The Bats) has turned 50 and is having a party at Chicks Hotel in Port Chalmers. Bob looks superb for 50 in his neat brown suit. Some people bring whiskey while others just bring themselves. Robert plays some music with friends (stylish Lesley Z Paris drums in high heels) and people dance to their versions of Joy Division and the Buzzcocks songs. Old friends natter and young people fall over. I don’t dance often but do well at 3 AM to Wire after which I am driven home.
Robert Scott ready to party
This trip to Dunedin has been a bit then and now. A great town made up of very special people living fun creative lives making music and beer.
