‘Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs’ is a Martin Phillipps passion project. A dedicated reimagining of his earlier unreleased songs that became his artistic farewell, a lasting legacy, and a reminder of his huge, underappreciated talent. The album has been finalised for release with the love and support of his band, family and friends.

The Chills are one of those legendary but unlucky bands for the early 80’s Duendin Scene in New Zealand.

Martin Phillipps was one hell of a lyricist. My first encounter was with “Pink Frost” on the Children of Nuggets box set.

Pink Frost

A haunting and quite unique track that starts in media res with a tale of murder and the protagonist realising he has killed his partner in his sleep.

The drum part is very distinctive: Martyn Bull the drummer would succumb to Leukaemia in 1983 and it was just the beginning of a run of bad luck for the band.

Martin would dedicate “I Love my Leather Jacket “ to his bandmate:

I Love My Leather Jacket

I wear my leather jacket like a great big hug /Radiating charm - a living cloak of luck/ It’s the only concrete link with an absent friend/ It’s a symbol I can wear ’till we meet again/ Or it’s a weight around my neck while the owner’s free/ Both protector and reminder of mortality/ It’s a curse - I cannot shirk responsibilities /From the teacher to the pupil it’s a gift to me /So I love my leather jacket and I wear it all the time/ I love my leather jacket

Martin Phillipps would struggle with addiction and serious illness for much of the rest of the rest of the decade but the songs, when he was well enough would remain essential.

The Chills albums would follow a naming convention with the initials “SB” for Syd Barrett - Phillipps’ favourite writer. “Submarine Bells” and “Soft Bulletin” were both strong albums and there would be the occasional near hit like “Heavenly Pop Hit”.

The band would change frequently but they reached a late productive period in the past few years - driven by Phillipps demanding standards for performance.

I’ve found when playing the tracks that a lot of the songs are tuned out of concert pitch - Pink Frost I think is tuned around 432 Hz.

“Male Monster from the Id” seems to be down tuned at least a half step and I’m wondering if it was slowed down as it’s a very wordy song in that chorus but it give it a very distinctive sound.

Male Monster from the Id

Spring Board is a collection of Martin’s unreleased songs which he worked on shortly before his death in 2024, aged just 61.