The Misery of Money-The Money of Misery--Sir David Kilgour and The Clean

Tell The Monkeys In the Suits and the Monkeys On the Top
They're Doing Such A Wonderful Job
Squashing all the slobs--Twist Top

I drove down to Hoboken to see The Clean, the great on-again, off-again band from Dunedin on the South Isle of New Zealand. They were playing a gig at Maxwell's as part of their American tour. The previous two nights they were a supporting act for Teenage Fanclub in the Big Apple. This was the second time I've seen them, though I did see David Kilgour solo once also. About ten years ago I saw the band at the Knitting Factory, and just before I got out of my car a monsoon broke out. Even though I sprinted about six blocks, I was about as soaked as a human could get. When I walked into the front lobby of the club, people just stared at me as if I was from another planet. And to add insult to injury, the rain stopped about five minutes later. Eventually I was able to daub myself with paper towels and wring my clothes out sufficiently enough so I didn't feel like a complete slob. I was very happy that night as were the many other fans there. I knew that I would not get many opportunities to see these guys play--they are halfway around the world (except Hamish Kilgour who is a New Yorker) and they have there own projects, so every few years they get back together and put together an album.

I mean The Clean as a full-time functioning operation did not last too long, probably about 18 months in the early 80's. They put out a few eps and singles back in the days of vinyl and cassettes, and were one of the breakout acts for the fledgling label Flying Nun. The band is composed of David Kilgour on guitar, Robert Scott on bass, and Hamish Kilgour on drums (relation yes). Robert Scott is also a member of The Bats, another great New Zealand band that is also continuing to put out albums. Hamish had a brief stint in Bailter Space, and was in The Mad Scene. David has put out a number of solo recordings and after the first breakup of the Clean he put out music with his brother as The Great Unwashed. David, or Sir David I should say, was also awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001, which though I may be exaggerating a little, should be considered a Knighthood. I'm still a bit disappointed that they are still holding out on Robert Scott. Maybe they should have a group knighthood--Oasis will probably get one someday.

An amazing thing about the Clean is that normally, when someone in a band wants to try do something a little bit different, they create a side band. But in this case the main band is like a side band, since each album that has come out since they began reuniting is stylistically different than the others. It's almost as though the Clean reconvenes just to try new stuff out. But from the start, they were an unusual band--for every poppy garagey song like Beatnik or Hold On To The Rail, there are the mostly instrumental smoldering freakouts like Point That Thing Somewhere Else or At The Bottom. And these guys were pretty young when they recorded these songs.

And the guitar work of David Kilgour is simply fantastic. He is one of my favorite guitarists and he has a pretty unique style. When I was growing up in the fat 70's, a big catchword for musicians was classically or conservatory trained. And if people work hard to become good musicians, kudos to them. But its what you do with it sometimes that is most important, how you incorporate your musical chops. I think the singular guitar skills of Sir David were hammered out in the garage and on stage. He ultimately came up with his own idiosyncratic way of playing through trial and error.



I think of places like Jamaica where poor people came up with innovative recording techniques using scrap materials; or Calypso music made with steel drums; or about the uses that Brian Eno and David Bowie made of synthesizers in the 70's. Throw the away the instructional manuals, forget about the ocarina sound--let's see if we can make the keyboard sound like shrapnel or a low end mudslide. There were instructions on Fender amps in the early days--be careful with volume, could cause distortion. And there you go--you tell a kid not to do something, and rock and roll is born!!  I read in Larry Crane's Tape-Op Magazine (a fantastic magazine for people interested in recording music) an interview with the Clean where Kilgour said he got his signature sound by turning up the volume on the treble and reverb to 11 or so. And I think that maybe being in that corner of the world, while being informed by popular music from overseas, you could come up with something a little singular, something part of you and the surroundings you grew up in.

The gig at Maxwell's was pretty similar to the prior one I saw at the Knitting Factory. They whipped through a bunch of songs in front of an appreciative, focusing mainly on their early material found on the first disc of their Anthology on Merge, and their underrated but infectiously poppy first album Vehicle, which goes down breezily like a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on a sunny day. In the middle of the set they performed some songs from their latest album Mister Pop, in which David traded his guitar in for an organ. They did understated versions of Anything Can Happen and Hold Onto The Rail, but for the most part the set was exciting. Kilgour plays with some abandon once he gets on a roll and he almost goes into a trance staring down at his guitar strings, as though he's trying to figure it out as he goes along. Robert and Hamish were locked in a steady rhythmic groove backing him up. And they were having a nice shambolic time. Hamish was joking about how the room looked like a panorama. The atmosphere was friendly and loose and low key. But it still feels weird to me to see people all around me playing with their phones in the middle of a concert. It beats hearing people blab out loud--it took a while for texting to take root here, but it did. In Europe I guess they realized early on that yammering in a loud voice in public is rude. But while people complain that people are spending their lives between a computer at work and at home, now you can be isolated in room full of people.

Additionally they played the instrumental At The Bottom, Billy Two, and Whatever I Do is Right. They did the standard Getting Older, and the fired up singalong Oddity with a guest trumpeter from the audience. I missed my chance for glory when the band asked the audience if anyone played keyboard--I thought about raising my hand but chickened out. That would have been a real anecdote, playing Tally Ho with the Clean!!
Off of Vehicle, they did Drawing To A Whole, Someone, Diamond Shine, and The Blue. I think they also played Too Much Violence off of a more recent album. A good night for me.

Maxwell's is probably my favorite place to see a band. It's very very small, the sound quality is good, and they draw a lot of exceptional talent to their stage. And it is also a restaurant. With the demise of so many long standing music venues, and a lot of the music scene migrating to Brooklyn, this may be the closest thing left to a CBGB's. One drawback is if you have a car street parking is almost impossible in Hoboken.



The Drummer Said, She Is Not Very Clean



If you are uninitiated in The Clean, the best place to start is the two disc Anthology by Merge. The first disc covers the early years, before they initially split up. The second disc takes their careers up to Mister Pop. My only complaint is that the Anthology is inexplicably missing Hold On To The Rail (which is on the out of pring Flying Nun compilation of their early work), which I really like. I saw David performing solo at the Mercury Lounge many years ago--the singular thing I remember is the opening band. At the end of the set, Kilgour hopped up on stage and performed an energetic Hold On To The Rail with the band, who were obviously fans.

I wish that Vehicle was still in print--critics don't give it the credit it deserves. They see the album as being slight, but I find it very entertaining--it never fails to put a smile on my face when I am in a foul mood. And the remastered songs from Vehicle on the Anthology sound so much better than the Homestead Cd that I own. But if you get hooked, you will probably want to have the whole discography and want to learn about the other great bands from that era. And since the Flying Nun label has recently been bought back by its original head, Roger Shepherd, it looks like there will be a lot of classic New Zealand rock in print again.