The Chills are one of the great bands to come out of the Dunedin music scene in New Zealand in the 1980s on Flying Nun Records. The documentary is a brutally honest accounting of the history of the band, which has had 21 different line ups over the years as founder and lead singer Martin Phillipps pursued his musical vision. There are interviews with Martin and many of the former members of The Chills about their experiences in the band and on the road, which for some were still raw and painful. It also showed the highs and lows of the band with the breakout success of the 1990 album Submarine Bells (one of my favorites of all time by any artist) and trying to surpass those heights with subsequent releases.
The other overarching story line of the film was Martin's health issues. A former drug addict and alcoholic, he has had hepatitis C for over 20 years. At the start of the film we watch his doctor give him the grim news that due to his poor liver function he has a 30% chance of dying within 12 months. While put onto an experimental drug treatment to cure his Hepatitis C, the news sets Martin in motion creatively to finish off music ideas and go through the many massive collections of things in his house, some of which fed into an exhibition on The Chills at the Otago Museum. Overall it was a fantastic music documentary with insights into the creative genius of Martin Phillipps and just how much the music industry has changed over the years.
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