Hamish Kilgour

2022 - 12 - 6

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Hamish Kilgour: co-founder of New Zealand band the Clean dies ... (The Guardian)

The multi-instrumentalist, who had been missing since November, helped create the Dunedin sound of the early 90s and continued to be an influential force in ...

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Image courtesy of "NME.com"

The Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour has died, aged 65 (NME.com)

Hamish Kilgour, drummer for New Zealand indie rock band The Clean, has been found dead after he was reported missing late last month.

Kilgour was musically active outside of The Clean for many years, playing with a diverse range of projects. The band’s final studio album, ‘Mister Pop’, was released in 2009. In 2002, another compilation of The Clean’s early releases, ‘Anthology’, was released jointly by Flying Nun and Merge. The following year, the band’s debut album, ‘Vehicle’, was released by both Flying Nun and Rough Trade. His distinctive drumming approach – at once loose and muscular, anchoring the jangly guitars and melodic basslines of his bandmates – can be heard throughout The Clean’s discography. Born in 1957, Kilgour co-founded The Clean in the late 1970s alongside his brother, David Kilgour, and a handful of different bassists – first Peter Gutteridge, then Robert Scott.

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Image courtesy of "Stuff.co.nz"

Bandmate's tribute to the late Hamish Kilgour: He was 'the whole ... (Stuff.co.nz)

"Whenever we were in the same room stuff would happen," Robert Scott says of his chemistry with The Clean bandmates Hamish and David Kilgour.

Construction is booming with Dunedin's hospital rebuild and CBD upgrade. Tourism, migrant workers and international students are returning. His death has been referred to the coroner. *

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

'An understated power': Hamish Kilgour of the Clean remembered ... (The Guardian)

Over more than 40 years the New Zealand drummer influenced the sound of bands around the world.

With members split between New Zealand and New York, the Clean were never a constant, and it gave Kilgour time to pursue other projects. He arrived in the US just as it was becoming apparent how much the Clean had rubbed off on many of the bigger bands in the underground scenes. Instead, the Great Unwashed fell apart and Kilgour went on to start another seminal band, Bailter Space, with Alister Parker of the Gordons. The Velvet’s Mo Tucker had a particular impact on Hamish Kilgour; he taught himself to play the drums miming along to the Velvet’s What Goes On from their 1969 live album. Overnight Flying Nun was transformed into a legitimate label and the Clean became sensations with a sound that would reach around the world. Hamish Kilgour had started the Clean two years earlier with his brother David on guitar and vocals.

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