The Clean

Despite hailing from a small city in New Zealand, The Clean emerged as a key influence on American indie rock in the 1990s. Formed in Dunedin in 1978 by the Kilgour brothers David (guitar) and Hamish (drums), the band found a dependable bassist and third songwriter in The Bats’ Robert Scott. An early calling card for the long-running Flying Nun label, The Clean’s 1981 debut single “Tally Ho” rode tinny keyboards and distorted guitar jangle to typify the emerging “Dunedin Sound” and later influence the initial aesthetic of U.S. acts like Pavement. After the succinct guitar-pop of 1990’s Vehicle, the band grew more circuitous and psychedelic on subsequent albums—punctuated by regular stints of inactivity in which the members could pursue other projects. The 2002 collection Anthology summed up The Clean’s breezy spontaneity, and the band still toured on and off until Hamish Kilgour's death in 2022.