After going missing at the end of last month, New Zealand musician Hamish Kilgour has died, a representative for his band, The Clean, has confirmed. The 65-year-old was last seen at a shopping center in Christchurch on November 27 and was reported missing by his family on December 1. No cause of death has been given.
Kilgour was the drummer, singer, and co-writer for The Clean which he co-founded with his brother, David Kilgour, back in 1978. The band, formed in Dunedin, was represented by the record label Flying Nun Records and was considered to be the label’s most influential band. They were champions of the indie pop and indie rock scene in New Zealand which had its own name, the “Dunedin sound”, owing to it origins in the university city of Dunedin.
As reported by Pitchfork, the band’s U.S label, Merge Records released a statement in response to the sad news,
“With very heavy hearts, we can confirm that Hamish Kilgour has passed away in his home country of New Zealand.
As a founding member of the Clean, with his brother, David, and Robert Scott, Hamish produced one of the most important and timeless bodies of work in rock music. As a drummer, Hamish had a propulsive, instantly recognizable style and an understated power; he was a joy to watch play. Hamish was one of the most colorful and creative musicians we have been lucky to work with, both as a singer, guitarist, and songwriter with the group he started with Lisa Siegel, the Mad Scene, and, of course, with the Clean. Hamish was also an accomplished visual artist, and his fantastical drawings adorn many record sleeves.
We feel lucky to have known him. Our thoughts are with his family and his fellow members of the New Zealand music community. Safe travels, Hamish.”
In another statement, Ben Goldberg, co-founder of Ba Da Bing! Records, a label that worked with Kilgour’s solo music also said of his past colleague,
“Hamish was inscrutable in his kindness, his love of music, and his politics. Even at his lowest moments, he never lost sight of his ideals. You can hear his heart in every beat, strum, and syllable he made.”
After an on-again-off-again music career in New Zealand, Kilgour moved to New York in 1991 to form The Mad Scene with his wife Lisa Siegel. In 1992, he won an Aotearoa Music Award in New Zealand for the album cover of the year for the Flying Nun compilation ‘Pink Flying Saucers Over the Southern Alps.’ In 2017 the band was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of fame.
Kilgour described music as a “living thing” telling the Wellington publication Stuff back in 2019,
“Music is a living thing, it really is. You can twist and turn the structure of it while you’re making it and, when you’re with a group of people experiencing that together, there’s a special magic in that. You reach down deep into yourself and pull something up. It’s like nothing else in the world.”
Our thoughts and condolences go out to his friends and family at this time.
Published: Dec 5, 2022 07:45 pm