Biography
David Auld Kilgour MNZM (born 1961/62, Dunedin) is co-founder of The Clean alongside his brother Hamish Kilgour and Robert Scott, and one of the architects of the Dunedin Sound. The Clean were among the original signatories to Flying Nun Records, releasing a series of influential EPs from 1981 onward. Kilgour launched his solo career in 1991 with Here Come the Cars (Flying Nun), and the Heavy Eights name was first used on the 1997 self-titled album on Flying Nun (FNCD397). Though the Heavy Eights has always been a rotating collective, the name describes Kilgour’s primary vehicle for collaborative solo work — he has said: “I’ve always had a band. I’ve always had to have a band to make a record and I like being a band — I don’t want to just go to a studio and overdub everything.”
The band’s most enduring core lineup crystallised around Kilgour, drummer Taane Tokona (a collaborator of thirty years), bassist and engineer Thomas Bell, and guitarist Tony de Raad, who is based in the United States. Together they recorded a series of albums on Merge Records from 2001 onward. Frozen Orange (2004) was recorded in Nashville with members of Lambchop, with a documentary film (Far Off Town) screened at international film festivals including Raindance and the San Francisco Film Festival. Left by Soft (2011) was recorded in the remote Catlins, and reached #31 on the NZ chart. Kilgour described the collaborative process as recording “in short bursts just to try to keep it fresh,” assembling the band together for only two days at a time, roughly every four to five months.
Critics have consistently described Kilgour’s music as “calmly psychedelic,” “trance-y, pop-psych, hypno-rhythmic,” and characterised by an “effortless, melodic flow.” His guitar style — a languid twang with melodic precision — is immediately recognisable, and the Heavy Eights material blends acoustic and electric guitar, synthesisers, and country inflections. He reflected on the visual nature of his compositional process in 2011: “When I think about making music, I see it visually. Often when I work on a song, I’m thinking about pictures the whole time.” The most recent Heavy Eights album, Bobbie’s a Girl (2019), is almost entirely instrumental, informed by the deaths of his mother and former Clean bandmate Peter Gutteridge. “Definitely emotionally new territory for me,” Kilgour said. “I think we do all self medicate with music anyway, whether we make it or just listen to it, it’s medicine.”
Taane Tokona died in January 2020, closing a thirty-year musical partnership. He was appointed Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2001 for services to music. Kilgour has also participated in notable collaborations, including The 9th (2015) with poet Sam Hunt, recorded live at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers.
I see the records as time capsules for myself.
David Kilgour, Otago Daily Times
Members
- Thomas Bell (bass/keyboards/producer, Hallelujah Picassos, The Greens)
- Tony de Raad (guitar)
- Alan Haig (keyboards/drums, The Chills, Chug, The Verlaines, Snapper)
- Robert Key (drums, The Cakekitchen, The Mad Scene, The Renderers)
- David Kilgour (guitar/vocals/keyboards, The Clean, The Chills, The Great Unwashed, Stephen, Pop Art Toasters, The Jessels, Snapper, Time Flies)
- Nick Roughan (bass/guitar, Dimmer)
- Taane Tokona (drums/percussion, d. 2020)
- Noel Ward (bass/guitar, Strangeloves, The Shifting Sands)
Discography
- Here Come the Cars LP (1991, Flying Nun Records)
- Sugar Mouth LP (1994, Flying Nun Records)
- David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights LP (1997, Flying Nun Records, FNCD397)
- A Feather in the Engine LP (2001, Merge Records)
- Frozen Orange LP (2004, Merge Records)
- The Far Now LP (2007, Merge Records)
- Left by Soft LP (2011, Merge Records)
- End Times Undone LP (2014, Merge Records)
- Bobbie’s a Girl LP (2019, Merge Records)