Fans of one of New Zealand’s most influential bands - The Clean - are in for a double treat over the next few months. First up on 30th of June 2008, Arch Hill will be releasing a live album called “Mashed” featuring cuts taken from their March 07 New Zealand tour. Several thousand keen cleaners attended these shows and everyone will have their favorite memory. Ours is a toss up between the almost riot-like stage invading conditions at the Leigh Sawmill Café (with David soloing under the grand piano) and the Spinal Tap wig fest at Russell Brown’s aspergers fundraiser. Tough call, but they sounded great. Either way, we can all now enjoy David’s reverberant guitar echoing above the furious and distinctive rhythm section of brother Hamish and bassman Bob. The album was recorded and mixed by the very talented Tex Houston and contains classics like Point That Thing and Anything Could Happen, along with a new song and a surprise cover.

And speaking of new songs, you can also expect a new studio album from The Clean soon also on Arch Hill. This was recorded in New York - where Hamish lives and the band recently played a series of sold out shows and Dunedin, when the band reunited in NZ to play at The Big Day out earlier this year.

The Clean Bio

The Clean were a band that formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1978. Led through a number of rotating line-ups by brothers Hamish and David Kilgour, the band (usually a trio), forged a distinctive and quirky sound that relied heavily on organ melodies and simple chord progressions. They carved out a distinctive, noisy but melodic sound, distinguished by David's screeching, distorted guitar. In 1981, a fan of The Clean founded the Flying Nun label to release their first single, "Tally Ho." A follow-up track off one of their early EPs, "Beatnik", also achieved success, as did the second single, "Getting Older". In the ealry 80s the band released 2 eps and two singles. Tally ho, Boodle Boodle Boodle and Great Sounds... all charted in the top 20 in NZ. Since the late 80s the band has occasionally reformed and recorded new material releasing 3 more Lps on Flying Nun in NZ and Merge Records in the USA. The Vehicle Lp was also released in Europe & the USA by Rough Trade. In April 2007 the band toured NZ and are now considering ways of writing and recording new material over the next 6 months. Touring the world is also a vague idea! Hamish lives in NYC. Robert and David live in Dunedin, NZ. All are active as solo artists (or in Hamish's case , active as a Mad Scene).