The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul - Book Launch Tour Announced

Pioneers of a jangle-rock sound so singular it has become intrinsic to Ōtepoti Dunedin's musical identity, The Clean are one of the most pivotal Aotearoa groups of the past half century. Inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2017, the iconic southern trio of David Kilgour, Hamish Kilgour (who passed in 2022) and Robert Scott (The Bats) are the focus of The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul, a new in-depth oral history of the Flying Nun Records group by Richard Langston (Garage zine). "The definitive story of The Clean in their own words" launches on 9th April via Auckland University Press (plus notably in Europe and North America via Feral House).

An occasion of such significance requires accompanying release events, and happily for all there'll be an official four-date nationwide tour featuring "special musical guests and author Q&As", rolling into Ōtepoti, Ōtautahi, Tāmaki Makaurau, and Te Whanganui-a-Tara from 8th April onwards. All dates are free, so head along and enrich your local music knowledge with The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul...

In 1978 in Dunedin the Kilgour brothers, Hamish and David, and their schoolfriend Peter Gutteridge, got together to form a band called The Clean. When Robert Scott joined in 1980 the band found a combination that endured for nearly forty years.

The Clean profoundly changed alternative music: hitting the New Zealand charts for months with a single made for $50, ‘Tally Ho!’; helping establish Flying Nun and a music scene independent of the big labels; pioneering a low-fi, do-it-yourself approach to rock music; and touring internationally to influence bands like Pavement and Yo La Tengo.

Raw and immediate, this is the story as told by members of The Clean and their inner circle – fellow musicians such as Chris Knox, Martin Phillipps, Graeme Downes and Ira Kaplan, friends and family, pub promoters and sound engineers, and their good friend, Richard Langston. From teenagers in a Dunedin practice room to New York City on 9/11 – this is the band’s history as it unfolds.

The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul
Featuring special musical guests and author Q&As
All events are free (tickets required for Dunedin), starting 6pm

Wednesday 8th April - Pearl Diver, Dunedin*
Thursday 9th April - Lyttelton Coffee Co., Christchurch
Wednesday 15th April - Flying Nun Records, Auckland
Thursday 16th April - Flying Nun Records, Wellington

Books will be available to purchase at the events courtesy of hosts and local booksellers
*Entry is free, but please note due to limited capacity you need a ticket to attend the Dunedin event. It is currently sold out. Sign up for the waitlist via Humanitix

Here's The Clean's classic 1981 video for 'Anything Could Happen', directed by Andrew Shaw...