Mystery Boxes and More!: The Joy of Supporting
The Chills Film’s Kickstarter:
By:
Jenny Andreotti of Fawns of Love
I like many was first exposed to The Chills
through their “Pink Frost”
video. Being confronted with a gorgeous blue-eyed boy walking through nature
while seductively whispering a song about the mysterious death of a lover was
impossible to resist. As I dug deeper I discovered parallels between my own
life and Martin Phillipps that were hard to ignore, and only deepened my
respect for his talent. For example, “I Love my Leather Jacket”
was penned about the death of drummer and friend Martyn Bull from Leukemia (I
lost my beautiful soft-spoken brother from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he was
twenty-four and I was fourteen). Phillipps has also been outspoken about his
battle with Hepatitis C which would have ended his life if it were not for the
advancement of the drug Harvoni.
Furthermore, Phillipps has also been open about
his struggle with depression which in turn encouraged me to be more open about
my own struggle (losing another sibling to suicide, and watching other family
members struggle with cancer and other illnesses has left me with an
overwhelming fear of cancer and guilt that I have made it into my thirties
which is a thing my brother did not get to do). Even though I do not know
Martin Phillipps I credit him with giving me the ability to articulate my own
inner demons.
That is why I feel so passionate about funding and
encouraging others to fund the
Kickstarter campaign that will give The Chills Film enough funding to
complete their documentary on Martin Phillipps. That he is influential is
undeniable, every indie, dreampop, and shoegaze band from the 1980s and beyond
owes Phillipps a king’s ransom (my own band included, I am still trying to
perfect that sexy loud whisper that is so characteristic of Phillipps’ vocal
style). However, Phillipps’ story goes beyond being an indie cult figure, he has
achieved what few artists have: raw honesty. By supporting this project, we
support the beauty of human connection and the struggles we all face. So, head
over to their Kickstarter page as many cool incentives await (I went for the
“Mystery Box,” and the sixteen-year-old in me that lacks composure cannot wait
to get a box from the dreamy Martin Phillipps)!
This is a beautiful piece and totally agree that Martin is highly under appreciated and has influenced many other artists. He was there in the early Flying Nun days, He was there with an early Creation Records release and he is still making amazing music.
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