#robert scott

Chris the sledging dog on Ross Island, Antarctica, Herbert Ponting 1911. Photo taken during Robert Scott's doomed South Pole expedition.

The Bats - Smoking Her Wings (1990)

The fantastically mournful final track on the Bats' second LP. Barbara Manning also did a great cover.

When I heard there was going to be a book on New Zealand legends, The Clean, I was beyond excited, and the finished product here is brilliant!

The Clean were a New Zealand band that started in 1978 with the Kilgour Brothers, David and Hamish, and their friend Peter Gutteridge (Robert Scott joined in 1980 after Gutteridge left), and the band basically created the blueprint for DIY music for most of what came out of New Zealand (and other parts of the world).

Their Compilation album, a collection of early singles and EPs, was released on Flying Nun Records in 1987 and then released in the U.S. the following year on the Homestead label. I'm pretty sure I heard the US edition first, and thus the first song I'd heard by the Clean was the chattering, excellent "Billy Two." I was hooked. 

This book by, longtime New Zealand writer Richard Langston, is easy to dive right ito and hard to put down. It's written in oral history style with all of the members of the band as well as many others telling the Clean story (Chris Knox, Tex Houston, Ira Kaplan, Mac McCaughn, etc). 

I learned quite a bit as well, including bits on the Kilgrour brothers' creative process, how Robert Scott needed to build songwriting confidence in the beginning (who knew how amazing a songwriter he would turn into), and just how violent New Zealand was back in the early days of the band.

There are hundreds of great photos, and again, it's a terrific read and one that belongs in the homes of all music fans (not just fans of The Clean). 

www.feralhouse.com

www.theclean.bandcamp.com