The Chills Tickets

The enduring legacy of pop groups is something to be adored. It could be due to the undeniably catchy riffs that typically underpin the melodies, or perhaps it's due to the massive cult followings that keep their favorite band alive.

Regardless of the reason, the New Zealand guitar-pop group The Chills have endured, and we're all the luckier for it.

Martin Phillipps formed The Chills in 1980 after his punk group, The Same, disbanded. With his sister Rachel Phillipps on keyboards, Jane Dodd on bass, Peter Gutteridge on guitar and Alan Haig on drums, Phillipps helped usher in an era of indie pop in New Zealand affectionately dubbed the Dunedin sound.

In the 1970s, punk rock became a musical force in New Zealand. Drawing from the short, fast-paced songs with stripped-down instrumentals of punk rock and weaving in pop, rock and psychedelic music was the basis for the sound The Chills would help popularize.

The band's first album, Submarine Bells (1990), was critically acclaimed partly due to its radio-friendly single, "Heavenly Pop Hit." When their third studio album, Soft Bomb (1992), was released, the musical climate had shifted, and the sincere, yearning pop music Phillipps had long perfected was replaced with the grunge era of the '90s.

The Chills went through growing pains, personal struggles and different lineups, all with Phillipps as the central, constant piece. Phillipps continued to release albums under his name and The Chills moniker throughout the early 2000s, all with hook-laden guitar pop tracks, vocal harmonies and impressive arrangements fans knew and loved.

In 2015, the band released its fifth album, Silver Bullets. The band lineup that existed for this album had been together for much longer than any of the lineups from the '80s and performed a series of shows, including N.Y.C. Popfest in 2016.

The band returned to the studio to record their seventh album Scatterbrain, which was released in 2021. The songs are a testament to the band's longevity and ability to maintain their unique sound without looking backward.

Considered a powerhouse performer to this day, Martin Phillipps and The Chills are a timeless gift -- a legend, perhaps -- to fans of indie pop.

And who wouldn't want to see a legend in concert?