13 Apr 2017

The Clean's Boodle Boodle Boodle still a classic after 36 years

From RNZ Music, 3:00 pm on 13 April 2017
The Clean - Boodle Boodle Boodle

Seminal Dunedin band The Clean’s E.P. Boodle Boodle Boodle has been announced as the 2017 recipient of the Independent Music New Zealand Classic Record Award, which will be presented at a ceremony in Auckland this Tuesday.

Alex Behan talks to The Clean’s founder, guitarist, singer and songwriter David Kilgour about the E.P. - which was released on Flying Nun Records in1981 - and why it’s stood the test of time...

“There’s a little bit more to it than just the music perhaps, maybe the attitude that we helped instill. I’m not sure. If I knew that, I’d still be making Boodle, Boodle, Boodle! I’d just keep making it over and over again,” Kilgour says.

The EP was incredibly successful when it was released, reaching number four in the NZ charts and remaining in the top 20 for nearly six months.

“To make Boodle and then it be so successful was just incredibly encouraging for everybody involved … like, ‘Hey, we’re on the right track here. Maybe we aren’t so crazy’

David and Hamish Kilgour, Robert Scott, Doug Hood and Peter Gutteridge talk to 95bFM about Boodle Boodle Boodle.

Boodle was recorded on Chris Knox’s four-track tape machine in a dilapidated Scout hall in Auckland’s Bond Street.

“We looked at a couple of studios in Auckland and got turned off, mainly by the attitude of the people that ran them … I was 18 or 19 at the time … we just found the whole thing a bit alienating, especially coming from Dunedin I guess.”

The dilapidated Scout hall where Boodle Boodle Boodle was recorded still stands in Auckland today.

Previous recipients of the Classic Record Award include Herbs, Gordons and Upper Hutt Posse. The Clean will accept the award alongside the yet-to-be-announced winner of this year’s Taite Music Prize.

The Taite Music Prize recognises albums from the past year which demonstrate outstanding creativity. It’s named after the late Dylan Taite, one of New Zealand’s most respected music journalists. Previous winners include Lorde, Lawrence Arabia, Ladi6 and SJD.

The 2017 Taite Music Prize finalists are:

  • Aaradhna, Brown Girl (Universal Music NZ)
  • Hopetoun Brown, Look So Good (Melita Music)
  • Lawrence Arabia, Absolute Truth (Flying Nun Records)
  • LEISURE, LEISURE (THE LEISURE COLLECTIVE)
  • Lontalius, I’ll Forget 17 (POD/Inertia)
  • Pacific Heights, The Stillness (Warner Music)
  • Shayne P Carter, Offsider (Flying Nun Records)
  • Street Chant, Hauora (Arch Hill Recordings)

The prize includes a cash prize of $10,000 and recording time at Red Bull Studios in Auckland. 

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 18. Keep an eye on RNZ Music's Facebook and Twitter for details.

Related stories

David Kilgour performing with The Clean at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne in 2011

David Kilgour performs with The Clean at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne in 2011 Photo: Vimeo