NZ

THE CLEAN: IN THE DREAMLIFE

Name: THE CLEAN: IN THE DREAMLIFE
Start: 2026-10-31T17:00:00+12:00
End: 2026-10-31T18:15:00+12:00
Location: The Vic Public House

Richard Langston

Music Writers + Kōrero

In The Clean: in the dreamlife you need a rubber soul, Richard Langston records the definitive story of the band that pioneered a low-fi, do-it-yourself approach to rock music and helped establish independent music label, Flying Nun Records. He will be quizzed by one of the band’s biggest fans, music reviewer Grant Smithies, followed by a celebration of their iconic sound.

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.

Richard Langston

Richard Langston is a journalist and poet who has written about the Dunedin music scene since the 1980s. The fanzine he edited from 1984–86, Garage, was issued as the book Pull Down the Shades: Garage Fanzine 1984–1986 (HoZac Books, 2023). He comes from a large family in Dunedin’s Lebanese community and was a driving force in that city’s music scene in the 1980s. For the past 14 years, he has also worked as a director for Country Calendar. He lives in Wellington and is a proud member of the three-person South Wellington Poetry Society.

Grant Smithies

Grant Smithies has written extensively on music, travel, and popular culture over the past 30 years. He co-founded NZ dance festival The Gathering, wrote the book Soundtrack: 118 Great NZ Albums, reviews music for RNZ National, and runs tiny Nelson vinyl shack Family Jewels Records. Several of his short stories have been published in literary journals in Aotearoa and the US. Alongside Sylvan Thomson, he is the shortlisting judge of English language entries to the 2026 Te Tauihu Short Story Awards.