Miriam Clancy and Dion Lunadon (The D4/A Place To Bury Strangers) share a long-time love for rifftastic banger “I Love My Leather Jacket” (Desert Road / Declared Goods) and joined forces to rekindle the magic of this revered cult tune by the Chills, which is released today. The themes in “I Love My Leather Jacket” resonate deeply with Clancy – those of friendship, grief, and existential and magical thinking – and their power-chord delivery wraps the song in a fun feeling straight out of the 1980’s Dunedin music scene. 

Nine years ago, when Clancy met Martin Phillipps in NYC, he was stoked to hear she had been playing “I Love My Leather Jacket” in her set around the city for over a year, with a girly octave up. It felt only right to record it by joining forces with another mutual friend – Kiwi rock ‘n’ roll legend Dion Lunadon – and direct Phillipps’ lovely words back to him, echoing how we all feel now that he’s gone.

Clancy and Lunadon convened to record in Brooklyn with guitars, both voices, bass, and an organ, then added drummer Stan Mitchell from CBGB’s mainstay Kiwi band The Drongos to lay down some attic drums. Clancy says, “Super pleased to release this twisty version of such a great tune that means a lot to me. I’m glad that the most excellent guitar riff gets another airing,  grateful for all The Chills past and present, and also for Aotearoa and the way it brings weird, wonderful, and deep beauty into the world. Martin’s musical handprints are everywhere: the soil The Chills have richly sown into is still growing strange and amazing things, and now both of these are true for me: I love my leather jacket and I love my vanished friend.”