Their top ten studio albums in their homeland are Submarine Bells (1990), Soft Bomb (1992), Snow Bound (2018) and Scatterbrain (2021).

Their top 20 singles are "Pink Frost", "Doledrums" (both 1984), "I Love My Leather Jacket" (1986), "Heavenly Pop Hit" (1990) and "Male Monster from the Id" (1992).

[6] Martin Phillipps became an auxiliary member of the Clean, serving as their touring keyboardist and studio musician for their debut single "Tally Ho!"

[6][7] The Chills reconvened in July 1981 with Haig and Phillipps joined by Fraser Batts on keyboards and Terry Moore (ex-Bored Games) on bass guitar.

[8] By December 1983, they re-emerged under a new moniker, A Wrinkle in Time, with a line-up consisting of Allison, Haig, Phillipps and Martin Kean on bass guitar.

[6] They undertook a Flying Nun-sponsored Looney Tour alongside label mates Children's Hour, the Expendables and the DoubleHappys.

By October 1986, the line-up shifted to Phillipps, Caroline Easther (the Verlaines) on drums, Justin Harwood (ex-Coconut Rough) on bass guitar and Andrew Todd (ex-Smart Russians) on keyboard.

In London, they worked with Mayo Thompson (of Red Krayola) on their debut studio album, Brave Words (1987), which reached the top 30 in New Zealand.

[11][12] The band spent February through mid-December of that year promoting it by touring Europe, interspersed with four July dates in New York and Boston.

Their second studio album Submarine Bells (1990) reached number one in New Zealand and provided their highest charting international single, "Heavenly Pop Hit".

Phillipps was joined by a new lineup of Mauro Ruby on drums, Lisa Mednick on keyboards and Steven Schayer on guitar and backing vocal for the group's third studio album, Soft Bomb (1992).

It peaked at number three in New Zealand; while its lead single, "The Male Monster from the Id", reached the top ten.

[11] Phillipps announced the disbandment of the Chills after the Soft Bomb Tour and joined Kilgour in a loosely organised 1960s covers band, the Pop Art Toasters, which released a self-titled EP in 1994.

The turnover of personnel is cited as a reason for the band's lack of consistent "saleability" and is referred to by local music press as "the Curse of the Chills".

In 2000, Secret Box, a triple-CD box-set of the Chills' live tracks, demos, radio sessions and rarities was released.