The Flying Nun website reports that the New Zealand indie-pop architect Peter Gutteridge has died in Auckland. Gutteridge, who helped to found hugely important bands like the Clean and the Chills, was around 53 years old. No cause of death has been revealed.

Gutteridge played in early incarnations of both the Clean and the Chills, though he didn’t stay with either band long-term. In the closely-woven late-’70s/early-’80s Dunedin, New Zealand indie scene, this wasn’t a particularly uncommon thing. Nonetheless, as a founding member of both bands, Gutteridge was enormously important in helping to develop the bright and jangly Dunedin Sound that coalesced around the Flying Nun label. Gutteridge also led the band Snapper, played in Chills side project the Great Unwashed, and released a solo album called Pure in 1989. Below, watch Snapper’s video for the 1988 song “Buddy.”