The 'Alternating Currents' Legacy Interview: Shayne Carter of Straightjacket Fits
New Zealand from a distant alternative universe in the year 1991.
Prologue
1990 was a busy year for New Zealand's alternative rock outfit, Straitjacket Fits. Fresh off their debut album Hail, the band dove headfirst into recording their sophomore effort, Melt. Produced by Gavin Mackillop (General Public, Hunters & Collectors, Toad the Wet Sprocket) Melt promised to showcase the band's raw energy and hone their signature sound. With singles like "Bad Note for a Heart" gaining traction, the band was poised – in this 1991 interview – to make their mark on the international music scene, all while facing the challenges of touring and potential internal tensions.
From whence a New Zealander comes, hardly a ripple would bobble a boat on the Pacific. Shayne Carter of Straightjacket Fits may cause a small tidal wave, though.
“There's no such thing as the golden egg as far as the industry is concerned because if you start off with the idea of getting rich and famous in New Zealand, you're diluting yourself. It's worked out really well, ‘cause people play music for the right reasons.”
I imagine a fist clenched tightly to the receiver on the other end – far, far on the other end since I'm listening to Carter's voice some 17 hours ahead of me in Auckland, New Zealand. As vocalist/lyricist for Straightjacket Fits, he's more than ‘straight’ forward in his opinion of his group, a combination of “melancholia and exuberance,” to quote Carter. They've played to tough audiences in Dunedin, New Zealand, where Carter grew up, weathered a band member's death early on (Carter’s friend Wayne Elsey) and yes, even wiggled away from the long shadow cast by the “giant Coca-Cola bottle” (his quote) called Australia.
“I think the music scene – I know this might sound stupidly parochial – is a lot stronger and more original [in New Zealand] than what goes on in Australia.” A reference on his part to the Hoodoo Gurus’ popularity? “I find it quite hard to respect them because everything they do is a pastiche of something you've heard before.” This makes his earlier statement clear: distance and objectivity are the keys to a group’s success. Ask bands like The Chills and the Verlaines.
What then of a comparison for comparison's sake? “I think the Velvet Underground meets The Hollies was the closest,” Carter related. Flattered? “No, not really!” he laughed. “Our influences are across the board. There's lots of juxtapositions going on in our band.”
This is why their second album Melt comes across so convincingly, especially when I caught up with the entire band this past July at The Paradise. They presented a marked contrast as the opener for Liverpool-based The La's tuneful melodies: all moody and gurgling intrigue slammed shut on sharp pop. The band – Carter, guitarist/vocalist Andrew Brough, bassist David Wood, and drummer John Collie – met that Velvet Underground remark head-on with the ethereal yet cutting “Missing Presumed Drowned” and precisely twisted on The Hollies-like jangle strangle “Headwind.” It’s all dark and passionate, open and interpretative.
And as a footnote, Carter’s ties to Boston are not all that distant. He and Elsey were in a band called DoubleHappys before Straightjacket Fits. During that time, Carter wrote “Raindogs Going Home” which was covered live many a time by local heroes Big Dipper. So, it all seemed to fit (so to speak) when thinking about Carter’s voice in that Transpacific conversation.
“I think a really original strain of music has emerged from New Zealand.” It was no strain at all. Really.
Epilogue
Shayne Carter is still active in the music industry, under the name Shayne P Carter.
Andrew Brough left the band after their 1991 U.S. tour. He died in February 2020.
David Wood died in November 2010.
John Collie left the music business and is now a photographer in Christchurch, New Zealand.