Straitjacket Fits

aka The Straitjackets, The Fits


“I will never forget Straitjacket Fits out-playing Jesus and Mary Chain at Sammy’s. Jesus and Mary Chain were at their peak too … they were minor next to the Straitjackets – do you hear me, MINOR!” So says music guru Roy Colbert on Straitjacket Fits, Dunedin’s own entry for the title of “best band in the world.”

Straitjacket Fits were certainly one out of the box, a lightning-in-a-bottle rock band that turned the Dunedin Sound jangle on its ear. Evolving into one of the leading lights of Flying Nun in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they signed to major US label Arista Records, a move that promised to take them into the stratosphere of indie rock-dom, but didn’t – a move that in hindsight jarred with the band’s aesthetic. Straitjacket Fits are still beloved in New Zealand, with founding member, songwriter, and vocalist Shayne Carter considered an alternative rock figurehead to this day.

Read the Straitjacket Fits story part 1 here

Read the Straitjacket Fits story part 2 here

Straitjacket Fits 1990: Shayne Carter, John Collie, David Wood and Andrew Brough
Straitjacket Fits - This Taste Delight (Radio With Pictures special Live At Avalon, 1987)
Straitjacket Fits - Dialling A Prayer (live at Mountain Rock, Woodville, 16 January 1994 - filmed by Andrew Moore)
Straitjacket Fits first gig at Dunedin's Chippendale House, October 1986
Photo credit: Photo by Jeff Harford
Straitjacket Fits - Done (1992, directed by Andrew Dominik)
Straitjacket Fits in the studio in 1987: Andrew Brough, Shayne Carter, John Collie and David Wood
Straitjacket Fits in 1990: (clockwise from left) Andrew Brough, Shayne Carter, John Collie, David Wood
Photo credit: Photo by Tony Mott
Straitjacket Fits in April 1983: David Wood, Mark Peterson, John Collie and Shayne Carter
Photo credit: Photo by Lisa Johnson
Straitjacket Fits - Dialling A Prayer (live on Friday Night, 1988)
Straitjacket Fits - Life In One Chord (Radio With Pictures special Live At Avalon, 1987)
Straitjacket Fits - She Speeds (1987)
Straitjacket Fits in 1988: John Collie, Andrew Brough, Shayne Carter and David Wood
Photo credit: Photo by Jonathan Ganley
Look Blue Go Purple and Straitjacket Fits at Auckland's Gluepot
Look Blue Go Purple with a misspelled Straitjacket Fits, February 1987
Straitjacket Fits - Hail (1988)
Down In Splendour double 7-inch, with a John Collie designed sleeve, 1990
Straitjacket Fits with Galaxie 500 in Europe, 1989
Straitjacket Fits in 1993: Shayne Carter, David Wood, Mark Peterson and John Collie
The 2005 Straitjacket Fits reunion concerts
Done, from 1992, artwork by John Collie
Straitjacket Fits - Such A Daze (live on Triple J Wireless, 1991)
Straitjacket Fits - Bad Note For A Heart (live on Triple J Wireless, 1991)
Straitjacket Fits in 1993: John Collie, David Wood, Mark Peterson and Shayne Carter
Photo credit: Photo by Lisa Johnston
Straitjacket Fits in 1990: Shayne Carter, Andrew Brough, John Collie and David Wood
Photo credit: Photo by Polly Borland
Straitjacket Fits - APS (live on Triple J Wireless, 1991)
Straitjacket Fits - Telling Tales (1988, live on Friday Night)
The US tour edition of 1991's Missing From Melt EP
Hail, released on 7-inch and 12-inch in 1988
Straitjacket Fits - Cat Inna Can (1993, directed by Andrew Dominik)
Straitjacket Fits - If I Were You (1994)
Straitjacket Fits - Kathy Direct Retires (unreleased tune, live at the Gluepot, Auckland, 23 April 1988 - filmed by Bob Sutton)
Straitjacket Fits - She Speeds (live at the Gluepot, Auckland, 23 April 1988 - filmed by Bob Sutton)
Straitjacket Fits - In Spite Of It All (live on Australian TV)
Straitjacket Fits - Dead Heat (Radio With Pictures special Live At Avalon, 1987)
Interview with Shayne Carter after the split with Andrew Brough (Nightline, 1992)
Straitjacket Fits at The Oriental, December 1987
John Collie's poster for Hail
Interview with Shayne Carter and David Wood from 1990 (and Missing Presumed Drowned, live on MTV Australia)
A Jonathan Ganley shot of Straitjacket Fits on the cover of Radio B's BIFIM magazine, November 1988
Sparkle That Shines, a July 1990 7-inch single
David Wood and John Collie recall the split with Andrew Brough (from C4's Rocked The Nation)
Straitjacket Fits in 1993: John Collie, Mark Petersen, David Wood and Shayne Carter, 
Dialling A Prayer (Mountain Rock Festival, Jan 16, 1994)
Interview with Shayne Carter from Flying Nun band Straightjacket Fits. 12 May 1994. Directed by Ross Cunningham.
Straitjacket Fits - Bad Note For A Heart (1990, directed by Niki Caro)
Straitjacket Fits - John Peel live session, 12 November 1988
Shayne Carter with Straitjacket Fits, 1987
Photo credit: Photo by Jonathan Ganley
The debut Straitjacket Fits release, the 12-inch EP Life In A Chord, 1987
Hail, 1988
Straitjacket Fits - Down In Splendour (1990, directed by Andrew Dominik)
The Melt tour, 1990
Straitjacket Fits and The Benders at Dunedin's Oriental, 1987
Andrew Brough on the cover of Stamp magazine, October 1990
Shayne Carter with Straitjacket Fits, circa 1989
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Straitjacket Fits, The Puddle and David Kilgour at Dunedin's Chippendale House, likely 1987
Straitjacket Fits - Down In Splendour (live on Triple J Wireless, 1991)
John Collie's interior artwork for the Melt LP
Straitjacket Fits live on KPFK fm, Los Angeles, 21 October 1989 during their first US tour
A poster for the 1998 retrospective CD
Straitjacket Fits in 1990: John Collie, Shayne Carter, Andrew Brough and David Wood
Melt, 1990
Straitjacket Fits - Take From The Years (Radio With Pictures special Live At Avalon, 1987)
Straitjacket Fits - Not To Worry (live at the Gluepot, Auckland, 23 April 1988 - filmed by Bob Sutton)
Straitjacket Fits at Auckland's Rising Sun (with The Cakekitchen), 1987
Members:

Shayne Carter - vocals, guitar

Andrew Brough - vocals, guitar

John Collie - drums

David Wood - bass

Mark Petersen - guitar, vocals

Labels:

Flying Nun


Arista


Rough Trade

Trivia:

Straitjacket Fits were inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

NZ-born, Australian-raised film director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly) helmed four music videos for Straitjacket Fits - Down In Splendour, Done, Cat Inna Can and If I Were You.

The video for the Andrew Brough/ Bike single ‘Welcome To My World’ features Shayne Carter as a policeman.

After several years in Auckland garage band Shaft, Mark Petersen became the long-serving live sound engineer at the Kings Arms venue in Auckland. He remains a local guitar god in psychedelic rock trio Seeds of Orbit.

The footage of Straitjacket Fits on the back of a truck in the clip for She Speeds was filmed inside the Lyttelton Tunnel.

Straitjacket Fits were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2008. The Hall of Fame is an initiative of Recorded Music NZ and the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), whose support of AudioCulture enables the site to stream music content.

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