"She Speeds" | |
---|---|
Single by Straitjacket Fits | |
from the album Life in One Chord (EP) | |
Released | 1987 |
Recorded | Lab Studios, Auckland |
Genre | Alternative Rock, Dunedin sound |
Label | Flying Nun Records |
Songwriter(s) | Shayne Carter /Straitjacket Fits |
Music video | |
"She Speeds" at NZ on Screen |
She Speeds is a song by the Dunedin, New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits. The song was released on their debut 'Life in One Chord EP' in 1987. The EP was recorded at the Lab Studios in Auckland, [1] [2] New Zealand, and reached number 10 on the NZ Top 40 charts later that year. A video was filmed for She Speeds for just $250 by Johnny Ogilvy [3] and the song quickly became a cornerstone of their live sets. The song would later be dropped from their sets as the band moved away from its early sound.
"She Speeds" was the last song played by the band at the Auckland Big Day Out in 1994. The band went on a semi-permanent hiatus after this show. At a show during their 2005 reunion tour, Shayne Carter humorously murmured 'Uh-oh suppose this had to happen' [4] before launching into the opening riff of the song.
"She Speeds" is number 9 on the APRA Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time as voted by APRA members. [5]
Drummer John Collie said in 2008 that after listening to a live recording of their 2005 reunion tour, "She Speeds" along with "Dialling a Prayer" were still the best songs the band recorded during their career. [6]
Split Enz were a New Zealand band formed in 1972. Regarded as the first New Zealand band to gain significant recognition outside of Australasia, they were initially noted for their progressive/art rock sound, flamboyant visual style and theatrical performances. The band later moved toward a pop/new wave sound that yielded the breakthrough hit single "I Got You" (1980). Split Enz broke up in 1984. Since that time, the band has staged several brief reunions.
Briolette Kah Bic Runga, recording as Bic Runga, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist pop artist. Her first three studio albums debuted at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album charts. Runga has also found success internationally in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom with her 1997 song "Sway".
Evermore were a rock band formed in Feilding, New Zealand in 1999, made up of three brothers Jon, Peter and Dann Hume. The band was based in Sydney from 2004 to 2007 and then Melbourne until they became inactive in 2014. Evermore released four studio albums: Dreams (2004), Real Life (2006), Truth of the World: Welcome to the Show (2009), and Follow the Sun (2012), as well as a self-titled compilation album (2010). Real Life and Truth of the World were their highest charting studio albums in New Zealand and Australia, while Dreams and Real Life received platinum certifications from Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).
Donald McGlashan is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for cinema and television. Among other instruments, McGlashan has played guitar, drums, euphonium and French horn.
Jan Hellriegel is a singer/songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Shayne P. Carter is a New Zealand musician best known for leading Straitjacket Fits from 1986 to 1994, and as the only permanent member of Dimmer (1995–2012).
The Feelers is a New Zealand pop rock band formed in the early 1990s in Christchurch by James Reid (singer/guitarist) and Hamish Gee (drums/guitar).
Straitjacket Fits formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1986 and were a prominent band in the Flying Nun label's second wave of the Dunedin sound.
Anika Rose Moa is a New Zealand recording artist and television presenter. Her debut studio album Thinking Room, was released in September 2001, which reached number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart and provided two Top 5 singles, "Youthful" (2001) and "Falling in Love Again" (2002). Moa competed at the Rockquest songwriting contest in 1998, which led to a recording contract. She is the subject of two documentaries by film-maker Justin Pemberton: 3 Chords and the Truth: the Anika Moa Story (2003), detailing her signing to a record label and the release of Thinking Room, and In Bed with Anika Moa (2010) on her later career.
Greg Johnson is a New Zealand singer songwriter.
Nature's Best is a two-disc compilation album of thirty New Zealand popular music songs, selected by a panel as the top thirty New Zealand songs of all time.
Dimmer was the name under which New Zealand musician Shayne Carter recorded and played music from 1994. It began as an umbrella name for jam sessions and short-lived band line-ups, then home recordings, then an ensemble with various members and guests. This evolution led to more settled four-piece rock band. At least 41 musicians have been acknowledged as playing a part in Dimmer over 18 years, with Carter the only permanent fixture.
Andrew Mark Brough was a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Dunedin, New Zealand. Best known for his work with the Straitjacket Fits, he later led the band Bike. In 1996 he was shortlisted for the APRA Silver Scroll and in 2008 he was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Melt is the second album from Dunedin, New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits. It was the last to feature the original line-up of Shayne Carter, Andrew Brough, John Collie and David Wood; Brough was to leave before the third album, Blow. The album reached no. 13 on the New Zealand music charts, and sold 40,000 copies in the United States.
Life in One Chord is an EP by New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits, released in 1987. It was the band's debut release. All of the tracks from the EP were included as part of an extended version of their first full album, Hail. The songs are credited to Shayne Carter/Straitjacket Fits except for "Sparkle That Shines". "Sparkle That Shines" was released as a single in 1989.
"Why Does Love Do This to Me" is a song by New Zealand pop band the Exponents. It was released in 1991 and is among the Exponents' most successful and best known songs.
Mark Petersen is a New Zealand rock guitarist from Auckland. He replaced guitarist Andrew Brough in Straitjacket Fits in 1991. Petersen played on their Done EP and final album Blow and toured with the band until they broke up in February 1994. Petersen continued on playing guitar and singing with his 'Cabbage Bomber' but is best remembered for his bass and guitar work in Bob Cardy's ['Shaft']. He played guitar and sang on the Straitjacket Fits 2005 reunion tour of New Zealand. He had previously been a member of Dunedin Band Working With Walt. In 2008 he was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame with the rest of Straitjacket Fits. He now records and performs under the pseudonym 'Seeds Of Orbit'.
Jane de Jong, known professionally as Ruby Frost, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In 2009, she won the nationwide music competition MTV 42Unheard, giving her a recording contract with Universal Music New Zealand. Since then she has performed showcases at CMJ in New York and The Viper Room in LA; toured with Mt Eden, Cut Copy, Evermore and Van She; and opened for acts including Diplo, Nero, Kimbra, Digitalism and Garbage. She was one of the four judges in season one of The X Factor NZ, and was the runner-up mentor when her act Whenua Patuwai came second in the competition.
Joel Little is a New Zealand record producer, musician and Grammy Award-winning songwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer and producer with artists Lorde, Taylor Swift, Broods, Sam Smith, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, Elliphant, Jarryd James, Shawn Mendes, Marina Diamandis, Amy Shark, Goodnight Nurse, Noah Kahan, Years & Years, the Jonas Brothers, and Niall Horan.
Lips is a New Zealand-based music group consisting originally of New Zealander singer and keyboardist Steph Brown, and American multi-instrumentalist/producer Fen Ikner, with new additions Ruby Walsh and Maude Morris, founded by Brown in 2010 in New York City. Lips is visually represented by the character of "Lips," a girl with giant lips for a head, who appears in their cover art and music videos. The band has released three EPs, one LP, and produced the 2016 soundtrack of the stage play Daffodils, which they performed in and served as music directors, as well as the OST for the 2019 film version of the play. The band’s song "Everything to Me" won them the 2012 Silver Scroll Award.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Sweetman, Simon (2012). On Song: Stories Behind New Zealand's Pop Classics. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books. pp. 100–105. ISBN 9780143568162.