Shayne P Carter
We Will Rise Again
Flying Nun Records

On September 9th Shayne P Carter (formerly of Kiwi-rock combos The DoubleHappys, Straitjacket Fits, and Dimmer) will launch his debut solo album, Offsider. At least in New Zealand. The rest of the world might have to wait a bit for the physical format album. Anyway, his 'piano album' will soon appear, and for the moment, at the ebb of August, Carter is touring NZ.

Carter started the bands Bored Games (1978-1981) and The DoubleHappys (1983-1986) and he was one of the central figures around Dunedin back in the day, in the golden age of Flying Nun. The Straitjacket Fits (1986-1994) took also part of the classic, legendary Dunedin Sound style scene during the 1980s, and you'd better go check out their 1987 EP Life in One Chord as well as their first two albums, Hail (1988) and Melt (1990) - all released by Flying Nun Records (as well as Rough Trade). Carter went on with his project Dimmer (1994-2012), who put out four albums throughout 2001-2009. So, when Dimmer faded, Carter took on a solo career under his own name and he planned to learn to play piano! And, well... did he learn to play? Yes, as we can hear within the song "We Will Rise Again", the first track off the forthcoming Offsider. Shayne P Carter (vocals, piano, guitar, and percussion) presents a piano based, dramatic, slightly jazzy, almost Bowiesque pop song. This single was released some two months ago, and was followed by another single now in August, "I Know Not Where I Stand". However, "We Will Rise Again" is an indeed fine track from Carter and his players, including Nick Roughan (bass - Roughan has worked with numerous NZ artists, such as Bailter Space, David Kilgour, The Clean, Dimmer, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, ...), Gary Sullivan (drums, formerly of Dimmer), Tamasin Taylor (strings), and Richard Steele (saxophone). This is for sure an exciting solo kick-off and it sees Carter returning, rising again:

In September we will check out Offsider, which might be a jolly good 'friend, a partner, or someone who helps you'. With a little help from your offsider.

Copyright © 2016 Håvard Oppøyen