North & South – June 2019

NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019| 59

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usiccriticNickBollingersays

thereareplentyofmemoirs

frominternationalmusicians,

butinNewZealandthegenre

fillsa prettysmallbookshelf:

RayColumbusdidone;DaveMcArtney’s

cameoutposthumously;SneakyFeelings’

MatthewBannisterruffledfeathersand

egoswithhisreflectiononDunedinmusic.

“Therockandrollstoryhasbeentold

somanytimes,”saysBollinger,“but

Shayne’soneisactuallyunique,andI

thinkit’sbecauseit’sa part-Māoriboy

fromDunedin,andhisearlychildhood

stuff– whichisvividandbrilliant– ex-

plainswhyhe’sso100%withhismusic,

becauseit’slikeherealisedatsome

pointthatwastheonlywayhecould

survive.Otherwise,hewasa verymar-

ginalisedkid.

“Tome,ShayneCarterreallystands

head and shoulders above pretty much

life,buthe’sadamanthedidn’twantthe

booktobea whine,a self-centredsob.

“ThelastthingI wantedtodowasbea

moaner:‘Oh,therecordindustrywasso

crueltome,itwassounfair,andif

only...’I justwroteaboutit honestly.I’ve

metcoolpeopleintherecordindustry.

But,asa beast,it’smainlyquiterepul-

sive,becauseit’sjustthiscapitalistic

exercisethatpicksuppeopleand

squeezesthemoutlikefaceclothsand

throwsthemaway.Butthat’sshowbiz,

man,andyouruse-bydatecomesup

prettyquickly.”

Nor,Cartersays,wasthebooka vehi-

cleforvengeance,andhetrodcarefully

whendescribingpeoplehe’dcome

across,notwantingtotramplethedig-

nityofthosewho’ddiedandcouldn’t

speakforthemselves.

“Butthenagain,I didshoveit toa few

people that deserved it, so there you go.”

SoI’vefigurativelybeengettingupin
publicwithmypantsaroundmyan-
klessinceI was15.AndI’mnotscared
ofthat.Andit’sliberatingnottobe
scaredofthetruth;I don’thaveto
builda facade.
“Soif peoplewanttotakethatoutof
thebook,I honestlydon’tgivea shit.
I’vehadpeopledissingmeassoonasI
hitthemic.I’velonglearntthatother
people’sopinionsdon’tmeanshit,and
ifyoulistentothem,yougetnothing
done.Everyone’sgotshortcomings.
Andifthere’sanythemeinthebook,
it’sthatweallstrugglewithourcross-
es.Andsometimeswejusttrytocope
andsometimeswefailevenatcoping

• noshameinthat.Everyone’sjusttry-
  ingtogetalong.Lifeis reallytoughand
  lifeiscruelandsomepeoplehaveto
  carrya lotofshitintheirlives.”
  There’s been ample of that in Carter’s

Straitjacket Fits at Auckland’s Grey Lynn shops, 1991 (from left): Dave Wood, Andrew Brough, John Collie and Shayne Carter.

“... THENAGAIN, I DID SHOVE IT TO A FEW PEOPLE

THAT DESERVED IT, SO THERE YOU GO.”

CHRIS KNOX