Punk renegade Shayne Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer) takes us on an iconoclastic tour through a career of highs and lows from suburban Dunedin to the heights of international fame and back again.
The film, like the music, often has a DIY flavour, and I think this lends it authenticity as well as a sense of whimsy and fun.
Life in One Chord 2025
Dunedin may seem like an unlikely location for a musical revolution, yet it became the locus of an indie music movement that was heard around the world. Riding the wave of the Dunedin Sound was Shayne Carter a loudmouthed teenage punk whose scrappy devil-may-care attitude is perfectly mirrored by Margaret Gordon’s cheeky and incredibly entertaining rockumentary.
Early on Carter objects to having to narrate the film from his droll memoir and blithely suggests bringing in broadcaster Carol Hirschfeld to perform the task instead, which is exactly what Gordon does. We get taken on a self-deprecating tour of some of Dunedin’s less desirable suburbs allowing Carter to reminisce about his schooldays, including a sister-traumatising first gig in the school hall.
Gordon’s film also acts as a bit of a primer on the Dunedin Sound with scene bigwigs like The Clean and The Verlaines at first surpassing Carter’s teenage punk ambitions until Straitjacket Fits is born out of tragedy and international stardom awaits. Carter is still living the punk life as Dimmer making now as good a time as any to celebrate a Life in One Chord. — Michael McDonnell