Shayne P Carter joins the illustrious lineup on January 30th at the Laneway Festival, down at the newly developed Silo Park. We here at Mix It Up are extremely excited by this year’s lineup, we sent our writer James Smith to catch up with Shayne before the big day…
How has 2011 been for you?
A year of change thanks. Not bad!
Which gig was the best on your Last Train To Brockville tour and why?
They were all good in their own way, but I think the first show we did in Wellington was particularly epic. The crowd was great, the band was on it. It felt like an all timer that one…
Favourite song from your back catalogue to play live?
It’s picking your favourite child that one. I think quite a few of the tunes in the set can potentially rule on any given evening. The shows we’ve done different songs came through on different evenings. It’s nice to be surprised by what takes off. It’s like you discover something in a tune that wasn’t there before.
How many of the old tracks, especially from Bored Games and Straitjacket Fits, had you completely forgotten before this retrospective tour?
They’re all lodged in there somewhere and you don’t completely forget any of them. When in doubt, follow your fingers!
Many of the songs you played on the retrospective tour are made for two guitars, is there going to be another guitarist accompanying you at Laneway? Or will you be sticking to a three piece set up?
Nah it works sweet as a three piece. None of the material felt short changed to me. It’s kind of a test of a song’s backbone anyway when you distil them down like that. It hasn’t felt like anything is missing.
Plans for next year? Dimmer, The Adults etc.
I’ve done a lot of collaborative work over the past couple of years which has been nice – kind of like a holiday from myself. But I want to get my teeth into my own stuff now, so I’m writing a new record at the moment. I don’t know if I’ll do it under the Dimmer umbrella…might just do it under my own name. But I’ll make it first and decide on all that later.
What does the P stand for?
Personality? Presumptuous? Nah – Peter. It was my Dad’s name…
Interview by James Smith
