Life in One Chord

Out here there's nothing else to do, so I just got up and wrote every day. Every disgraceful thing I've done in my life, I just wrote it down. It's great.

– Shayne Carter on growing up in suburban Dunedin, at the start of this trailer

I've just always felt like a misfit. I like the individual flavour of that. But...like I'm Māori and I'm European as well, but I don't really feel like I belong to either party  . . .  That's not a nice misfit: you want to feel like you belong.

– Shayne Carter on his mixed heritage background, in this trailer

...it's good for them too because I'm sure they want a cool band on their label, and we're a bit cooler than the Grateful Dead...Not much, but slightly.

– (01:14) A young Shayne Carter on signing to Arista Records, in this trailer

Fame and fortune await the Straitjacket Fits.

– Broadcaster Belinda Todd on up and coming band Straitjacket Fits, in this trailer

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.

– Director Margaret Gordon in a press release on the film, 31 July 2025

It was intense watching your life and your people flash before your eyes like that, but it was straight up and in a lot of places just made me laugh. So that’s good.

– Shayne Carter on the experience of watching the film in a press release, 31 July 2025

He was troubled, and he was an amazing writer, but of course he didn't probably know that at the time. 

– Actor Miranda Harcourt describes Shayne Carter, in this trailer