Life in One Chord
Schedule
Fri May 22 2026 at 09:30 am to 11:30 am
UTC+10:00Location
Smith's Alternative | Canberra, CT
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$15Life in One Chord - Film Screening
Documentary about New Zealand's punk legend Shayne Carter
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.
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
The Spinoff "It's hard to think of a better film about music out of this country"
The Listener "Very touching… a triumph of video and recording research." *****
Stuff.co.nz + The Post "I've watched Life in One Chord twice now, and I honestly can't think of a way it could have been made much better." *****
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Where is it happening?
Smith's Alternative, 76 Alinga Street,Canberra,ACT,AustraliaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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