For NZ Music Month, we're asking local musicians to tell us about the New Zealand songs they love the most. Today James Harding, from Christchurch garage band The Transistors, goes deep on five of his favourites.
The Transistors. Photo: Supplied
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Shaft – The Downhill Racer
This is the opening track off Shaft’s first record Pooty, and what an unbelievable song. I love the way it builds to a crescendo and then drops right out for the ‘don’t clutter the water’ hook. Bob Cardy has such a way with words; his songs always have this super rich wordplay and turn of phrase throughout. Frisbee threw strings and a bunch of other wee flourishes into this recording and if it were a lesser song or performance you could imagine it becoming top heavy, but it’s just perfect. There’s a new Shaft album nearing completion, which I’m absolutely fizzing to hear.
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The Situations – PCY’s Everlasting Journey
We’ve been friends with The Situations since January 2008 when we met in Kuaotunu in the Coromandel to open for Pierced Arrows. I think there may have been some standoffishness initially but that soon subsided after we both played and by the end of the night we were best mates. We toured with them later that year and that’s when I first remember hearing this song and being floored by it.
There was an early recording of the song that differs greatly from the version on last year’s brilliant record Forever Scene Changes; while the earlier unreleased version was great they definitely got it right on the album. I can’t describe why but it’s a song that always takes me to some other place, whether I’m hearing it live or listening to the recording. I love the lyrics, the arrangement, Frisbee’s little studio touches and Pads’ glorious wee guitar line at the end that mirrors the keyboard riff.
It sounds cheesy and hyperbolic but there’s something life-affirming to me about The Situations. I’m always baffled that they’re not more widely known.
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The Mint Chicks – Fuck The Golden Youth
My first ever ‘R18’ show was The Mint Chicks at the old Dux in Christchurch. They were on their first tour and there were maybe 25 people there. The Octagon Octagon Octagon EP had just come out and they hit the stage and absolutely tore the roof off. It was so confrontational and the songs were so great, even at that early stage. Kody was climbing the amps and when his mic stopped working during the last song he slammed it on the ground and launched himself into Paul’s drumkit. I’d never seen anything like it. They instantly became my favourite band.
I could have chosen any number of their songs but I picked this one because the album came out the first year I went flatting and I vividly remember walking down to The CD Store in the mall and buying it the day it came out – it was an actual event to me! This song heralded a bit of a change of direction, it’s a slightly straighter punk song than what they were doing on the EPs prior to this, and so poppy too – I guess signaling what was to come on Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! which is undoubtedly their masterpiece.
We got to open for them for the first time in 2006 on the Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! tour, which was surreal. They were so good to us, and always encouraging of our band even though we could barely play back then. I don’t think there’s any New Zealand band in the past 25 years that made as much of an impact on the underground/alternative/indie/whatever scene as The Mint Chicks.
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Neil Finn – She Will Have Her Way
It might be nostalgia that draws me to this song. I remember seeing the video when I was on holiday at my grandparents’ bach in Manuka Bay when I was a kid and being really drawn to it. It’s a black and white clip that incorporates footage from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and has Neil getting snatched up by her, then they get married. I was probably also drawn in by the ‘di-do-doo’ bits too. I still am. Anyway, it’s just a great Neil Finn song, I don’t need to say much more than that.
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Tall Dwarfs – The Slide
I love so many Knox/Bathgate songs and it was a toss up between this and Pull Down The Shades by Toy Love/The Enemy, but I’m really feeling this one at the moment. It’s a very haunting song. I think the slide represents an elderly person’s descent into dementia, unless I’m totally misinterpreting the lyrics. The discordance of the funeral parlour-esque organ and the guitar line create a spooky atmosphere and help paint a pretty distressing picture of the scared, lonely figure who “just wants to be dead”. Heavy stuff.