Shayne P. Carter Announces North Island Solo Tour + Interview

Star and central focus of director Margaret Gordon's must see 2025 rockumentary Life In One Chord — based on his multi-award-winning memoir Dead People I Have Known — Shayne P. Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer, The DoubleHappys) is bringing his solo tour series to Te Ika-a-Māui this autumn. A natural extension of last year's hugely popular Te Waipounamu tour and December dates in Australia, Carter has announced a run of intimate-scale, limited capacity headline shows for March and April.

This tour also follows the release of REforms, the 2020 Arts Foundation Laureate's new live album with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra ("the heft and glory of the NZSO collides with the Shayne Carter songbook", out now at good record stores), plus the recent digital-only release of Music for "Home Land and Sea" — Carter’s score for a collaborative work by the Royal New Zealand Ballet and New Zealand Dance Company.

Last September's South Island tour announcement was accompanied by the shock news that somebody had grabbed his suitcase of guitar FX pedals at the airport. Satisfying this reporter's curiosity and providing a very handy reference in case that mishap ever happens again, Carter spilled the beans about his personal arsenal of FX in an exclusive "Rig Rundown" with interviewer Q. Have a geez at Shayne P. Carter's pedal board below, and snap up tickets before they disappear...

Shayne P. Carter
North Island Solo Tour

Thursday 26th March - Nirvara Lounge, Hamilton
Friday 27th March - Rosemary’s, Taupo
Saturday 28th March - Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui
Sunday 29th March - Snails, Palmerston North
Tuesday 31st March - Raumati Social Club, Raumati
Wednesday 1st April - Carterton, Private House Concert (tickets via venue)
Thursday 2nd April - Pukehou Church, Small Hall Sessions, Hawkes Bay*
Friday 3rd April -  Haumoana Hall, Small Hall Sessions, Hawkes Bay*
Saturday 4th April - Dome Cinema, Gisborne
Friday 10th April - Tauranga, Jam Factory^
Saturday 11th April - Monkey House Lounge & Cabaret, Whitianga

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR
*Tickets on sale HERE
^Tauranga tickets available HERE

Shayne, that’s a great guitar sound you have at your solo shows. What pedals are you using?

Shayne P. Carter: Well, thanks for asking… (stares at pedalboard)

(Right to Left)

VOLUME PEDAL
This is crucial for mixing myself onstage on the fly, according to the individual circumstances of each show.

EHX POG
Everyone has one of these. It’s an octave pedal that people usually use when they’re doing Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes. But for me the Pog is like a 3-D wooze machine. It’s a 2 octave up and 2 octave down pedal that can be mixed in as subtlety as you want, adding lots of spacey over-and-undertones to your sound. There’s also an attack button that makes your guitar sound slightly backwards which is instant psychedelia. Millions of possibilities with this one.

FARIFIELD CIRCUITRY “THE ACCOUNTANT” COMPRESSOR
This Canadian company makes awesome pedals that always have an experimental edge to them. It’s cool when pedals have features outside the ones they’re prescribed for. Compression is super handy for sloppy guitarists who can’t play or pick strings evenly. It makes your sound more cohesive and punchier. This pedal also adds some grit that lifts you away from the plink plonk of an ordinary acoustic.

AFX ACOUSTICVERB
Like The Accountant, an ‘always on’ pedal. I’ve always had an ‘always on’ reverb pedal in my set up — like, nothing cavernous, just a wisp of width and atmosphere.

BOSS EQ PEDAL
The humble Boss EQ pedal is an amazingly useful tool that remains completely unsexy and underrated - as a boost and tone shaper. Super useful for my show where I’m switching sounds that range from toppy to murky. This pedal makes it way easier sorting out that shit.

TUNER
Handy for people who otherwise would spend half the show trying to tune their guitar.

CHASETONE SECRET PRE AMP
Some guy had this at the end of his pedal chain and was big upping big time it on a Rig Rundown. He’d been playing guitar for centuries but the best he could offer was that the Chasetone “makes my guitar sound better”. He was completely right. More sparkle, more heft, more depth … this is a true secret weapon.

Thanks Shayne. That was wonderful.

You’re welcome. Thanks for inviting me.