Goodshirt

Goodshirt are still hanging out in the garden shed. “Absolutely, it’s where it was all produced and engineered and stuff,” says front man Rodney Fisher, referring to the band’s second album, ‘Fiji Baby’. It’s the very same garden shed – the one he’s sitting outside today – where their 2001 debut album ‘Good’ was recorded and produced.

“We’ve got better at recording things,” he grins, and goes onto to praise Murray Fisher, his younger brother, fellow band member, and the album’s producer and engineer. “Murray has come on in leaps and bounds. I just guess he’s got a really good ear and really good taste that’s compatible with what we do. It’s a difficult job because we’ve all got different tastes. It’s a very difficult job, there are lots of fights, heartache, but you get there. The last album was like that too,” says Fisher flippantly.

‘Good’ spawned the huge hit single ‘Sophie’, which was the first NZ single in 18 month to go #1 on the charts and won ‘Single of The Year’ at the 2003 NZ Music Awards. ‘Blowing Dirt’ and ‘Place To Be’ were top 10 Rock Radio singles, meanwhile ‘Good’ spent more than seven months in the Top 50 charts and in that time reached nearly double-platinum status with sales in excess of 25,000 copies.

You’d think after the success of ‘Good’, and the intrigue surrounding Goodshirt’s ingenious videos, they’d be moving up in the world – or at least into a proper recording studio. Well, to be honest, Goodshirt – also made up of Gareth Thomas (keyboards/vocals) and Mike Beehre (drums) did spend three weeks at Auckland recording studio The Lab in preparation for ‘Fiji Baby’. “We went into the Lab, and basically moved in with a couple of drum kits, and heaps of amps, anything we could get our hands on, tuned up the Rhodes and all that sort of stuff.” But the back yard shed at the brother’s Grey Lynn flat beckoned. “I reckon when it comes down to it,” says Rodney, looking out into the tangle of grass in the backyard, “this place, especially for me and Murray anyway, this house is very inspiring. It’s a big part of what the music is. When it comes back to putting it all together you see the environment of where you’ve been.” “That’s the difference from being in the Lab, you can write something here and then play it outside and listen to it. I’d love to buy this house…gotta make millions first,” he laughs.

‘Fiji Baby’ is rich, full and well paced. The latter sounds like a strange description for music but it’s fitting for Goodshirt. They’re in no hurry to finish a song – they love songs. So what if there are more “slow” songs on ‘Fiji Baby’. Fisher admits it, compared to ‘Good’ there are more “slow” songs, but there’s still those berserk rock songs that have Black Sabbath riffs, Spilt Enz madness and the “chug”. “The important thing for us,” explains Fisher, “is the minimal thing and the space around the instruments. But you’ll know it’s Goodshirt,” he enthuses. “I think this album is more Beach Boys and Beatlesie than the last album. It’s a pretty good mix of what all our tastes are. Murray and Mike are into Queens Of the Stone Age – I suppose I am too – but there’s a good mix of Air and Beck and Flaming Lips as well. A lot of the same stuff kept coming through like that chuggy stuff. Lots of chugging and stuff which we like to do. But there’s still very Pink Floyd-ie moments and Eagles, Crosby Stills…and all that sort of stuff that we were brought up on.”

New tracks like ‘Dumb Day’, ‘Not That Far’ and ‘How Will I See You’ are the rock star moments of ‘Fiji Baby’ where that chug is brandished fully. Meanwhile tracks like ‘My Racing Head’ and the beautiful, yet haunting, ‘Cold Body’ are smouldering gems.