She Speeds

Straitjacket Fits , Music Video – 1987

from the EP Life in One Chord EP (1987)

A triumph of imagination and creativity over budget, this classic Jonathan Ogilvie clip cost $250 to make. Coloured cellophane and a projector provided the psychedelic look on the musician's heads. The performance shots capture Straitjacket Fits on of a truck going through the Lyttelton tunnel. Shayne Carter's snarl is supported by an almost-mullet — apparently self-styled. Otago Daily Times writer Sean Flaherty wrote of the song: “builds into an amphetamine rush, speeding in angry bravado before subsidizing to fake bathos … then, more guitar thrills, choir boy harmonies and a suitable fadeout".

I like 'She Speeds' because it has absolutely everything I look for in a rock song: excitement, tension, dynamics, a decent lyric and great vocals. I thought when Shayne [Carter] came to my house clutching the EP that it was outstanding but that they could never do it live. Then when I saw them do it live, I was flabbergasted. It was then I thought that Straitjacket Fits would conquer the world.
– Legendary Dunedin record shop owner Roy Colbert, in Pavement 43, October 2000, page 98