Cool for Carter to play The Cook again

Shayne P Carter (left),  drummer Gary Sullivan and bassist James Duncan light up a full house ...
Shayne P Carter (left), drummer Gary Sullivan and bassist James Duncan light up a full house (far right), upstairs at The Captain Cook Hotel on Saturday night. Photos: Gerard O'Brien.
Like a dusty old LP, life seems to spin in circles.

It’s something Dunedin-born musician Shayne Carter has been marvelling at since his performance at The Captain Cook Hotel on Saturday night.

The 52-year-old award-winning musician has become music royalty to his fans, for leading Straitjacket Fits (1986-94), Dimmer (1995-2012), and more recently his self-titled band — Shayne P Carter.

But before all that, he was "just a boy" who had the fortune of having The Cook as a second home, where many of Dunedin’s seminal bands made their names.

"My dad used to run the bistro at The Cook way back in the day.

"I can remember going there as a kid and chopping chips. So to be chopping different kinds of chips  — you might say musical chips — the circle was complete.

"It was cool to play The Cook again. It was the place to play when I was growing up.

"It sounded great. We had a sell-out crowd and we had a really good show. The crowd was excellent."

Carter was the first to perform in the hotel since it  reopened in May this year.

He said it was special to be the first, and it felt like a homecoming of sorts for him.

Captain Cook Hotel managing director Sheldon Lye said he was "stoked" to see the return of the Dunedin Sound to The Cook.

"It was something that I thrived on when I was growing up. I looked up to guys like Shayne Carter.

"We enjoyed having him back. It’s been a long time since Shayne played here.

"I’m really stoked to be part of it."

Mr Lye hoped the performance would mark the return of live bands playing regularly at the hotel.

He said the success of Saturday night’s concert was spurring him on.

"The support we got was really invigorating for me. It breathed new life in to the live music ideals of The Cook, which was a beautiful thing.

"[Saturday night] was the culmination of a long project for me. Seeing Shayne playing there was quite a good moment for me."

Mr Lye said the venue aimed to create a "standard Friday night live band fixture".

"I’d really like to see a live music scene return to the upstairs at The Cook.

"I’ve got very fond memories myself, of going to see live bands up there, and I’d like to see that return as often as we can."

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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