Goodshirt are an alternative/pop/rock band from Auckland, New Zealand. The band formed when keyboardist Gareth Thomas left his computer recording setup with the Fisher brothers, Rodney and Murray, for safe keeping.[1]
While still a three piece, the band submitted their song "Green" to a track competition run by radio station 9inety6dot1. Subsequently, station manager Grant Hislop became their manager, and the band was rounded out with drummer Mike Beehre joining the fold.[1]
"Sophie", the fourth single from their debut album Good, was a number one single in New Zealand.[2]Good was released in Canada, Australia, and Japan.[3]
A second album, Fiji Baby, was released in 2004. Like its predecessor, it reached number 5 in the New Zealand charts.[4]
The band went on hiatus in 2005 when Rodney Fisher moved to London to work with Breaks Co-Op,[5] but reunited in 2011,[6] and in early 2012 they began playing again with support gigs for Hall & Oates and Icehouse as part of the A Day on the Green festival. In May 2012 Goodshirt released the new EP Skinny Mirror and including the singles "So Charming" and "Out of Our League".[7]
In 2014, the band released a cover of "Sierra Leone" originally by Coconut Rough. It was made available as a free download through their SoundCloud band page, along with the release of an official music video on YouTube.[8][9]
Members
Rodney Fisher – guitar and vocals
Murray Fisher – guitar
Gareth Thomas – keyboards/bass and vocals
Mike Beehre – drums
Music videos
Five videos were directed by Joe Lonie, including some that were shot in a single take.[10] Lonie notes that at the height of their close creative relationship, "they even talked about me being an unofficial fifth member of the band."[11]
Filmed in one continuous take and upside down and sped-up. The band take turns using the sink in a bathroom, with all objects and liquids falling up.[12]
Shot in a continuous take and slowed down, the camera follows Rodney through an old building as he eats fruit while singing, coming across a series of unusual situations.[14]
Filmed in a continuous take, a young woman listens to music on headphones, unaware that burglars (played by Goodshirt) are behind her, stealing everything in her flat.[15] "Sophie" won Best Music Video at the 2003 New Zealand Music Awards.[16]
Shot in a continuous take, with the camera circling a badminton court. The band are dressed as "Good" and "Evil" teams of badminton-playing beekeepers who seem unable to score a point.[17]
Rodney plays a man whose two young children build a giant kite around him and fly him in the sky, with Goodshirt playing the "pro kite champions" team.[23]
Depicts a man struggling through a nightmarish, psychedelic desert environment. Heavily stylised and a departure from their previous video styles, combining film and animation techniques, with a nod to the original music video by Coconut Rough.