Promotional photo for Dunedin, New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits (photographer: Stuart Page), issued by U.S. record label Rough Trade circa 1988.
This is but one of many band press photos I acquired via in the early nineties back when labels mailed these things everywhere, specifically:
To the record store where I worked
To the radio station where I DJâed
To me, care of my fanzine
Since this photo would have coincided with their lone U.S. indie release in 1988 on Rough Tradeâbefore they got snapped up by major label Arista RecordsâI likely nabbed it from one of the many piles we had at the record store. Because I didnât discover Straitjacket Fits until the following year, when I bough the In Love With These Times compilation CD at my local Newbury Comics.
Straitjacket Fits were on my mind, as they were the surprise in the recently announced lineup for Flying Nunâs 40th anniversary concert happening in Auckland, New Zealand next month. That also led me to unearth a live recording of Iâd made in July 1991 when I saw Straitjacket Fits for the first time, at T.T. the Bearâs in Cambridge. Itâs on my list of recordings to clean up and post to my YouTube channel of nineties gigs Iâd taped. But I did play âShe Speedsâ from that recording on my radio show last night. I was fortunate enough to see them before Andrew Broughâwho passed away early last yearâleft the band.
