Great video from Swedish rock gods OK Go. It won the youtube 2006 video awards. Great rockin’ sounds. Almost makes me want to go to the gym. Almost.

They aren’t the next Abba. They shot Abba.

UPDATE: Here is the video Maybe mentioned below:

Kiwi band Opshop have hit the top of iTunes New Zealand charts this week with their new song Maybe from their forthcoming album Second Hand Planet.

This was going to be a simple write up, introducing the band, but The Press (my local newspaper back in New Zealand) seems to have pulled the story. No idea why. And of course with the way the music industry is set up I have no way to check whether the band is in fact number 1. You can read google’s cached version of the story here.

Still, I found this video on youtube of a great track from their first album. The track is Nothing Can Wait, off Opshop’s first album.

It is great to see another New Zealand band doing so well. In this day and age it is possible for normal people to vote with their wallets and support what they like and not what record companies foist upon them. Still waiting for the day when this works internationally though!

Ok, thought we should kick things off with some of that classic “Dunedin Sound” Flying Nun magic. This track is She Speeds by the legendary Straitjacket Fits off the 1987 ep Life in One Chord. This track was later re-released on the UK version of the 1988 album Hail put out by Rough Trade.

There is a great post at the mixotheque blog with a whole bunch of New Zealand mp3’s you can download. Not sure about the copyright of those tracks, but if it gets people into the whole Flying Nun thing then it can’t be a bad thing. For an introduction to the Dunedin Sound and the Flying Nun story check out Stylus Magazine’s great feature In Love with Those Times: Flying Nun and the Dunedin Sound.

I never did see the Straitjacket Fits live although I did get to change Shayne Carter’s guitar strings during a gig in Christchurch back sometime in 1994 or 1995 when he was fronting Dimmer. A great claim to fame. I am not sure what effects pedals he was using on She Speeds but I assume he was using a hotcake. If anyone out there has some info about that his set up it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to pop into the Aqua Effector Blog. We are planning to use this blog to have a bit of fun. We want to post different videos of various artists and musicians here to showcase some of the many different sounds out there. Of course we will feature effects pedals, because effects pedals are what this site is all about. But we also want to include videos of bands and musicians that rock, that get us going.

Being based in Japan, and selling mostly made in Japan effects pedals, it is natural that we also want to show off some of the more interesting and totally flavorsome acts that spring from the Land of the Rising Sun. One of the Aqua Effector team is from New Zealand and he has been a fan of what is known as the Flying Nun sound for more years than he cares to admit so New Zealand music will also get its chance to shine. And then there are the rock classics that one cant live without.

We also want to showcase new bands from around the world. Especially our customers:) So if you have bought a pedal from us, send us some pics (or some video that would rock) and we will put it up. We will also post when and where you are playing. If you haven’t bought one of our effects pedals yet, then that doesn’t matter - if we like what you do, then we may just write about you as well.

Shouts,

The Aqua Effector Team