{"id":35841,"date":"2018-10-08T07:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=35841"},"modified":"2018-10-03T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T06:28:08","slug":"jon-toogood-of-shihad-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2018\/10\/jon-toogood-of-shihad-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Toogood of Shihad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said for playing with the same four guys for thirty years, there\u2019s a sort of element of tightness that you can only get from that familiarity between those four characters\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Picture this… 1988, Bob Hawke is Prime Minister, Australia dumps $600 million bucks of tax payer cash on Expo 88, Home and Away hits our tellies for the first time, triple j launch the Hottest 100, Nintendo release the Game Boy, free University education is no longer an option, and over in Wellington NZ, the Southernmost capital city in the world, Jon Toogood and Tom Larkin are busily creating a heavy rock band…. A monstrous band that would end up becoming one of New Zealand’s most loved, respected and successful exports….. KIA ORA SHIHAD!<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2018… Shihad have released nine studio albums (five of which went to #1 in NZ). They survived a name change propelled by Jihad becoming a staple negative reference in the global vernacular thanks to 9\/11 (Shihad became Pacifier, and returned to Shihad), personal triumphs and tragedies, travelled all over the world with endless tours, selling out headline shows and sharing stages at major local and international festivals.<\/p>\n

Shihad front man Jon Toogood gave us a call while in his home town of Melbourne to talk about thirty years of Shihad, the tour supporting that momentous occasion, amazing memories of releasing \u2018The General Electric\u2019 which turns twenty this year, what\u2019s next for the band, and much more!<\/p>\n

Firstly, congratulations of thirty years of rockin\u2019, man\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah it\u2019s pretty crazy, dude, yeah that sort of happened real fast.<\/p>\n

Did you think when putting it together back in 1988 that thirty years on Shihad would still be a force?<\/strong>
\nNot at all, I remember when we were really young we made a plan to be the biggest band in the world by the year 2000, obviously that didn\u2019t happen but we did learn some stuff along the way and became quite a grunty live band and made some cool records and stuff, and yeah every year I know it\u2019s like we seem to find ways around writing hard guitar music that we haven\u2019t tried before and we really enjoy playing with each other and managed to stay creative which is really good.<\/p>\n

In support of this momentous occasion you\u2019re heading out on the road, how will you be putting thirty years of the band into these shows?<\/strong>
\nWell as well as being the thirty years it\u2019s also the twentieth anniversary of \u2018The General Electric\u2019 so I do think we\u2019re gonna have to play the main bulk of that record and then basically go through our favourite songs of pretty much every release I\u2019d say. It\u2019ll be a pretty intense workout.<\/p>\n

So roughly a four hour set then?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Yeah nah\u2026 honestly because I\u2019m 47 now, as soon as I hear the first note of a show I\u2019m pretty much back to where I was when I was 18 years old, so yeah my body couldn\u2019t deal with four hours, hey *laughs* not a chance, the shows are just as intense as they ever were.<\/p>\n

So can we expect climbing and jumping off speaker stacks?<\/strong>
\nWell, if the mood takes me, like I tend to actually enjoy playing better now rather than doing that, in saying that it just depends on the moment *laughs*.<\/p>\n

In playing shows for years and always killing it live, what do you enjoy most about the live aspect of the band?<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s something to be said for playing with the same four guys for thirty years, there\u2019s a sort of element of tightness that you can only get from that familiarity between those four characters it\u2019s just this unspoken I know where he\u2019s gonna be, I know where that\u2019s gonna be, you have that trust and that sort of bulletproof edge that comes from playing that long with the same characters. We make a big noise, we do hard music really well, it\u2019s our natural sort of thing, but I do like especially with this sort of set I do like the physicality of it, I like the fact that it\u2019s a challenge and then it forces me to be in the present moment, like you have to be completely there to pull off this stuff I do like that because I\u2019m a typical artist and my mind tends to wander if I\u2019m not nailed down and that\u2019s why I think I was attracted to playing music like this in the first place because you can\u2019t afford to be anywhere else but in the present moment you know to pull it off.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll did mention you\u2019ll also be celebrating twenty years since the release of \u2018The General Electric\u2019 and with it coming on vinyl, but let\u2019s look back, what do you remember about releasing this massive album for you?<\/strong>
\nAll I remember was we\u2019d just done \u2018The Fish album\u2019 and that was our first album before sort of set us up because initially our first few records were all about just riffs and stuff like that and we\u2019re just basically creating ammunition for mosh pits and stuff like that really and big PA\u2019s and weren\u2019t really concerned about writing songs and then on \u2018The Fish album\u2019 I went what\u2019s it like to write songs? It was a bit hit and miss that record but at the same time\u00a0 it\u2019s got songs like \u2018Home Again\u2019 on it which have become sort of like classic New Zealand songs and stuff like that but that\u2019s just through experimentation. Then \u00a0after that was like cool, it\u2019s our time for writing songs but we sort of forgot that live were this massive wall of sound and we needed to make a record that sort of encounters both those things, I think we just focused and were really determined to pull that off. Then just through twist of fate initially we signed with warner Brothers Australia and they said as part of the deal you have to make a commitment to this territory ie move over, so we all moved over and chose Melbourne as our home base because it was the most like New Zealand, and because we all lived in the same house we didn\u2019t really have anything else so it was just music every day, focus, focus, music, music, write, write, write. Then through some contacts we made we hooked up with Garth Richardson, the producer of The General Electric and he was the guy that did Red Hot Chili Peppers \u2018Mother\u2019s Milk\u2019 which we loved and then Rage Against The Machine\u2019s first album that we also loved, so it was like he flew down from Canada when he heard the demos we\u2019d done and went \u201cOK let\u2019s make a huge rock record\u201d and it was like Ok fuckin\u2019 let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n

So we all cruised over to Vancouver and just focused like hell and worked really hard on songs and then basically recorded in all these dream studios, the same studios where Motley Crue recorded \u2018Dr Feelgood\u2019 which we thought sounded huge at the time, just lived our rock and roll fantasies basically *laughs*. Then I remember mixing with Randy Staub who did Metallica\u2019s Black album and was a friend of Garth\u2019s and we were mixing at Bryan Adams\u2019 studios and AC\/DC were tracking their what became \u2018Stiff Upper Lip\u2019 or \u2018Ballbreaker\u2019 I can\u2019t remember which one it was but they were downstairs in the same studio tracking while we were upstairs mixing \u2018The General Electric\u2019. I just remember every day was like bumping into Malcolm Young or Brian Johnson saying \u201chey I made some Irish stew do you want some?\u201d just thinking fuck life\u2019s good *laughs* there\u2019s like my favourite band in the world, I\u2019m upstairs mixing a record I love with a guy who did Metallica\u2019s Black album and there\u2019s AC\/DC offering us Irish stew and asking us how the mixing is going. I just remember thinking yeah this is what I want *laughs*. I just remember we sent back the first mixes back to the record company and them going shit this is a behemoth but again at that point in Australia we were still driving around in a canary yellow ford falcon station wagon up and down the country and playing pub gigs rubbing out the part on the posters of whoever wrote in brackets it would always be Shihad (NZ) and we\u2019d always rub out the (NZ) because we just wanted to be known as a band not a New Zealand band we wanted to be a band from anywhere so we rubbed that out, go and play anywhere that would take us. But around that time we had that record and then we were offered The Big Day Out but we were only going to be on one of the side stages and then I remember Jay from Frenzal Rhomb breaking his arm about a week before the first Big Day Out of that year and they had to pull out and they were on main stage, first band on admittedly, or second band on, and we were given their slot and we just went OK here\u2019s our chance got this great record and I remember spending most of the time crowd surfing *laughs* and doing anything I could to make people just go \u2018oh this band\u2019s the shit\u2019 basically and we had the material to back it up.<\/p>\n

Now nine albums in as a band, and four years since your last, what\u2019s next musically for the band?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve already got a huge body of work sitting around, for me \u2018FVEY\u2019 is one of the records I\u2019m most proud of which is really strange for this far into a band\u2019s career to potentially write a record that\u2019s quite relevant and quite potent, and it was pretty weighty politically, pretty angry record and if anything I think the world\u2019s in even worse shape than it was when I wrote that record. So we\u2019ve got a whole bunch of music, it\u2019s heavier than even that was, I\u2019m just trying to not repeat myself lyrically so I\u2019m waiting for the inspiration to not do that because if anything I\u2019m even more angry about the way the world is *laughs* but it is going to be one heavy motherfucker basically.<\/p>\n

So it’s sometimes easy to say what’s changed in your time in a band but what would you say is the one thing that’s stayed the same in your time together in Shihad?<\/strong>
\nI think we\u2019ve got a real attention to detail when it comes to the live show, we were lucky enough back in the say to support AC\/DC even when we had a speed metal EP we were asked to support them on the \u2018Razor\u2019s Edge\u2019 tour in New Zealand, seeing that up close and going oh shit, right, that\u2019s the benchmark for a live show, that\u2019s how much work you have to put in. Then seeing Fugazi the was another band from Washington DC that we saw and went oh right you don\u2019t need big light shows you just need passion and the truth, and then coming over and we supported The Mark of Cain from Adelaide they were really good. The next time we came to Australia we supported Midnight Oil on their greatest hits album and just watching Peter Garrett as a front man just giving everything, We were really lucky to see all these bands that could actually fuckin\u2019 turn it on, like really turn it on and go OK, we\u2019ve gotta work much harder than we\u2019re working and we had a really good work ethic, whatever it took to be that band it was a band that people would bleed to come and see again. That meant sacrificing a whole bunch of time with the family and missed social life but we were cool with that because we were passionate about that and we still are. I think once you\u2019ve played a great show, a show that actually makes people buzz and forget about all their problems and makes you forget about all your problems as well, I think it\u2019s really hard to step back from that and\u00a0 we were always pushing to make sure that happens and that\u2019s never changed. It\u2019s sacred our time on stage, whenever we\u2019re together now especially now that we\u2019ve all got kids and other things going on in our lives, when we come together it\u2019s like this has got to be good so we fuckin\u2019 give it everything.<\/p>\n

After thirty years what’s on your bucket list of things to do as a band that you haven’t yet had the chance to do?<\/strong>
\nWell we haven\u2019t supported The Stones and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen *laughs* that would\u2019ve been good but the last time they were in New Zealand they brought who\u2019s that fuckin\u2019 awful band from Canada that\u2019s huge, that one with millions and zillions of records? Oh, Nickelback, they brought Nickelback so we just didn\u2019t get a look in *laughs* but it\u2019s one thing I would\u2019ve loved to have done. I mean we supported Black Sabbath that was pretty good, we supported AC\/DC a few times that\u2019s definitely bucket list stuff for me. Oh, supported Metallica, pretty happy with that, haven\u2019t done Slayer but we\u2019re probably a little soft for Slayer *laughs*.<\/p>\n

Lastly let’s predict the future, finish this sentence for me. In 2019 Shihad will…<\/strong>
\nHave a new album that\u2019s heavier than anything they\u2019ve ever done before *laughs*.<\/p>\n

One more thing, on a personal note, I wanted to say thank you for your amazing track \u2018One Will Hear The Other\u2019 which is one of my favourite songs.<\/strong>
\nOh awesome, bro, I really like that, that\u2019s really cool because that definitely divided fans that one if you were into the heavier stuff that was a wussy pop song, but for me it was like just a rush of rock and roll that song, I really like what it\u2019s doing melodically and I never structured a song like that, it just hits and doesn\u2019t let up I\u2019m really glad you like that song, we love that song ourselves.<\/p>\n

Feel free to throw it into the Sydney set list when you play here please.<\/strong>
\nFor sure, bro, I\u2019d be right into it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SHIHAD 30th\u00a0ANNIVERSAY\u00a0TOUR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fri 16 Nov – Rosemount Hotel –\u00a0PERTH, WA – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 17 Nov – Metropolis – FREMANTLE, WA – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sun 18 Nov – Fowlers – ADELAIDE, SA – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fri 23 Nov – The Triffid – BRISBANE, QLD – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 24 Nov – The Metro –\u00a0SYDNEY, NSW – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fri 30 Nov – 170 Russell – MELBOURNE, VIC – Tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Also appearing at:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 1 Dec – Hotter Than Hell – TOWNSVILLE, QLD\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 19 Jan – Hotter Than Hell – GLADSTONE, QLD\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 26 Jan – Hotter Than Hell – TOOWOOMBA, QLD\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sun 27 Jan – Hotter Than Hell – GOLD COAST, QLD\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sat 16 Feb – Hotter Than Hell – IPSWICH, QLD\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>New Zealand<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0 Jon Toogood \u2013 Vocals \/ Guitar, Tom Larkin \u2013 Drums, Phil Knight \u2013 Guitar, Karl Kippenberger – Bass<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.shihad.com<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Forthcoming Release:<\/strong> Vinyl release of \u2018The General Electric\u2019 (October 12 \u2013 Warner Music – Preorder here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t