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Shihad
The
story of Shihad is the classic rock and roll story of a band as a gang of
friends, united in music, and by virtue of that friendship able to endure
all the hurdles to their commitment the music business throws up in their
path.
 All four members
were born in the same Wellington base hospital, to parents of varying
social-economic backgrounds, ending up in the same Wellington High liberal
co-ed school. Singer/guitarist Jon Toogood and drummer Tom Larkin bonded
straight away, and in 1988 formed a band
called Exit. Still underage in mid-'88 they started playing local pubs,
with the addition of guitarist Phil Knight and bassist Phil Duncan, and a
change of name to Shihad, taken their name from a misspelling of the word
"jihad" in the sci-fi novel Dune. Their major influences at the
time were Metallica and Slayer, but legend has it that while covering the
Sex Pistol's 'Anarchy in the U.K.' during their debut performance, they
blew out the club's P.A. system. Duncan soon exited and, after a few false
starts, bassist Hamish Laing became his permanent replacement.
It was
this line-up which made Shihad's recording debut, 'Down Dance', the flip
side to a split single with a group called the Angels. Their influences had
extended to include Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden. In
1990 former front man of local punk legends Flesh-D-Vice Gerald Dwyer
declared himself their manager and educated them in some of the non-music
aspects of the rock and roll lifestyle. Their music education continued
with national tours supporting Faith No More and Motorhead. The band's
first release in their own right, mid-1991's EP 'Devolve', landed the band
in NZ's national Top 20. In August 91 bassist Hamish Laing left and Karl
Kippenberger joined, just in time for his second live show with Shihad to
be at Wellington Athletics stadium in front of 20,000 AC/DC fans.
1992 was
the year they stopped to take a breath. Toogood and Larking forming a side
project, SML, with Head Like A Hole's Nigel Regan. When Shihad resurfaced
with their first album in 1993 their sound had grown more industrial under
the influence of its producer, Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman who had relocated
to New Zealand.. The group even began experimenting with samplers. The
'Churn' album's first single 'I Only Said' reached #3 nationally in New
Zealand, and the band spent the following 12 months expanding their fan
base touring Australasia. The follow-up album, 1994's 'Killjoy', was also
hugely successful. Without the overpowering influence of Jaz Coleman, the
layering and atmospherics of 'Churn' were peeled back and replaced by a
wall of power and rhythm. In August Shihad secured a deal for Europe with
Noise Records and then spent two months on the road in Europe.
In 1995
the band followed a triumphant Big Day Out performance with an invitation
from Shihad fans Faith No More to join their seven week tour of Western
Europe. After the tour Shihad remained in Europe for a further four months,
riding the media support that accompanied the European release of
'Killjoy'. During this time Shihad played some of the biggest festivals in
the world, including Dynamo in Holland, the Phoenix Festival in Britain,
and the Roskilde in Denmark. In September '95 they flew from Europe to the
US to play at the Foundations Forum alongside Monster Magnet and Motorhead.
Yet again the music won over the press and Shihad remained in the States a
further three months playing clubs around LA and New York and completing
two national tours. Again Shihad returned to New Zealand to re-charge their
batteries for the next album (most of which was written in the US) and for
the summer festival season. However, tragedy struck when manager Gerald
Dwyer was found dead from a morphine overdose on the floor of his hotel
room just hours after watching the band deliver a blistering set at the
Auckland Big Day Out on the eve of the band's first Australian Big Day Out
tour. Skipping the Brisbane Big Day Out to attend Gerald's funeral, the
band rejoined the Big Day Out tour in Sydney.
Whilst
they put the finishing touches on their new album Shihad continued to work
live throughout Australia and New Zealand. Like the previous albums,
recorded in Parnell, Auckland with engineer/co-producer Malcolm Welsford,
half the tracks from the self-titled 'Shihad' were mixed by Adam Casper who
had worked on Soundgarden's 'Down on the Upside' and REM's 'New Adventures
in Hi-Fi'. 'Shihad' marked a shift towards a more melodic sound and its single
'La La Land' finally opened the doors in Australia, with strong airplay
support from Triple J.
During
February 1997 (after the now-legendary
sunset spot at the Auckland Big Day Out) the band toured promoting the record
through Germany, France, Holland, Spain, Italy, and the UK; at one point
joining silverchair on their first tour promoting their new album. The
'Shihad' album achieved Gold status in New Zealand. By now they had decided
to base themselves in Melbourne. But Shihad now found themselves in a tug
of war between record companies. Their performances in America had created
so much reaction Polydor decided to step in and claim the band as theirs
and forced their split from Noise in Europe and the US. Then Polydor didn't
bother to release the Shihad album in the America. Recovering from the
dismay of that situation, Shihad signed a new contract with Warners and the
fourth album, 'The General Electric', was recorded in Vancouver, Canada
with producer GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine) at the
controls.
On 'The
General Electric' Shihad welded the melody and harmony they had discovered
on the self-titled album with multi-tracking experimentation and the hard
edge in keeping with Shihad's live sound. All bar the title track of the
album were written in New Zealand, and tell identifiably homegrown stories.
'The General Electric' achieved Platinum sales at home, increased their
stature in Australia, and marked Shihad as a band of the future - after
more than a decade. Their energetic live performances, and that bond of
friendship between the band members had seen them through their journey so
far. Other than that, nothing seems to come easy for Shihad.
With
their eyes on the American market, Shihad found themselves with a problem
after the attacks on New York's World Trade Centre on September 11,2001 in
the process tarnishing the word 'jihad'. In January they announced they
would have to change their name. On February 13 at Los Angeles club, the
Viper Room, they gave their first performance as Pacifier, the name of a
Shihad song from the 'The General Electric' But after just one album under
their new name, in September 2004, the group interrupted sessions for their
sixth album in Vancouver by announcing the whole thing had been a mistake
and they were Shihad again.
The
results of those sessions, 'Love Is The New Hate', was considered a return
to Shihad's earlier style. The title of the follow-up 2008's 'Beautiful
Machine' relates to our planet Earth. That album returned Shihad to No.1 in
New Zealand.
In May
2010 the band announced it had signed in Australia to rock label
Roadrunner.
Related
artists
Head Like A Hole
Mark Of Cain
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