We're Shihad! By Murray Engleheart, Massive magazine #8 August/September 1997 |
Murray Engleheart meets the talented makers of Shihad, in particular singer and guitarist Jon Toogood. It's a fair bet that none of the members of Shihad were sitting at home in New Zealand desperately wishing they were among the multitude at Crowded House's farewell show at the Opera House. But in depth of the rockist skill at work on their new self-titled album is to be any guide their appreciation for the Crowdies' song skills is probably no minor thing these days. In fact Neil Finn made and appearance in spirit during the recording of the album that had the Shihad noise space smelling of hot values and calling for veteran fuses. "He left his fucking amazing old amp collection in this studio," says Jon Toogood. "He was away overseas so we just helped ourselves to it," he laughed. "We got to play through these amazing old vox amps. It was awesome. We set this huge studio up like a lounge basically and were surrounded by amps and all sorts of gizmos. He came up to me at the Big Day Out in Auckland and said, "I found out about the amps. They need a good run every now and again.' Then he brought his kid to get our autographs." The brief and appreciative fling with those veteran amps speaks volumes about Shihad in 1997 and the real thrust of their excellent current album. The sediment has settled in the band that once could have been the first New Zealand act to bear the imprint of the everything-louder-than-everything-else Amphetamine Reptile label, won respect and profile thanks to folks like Metallica's Kirk Hammett and even had a recording relationship with Killing Joke's madman, Jaz Coleman. And for the first time they're even getting great raves in Melody Maker in additon to the usualworship from Kerrang! "It's a lot more sound-orientated as (the) 'Churn' (album) was. I think we really did have a good time playing around with classic sound formats and fucking around with them rather than starting on something completely different or starting on a drum beat which is what we did a lot in the 'Churn' era. "This album was more of a commentary on what happened in the last two yeard when we were travelling around with (the) Killjoy (album). There's definately some wide open spaces in it. My life completely changed when we released 'Killjoy' and we've been a professional band for the last two years and been touring." By the time you read this the band will be in the middle of another string of US dates. But chances are West Hollywood's Viper Room won't be welcoming them back in a hurry. "As soon as we turned on (the problems started). We do play loud but that's the whole thing- we control the volume, that's the thrill of it. We tried to explain that to these guys that this the sound of the band, we can't turn down." |