Shihad - Give It A Whirl Interview
2023
In this extended interview, recorded for 2003 TV series Give It A Whirl, Shihad's vocalist Jon Toogood and drummer Tom Larkin discuss their Kiwi musical influences, breaking into the Australian scene, and their early determination to forge a global career.
They also discuss:
- The lack of metal bands in "kooky" late 1980s Wellington
- Their deep admiration for Straitjacket Fits and "harder" Flying Nun bands like Skeptics and Bailterspace (9 minutes in)
- The importance of Polynesian culture and music in forging a New Zealand sound (14 minutes)
- Breaking into the Australian music market, by basing themselves there and touring relentlessly (19 minutes)
- Being in the United States on 9/11 — and the band's decision to change their name to Pacifier after the attack (30 minutes)
Read more about Shihad, on AudioCulture (NZ On Screen's sister website)
“...we played and played and played, you know. One year it was 158 shows ... The tightness and the communication musically between the band can only come from being able to do that. And you can't do that in New Zealand, because you run out of land...”
Jon Toogood on the band honing its playing via extensive live touring
“There was also a huge cultural cringe back then, you know — for the New Zealand public at any rate. When we were growing up....that whole Split Enz thing had died off a little bit, and it was just the Flying Nun scene. And there was this 'anti' thing from a lot of people about New Zealand music, because it was perceived as being totally indie....”
Tom Larkin on local reaction to mainstream Kiwi rock groups in the late 1980s and early 1990s
“With the name change it's a lot like changing the name of your son or your daughter at the age of twelve. So it was pretty weird. There's never, to my knowledge, been a band having to change their name because of a war, and so there was nowhere we could reference from. So that made it very difficult.”
Jon Toogood on the band changing its name from Shihad to Pacifier, in 2002
“It was kind of the "kooky Wellington" scene, which Wellington became famous for, and of course, we wanted to blow up...”
Tom Larkin describes Wellington's local music scene at the time the band formed, early in this interview
“...it's a 'rock' country which is good for a band like us, but at the same time I think they lack a little bit of...I suppose 'sexy groove', which New Zealand has, because we've got a Polynesian culture and we've got our own culture...”
Jon Toogood on differences between the music scene in New Zealand and Australia
“...Bailterspace were a huge influence on us in the fact that they went "oh we're a good band and we're just gonna go over to New York"... some of those shows that they played in Wellington were the loudest, the most ridiculously loud shows ... just a wave of melody, that made your whole insides shake....”
Jon Toogood on the influence of Flying Nun band Bailterspace
“...We wanted to be the loudest, the heaviest, the fastest band in the world, and that was it...”
Jon Toogood recalls the band's international ambitions, early in this interview
Copyright
This interview was recorded for the 2003 season of TV series Give it a Whirl. All audiovisual content is copyright to Visionary Film & TV, and may not be reproduced.
