| | | |  | Shihad, originally from Wellington now in Melbourne, Australia are the band leading the international kiwi rock charge. Shihad are Jon Toogood - vocals and guitar, Tom Larkin - drums, Karl K - bass and Phil Knight - guitar and keyboards. Shihad are easily...
more |
| Interview | Shihad are back in more ways than one! Back with their original name - Shihad - and with a new single and album!... AAA chats to Jonny!
Access All Areas.net.au:: Firstly, you've gone back to your original name of Shihad?
Shihad:[excited] Yes… basically when we changed to Pacifier it was purely because of September 11 and the reaction from we were getting from US people around us and then it's "lets not decide now" and we argued for the next six months and while we were recording the album we tried to hold off and thought people would stop worrying and it got worse and worse and worse and so it got to the point where we had to make a decision. All the doors we've been fighting to get open - it's always been a dream to record and do live shows in the US where our favourite bands came from and we wanted to do that. And it was like well "wow the doors are open and we can change our name" or we stay as we are and be hard line and the doors close. It was the worse situation to be in… I hated it - I mean I didn't mind the name Pacifier but I really loved Shihad so it was a pretty awful year for me. We toured America and it was like I miss home - I miss New Zealand and Australia so when we got back to New Zealand and Australia it was like right let's firstly lay down the law: we write music, we write with no consideration for others and I know it was probably a bit selfish but that's how we did it in the past.
Shihad:At our shows the fans would always chant "Shihad" and when we changed to Pacifier that "Shihad" chant got louder and the reason why we didn't change it back a year ago was because we didn't want to go through it all again. It was a nightmare the first time - we said nah nah we're not changing it again because we had to go through a media circus and I do mean a circus and we just wanted it to be about the music.
Shihad:So we wrote a bunch of stuff we thought "this sounds like a mother f#*ker Shihad album. We went away and did a little tour of Perth and Western Australia before starting recording of this new album and the "Shihad" chant was louder and it was the first time I actually turned around and did an encore and said "this sounds awesome" and after that it was "let's change our name, right let's do it and deal with consequences". To our pleasant surprise the reaction from fans and on the forums was like thank f#*ken god, what a relief and that's what we felt. Now we're Shihad again and it feels so good.
Access All Areas.net.au:: Alive is the new single and its been described as a very instinctive rock song, what was it that you were relating to when writing this song?
Shihad:The thing is with this band, we're a really good live band and we've always prided ourselves and is everyone blown away on a Shihad show, if not we're not doing our job. The reason we have that is that we have a great rhythm section and on the Pacifier album it was more about the songwriting and the album hitting chords at the right time and then it's like hold it, we never used to worry about that shit… now its like what is something that no other band can do… it's important to really concentrate and be inside the music and our old music was like that. Whether people love or hate the song no one could accuse of being someone else - it's [Alive] a pure Shihad song to me and a fun song live. When you get it tight when playing live, its great!!!
Access All Areas.net.au:: The idea behind the video clip for your new single 'Alive', how did that come about?
Shihad:Pretty much I seen a video by a band called Dimmer from New Zealand and it was all animated and it's completely different soul of music to us but it impressed me with the low budget and it impressed me that it was made by a Kiwi and I found out that the guy who did that clip, I knew who used to be a drummer and he had since learnt how to make animation.
Shihad:I flew to Sydney and sat down with him and played him the song and he liked it and we through some images around then went on the internet and we basically got footage off the internet and ran it to the versus of the song and it suited perfectly and it summed up the acceleration of the music. Then it was like right how do we tie that all together and then he showed me a Japanese animation he liked and it had all fluffy bunnies and I was laughing at first and thinking this is f#*ken crazy, but then he played it with the chorus and it was perfect - that's how we get the slow movement of the leaf flowing down the river.. and it was like I'll leave it with you but lets do it.
Shihad:The word in the verse is 'alive' and it sums up how you feel when you play music from the heart… so we decided to go very industrial and city-like as possible then flip to something natural in the chorus which is where the birds and leaves come in and the parachuter.
Shihad:I knew it would be a good video but when I saw it this guys' done a great job and the music makes sense…. even more with the video. So we're pretty proud of it and the best thing is we don't have to be in it! I hate making videos so I was pretty pleased.
Access All Areas.net.au:: So, tell me about this new album you have got coming out 'Love Is The New Hate' and how the name for it came about?
Shihad:It's just from the way we feel the world is at the moment… we spent two years in America and watched a country that pretty much was the center politically swinging hard to right and became conservative and aggressive and I thought it was the 80's all over again... why aren't people saying f#*k that's wrong and address the core rather than fight fire with fire - it just gets worse. We've been smashed around for last two years and have let things slide for the sake of comfort and I think its weird … even the election in Australia with the re-election of John Howard - I wasn't a Lathem fan - but it was proven with Howard like the treatment of the regugees and these things that worry me as a human being and I can understand that you want to look after your family but you've also go to sleep at night too!
Shihad:Just people being sold on this bullshit and not being ignorant but people seeing this and letting it slide to far to the right… so the records about a lot of time spent in America.
Access All Areas.net.au:: How does song writing happen for the Shihad?
Shihad:Pretty much with the new one we went to a place called Ngamatea and it was in middle of Norht Island and is very beautiful but is very mountainous and we set up our equipment in a place where no one could get hold of us on the phones which was great and we picked up our instruments and played, we let things gel.
Shihad:The nice thing about being in band for fourteen years is that the musicians are the same and they are. The whole point of it was to let it come out and lets record everything, lets do things that haven't been done before and really get the blood boiling. Use the fact that we have a great rhythm section with the guitar's, get out of it shit I couldn't think of myself.
Shihad:We've all got Mac's and Ibooks and stuff but there is a danger in a musician getting lost in the production when it's our job to do the music right and to play it well so we got ghetto blaster and recorded it all on a cassette (they still sell cassette's) like we did as kids and then jam and then we'd stop and rewind them and go that's good, that's good, that's good, oh that need's work and then stop and work on it.
Shihad:That's pretty much what we did… I did use technology after that and dumped the cassettes … I love playing guitar and if I didn't have to be the vocalist I'd love that but it so happens I am the vocalist because no one else wants to do it.
Shihad:I find words to be the hardest thing to do out of creative process. You've go to have a long hard look at yourself because if you say something you've go to live by that. I worked on the words for about two or three months and then played them to everyone and they liked some and some they thought were too obscure, too blunt and we honed that. The thing about lyrics is they're not fun but when you do nail it it's a really gratifying feeling.
Shihad:We then rehearsed as a band with me singing. When we write we just write music then write the words after - so we put it all back together and once we liked the songs, we then sent out demos to people we wanted to record them… like Garth Richardson who worked with us on "The General Electric". He loved the fact that it did have disregard for the radio rock format - and was like this is gonna be fun. Lets do it and he said when we start playing the game of pleasing everyone, we're doing the wrong thing. He was up for it and we were too!
Access All Areas.net.au:: Shihad has been around quite a while, this new album is your 6th LP, has it ever got to the point where you think it's getting to be too much?
Shihad:It is weird sometimes. I sometimes sit in my hotel room and feel its bizarre that we've been doing this for 14 years and sometimes you have days like it's groundhog day when on tour but we wouldn't do it unless we though it was f#*king good… but there's times when you fall in and out of love with what you're doing and you have doubts and self doubts but in the end it comes back to the music and it's like now I know why I'm doing it! So we just do it and luckily we started when we were really young so it's not like my back hurts when we play a gig [laughs]. We're doing even more crazy shows now than we ever have.
Access All Areas.net.au:: Your last studio recorded album you recorded in LA and was an album of change for the band. It was the time September 11 happened and you had to change your name and at that point there was a slight doubt of the album ever getting made. Has this time round been a lot easier and smoother for you?
Shihad:As far as creativity goes - definitely! There were no other considerations apart from the music. With the recording of it - maybe - we recorded too many songs in Vancouver mainly because we were so stoked with the music so when it came to have to chose which songs would be on the album it made our job harder. Shihad:When we got back we lay down the law and said we've got a month and get it done - keep it live and capture the performance… which was totally opposite to Pacifier in how we did it where you get some good results out of that but for a band who is known for being a spontaneous live band we had to go in and blank the mother f#*ker down and capture the magic.
Shihad:I think we forgot how much work goes into a record, we probably culled our list a little but we're finishing off the album now in Melbourne and I think we've got another week and a half to tweak it... but I think it's going to sound exactly how we want it to!
Access All Areas.net.au:: When are you planning on releasing the album?
Shihad:I think we're looking at an Easter release - whichever month that is in. [March].
Access All Areas.net.au:: So with this album you seem to have gone back to your original roots, you've got your original name back and on the new album and single 'Alive' you've again worked with Garth Richardson who also collaborated on "The General Electric" which was the last album released under the Shihad title, was this a consious decision to go back to where you left of as Shihad?
Shihad:No it was really more like listen to the music, who would be good to record with from our experience and with Garth, we know he is a mother f#*ker with guitars… and it's like how can we sound good live… and he was the first guy who went I can do that and that was the base of reason to go back to record with him - we wanted a really true representation of these songs exactly how they would sound in a band rehearsal room.
Access All Areas.net.au:: You're about to go on tour again around Australia, do you ever get tired of the touring aspect of your career as you guys seem to be on the road most of the time?
Shihad:Cool question but it really comes back to the music… if I wasn't enthused with what we got… I guess with our mini tour [before the release of the album] we're jumping in the deep end and playing all the new songs and find out what works and what doesn't… I think it'll work - and it's exciting when you've got new stuff to play… it's like life affirming, spiritual bullshit to play music from a guy who's not overly religious. This is like my release.
Shihad:I'm looking forward to it but there are a couple of things I don't like - one, being away from family and this is something that has changed with me over years … when I was younger I wouldn't give a f#*k but now I really miss family when I'm away.
Shihad:The other thing is I hate having to take my shoes off at security checks at airports, I hate it and I am over it. And taking off my belt because I don't have a bum and my pants fall down. [laughs].
Shihad:I think the rest of this year will be touring, touring Australia and New Zealand, touring Europe and whether the Yanks like us or not, probably do some touring there too. |
| Biography | Shihad, originally from Wellington now in Melbourne, Australia are the band leading the international kiwi rock charge. Shihad are Jon Toogood - vocals and guitar, Tom Larkin - drums, Karl K - bass and Phil Knight - guitar and keyboards. Shihad are easily one of the most energetic, powerful and tight live acts you'll see.
Desperate times call for deep reflection, resolute action … and loud guitars. Shihad's new single, ALIVE, is a potent distillation of all three, a positive affirmation born of negative times, and their most visceral rock single in years.
ALIVE is the first taste of Shihad's killer return album, LOVE IS THE NEW HATE. It comes after a challenging period for the band, in which seismic global events came close to robbing them of their very identity. The spirit of one of the world's most determined and explosive hard rock institutions was not so easily altered. Shihad are back. ALIVE and kicking. LOVE IS THE NEW HATE is out later in 2005.
Recorded in Vancouver with producer GGGarth Richardson who also collaborated on Shihad's seminal GOLD selling album "The General Electric", Alive once more confirms the bands ability to mix sweet and sour in a blend that is unmistakably their own.
Opening with a mechanical riff that hardly lets up, the verses explode with an intensity that immediately points to a Shihad still kickin against the social norms and mores that have punctuated their lyrics for some time. Juxtaposed against this the choruses bloom from the riffing lush with harmony and melody. ALIVE has been added to medium rotation on Triple J! |
|
