Shihad are out with the video to their new single ‘Beautiful Machine’, directed by Sam Peacocke, the title track from the Wellington, New Zealand rock group’s seventh album, out now on Warmer Music. Watch it via YouTube below.
Shihad Stand The Test Of Time
With Shihad set to celebrate their 20th year together next year, drummer Tom Larkin spoke with Beat magazine about the band’s longevity. “It just adds up, doesn’t it?” Tom remarked. “I guess we had an advantage in that we started in high school; we started young. So it’s kind of easy to go 20 years. Whereas a lot of bands might take five to 10 years to find the band they wanted to be and the sense of identity they need to create something, we’re just a high school band that never stopped. But it’s awesome to have been together for nearly 20 years and be able to play with people that can play as one beast.”
The full interview at beat.com.au has since been removed.
Shihad Go Tech
Shihad spoke with Time Off magazine about their experiment with technology in an attempt to deliver a new sound on their new album. “We’re really trying to use technology to break down some fu**ing doors we haven’t tried before,” frontman Jon Toogood explained. “When you hear a band say ‘We’re fu**ing with technology’ it’s always scary, because rock bands and technology often reminds me personally of fu**ing rap-metal or something like that. We’re taking cues from records we’ve always loved plus left-of-centre New Zealand bands like Headless Chickens and stuff like that. I am so fu**ing confident in this record to not just have three cool songs at the start and then peter out; it’ll be 11 songs that take you on a journey, and all hold up in their own right.” The article at timeoff.com.au has since been removed.
Shihad’s Toogood Calls Saliva’s Josey Scott ‘Fu**ing Evil’
For all their negative experiences of the United States, Shihad’s Jon Toogood is not discounting the idea of them ever returning. “We saw a lot of really, ugly ugly sh** over there,” Toogood told Australia’s Beat magazine. “All The Young Fascists written about this radio festival we played in Miami, but because the whole Iraq thing happened after we were billed, it ended up being marketed as this whole ‘Support the troops’ type show… and of course, that was so far away from what we wanted. But we decided, ‘Nah, fu** it – let’s just keep our heads down and do the show’. However, we got there to 30,000 kids in this really, really angry crowd, and to the left of the stage there was this paint-ball alley set up with guns, and the kids could shoot effigies of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and the really scary one, Jacques Chirac, the French President. Meanwhile, all the other bands on the bill, we’re shouting out things like (dons American accent) ‘Let’s kick their fu**in’ ass!!’ Guys like that evil little prick from Saliva [Josey Scott]. I’ve met him, and he’s fu**ing evil. I don’t think he even means half the sh** he spewed onstage, but you can just tell he’s doing for effects. You can tell he’s practiced in front of the mirror. That was ugly to me. It was wrong. It was a festival that seemed to have a lot of fear and anger and all these kids being taught it was okay to turn Iraq into a fu**ing carpark. I felt like an alien, and we just wanted to get the fu** out of there. And I came away from it understanding how normal human beings can be fed really bad ideas, and believe them. Like the Fox Network over there. Like the color-coded terrorist warnings. Today’s orange, tomorrow’s red. Fear sells, and when people are afraid, they cling onto the simplest possible politics.”
Shihad ‘Alive’ Video
New Zealand rockers Shihad, who briefly renamed themselves Pacifier after the 9.11 terror attacks, are back to calling themselves Shihad and are out with the video to their new single ‘Alive’. Watch the video via Metacafe below.
Pacifier Treads Fine Line Between Metal And Pop
Dan Baesler of the Georgetown Hoya reviewed the self titled effort from Pacifier, formerly Shihad. He says the group “definitely has what it takes to win fans and sell records, but where it differs from other mainstream, generic rock acts that to make it big is that the duds, while not terrible, almost outweigh the keepers. Not heavy enough to win over the metal crowd or poppy enough to land on TRL, they’ll linger on modern rock radio, hopefully long enough to make it on the end of the year countdown.” Thehoya.com has since removed the article.
Toogood Reflects On 9.11 Attacks
Australia’s Beat magazine spoke with John Toogood of Pacifier on the group’s arrival in America last year right when the country suffered the 9.11 terrorist attacks. Toogood reflected on the period saying, “When the first thing you do when you get to your hotel room is turn on the TV and it’s world war 3 it tends to blow things out of all proportion anyway. Your hear the story and you think, ‘What a load of sh**,’ and then you turn the TV on and the first tower’s gone and the second one’s burning and the Pentagon’s been attacked and you’re thinking, ‘Fu**, I’m in this country right now’. The first thought me and Phil had was that we just wanted to go home. I just wanted to call my girl and say if it goes to sh** I love her. We just wanted to get the fu** out of there.” Of course the band at that time was named Shihad, and decided it would be in their best interest to change the Jihad sounding name. Beat.com.au has since removed the article.
New Zealand’s Shihad Changes Name To Pacifier
News.com.au reports New Zealand rock band Shihad have changed their name to Pacifier to keep their career on track in America. The group had played under the former name until the events of September 11 and their similarity to the word ‘jihad’ (holy war) would have hurt chances for success in the U.S. The group played their first gig as Pacifier at Los Angeles club, the Viper Room, on Wednesday. news.com.au has since removed the article.
