[Interview] Jon Toogood from SHIHAD talks ‘Old Gods’

Kiwi rock icons SHIHAD are set to release their long awaited new album ‘Old Gods’ on October 8 via Warner Music.

‘Old Gods’ is very much a musical successor to their previous critically acclaimed record ‘FVEY’, which saw the band take a darker and heavier tone and tackle some very real and terrifying issues.

This time around on their 10th studio outing the fury and anger have been ramped up encapsulating our collective anger at world events past and present.

The Everblack Podcast caught up with Shihad frontman Jon Toogood to talk about ‘Old Gods‘, it’s lyrical concepts, album cover, playing the new material live and more!
(Interview recorded previous to album/tour release dates shifted)

Watch/Listen to the interview here:

The result is ‘Old Gods’, an album that states its intent from the moment the crushing, grinding riff of opener “Tear Down Those Names” explodes to life, and just one song later Toogood urges for the killing of the ‘old gods’ in the title track. Elsewhere, Toogood takes aim at conservative talk radio, the legitimization of racism, and the radicalization of a generation fueled by misinformation.

Such vitriol would amount to nothing were it not backed by the sonic apocalypse created by Toogood, drummer Tom Larkin, guitarist Phil Knight and bassist Karl Kippenberger. As a unit they’re responsible for five Number One albums in New Zealand – THE GENERAL ELECTRIC (1999), PACIFIER (2002), BEAUTIFUL MACHINE (2008), IGNITE (2010) and FVEY (2014) which also landed an ARIA award nomination for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album – and Shihad’s recent cover of Split Enz’s “I Got You” which became Triple M’s most played track as well as topped the NZ Rock Radio charts for a staggering 26 weeks. There may be an unmistakable heaviness to ‘Old Gods’, but it’s offset by a dexterity and musical telepathy that comes from decades of experience playing together.