roll_pplofyear

       It was 3am when the Whitlams' Tim Freeman cracked. With spooky prescience, Shihad's hyperactive frontman, Jon Toogood, paused from his frantic air-guitar accompaniment to Metallica's Master of Puppets album to wonder: Wouldn't it be funny if that Whitlams bloke was at the door?
        "So he came in, went straight to the mini bar, fuckin' rude and arrogant, and started drinking all our alcohol," the singer recalls of the incident which rock historians might remember as the Hobart 2000 Showdown. "So we started having a bit of discussion."
         "The thing was", drummer Tom Larkin giggles, "I was a bit drunk and playful so I went down to reception and said 'Hi, I'm the Whitlams' tour manager, I really need to get into Tim's room.' It turned out that he'd left his door ajar so he could get back in. So after I emptied his mini-bar I slammed it shut."
          Another strike against Flase Rock for New Zealand's most righteous road warriors. But pointing out the relative merits of the Whitlams' and Iron Maiden's versions of "Women in Uniform" was small change in a year of escalating, unmerciful and very, very loud conquest.

The year 200 was the year Shihad went froms ticky carpet outsiders to big stage rock gods in Australia. What's your secret weapon?
JON: Absolute stobbornness and always remembering that we're a really fuckin' good band before we walk on stage.
TOM: It comes down to focus and touring hard. You've got 23 hours of boredom and shit, no one's got any money, but you've got one hour to redeem the day. You just make bloody sure that you do.

has the transformation come at a cost?
JON: Nah. I want it to go ballistically way bigger than this.

No poison pen letters about selling out?
TOM: Every album we;ve done, someone has accused us for some damn reason of selling out. You have your detractors but spread'em over 12 years and those words mean nothing. If we were actually selling out, don't you think that we've done a terrible job? I've come driving an XL Falcon that keeps breaking down.

Whats the most sucky corporate stunt that you've had to endure?
JON: Whenever we've been in that position we've used it to our advantage. Like turning up to the ARIAs: "Give us a vehicle without wheels!" I'd never been in a hovercraft and it was a real thrill. Or what about this one (indicates groovy pea-green leather jacket): "I really need this thousand-dollar jacket for that photo shoot. Will you pay for it?" As long as you do that, you're doing your job for the sake of art.

"My Mind's Sedate" and "Wait and See" both depict the corporate hierarchy as an evil of modern society. Is rock winning the fight?
TOM: I think it is, in a way people don't acknowledge. The spirit of rock in the 60s, how people defined that as changing the world, it's still happening. Music is taking the place of release, for a lot of people, that religion used to. People used to go to churches but now what you're talking about when you do a show is a huge community ceremony. That catharsis is where the revolution is taking place.

So you're saying Shihad are bigger that Jesus?
JON: We are. When we're on stage, dude, Jesus don't exist.

Your website mentions the threat of "False Rock". Describe the symptoms.
TOM: You know these t-shirts that say "ROCK" in AC/DC lettering? That's False Rock. If you're for real, you're wearing an AC/DC T-shirt.
JON: For the last 10 years! Not like Christina Aguilera...
TOM: No, that's not on. You do this (forks fingers in Satan-approved configuration), you fuckin' better mean it. Otherwise we'll break your fingers.

Speaking of T-shirts, Jon (he's decked in his regulation red, skull and crossbones number) do you own any others?
JON: I know what you're saying, but I wore my Lou Reed one yesterday. That was another score, from a ROLLING STONE photo shoot.

The high point of the year?
JON: The big day out was really special. You get to watch really good bands, you get to hang out with really good bands, you get to find out who's a cunt and who's not. You also find out people you thought were cunts are on the same team and that's really nice.

Are you really disappointed that you didn't get to tour "The General Electric" overseas?
TOM: Yes. We had a hard year in terms of getting over there. Every time we set something up it's fallen over. And that is frustrating 'cause we did make the album as a northern hemisphere thing. But I am extremely deterministic in that when we do go overseas, we're not just gonna go for three months and dribble around, we're gonna go, get a flat, a van, a trailer, and do it right.

One english magazine claimed: "If they were American, Shihad would be massive." On balance, is coming from this corner of the world a disadvantage?
JON: On the business side of things it's a disadvantage but creativity-wise I reckon it's an advantage 'cause you've got the space to make interesting music. But it is a disadvantage in terms of, if you're not in America, you don't exist- unless you're Madison Avenue with your one breakaway hit. Then you exist for 20 seconds.

Jon, describe being stool-bound on stage after injuring your leg at the Sydney Metro.
JON: Weird. I felt like Ben Harper. However he feels.

Another nomination for the Most Gnarly Stage Injury might be leaping into that rosemary bush in Adelaide...
JON: I smelt like roast lamb after that one.
TOM: What about that gash in your leg from the last Perth run?
JON: Oh, that was ugly and it really fuckin' hurt. In Brisbane I fell on top of a photographer. I wanna see that shot! My whole arse and thigh turned into this yellow/purple dead man's leg.

Album you wish you'd made this year?
JON: Primal Scream's Exterminator. That was an incredible record. I'd like to apply the groove of that to what we do.
TOM: A couple of tracks from the Queens of the Stone Age album (Rated R) are pretty awesome. There's a couple of good moves in there you'd have to take on board.

What sucks about the rock lifestyle?
JON: My hangover.

What's the issue most likely to cause arguements in the Tarago?
JON: (Guitarist) Phil (Knight)'s haircut.

Tragedy of the year?
JON: (long Pause) Killing Heidi winning best Rock Album at the ARIAs?
TOM: They've apologised for it. I've had four apologies. The thing is, they're just about to play New Zealand and they've chosen the worst time imaginable. "You're the guys who beat Shihad? You're fuckin' dead!"

So three ARIA nominations, no wins: Does that make Shihad the rock equivalent of Vanessa Amorosi?
JON: That is so harsh, dude. O walked past her and saw this teary little thing and I just thought, "Oh, poor girl, to take it that seriously." I was stoked by the fact that we had so many stage divers. That, for me, was our award.
TOM: We went in thinking: "Awards? Whatever. Let's just make sure we fuckin' play!" We got up there and nailed it. It would have been worse if we'd sucked and won and award.

So what's up for 2001?
JON: Head down, make the fuckin' best record ever, then we're going to America. One tour here, then we've gotta go.