ABC TV's Rage program a couple of years ago was where I first heard the most crushing rock I'd heard for a couple of years. The band was Shihad, the song was You Again, the crushing opening cut from their Killjoy album.

Fast forward a couple of years & we're in 1997. Shihad now have a new self-titled album to see Australian release in March, the first single from it, a real shift in sound, "La La Land" just out & already recieving rave reviews & some serious airplay list additions in Australia, not only on Triple J, but Triple M, other network stations & some commercial radio.

Recently, I spoke to Jon Toogood from the band for a bit of a chat, where he spoke about the album, life with the band & some little about touring.

I asked Jon when the shift in sound had occurred for the band & whether it was a conscious effort. "I really don't think we ever intended to make Churn (Shihad's debut album Ed.) over again. There was a definite progression from Churn to Killjoy, which if you've heard Churn, it's got a much more industrial sound than Killjoy. Again, we wanted to change from Killjoy, you know, evolve."

So the band changed, but at what point? "I think it was really at the point we were in the studio recording this album. We wanted to explore you know, we don't wanna f#$% around doing the same old things year in, year out, we wanna have some fun & experiment. I didn't realise just how heavy Killjoy was until I listened to it again just a few weeks ago. This album seems a lot lighter by comparison, but I think the fans will still like it.

So what are your favourite tracks on the album? "That's such a hard question, I really don't know. I'd have to say that Home Again is one of them, it's about that feeling I get when we've been out on tour & we get back home. It's just such a familiar feeling. I guess the opposite of that on the album is La La Land."

Yeah, the feeling between the two tracks is very different. "Yeah, well the opposite feeling was when we were in L.A. for about a month & there's all these people takin' uppers to get vibed for the day ahead, then they take some downers to relax at night, it's a f#%$in' crazy place L.A., such a fast crazy town. It seems to have everything, but there's no depth."

So it's a different lifestyle to New Zealand then? "Oh man, it's amazing. When we've been away touring, & we come back, even to Australia, it's just like we're at home, the culture's are so close."

Do you try to take your favourite New Zealand bands on tour with you? "We do in New Zealand, but it's just way too expensive to do it. If there's a band from New Zealand in Australia we like, then we'll try & set something up together, but otherwise, we just can't afford it."

I really identified with the lyrics on Ghost From The Past & I read it's about a friend of yours that used to be very close. "Yeah, I used to be really close to this friend of mine & hadn't seen him for a while because we just seemed to drift apart. Now, I hardly seem to recognise his personality & I really wanna help him. A lot of people seem to have gone through that."

Lastly, now this album is in the can, where do you see Shihad going from here. "Well, I really don't know album-wise, but we're going from our Australian tour to Europe, we're just hoping everything goes as well as it's been so far, looking forward to great gigs & performing well for the fans.".

And so, off move Shihad into the great unknown. I think the great unknown for them will include great success from here on. Check out there album when it's released, it's out now through Polydor.