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Pacifier Information
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'Shihad' is an alternative rock band originally from Wellington, New Zealand, where they formed in 1988. In 1999 the band relocated to Melbourne, Australia, where three of the members currently reside.
History
The name "Shihad" was chosen after members of the band misheard "jihad" as "Shihad" in the 1984 David Lynch movie, Dune. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks the band decided to change their name due to the similarity between the band's name Shihad and the Arabic word jihad. At the 2002 Big Day Out music festival in Auckland New Zealand they released t-shirts with 'Shihad' on them, and 'Remote' below, indicating that 'Remote' was to be the new name. However, due to this name being taken already, they settled on "Pacifier", which was a successful single from their album "The General Electric".
Their next album under the name Pacifier was widely considered to be overproduced and not quite Shihad's style.
On September 17 2004, the band announced to the world that they would change their name back to Shihad. To quote the band, "The events surrounding the name change and our choice to be known as Pacifier are well documented. As much as we believed in what we were doing, and the reasons for doing it at the time - the truth is we were wrong."
In an interview, Jon Toogood spoke about an event that contributed to their decision:
"We were in America while it invaded Iraq and had to play at festivals that were supposedly `support the troops festivals' when we didn't believe in the war at all. That's what the song All the Young Fascists is about “ the day we played Miami in front of 30,000 kids at this festival that was originally just a rock festival. A week out, just because of the timing, it was turned into the support the troops show and it was being simulcast live to Iraq. We were on this bill with these really ugly “ what we call WWF “ metal bands, and we were shitting ourselves.
"I just wanted to get out of there. Beside the stage was a paintball gun alley where kids were lining up to shoot effigies of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and (French president) Jacques Chirac. That was the weirdest one. The amount of times I actually pointed out to Americans the fact that their Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French and they were supposed to be mates."
The band name "Pacifier" was immediately raffled on the Australian radio station Triple J by members of the band Frenzal Rhomb and was claimed by a little known band from Queensland.
Shihad's latest album, "Love Is The New Hate", was released on 2 May 2005 to good reviews and sales. In New Zealand the album went gold in its first week of release and debuted at number two on the charts. The material on the album was more political than that of previous efforts, due to the experiences that they had in the USA.
Shihad supported "Love Is the New Hate" initially with dates in New Zealand, including the massive launch concert in Auckland's Aotea Square and an extensive tour of Australia. Currently, Shihad are performing a seventeen date co-headlining tour of Australia with Australian band Cog, dubbed "The Homeland Security Tour".
Discography
Albums
* Churn (1993)
* Killjoy (1995)
* Shihad (1996)
* The General Electric (1999)
* Pacifier (2002) (as Pacifier)
* Live Album (2003) (collaboration of both Shihad and Pacifier songs)
* Love Is The New Hate (2005)
Singles and EPs
* Devolve EP (1991)
* I Only Said (1993)
* Stations (1994)
* Derail (1994)
* You Again (1995)
* Bitter (1995)
* Gimme Gimme (1995)
* Deb's Night Out (1996)
* B-Sides EP (1996)
* La La Land (1996)
* It's A Go (1996)
* A Day Away (1997)
* Home Again (1997)
* Yr Head Is A Rock (1998)
* Ghost From The Past (1998)
* Blue Light Disco EP (1998)
* My Mind's Sedate (1999)
* The General Electric (2000)
* Pacifier (2000)
* Comfort Me (2002)
* Run (2002)
* Bullitproof (2003)
* Everything (2003)
* Alive EP (2005)
* All The Young Fascists (2005)
* Shot In The Head (2005)
* Dark Times (to be released 2005)
Band Members
Current
*Jon Toogood: vocals, guitars
*Phil Knight: guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
*Karl Kippenberger: bass guitars, backing vocals
*Tom Larkin: drums, backing vocals, samplers
Former
*Hamish Laing: bass (left 1991)
*Geoff Duncan : bass (left 1989)
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