SHIHAD // 20 Years Of ‘The General Electric’

Shihad drummer Tom Larkin is explaining the finer points of making daggy dad jokes to embarrass his children. “Repetition and not backing down is the key to cracking the veneer of disdain and contempt,” he laughs. “If you do it once you get the eye roll. If you do it two or three times you get the smirk. You do it five times you get the cracker. The whole thing is that if you do something that looks idiotic do it doubly as hard and then it becomes hilarious or a complete failure you can tell a story about.”

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Unlike his children, Larkin’s eyes roll at being taken too seriously. This year marks two special occasions for New Zealand rockers Shihad: their 30th anniversary as a band, and the 20th anniversary of their fourth album, 1998’s The General Electric. To celebrate, the band will tour Australia and reissue that album, including a vinyl release for the first time. “It’s still our…,” he pauses and sighs, “I hate those commercial terms, but it was our ‘landmark’ album,” he laughs.

Larkin’s disdains the term ‘landmark’, but he looks back at the time when the album was released with fondness and disbelief. Prior to The General Electric, the band developed a following with their in their home country with their first two albums, Churn and Killjoy. Their eponymous third album saw them integrate melodies into their heavy rock, but Larkin admits it “was a little bit asymmetrical and unfocussed. But all of the mistakes we made on the third album we eliminated and then doubled-down on The General Electric.”

Another stepping stone was the Blue Light Disco EP. Shihad worked with Australian producer Magoo, who had just had massive success with Unit by Regurgitator. “I think the point was that our third album was an experimental jump-off point and an exploration of writing songs in a more traditional fashion, whereas Blue Light Disco was about exploring the sonics. The General Electric was about taking both of those things and wrapping it in that big modern-rock production.”

The Blue Light Disco EP was their last release for PolyGram Records. The band began gaining attention from the rest of the world, so they planned their next steps for their career and sound. Unfortunately, their growing stature didn’t make hurdles any smaller. “We’d actually gotten a whole bunch of label offers from the United States, and then our previous label poured cold water on them. We were effectively locked out of North America, so in that time we decided to move to Australia. That was a very influential move on the album as well.”

It’s still our…I hate those commercial terms, but it was our ‘landmark’ album.
[TOM]

Now based in Australia and signed to Warner Music, Shihad crafted a new batch of song. The plan was to record with Magoo once again, but an offer to work with Canadian producer Garth Richardson was impossible to refuse. “His calling-card was the first Rage Against The Machine album,” he says. “He’d done a whole bunch of other stuff [including Mother’s Milk by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Houdini by Melvins], but that was his, haha, inverted commas, “landmark album” as a producer. He had a great sense of melody and presentation, so he had very high-standards of performer’s playing. He really understood tonality and how to make guitars sound enormous. He used techniques that we’d never seen before. He really knew how to make massive guitars and bass and drums. He was tough – he was by-no-means a soft-hand – but he was brilliant. It was just an amazing experience to be pushed like that.”

The General Electric became their first number one album on the New Zealand charts, eventually going platinum three times. It also became their first release to be recognised in Australia thanks to other’s misfortune during the 2000 Big Day Out tour. “Frenzal Rhomb had this early slot booked on the main stage and we were booked on the third stage. Unfortunately, Frenzal Rhomb got sick, so the promoters put us on the main stage. That was actually a really great piece of fortune because the albums was coming out and we released “The General Electric” as a single and triple j were smashing the shit out of it, and the video was going really well on Channel V. All of those things combined, we could see sales and attention through that Big Day Out tour just doubled, maybe even tripled. You don’t often get those moments, but that was one of those moments.”

These days, Larkin is guiding other artists towards their big moments with VVV MGMT, managing BIGSOUND 2018 favourites Eliza And The Delusionals, Bad Juju, Bare Bones, and Eat Your Heart Out. Shihad are still a going concern, with a new album slated for next year. The rest of 2018 will see the band releasing a remastered The General Electric, including on two pieces of vinyl “so every track is at its absolute maximum”, as well as touring as part of the Hotter Than Hell tour and their own headline shows celebrating their 30th anniversary. “We’ll play plenty of The General Electric tracks, and I imagine we’ll be playing a lot of tracks from our last album FVEY, which went very well for us. Our own shows will be going a bit longer and deeper. There’ll also be a couple of ‘standard classics’, or should I says ‘landmark classics’,” he mock groans.

The General Electric remastered is out now on CD and Vinyl via Warner Music.

SHIHAD 30! ANNIVERSARY TOUR

Friday November 16 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth

Saturday November 17 – Metropolis, Fremantle

Sunday November 18 – Fowlers, Adelaide

Friday November 23 – The Triffid, Brisbane

Saturday November 24 – The Metro, Sydney

Friday November 30 – 170 Russell, Melbourne

HOTTER THAN HELL TOUR

Saturday 1 December – Kirwan Tavern, Townsville (w/ Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar and 28 Days)

Saturday 19 January – Harvey Road Tavern, Gladstone (w/ Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar, 28 Days and Area 7)

Saturday 26 January – Toowoomba Showgrounds (w/ Spiderbait, Killing Heidi, Bodyjar, 28 Days and Area 7)

Sunday 27 January – Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast (w/ Spiderbait, Killing Heidi, Bodyjar, 28 Days and Area 7)

Saturday 9 February – York on Lilydale, Mt Evelyn (w/ Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar, 28 Days and Area 7)

Saturday 16 February – Racehorse Hotel, Ipswich (w/ Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Bodyjar, 28 Days and Area 7)