Jon Toogood speaks about life after Shihad.
Jon Toogood is arguably New Zealand’s coolest stay-at-home dad. Herald senior journalist Mike Thorpe speaks to him, along with other rock legends, AC/DC’s Phil Rudd and James Reid of The Feelers, about rock n roll, and the upcoming Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra show coming to Christchurch.
Hard-rocking former Shihad frontman Jon Toogoood is at home when I call him about his upcoming show in Christchurch – the second outing of the outrageously successful Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra.
Our call is timed for the afternoon – “before the kids get home” – says his manager.
The devoted father-of-two recently ended a 37-year career with Shihad to focus on family and effectively become a full-time father.
“I’ve got a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old, and it’s just such a beautiful age. They still think I’m cool, and I know that’s not gonna last. So, I wanna soak that in,” says Toogood with his trademark lust for life.
“Ever since my son was born, our firstborn, 10 years ago, I was constantly working because it’s like the sort of protective father thing kicks in. You just want to provide, you wanna make sure it’s all good.
“Then Covid came along and stopped me working, and I think, like a lot of dads or a lot of people that spend a lot of time working, I went, ‘oh my god, I’m missing my kids’, you know? I’m literally working so hard to make sure that the roof’s over their head that I don’t even get to see them.
“Looking through all my old photos, it was all like screenshots of FaceTimes from hotel rooms, and it was like, I just don’t want to do that, I wanna be there, you know?”
But on November 1, Dad’s got his other job to do. Heads to bang, minds to blow.
Full Metal Orchestra, an “unrelenting collision of rock, metal and classical symphony”, wowed thousands of fans at Spark Arena in Auckland earlier this year.
“The debut of Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra in Auckland exceeded every expectation, not only in ticket sales but in the sheer power of the audience’s response,” said promoter and founder of Duco Events, David Higgins when the second show was announced.
Toogood says the reception from fans was memorable.
“The thing that I walked away from that show with – I haven’t seen that many smiles in one room for a long time!” says Toogood.
Blending hard rock with an orchestra can have that effect. The raw power of both genres impacted Toogood from a young age.
“Right from when I was a kid and my Auntie Jean, who spotted the fact that I was obviously into the arts and music, used to take me along to see the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in the Sunday pop shows at the Wellington Town Hall.
“I used to go, ‘wow, this huge sound is being made by all these human beings doing the same thing at once’, you know?” recalls Toogood.
The orchestra isn’t the only connection the show has to an impressionable young Jon Toogood. Taking the stage throughout the night is legendary AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd.
The last time they graced the same stage in Christchurch was when Shihad opened for AC/DC at QEII Stadium in 1996. Toogood says he remembers the show well – and that he still gets the same energy from Rudd.
“It makes me feel like that young kid that was playing with them all those years ago,” Toogood says.
He also recalls his introduction to the music of the legendary Aussie rockers.
“Tom Larkin, the drummer of Shihad, giving me a copy of Highway to Hell at high school when I was 15 years old and saying ‘check this s*** out’. I basically consumed that album over and over again, then moved to Back in Black,” says Toogood.
Back in Black is one track that Rudd appears on during Full Metal Orchestra – but there’s another track that’s extra special for the 71-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
“I had not played Long Way To The Top for f****** years, ‘cause AC/DC stopped playing it after Bon [Scott, AC/DC’s original lead singer] died,” says Rudd.
Bon Scott died in February of 1980 and was replaced in the band by Brian Johnson later that year.
Rudd told the Herald that his first experience with Full Metal Orchestra was stimulating.
“I loved it. I thought it kicked arse and got me excited about playing again,” says Rudd.
The long-time Tauranga resident is looking forward to returning to Christchurch
“I have not been back in Christchurch for a bloody long time. Looking forward to it. Actually, I’m excited to rip into it. Hope you are ready for me …” warns Rudd.
There’s no denying Rudd’s menace behind his kit – but the backstage version is a very different character, according to Toogood.
“He’s a really unassuming dude. After we played the show, I was hanging out backstage with him and his daughter came up and said ‘Oh, who’s this guy?’, about me.
Rudd replied: “That’s Jonny Toogood. They’re the best rock and roll band from this country.”
“I was like, wow! I texted Tom Larkin who lives in Melbourne, I just went, check this s*** out, bro!” recalls Toogood.
“I’m still like a fan when I’m around that guy [Rudd]. As soon as he gets behind that drum kit, that’s that sound that no one else does,” says Toogood with ultimate admiration.
Asked if he remembers the last time he played in Christchurch, Rudd says he remembers Shihad and Jon Toogood.
“But also drummer Tom Larkin, who has to be one of the greatest drummers to come out of New Zealand.”
Wait until Jon tells Tom about this.
Making his Full Metal Orchestra debut on November 1 is one of New Zealand’s greatest songwriters and Canterbury’s own, James Reid of The Feelers fame.
Reid, like Toogood and Rudd, is excited about playing alongside classical musicians.
“Sends chills through your body when you’re playing with the orchestra. I’m very much looking forward to that,” says Reid.
He can’t disclose which songs he’ll be singing on the night, but he does unveil the artists.
“I’m doing a Pearl Jam track and another one by Alice in Chains,” says Reid before breaking out an acoustic rendition of a song that shall remain a secret.
“What a lyric!” he yells with obvious excitement.
Toogood shares one song that he’ll cover – he says it’s an example of the similarities between heavy rock and symphony.
“Metallica’s Master of Puppets. That’s like seven-and-a-half minutes, and it goes through all these different movements. The heavy bit, a really beautiful bit, and then we build it up and then it goes wide and big and then it goes fast. There’s something quite orchestral about metal that lends itself playing with an orchestra,” says Toogood.
Rudd agrees that when the two genres come together, it can be special.
“It might not all the time, but in this it does. You just have to dig in, watch me and go for it. We did that,” says Rudd.
Toogood is looking forward to a repeat performance.
“It was such a great night. I can’t wait to do it again.”
Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra - November 1 at Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch.
Mike Thorpe is a senior journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.