Jon Toogood is busy.
Presently, the 47-year-old is undertaking a juggling act that most circuses would envy. There’s a 30-year-anniversary tour in the works for Shihad, the band with which he first made his name. There’s an upcoming tour with The Adults, his genre-defiant side-project that recently released its second studio album HAJA. He’s also a doting husband, a father to a three-year-old, and a mentor to several young bands in his second home of Melbourne. It’s a lot to take on, but the Auckland native insists that it’s something he thrives on.
“I take on everything all at once,” he laughs. “It’s probably not the best strategy, but it’s just how I’ve always done things. I think I get bored really easily, and it’s important to me that I keep things interesting. If I don’t have things to do, then I turn in on myself and start tearing things apart. It’s really good for my mental health to have a lot of things going.”
The task at hand is The Adults, a project that began with Toogood as the sole member back in 2011. It’s long since gone on to serve as a collaborative collective name, with the likes of Tiki Taane and The Mint Chicks’ Kody Nielson among its alum. Most recently, the project has focused on Toogood and his partner, Danah Salih. The two were married in 2014, and during their three-day wedding ceremony in Sudan, Toogood was taken aback by the music used as part of the traditional dances.
“I’m in this room with 300 women, all a part of this bridal dance,” he explains. “I’m not only the only Kiwi in the room, I’m the only guy in the room. I’m terrified thinking I won’t be able to dance to the music, and I’ll look so bad in front of all these women.
“When the music started, I was amazed – it could’ve passed as new M.I.A. or something. It centred on just vocals and drums – this real hip hop vibe to it. The vibe was really punk rock. My musician brain already wanted to hear a bassline over the top of it. I knew I had to record with them.”
With the musicians’ blessing, Toogood got to making music with the all-female wedding band. Initially, there was no intention to include it on the next Adults record – “I just wanted to see for myself what it would be like,” says Toogood. “Strictly as a music fan, first and foremost.”
As he learned more and more about the kind of music they performed, the more fascinated Toogood became. “In Sudan, the government is more or less like the military,” he explains.
“They decide exactly what music gets played on radio and TV. This kind of music isn’t seen as the kind of thing an exemplary Sudanese Muslim woman should be doing, so it doesn’t receive any radio play or TV attention. The only real avenue for it is as a live thing. They all seem to find that really liberating, as they often use the music to address issues with their local government cheating the system. It’s so subversive.”
Although Toogood is the first to admit that side-projects such as these are self-serving far more often than not – “I’m basically trying to make records that I want to hear, that would fit into my record collection comfortably,” he says – there’s also a part of him that wants to uncross the arms of any rock cynic that may cross paths with the album.
“I think if any Shihad fan that wasn’t sure about The Adults came to a live show, they’d totally get it,” he says. “It’s very primitive in its element. It honestly reminds me of all the years we’d do the Big Day Out and I’d end up in the Boiler Room, losing my mind to this really heavy and really loud dance music. Essentially, that’s what this is now. There’s a feeling of freedom to it – the bass is too loud, the kick drum’s too loud, the rhythms are pumping. It’s not made for Shihad fans, but I reckon they’ll think it kicks arse anyway.”
