Shihad – Page 2 – 5000 Ways to Love You

Shihad “Sport and Religion”

“Sport and Religion” was the fourth video from “The General Electric”, but it wasn’t accompanied by a single release, and the vid feels like a cheapie promo.

The video was directed by Aaron Dustin of Morse Media (who were also behind the late great NZmusic.com) and the video is filmed at a live Shihad performance. I’m going to assume it was at the Wellington Town Hall. The venue is packed the the audience is surging with energy.

But despite Shihad’s fierce live reputation, the video is an awkward combo of the performance and the song. The song has processed vocals and is layered with electronic sounds. The live performance isn’t a lip-sync and only roughly matches the song. The video editing does a good job of getting around this, but it still doesn’t quite work as a concert video. But if you consider the video on its own, it’s a brilliant visual record of Shihad kicking arse at their peak.

The song, a call for there to be more to life than just the double pacifiers of sport and religion, has a feeling of both hope and despair. And that’s kind of what the video has too. Here’s a band rocking out, but it feels a little gloomy.

Best bit: Jon’s scrawny rock dude shirtlessness.

Director: Aaron Dustin
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… it’s alright.

Shihad “Pacifier”

It almost goes without saying that the “Pacifier” video is largely based on “A Clockwork Orange”. Except, judging by the YouTube comments, some whippersnappers haven’t seen the film and angrily accuse Shihad of ripping of Rob Zombie’s “Never Gonna Stop” video.

But with the lineage settled, the next question is why is the “Pacifier” video so strongly based on “A Clockwork Orange”? I’d guess it was chosen to contrast the ‘ultra-violence’ of “A Clockwork Orange” with the peaceful wish of Shihad’s lyrics. Except being a music video, it can’t actually show any violence. It’s just implied with intense stares coming from droog Jon.

Back when this video was first released, I remember discussing it at the late great NZmusic.com. It bothered me that the video had borrowed so much from “A Clockwork Orange” but had done so little with it.

It made me think of Joseph Kahn’s brilliantly fun video for the Faith No More track “Last Cup of Sorrow”. That video is based on the Hitchcock film “Vertigo”. It starts off being a pretty faithful reproduction of the original, then it gets deliciously weird.

I mentioned this on the NZmusic.com forum and was surprised when Tom from Shihad (a forum regular) commented to say he kind of agreed. He’d not been convinced by the premise of the video, but the band being a democracy, he was happy to go along with it.

And more than a decade later, I still have the same issue with the video. The concept of “Pacifier” seems little more than, “Hey, we should do it like A Clockwork Orange!” Even Rob Zombie added his own bits.

When the song concludes with a euphoric “Come on, let’s take a look outside”, it seems a missed opportunity to use some lovely New Zealand outdoorsness, the sort that features in Shihad’s video for “A Day Away”. I want to feel the stress and tension of the lyrics, then have a wave of soothing love and calmness wash over. I don’t want to see giant codpieces.

But there’s one difference between my old thoughts on NZmusic.com and now: the name change. A couple of years later, Shihad felt compelled to change their name and settled on Pacifier. That brings a certain melancholic feeling to the scenes at the milk bar with “Shihad Pacifier” emblazoned on the walls, like the rebranding was kicking off before anyone knew it was going to happen.

Best bit: the droogs hooning around a Shell petrol station.

Director: Jolyon Watkins
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next: would you rather have the money?

Shihad “The General Electric”

The video for “The General Electric” takes its inspiration from the cover of the album with the same name. The video even starts with a literal portrayal of the CD. A young woman walks into a record store and browses a rack of CDs, an activity that now feels oddly old fashioned.

She comes across the new Shihad CD, opens it and finds the disc itself in the case, which surely means some employee is going to get in trouble for not storing the disc behind the counter. It turns out to be a magic CD which transports the young woman into a stark white world filled with Shihad and an army of amps.

There’s a bit of Jon performing against evening scenes of downtown Sydney, but most of video is the band surrounded by giant, pulsating amps, probably inspired by the stockroom scene in “The Matrix”. My 1999 memory of the video was one of really slick CGI animation for the amps, but by today’s standards, it looks chunky and cheap.

But beyond the animation, the video serves as a good portrayal of Shihad’s energy. There’s no mad scientist plot, just a reasonably plain background for the group to do their thing.

Best bit: Jon looks down on the trapped visitor in four-sided Shihad box.

Note: This video was previously on Shihad’s Daily Motion account, but that’s gone. It can now only be found on MTV UK.

Director: Paul Butler
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Bonus: There’s an alternate video for “The General Electric”. It’s directed by Reuben Sutherland who also did the previous two videos for the group. The video goes for a mental asylum theme and rounds out his trilogy of the similar “Wait and See” and “My Mind’s Sedate”. And with spiky hair, glasses and a wide-collar shirt, Jon strangely resembles comedian Sue Perkins.

Next… a trip to the post office.

Shihad “My Mind’s Sedate”

At the time this song was released, I felt very energised by the sarcastic opening line: “Well, I trust the police and the government!” Whereas now it seems like boilerplate angry young man. But I like what Shihad have done with the video. Directed by Reuben Sutherland, it’s taking a fairly standard video treatment – the mad scientist – and giving it a really dark, icky edge. This is not a musical performance video, but Shihad have never been afraid to take themselves out of traditional rock settings.

Jon spends most of the video wearing a lab coat, curled up in the corner of a lab, with the rest of the band lurking in the background, like three other scientists who are watching their colleague descend into madness.

Dr Jon’s hair is wet with sweat. It’s a filthy lab and strange things slither in the corners. The line “you don’t have a brain” is complemented with an selection of brains, arranged like chess pieces on the lino tiles.

The video keeps looking like an ordinary mad scientist sci-fi, but suddenly really weird things, ugly things will pop up, making Jon’s character seems like a run-of-the-mill mad scientist in the midst of severe meth psychosis. Poor chap. He probably just wanted to create a bride.

Director Reuben Sutherland won Best Video at the 2000 New Zealand Music Awards. It was his second consecutive win, and the third win in a row for a Shihad video.

Best bit: the weird insecty thing on the shelf.

Director: Reuben Sutherland
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… bullet boys.

Shihad “Wait and See”

“Wait and See” was originally on Shihad’s “Blue Light EP”, but was later an album track on their fourth album, “The General Electric”. That album was full of pre-millennium tension and this song and the video fit right in.

The song looks to the future and wonders, “Is there space for every boy and girl in a competitive, material world?” But it seems like the kind of doomy, dramatic thought that only happens in boom times. When things are good, you have the luxury to wonder if they’re going to be bad. When things are bad, you just want the good times to return.

The video is filmed in a scratchy sepia tone, but shows a futuristic world of electronics, metal cells and cameras. Wait – a future full of advanced electronic technology but one that looks like something from 100 years prior? Hey, Shihad totally predicted 2011 and the rise of Instagram.

Directed by Reuben Sutherland, the video won Best Music Video at the 1999 New Zealand Music Awards, the second consecutive win for a Shihad video. It’s a very stylish video. It doesn’t quite feel like a remnant of the late’ 90s, so I’m going to declare that it did have a genuinely original vision. The band seem to be at their peak, strong and confident in their rock ability. Just don’t think too much about the future.

Best bit: very briefly, the metal room has tentacles.

Director: Reuben Sutherland
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… red, hot and blue.

Shihad “Interconnector”

“Interconnector” was a track off “The Blue Light Disco EP”, right in the middle of Shihad at their absolute peak.

Directed by Julian Boshier, the video starts with a squeal and a crash, with the band walking to their instruments in a hail of feedback. Shot with a strong blue tint, the band kicks off with the tense, energetic song.

Jon has newly short hair, accessorised with a dog collar, eyeliner and a shiny blue shirt. Weirdly enough, his look reminds me of the sort of thing the Feelers were wearing around this time. I’ll just chalk it up to fashion.

The rest of the band are dressed more subtly in black, but they’re still very much part of the video, with the camera rotating around the band on a circular dolly track.

Throughout the video, various words are highlighted with on-screen graphics, using a blue neon-style font. BULLSHIT, THAT’S TRUE, HOPE, ME + MY TV and GARBAGE flash on screen, but it’s not entirely successful. For a start, the text is up very briefly and the font isn’t so easy to read. But the chosen words seem to have been picked at random. Some choice nouns flash up, but what kind of statement is made with TO DO or GOT?

I like the simplicity of this video. Ignore the graphics and it’s a really good portrait of Shihad as a solid rock unit.

Best bit: Jon’s non-lipsync of the F word.

Director: Julian Boshier
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a dreamy pyjama-clad adventure.

Shihad “Yr Head is a Rock”

The foundation story of this video goes a little something like this. Greg Page had previous made Shihad a video for their song “Derail”. He just did it for fun. The band already had a video arranged for the song, but they admired his initiative and kept him in mind when they needed a video for “Yr Head is a Rock”.

The video is shot in claymation, which was Greg’s animation form of choice back in the ’90s. He’d previous put it to use in the Throw video for “Honeyblonde”, but this one is much more sophisticated.

It tells the story of a truckie, driving alone at night along an empty road. He’s balding and is sporting a blonde handlebar moustache – essentially a plasticine Hulk Hogan.

As he drives, he starts to hallucinate, visited by ghosts from his past. We see him at a school ball in 1970 where “The Shihad Band” are playing. There he has a budding romance with a young lady, and deals with a bully who doesn’t take kindly to this blonde Romeo. But this fantasy starts interfering with reality…

I’m not normally a fan of claymation, but the animation in this video is really good, with very precise expressions of emotion. And the “The Shihad Band” look like the real deal.

Best bit: a road sign advertising “Tom’s Diner” – both a reference to the Shihad drummer and the Suzanne Vega song.

Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the glass is smashed.

Shihad “Home Again”

Ah, good old “Home Again”. It’s possibly the song most beloved of Shihad fans, and the video captures its feelgood spirit. It’s shot in one continuous take with a static camera. So it’s up to the band to do enough for three and a half minutes to keep viewers entertained.

The video has also been shot at a slower speed and sped up, giving it a manic energy. This condensing of time allows several Polaroid photos to be taken and develop in front of our eyes.

Most of the action takes place on or around a blue couch. There are also a number of different backdrops hung in the background, a wheeled-in TV for a glimpse of off-set action and a drum kit which various band members have turns on.

The image is slightly altered by different fliters and frames being clipped to the camera, but really the star of the video is the fish tank. For about 40 seconds, some goldfish are wheeled in, where they happily swim around, oblivious to the rock dudes running and jumping around them.

In a way, what happens (or doesn’t happen) in the video doesn’t even matter. It’s such a good song that the video is almost like a screensaver, just some images to watch while you listen to a great song.

Director Mark Hartley was awarded Best Video at the 1998 New Zealand Music Awards, breaking the three-year winning streak of nominee Joe Lonie.

Best bit: the goldfish, just chillin’.

Director: Mark Hartley
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… Russell’s seduction techniques.

Shihad “A Day Away”

“A Day Away” was another single from Shihad’s self-titled 1996 album. It’s such a beloved album, and I can’t help feel that it represents Shihad at their absolute peak.

“A Day Away” begins with Jon sitting on the steps of a rickety old house in the city. Now it seems that Shihad videos are not at all afraid of putting frontman Jon out there. There’s a little run-in outside Deluxe Cafe – which has not changed at all in 15 years – which necessitates leaving town in a cherry red Ford. It’s time to get out of Wellington and hit the road.

We see Shihad at a train station, by a caravan, at a Ratana church, on the road, and bothering a herd of cows. From the south of the North Island, they’ve headed north on an epic road trip, ending up at Cape Reinga. The lads sit at the top of New Zealand and contemplate the majestic scenary and life in general. It’s a lot better than all that Wellington drama.

There’s been so much New Zealand pride in videos from 1996. Again, it’s refreshing to see a video that isn’t afraid to clearly set itself in New Zealand.

Best bit: through this video I learned that there are Ratana churches in Northland.

Director: Kevin Spring
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a big reveal.

Shihad “It’s A Go”

Shihad go underground. In dark black and white footage, we see the band clambering over rocks, as they approach a strange round building in the middle of nowhere. Where are they headed?

We meet Jon in an underground bunker, shot in full colour. ~~This might be in the old tunnels in Devonport, but they also seem like the tunnels on Waiheke Island.~~ Actually, it turns out the tunnels are at Wrights Hill Fortress in Wellington. Despite the spooky setting, Jon looks really happy and gives a great music performance. When he smiles, I smile.

There’s a bit of back and forth between colour Jon in the bunker and black and white Shihad outside, passing through a hole in the fence. Finally the band make it into the underground tunnels, looking very cool as they wall down the long corridors.

They end up in a room with all their band gear in it, and proceed to play the song. Oh, I get it now – Shihad rock so hard and are so loud that they must rehearse in an underground bunker in order to not disturb the neighbours.

Best bit: the cooldude corridor walk.

The video is no longer available online. This should not be happening to such an accomplished group as Shihad.

Director: Kevin Spring
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a sentimental journey.