Shihad

Shihad is a New Zealand hard/alternative rock band, currently based in Melbourne, Australia. During Shihad's recording career, they have produced four #1 studio albums and three top 10 singles in their home country of New Zealand.

Shihad was formed by vocalist/guitarist Jon Toogood and drummer Tom Larkin in 1988. The band's musical style was originally indebted to San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Megadeth, although the band found wider popularity over the following decade playing a mixture of modern rock, post-grunge and pop-rock that gained the band opening slots with professional US rock acts, as well as favourable reviews.

At the release time of their 7th studio album Beautiful Machine, Shihad are ranked as 1st equal for most Top 40 charting singles for a New Zealand artist in the New Zealand charts with 19 (although Dave Dobbyn has 22 with Th'Dudes, DD Smash and as a solo artist). Of these singles, Home Again, Pacifier and Bitter are listed at number 30, 60 and 83 respectively in the Nature's Best compilation, an official collection of New Zealand's top 100 songs.

At the 2010 New Zealand Music Awards Shihad won the Legacy Award, and were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

- Wikipedia