According to music journalist, Ed Nimmervoll , “their sound had grown more industrial under the influence of [Coleman].” Herlihy noticed their sonation “had evolved to be more mature; a fuller sound and slightly more melodic approach.” The album provided their highest charting single, “I Only Said”, which peaked at No.…
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In August 1991 Laing left and was replaced on bass guitar by Karl Kippenberger . Kippenberger’s second gig with the group was a support slot to AC/DC at Athletic Park, Wellington in front of an audience of 20,000. During 1992 Larkin and Toogood collaborated with Nigel Regan (of HLAH) on…
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The line-up of Knight, Larkin, Laing and Toogood recorded their debut track, “Down Dance”, which was issued in August 1990 as a B-side of a split single with the A-side, ” Dogs Are Talking ” by Australian group, the Angels . The other B-side, “Live It Up”, was by Auckland…
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The group’s influences were Metallica and Slayer , and later included Pink Floyd , AC/DC and Led Zeppelin . The group began performing in local pubs, even though they were under-age, and performed cover versions of Metallica and Motörhead tracks. At Shihad’s debut performance they provided a cover version of…
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Exit were renamed Shihad in mid-1988 when Geoff Duncan on bass guitar and Phil Knight on guitar joined. The new name was a misspelling of jihad ( Arabic for “striving” or “struggling”) as used in Frank Herbert’s science-fiction novel, Dune (1965). They had heard the term when watching David Lynch…
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Tom Larkin and Jon Toogood formed Exit in 1985 in Wellington with various short-term fellow school members. Larkin and Toogood had met at Wellington High School , and shared an interest in heavy metal. They were generally found in the school’s music room, as Toogood later recalled, “That’s where we…
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