Shihad Singer Jon Toogood Reveals Australian Tour Dates, Debut Solo Album

Jon Toogood, best known for being the lead vocalist for New Zealand rock band Shihad, has today announced his debut solo album and accompanying solo tour dates in Australia.

Known for their bombastic live shows, the Shihad legacy spans decades, a name change (and subsequent change back), and, as of October 2021, ten studio albums. Their latest release, Old Gods, sonically showcases the Wellington quartet at their most ravenous selves yet.

The band’s prolific singer-songwriter has spent 30 years writing, singing, performing, mentoring, managing, directing, producing, DJing, programming and promoting – both with Shihad and supergroup The Adults – but has never truly gone at music alone.

Toogood will release his debut solo record, Last Of The Lonely Gods, via Warner Music Australia on Friday, 11 October.

Despite the epic title, the release will mark his most personal chapter to date. Teaming up with ARIA award-winning producer Scott Horscroft (Empire Of The Sun, Silverchair and Shihad’s Beautiful Machine) with his solo album, Toogood journeys through grief, the loss of loved ones while being separated by lockdowns, the pain of not being able to say goodbye and looking for positives.

To accompany today’s announcement, Toogood has dropped the single Gravity and said about the track: “Losing both parents lead me to thinking a lot about my own mortality which in turn lead to me writing this tune.

“I’d been hiding away from the world after my mum passed away and was trying to work out what I wanted my life to look like going forward. I wrote the tune to help me work some of that out.”

You can watch the music video below.

Toogood is embarking on an intimate Australian tour in support of the new album this November, hitting the Gold Coast’s Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, Brisbane’s Tomcat, Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club, and Sydney’s Waywards. You can find all the tour dates below.

Tickets to Jon Toogood’s upcoming Australian tour go on sale on Monday, 29 July, via the singer’s website. You can pre-order/pre-save his new album here.

Jon Toogood is a record breaker in his home country of New Zealand, holding the record for the most #1 albums by an NZ artist (x6), 15x NZ Top 40 albums and the most singles in the NZ charts (x25). In addition to those incredible statistics, he’s written more radio hits than any other artist in New Zealand music history.

JON TOOGOOD

LAST OF THE LONELY GODS TOUR - AUSTRALIA 2024

Thursday 14 November - Mo’s Desert House Club, Bundjalung Nation / Gold Coast

Friday 15 November - Tomcat, Meeanjin / Brisbane

Saturday 16 November - Northcote Social Club, Naarm / Melbourne

Sunday 17 November - Waywards, Eroa / Sydney