Jon Toogood’s unexpected musical romance; Adults album Haja

When his future wife Dana met Jon Toogood in 2011, she had no idea he was among the most engaging performers to front a rock band.

Jon and Dana Toogood with children Yahia and Yasmin. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

In today’s Review I write about how marrying into a Sudanese family led New Zealand musician Jon Toogood down an unexpected musical path, which resulted in an album by the Adults named Haja — a respectful Arabic term for an older, more experienced woman. When his future wife, Dana, met Toogood in 2011, she had no idea that the man before her was among the most engaging performers to ever front a rock band. Since Shihad began in 1988, Toogood has stood at the microphone, electric guitar strapped to his shoulder, and won over countless concertgoers through sheer charisma and force of will.

After moving to Brisbane in 2006, I’ve watched him perform roughly once a year. Each time, I leave a Shihad show with my love for music renewed, thanks to his contagious passion.

When I met the Toogoods at their home in Melbourne’s east last week, though, I wanted to know what it was like for Dana to see him perform for the first time, a few months after they met.

“I remember standing there watching him, and it was like all the energy got drawn to him,” she told me. “I was watching a performer go into the place where they’re truly meant to be. That’s actually his most comfortable place in the world, being on stage. It just felt like he was at peace there.

“But it was also like trying to put two different characters together. Because there’s the Jon I know — who’s really humble — and then there’s this big character. How do you blend those two?

“It’s always like that: I used to go on tour with the guys, and right before he goes on stage, I’d kiss him good luck, and then I watched him morph into something else. You couldn’t even see that transformation. There was my Jonny, my love — and then all of a sudden, he goes on stage, and it’s like the flick of a switch: he was Jon Toogood from Shihad. A true transformation of an artist — that’s what it was.”

Dana didn’t know a single song by Shihad when they first met. Which song of theirs has become most dear to her?

“Probably Pacifier,” she replies, referring to a single from the 1999 album The General Electric. “Hearing that was the first time I actually noticed the unity of everyone with the band. On tour, I would always go out with the crowd; I didn’t want to be backstage, I wanted to be part of everything and I wanted to see Jon from a different angle. Every time Pacifier came on, I just loved how everyone would wave their hands at the same time. I love feeling energy, and I felt like the energy there, everyone was one thing; one big movement. When they play that song, everyone’s connected and they’re all doing the same thing. It’s a beautiful flow. That’s why Pacifier is dear to me.”

Dana gets that same feeling when she listens to Haja, Toogood’s latest work with the Adults, which offers an artistic fusion of music from Sudan and New Zealand.

“If you know Jon as the guy who plays [Shihad songs] Home Again, or Run, or The General Electric, and then you listen to [Haja tracks] Boomtown or Take It on the Chin, you will automatically make the assumption that he’s changed, or he’s going into hip hop,” she says. “But he’s not: he’s actually collaborating and extending himself as a musician, and he’s also showing people unity, and how you can bring two different cultures together.”