Rockbites: Shihad, bowing to American sentiment, will change name

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January 2002 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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Shihad, bowing to American sentiment, will change name
7 January 2002

New Zealand guitar rockers Shihad named themselves some 13 years ago (when they were each 15 years old) after the final battle in David Lynch’s film version of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic Dune. It was 'Jihad' in the movie, of course, but the band admit they simply misspelled it. They now feel compelled to find a new name in the wake of September’s pseudo-Muslim terrorist attacks.
    You see, they want to make it in America, and after visiting recently they are convinced that a name like Shihad will erase any possibility of commercial success.
    Meanwhile, some Shihad fans are having a jolly chest-beating, back-slapping time of it, using the news to trash America and Americans. An open forum on the NZMusic.com Website (check our link) provides a bit of entertainment and perhaps a bit of insight into the perception of the US in a small democracy on the opposite side of the world.
    Some longtime fans of Shihad class Americans as hypocritical, shallow, and, to use one fan’s words, 'stupid and lame.'
    Shihad drummer Tom Larkin recently wrote

    “We’ve just spent 4 months in the US and every fuckin’ news item talks of the 'Jihad against America.' It doesn’t matter what the real interpretation of the word is—as far as 99.9% of Americans are concerned 'Jihad' means 'Fundamentalist terrorist war against all Americans.

    “Should Shihad continue their break into the US market with their current name, they may well be sabotaging their own careers. We wouldn’t get played on radio, we wouldn’t get tours, and what would be the point —all the hard work to go nowhere.”

No word yet on what the new name might be, or whether it might be a special US name leaving Shihad for the rest of the world. | Shihad | | Shihad forum on NZMusic.com | | Shihad bio on Howlspace ezine | | discography | | top of page |

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