'WATCH OUT WORLD ROARS SHIHAD' - SUNDAY STAR TIMES

Shihad is unimpressed. It has just come off an Australian tour supporting underground metal favourite Pantera - and it is putting it all down to experience.

The Wellington band's 20-minute warmup to huge crowds of disinterested greasers was another of life's little rock'n'roll lessons for the New Zealand troupers. "Pantera are based on credibility and on not selling out but they're a moneymaking machine;' says Tom Larkin, Shihad's voluble drummer. "There's no fooling me - or anyone else who witnesses the machine in action. One of the ironic things was that Pantera's singer went into a rant about how they just use their basic instruments and don't use any whizz-bang effects, totally ignoring the $20,000 lightshow they're surrounded with!"

Anyone who has encountered Shihad knows they're friendly, likeable, intelligent guys, whereas Pantera ... "Let's just say the whole thing revolves around chicks, beer and metal!" says Larkin. "Yep, we felt somewhat like visitors from Mars during the whole thing."

Successful visitors from Mars, though. In New Zealand, Shihad is our most successful grownup hard'n'heavy rock group. But the hard'n'heavy have just gone and got a little laid'n'back.

About to launch into its next phase, Shihad has a positively pretty-in-places self-titled new album and the inevitable tour to back it up. The album reflects on a turbulent year for Shihad, including time spent scratching up work in Los Angeles and the death of long-time friend and manager Gerald Dwyer from a drug-related incident in January this year.

"Between Killjoy (the previous album) and this album, the biggest amount of experience has gone down with the people in the band," says Larkin. "For want of a better word, we're just a lot more worldly than we were. We're also more open-minded and more comfortable with what we do and how we want to do it - and to our agenda, rather than bending to other people's."

What came out of that attitude is a stripped-down album that downplays the usual Shihad dramatics, bombast and special effects. Instead, a clean, no-frills sound leaves the group sounding unusually naked. And inevitably more mainstream.

"We wanted to strip back the production this time. It's a personal thing, an emotional thing but if you're cynical enough, you can view it as a commercial thing."

Like previous outings, Shihad was recorded at the York St studios in Auckland with producer Malcolm Welsford but six of the songs were remixed by American producer Adam Kasper (Soundgarden, REM). 'That worked out tremendously well' says Larkin, 'It brought a different approach again. He wanted to do a 'dry' take on what we did, make everything just nice and natural and have the vocals up loud and clear.

"In the past, we've made the big epic distortion soundscape and we just wanted this one to be more direct, more honest. I think it lays everything bare and leaves it open for everyone to just get the thing straight away."

For Shihad, the New Zealand album release and tour is just the prelude to the world onslaught it is gearing up for in the next year, which includes a European tour in January and extensive dates throughout the United States. It is facing up to the prospect of living in the US for as long as it takes to crack the market.

"We love New Zealand but we can't make a living here. Already, I've just had to borrow money so that we can pay our weekly wages," says Larkin, acutely aware of the business machinations since inheriting many of the tasks from the late manager.

It's major success in the US that the band craves: "You're waiting for that big bite, that's what it's all about. We'll be looking to work our profile up every time we go through the cycle - tour, album, tour, album - and hope that at some stage the floodgates will open. You can get lost there so easily but it's also the place where the rock'n'roll dream still exists. There's this God-like radio station there and once you're playlisted, every single major radio station in the US will pick you up. And if you get picked up by those radio stations, then MTV will play your clip.

"While we were there, No Doubt had just got its single on and nine months down the track thev're big everywhere ... it's fascinating to see how that filters through globally.

"But with No Doubt, you realise really quickly that the rest of their album is really average. Writing a good album is the backbone of a band that will last and if a band can deliver live - from AC/DC to Fugazi - they will always hold it there."

There's no doubt Shihad delivers live; in New Zealand, it attracts more punters to its gigs than many international acts. But what's the thing that drives Shihad to the sleep deprivation and appalling nutrition of life on the road?

"When we look back at what we've done it looks fantastic, all the fireworks went off and it was the big triumphant thing. But it was always full of hard work and there were lots of slummy, lonely moments and all those triumphs were the brief to keep you alive. At the end of the day, it's about music and all the work is about making sure we can continue making music. Music is what drives us and hopefully that'll keep us going. Maybe we'll get sick of it. Who knows?