We were so honoured to have Aotearoa's own royal rock legend Jon Toogood visit Book Hero, he was our very first author signing in our new HQ in Hobsonville and Shirl excitedly got to have a chat with him about his new memoir, Home Again!
Home Again released recently and covers his childhood, growing up in Wellington, the start of his music career and his life as part of Shihad and lead singer of The Adults. Shirl was surprised to find out that Jon has actually popped into Book Hero before as he loves to read as well as his whole whānau, so awesome!
It was so cool getting to chat to him about his book as well as his music and career. Shirl got to share with him her favourite Shihad moments and music - Deb's Night Out is her favourite song AND music video (Jon's aunty features in the video)! Jon was so generous with his time by doing a Q&A with us and also answering some quickfire questions which maybe weren't so quickfire as Shirl wanted to know all about what makes him tick.
SHIRL'S NOT SO QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS 😆🎸
- Favourite song to play live? The General Electric
- Favourite album that you could listen to all the time? Pink Floyd The Wall
- Best gig you’ve ever been to? ACDC on the Razor's Edge Tour
- Name a musician you would love to hang out or collaborate with, past or present? Otis Harding
- What’s the one gig you wish you could relive? Supporting ACDC at Western Springs on the Black Ice Tour in front of 62,000 people
- What’s the most quintessentially New Zealand moment of your career? Getting a can of Lion Red thrown at my head by the drummer of King Loser for playing the Sceptics Afco as a metal band
- What song would you put on to instantly transport yourself back to being 20? Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
- If you had to describe your life in three songs, what would they be? This was tricky for Jon to answer on the spot, he'll come back to us on this one!
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What bands/artists have you been listening to recently?
Aldous Harding's Train On The Island album. We love that heaps. In our household, Kendrick Lamar is king. We've been listening to a lot of The Cure recently as well. My son discovered my Standing On The Beach, the singles, best of so now I'm getting back into The Cure. - What’s a book you always recommend? Perfume, that's just a really easy read and so good.
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What are you reading at the moment?
I'm currently reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which is a Booker Prize winner by a New Zealand author Shehan Karunatilaka. I've just finished Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky, which I highly recommend. And I'm also reading a book called This is Fascism, which is a non-fiction book about the rise of Make America Great Again and the modern right, which is pretty on point.
During the signing we had some interesting chats about what's happening for New Zealander's at the moment especially with the election looming as well as current affairs internationally. And on a lighter topic - boardgames! He's recently got his children into watching the Jumanji movie and picked up the boardgame as well as playing a lot of Connect Four. He's been enjoying playing Mario Kart however has warned he is pretty competitive!
We then took him on a tour of our brand new warehouse filled with 100,000 books and then put him to work. Dom taught him how to pack an order and Jon packed one lucky customers order who had purchased his book!
Lastly, we wanted to gift Jon with a book to say thanks for taking the time to visit us. Originally Lizzy had picked out Rick Rubin's A Creative Act but of course Jon has already read this! He was keen to get into Lonesome Dove so we picked that one out for him as well as gifting him Catan for him to enjoy with his whānau.
A huge thank you to Jon for coming to visit us and also thank you to Moa Press and everyone at Hachette for making this happen for Book Hero! We loved having Jon visit and hopefully will see him again soon!
Signed copies of Home Again are in store now so get in quick while stocks last!
Home Again by Jon Toogood
You can read Shirl's full review of Home Again here!
Reading Jon’s journey really highlighted to me how their sound evolved over the years and he describes how he was inspired by the different music scenes at the time happening around the world like grunge to Britpop as well as the Australian rock and pop music scene. I remember hearing and then seeing the music video for Home Again, I was surprised that it was the same heavy, loud band I saw at BDO not that long before, however I was definitely into it!
I could absolutely go on and on about what’s inside this book but I don’t want to spoil it! For me, Home Again was a trip down memory lane and gave me a deeper appreciation for their music. Shihad have been a huge part of the Aotearoa music scene as well as internationally so getting to read the stories behind the songs and the band as well as Jon’s personal insights into his life and music career made this an absolute must-read for me.
