Welcome to episode 169 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat. 

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

This one is a conversation with Jon Toogood. I recorded this in Melbourne last month – after trying to coordinate schedules a couple of times to record a chat over the last couple of years. Finally. We did it. Earlier this year Jon and I met for brunch in Auckland and ran out of time to record – but had a good chat. Mostly about David Bowie. It was good to get to know Jon a little better ahead of recording the podcast. 

When I was in Melbourne recently I had time to go to Jon’s house and we talked about his work with/as The Adults as well as some Shihad stuff. He talked about the early stages of the upcoming new album and discussed some memories going back to when he and Tom Larkin met at school and shared heavy metal tapes leading to the creation of the band.

Because of the documentary I didn’t want to only talk Shihad – many of us know a lot of the story from that and from our own fandom and because the band is big in the lives of many New Zealanders. But there is still plenty of Shihad talk. 

We also talked about some of Jon’s early formative experiences, the personal journey behind the new Adults album and he wanted to reflect on the horrific Christchurch terrorist attack. Not only was it still fresh in our minds, as it is for so many but Jon has recently converted to Islam – and tells some of his story around that. 

There’s lots here. It’s a big chat – and I was thrilled to finally get this on tape. 

So here now is episode 169 of Sweetman Podcast, my conversation with Jon Toogood. 

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