Toogood’s choice of collaborators was founded on friendship and respect. The list of collaborators spans multiple generations of New Zealand musicians, from seasoned artists such as Shayne Carter (Straightjacket Fits, Dimmer) and Julia Deans (Fur Patrol) through to later artists such as Ladi 6, Anika Moa, Tiki Taane, Redford Grenell (Shapeshifter), Warren Maxwell (Little Bushman), and Ruban and Kody Neilson (Mint Chicks). “I had included them on the list because I liked them as people,” Toogood says. “And I didn’t feel worried about opening up in front of them. I knew they’d all be able to add something to the music.” With Shayne Carter – who’d been a source of inspiration for Toogood since Carter’s days in Straightjacket Fits in the early 1990s – Toogood got the opportunity to witness one of his idols in close proximity. “That was really cool,” Toogood says. “I got to have a fan boy’s perspective on how Shayne plays. Shayne is from a generation before me, so I felt a bit like a little kid while I was around him,” Toogood laughs.
With such an eclectic group of players, it was only natural that The Adults’ record came to comprise a diverse collection of songs. “I wrote a list of people who inspired me, and who I liked. And when you do that you can’t preconceive what you’re going to write. All I really wanted to do was to jam with musicians that I respected,” Toogood says. “But I suppose in hindsight it was always going to be an eclectic album given the spectrum of musicians who were involved.” Thankfully there were no personality differences in the mix. “The whole thing was actually fun!” Toogood says. “With Shayne Carter, I could always tell if he didn’t like something because he’d say ‘oh, really bro’ when I suggested something. But when he did like it, he didn’t say a thing!” he laughs.
Toogood says The Adults provided him with the opportunity to take a more liberated approach to creating music. “This project was about me letting go,” Toogood says. “I’m very much in control of Shihad, so it was a very liberating experience because I had all these other brains to bounce off. It was a very joyous experience,” he says. With only a couple of songs surviving from Toogood’s original song sketches, Toogood says the process of “jamming from the ground up” provided him with the opportunity to exercise his intellectual and musical muscle. “When you have to keep up with other people it means you have to keep your brain moving – you always have to be watching what they’re doing, and responding to it,” Toogood says.
The title of the project provides another significant clue to where The Adults have come from, and where it may head in the future. “I just wanted to make an album that reflected where my 40 year old head is at,” Toogood says. “I’ve been playing music for 22 years – I’ve been in Shihad since I was 18 years old. I was obsessed with it, but I’ve realised that you can be obsessed with your band but still doing things outside of that band.” Toogood’s positive attitude to The Adults borders on the evangelical – rather than reaching the oft-dreaded age of 40 and devolving into a bitter middle-aged man, Toogood has had a revelatory experience. “I would highly recommend this to anyone who’s been in a band for 20 years,” Toogood says. “My brain was fired into completely different directions, and it’s totally reinvigorated my interest in music. I can’t wait to go in to make the next Shihad record so I can test out all these new tricks I’ve discovered,” he says.
So far The Adults have played a series of shows in New Zealand, predominantly with Shayne Carter and Julia Deans as live collaborators. “It’s great music to play live,” Toogood says. “And it’s not all about me – I’m not the focal point. We all share instruments, we all sing. I’ve never been in a band with a female singer before, I’m doing all these new things,” he says. Toogood hopes the logistical planets will align in the near future so that he can assemble the entire collaborative group for a live performance. “It’s definitely on the cards – it’s just a logistical thing,” Toogood says. And once the current promotional and succeeding tours are over, Toogood wants to do it all again – maybe with a different cast to further exercise his creative brain. “If I got funding to do it again, I’d do it in a second,” Toogood says. “I’ve formed a million new neural pathways in my brain – I’ve worked with great people, and we’ve come up with a great record.”
