Jon Toogood announces ‘Home Again’ memoir and ‘Off The Record’ live shows

Jon Toogood is releasing a memoir called Home Again on August 25, pulling back the curtain on decades of Shihad stories, life on the road, and the personal battles that happened when the amps were switched off.

The Shihad frontman, who's pretty much part of the furniture here at The Rock, told The Morning Rumble he wasn't immediately sold on the idea of writing a book.

"Hachette Moa publishing approached me a couple of years back, and I was like, what? You want to do a book on my life? That's bizarre."

But after thinking about everything he'd experienced throughout his career, he realised there was plenty worth sharing.

According to the publisher, Home Again covers everything from Jon's childhood and the formation of Shihad through to touring the world, chasing international success and navigating the pressures that come with being one of New Zealand's biggest rock acts.

It also dives into some deeply personal territory, including anxiety, burnout and the moments that forced him to reassess his life away from music.

One of the ‘eye-opening’ stories Jon revisits is the aftermath of The General Electric, when years of relentless touring finally caught up with him.

He said while the band were in Melbourne struggling to write the lyrics for ‘Run’, he all of a sudden “burst into tears and realized I was absolutely rinsed and my body was going "no more" and shut down.

He continued, “And that started like three months of extreme panic attacks, which was just mad, you know, like I was out of control of my physical body and it was all coming from my mental state..

"..I basically burnt myself out and didn't realize that my mental health wasn't that good," he told The Rumble.

Watch: Shihad’s Last Supper, our short-doco on the band’s final weekend ever

The book isn't all heavy stuff though. There are stories from the recording studio, the road, and encounters with music legends including Joe Strummer, Mike Patton and Peter Hook.

"I thought if I'm going to write a book, I want to be as honest about it as possible."

To coincide with the release, Jon is also taking Off The Record with Jon Toogood around the country, with Auckland’s date already locked in and more to be announced. Hosted by Charlotte Ryan, the events will feature stories from the book, audience conversations and a few songs along the way.

You can check out all the details for Off The Record here, and pre-order Toogood’s memoir here. 

This one will be a great read.