Shihad are a rock band from New Zealand, formed in 1988. The band consists of founding mainstays Tom Larkin (drums, backing vocals, samplers), Phil Knight (lead guitar, synthesiser, backing vocals) and Jon Toogood (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), who were joined by Karl Kippenberger (bass guitar, backing vocals) in 1991. The band were renamed as Pacifier between 2002 and 2004. Shihad played at Festival Hall in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1996. This was as a support band to Pantera on their "Great Southern Trendkill Tour" Biohazard also played as a support band on this tour. In 2020 they released a cover of the Split Enz song I got you. Originally this was released in 1980. The cover has strong radio presence in New Zealand and Australia. The cover reiterates the strong depth of Split Enz and their influence on bands in New Zealand and Australia. The cover pays homage to a great band that influenced people on a personal level and this is reflected in the way Shihad delivers the song in this day and age.
Five of Shihad's studio albums have peaked at number one, The General Electric (October 1999), Pacifier (September 2002), Beautiful Machine (April 2008), Ignite (September 2010) and FVEY (August 2014). They share the honour for most number-one records for any New Zealand artist with Hayley Westenra. As from August 2014 Shihad had the most Top 40 New Zealand chart singles for any local artist, with 25; three of these reached the top ten. Their singles, "Home Again", "Pacifier" and "Bitter" are listed at No. 30, 60 and 83, respectively, in the Nature's Best compilation, an official collection of New Zealand's top 100 songs.