Pacifier - Self Titled Jon Toogood - Vocals, Guitar Tom Larkin - Drums, Backing vocals Jon Toogood - Vocals, Guitar Karl Kippenberger - Bass Phil Knight – Guitar

“If the gods of rock ‘n’ roll should smile on one band, it should be Pacifier” Kerrang

“When we play, we want time to stop,” says Pacifier singer – guitarist Jon Toogood.

“We’ve made it through some tough times as a band,” says Tom Larkin, Pacifier drummer. Now we’ve been able to cut the fat from the bone and do what’s best for the music.”

Unleashed at last. New Zealand’s Pacifier, the South Pacific’s most successful rock band is poised to spring their taut, melodic heaviness on unsuspecting audiences here in North America. Until now, Larkin, frontman Jon Toogood, guitarist Phil Knight, and bassist Karl Kippenberger have been little more than promising blips on a distant radar screen. Around home where they were known until 9/11 as Shihad, they’ve played massive gigs, including the main stage at Big Day Out and Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, where they played to an audience of 100,000. They’ve shared the stage with Faith No More, AC/DC, and the Foo Fighters, among many others, and have been showered with many accolades at home. Still, they were held back by a binding contract there, severely limiting progress in the United States. . . until now.

The band’s brand new disc, the self-titled Pacifier, their fifth, is a brash statement of intent, full of passionate singing, careening guitars and fabulous melodies. Produced by Josh Abraham (Staind, Unwritten Law, Limp Bizkit), Pacifier carries with it a fresh and kinetic rock presence.

“It was a very personal experience for all of us,” says Larkin of making the record in Los Angeles. “It was the hardest we’ve ever worked. We were banging our heads and it’s only now that we’re beginning to understand how that work paid off. It was a labor of love, but the labor side was tremendous.”

The pay-off is undeniable. From the crushing opener “Bullitproof,” and the Sonic Youth-styled intro to “Comfort Me,” the delicate thunder of “Everything,” and the guitar squalls of “Just a Shadow,” Pacifier spans an adrenalizing breadth of melodies. Inspired by great classic hard rock and punk iconoclasts alike, the band holds enough power and fury to topple an unsteady mate right off the front of the stage. DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit and STP Scott Weiland cameo in the stirring “Coming Down.” Then there are the sweeter strums like “Walls” and “Home” in which the band takes it down a notch without losing intensity or significance.

“For the last ten years we’ve been away from friends and families,” says Jon, seriously. “We’ve missed out on that connection a great deal. So we’ve got to make it worth our while to miss out on all that. At the same time we were going through a phase where we’re all saying, ‘This has gotta be fucking good! Or it’s not going to be at all.’ We all had to step up to the plate. We screamed and played our balls off in the studio for six months to get it done.”

Inspired by an endless string of bands, both British and American—from AC/DC to Fugazi, the Clash to Killing Joke, from Television to Wire—Pacifier squeezes the best bits of their musical heroes and distills it to a potently devastating heavy rock essence. “We are what rock should be in 2003,” says Jon frankly, “at least as far as we’re concerned. We’re the Beatles, the Stones, AC/DC, the Clash, the Pistols, Metallica, Slayer, Guns ’N Roses, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction, Rage Against the Machine all slammed together.” And their live shows back that statement up. Rolling Stone Australia wrote of Pacifier’s live performance, “on stage their euphoric, contagious rush of energy transcends the rock genre into pure interpersonal celebration.”

Conquering one corner of the globe doesn’t guarantee world domination. The rock market in the U.S. is vastly different than the one they’ve come from, and Pacifier is bracing for the challenge of their lives. “We constantly challenge ourselves every step of the way,” says Jon. “That’s our nature. We push ourselves musically, lyrically, in performance, in every way we can. We’re more than ready for this new undertaking. “

You can’t help but feel that there’s a sense of destiny in store for Pacifier. After so many trials, tribulations and personal demons, the band has defied odds and stayed together. Jon, Tom, Phil, and Karl have been there. They’re ready for whatever the insane world of rock and roll can throw at them. “We definitely feel a sense of urgency,” Jon admits. “Every day I wake up I say I’m gonna make it worthwhile. We hardly get any time on this planet, we’ve got to make of it what we can.”

Tom continues, “Sure, a lot of rock and roll is about luck and fortune. So all we can do is be the best band that we can be. We know that. We’ve got strong fabric. We know how easily it can be torn away from you.”

“So that’s why,” Jon picks up, “that when we go onstage for that hour we give it everything we have, we give so much of ourselves that when people leave after the show, they’re thinking one thing: that they’ve just seen a fucking great rock and roll band.”

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