Down With The Sickness

[Kemmy]

Down With The Sickness

Australian rock band transplants took their dream across continents and are here to prove to America why their hard work and dedication should make people buy their records.

Aussie rockers Sick Puppies can scream your face off and sulk with you in the span of an album, but the world might not know these cats if it wasn’t for a YouTube video about free hugs.

In 2006, vocalist/lead guitarist Shimon Moore with bassist/high school classmate Emma Anzai made the 12,000 mile trek across the Pacific Ocean from Sydney, Australia to the quake-happy shores of California in search of a record deal and rock stardom.

“We got a rehearsal room, a small apartment and we ate food from Costco and the 99 cent store for as long as we could,” explains Moore of the early band days. “All we did was write songs and rehearse.”

Moore and Anzai hopped on the online classifieds killer, Craigslist, in search of a skinsman and found Orange County’s Mark Goodwin. The decision to hire Goodwin was, in Moore’s words, “Pure and simple. He could hit those f*ck drums hard.”

All the pieces were in place to move forward and fight for the dream that any opening band on the Sunset Strip has—a major label record deal.

“We didn’t anticipate failure so we didn’t give ourselves a timetable for things not working out,” Moore points out. “If you anticipate failure, you’re inviting it into your life.”

With the help of prominent rock photographer Robert M. Knight and their mention in his documentary, “Rock Prophecies,” Sick Puppies secured a deal with RMR/Virgin/EMI and released their debut full-length, Dressed Up as Life, in 2007.

The album rose through the charts due in large part to the single, “All The Same,” which featured fellow Aussie Juan Mann and his “Free Hugs” campaign. The YouTube sensation not only became the most watched clip in the site’s history, with just over 43 million hits, but it also served as the tap on the world’s shoulder that it was missing out on the next big thing.

Several tours with Nickelback, Shinedown and Breaking Benjamin ensued, and before long Sick Puppies saw the success they set out for when they left Australia. They continued to expand their sound and identity with their sophomore offering, Tri-Polar, in the summer of 2009.

“[Tri-Polar] is really about the three personalities of the band because we all have different personalities, different tastes in music and different writing and playing styles,” Moore admits. “When you bring them together it creates the sound of the band.”

The success of “All The Same” showed the band how powerful and beneficial the Internet can be, so they embraced it by forming the “Sick Puppies World Crew.” It’s a free fan club where the band can interact with their fans directly. Every band and their musically-challenged cousin has a Facebook and/or Twitter for promotion, but Sick Puppies stepped it up a notch and created the crew to distribute exclusive live tracks and other downloads just for signing up.

“After people started paying attention, we were the first to jump up and say ‘Alright lets give back as much we can to the Internet now that we have the opportunity to because we don’t need a record label or anyone else to do it for us,’” Moore explains. “You do as much as you can to get people involved and people feel like they’re really a part of the journey.”

They did tour blogs and posted various other tour clips. Their self-created buzz helped make “Street Fighter War,” which was used in the Capcom videogame Street Fighter IV and “You’re Going Down,” which was featured prominently on WWE’s Extreme Rules as an intro to the program, into top 10 hits.

The interactivity of Sick Puppies rivaled those pick-your-own-adventure books when they held a fan poll for their next single off Tri-Polar.

“The reason we chose [‘Odd One’] is because it was the fan’s choice single. For about six months the fans kept saying ‘Odd One’ is better,” Moore points out.

Their greatest challenge aside from leaving one continent for another was creating the distance between them and their greatest influence –Silverchair.

“They were 14 years old when they did Frogstomp, and I was about 12 and when I saw people my own age doing it I thought ‘Well I could do that’ and I did,” Moore relates. “Over time you sort of bring other influences into your sound, but definitely the heaviest is Daniel Johns.”

“I think [Silverchair] influenced our sound to an extent,” Moore admits. “But now more than ever we probably sound more like us because that’s what happens when you grow as a band.”

Sick Puppies’ 2010 calendar has “tour” written all over it. They plan to travel the world and get Tri-Polar more attention. If the album does better, Moore and Anzai will be able to purchase their Australian debut, Welcome to the Real World, back from their defunct label, BMG.

“We are planning on releasing Welcome to the Real World, but it’s taking a very long time,” Moore explains. “The more people love Tri-Polar, the more of a chance that we’re going to be able to release Welcome to the Real World, so we’re telling people to go out and buy the f*ck record!”

Source: http://www.chordstruckmagazine.com/inde ... &Itemid=63

[jlie19]

Very cool article....I like how it mentions SPWC

[Becky]

Nice article and shout out to SPWC.

[David]

Awesome Article!!!! Great World Crew mention, and a possible rerelease of WTTRW?? How sweet would that be....

[Donna]

Awesome - and very cool about the SPWC shoutout

[Julie]

Yey on the SPWC mention, and very cool on the possiblity of releasing Welcome to the Real World.

"so we’re telling people to go out and buy the f*ck record!” hahaha....oddly enough I think this is my favorite line in the article

[Maggie!]

[Hollee]

I would love a rerelease of WTTRW. And maybe even a couple videos/singles from it.

[Wookie]

Im just gunna put cuz everyone else seems to be doing so

[Juliesnaps]

great article, very insightful

if/when they re-release WTTRW they should put the videos on there as a bonus *hint hint, nudge nudge*