Sick Puppies finds success in heavier sounds (article)

[Jessamy]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/things-do/ ... ier-sounds


Although adept at playing instruments and singing songs, there were hard lessons to be learned before Australian power trio Sick Puppies could find success.


The hardest, said Emma Anzai, the bass player and a founding member, was accepting that not every idea had to be included in a song.

Sick Puppies play Wednesday at Sky City, 1157 Broad St.

"When you are young, you want to put everything in a song," she said in a recent telephone interview. "Even if it is indulgent. We started this band in high school, and as we grew older and especially after relocating to L.A., we realized that's not always what's best."

The band's decision to remain a trio after relocating from Australia four years ago was based on discussions about arrangements, song-writing and, most importantly, the commonalities found in bands both Anzai and her musical partner Shimon Moore loved. The result is an act that combines big riffs, tight melodies and radio-ready hooks.

"That's something we talked about a lot -- the bands we loved. And what we loved was Green Day and Rage Against the Machine and Muse -- all of which, instrumentally, are trios."

Sick Puppies recruited drummer Mark Goodwin and in 2007 recorded its major label debut, Dressed Up As Life, and followed it up last year with Tri-Polar . Anzai said for Tri-Polar , the band, for the first time, tried to maximize the studio experience.

"It was very collaborative," she said. "We really listened to the producers on this one and that all goes into the structure of a song."

Anzai said when the band first began playing dates in America, it found itself in unfamiliar territory gigging with heavier acts than it had been paired with in Australia.

"It was funny, because in the back of our heads we did wonder if we were heavy enough to play with these bands we kept being billed with," she said. "But in writing Tri-Polar , and writing with that in mind, we found a sort of relief. We discovered that this band is who we actually were."

[amberwithwings]

Thanks for posting this!