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Mark Goodwin of Sick Puppies
2009-09-16
Hey, everyone! My name is Mark Goodwin and I play in a band called Sick Puppies. The group originally formed in Australia, and when my bandmates, Shim (guitar, vox) and Emma (bass, vox), moved to L.A. four years ago, that’s when I joined. Since signing with Virgin Records in late 2006 we have been on tour nonstop. Our new album, Tri-Polar, came out recently, and we’re currently on the road in support of it. We’re on a headline tour now and our next tour is with Shinedown, so we’re very excited about that!
I’ve been playing drums since I was twelve. I never took lessons, I just watched as many drummers as I could and listened to music and drums constantly. It was love at first sight for me, and I’ve never looked back. Being able to tour as much as we do has allowed me to really step up my level of playing. We play some of our songs to a click track live, which is something I am a firm believer in. People say you can lose “feel” when you use a click live, but for me and my band it’s more like a reference. You don’t have to lose that feel. Playing on, behind, or in front of the click are all ways you can still groove!
We have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with some of our favorite bands. When we first started touring in ’06, we played a massive festival in Australia called Big Day Out. Some of our favorite bands were playing—Muse, Tool, My Chemical Romance, and the Killers. Watching Dom from Muse and Danny from Tool was a life-changing experience. To see the level at which these bands perform was inspiring to say the least. My band and I take a lot of pride in our live show, and it’s those types of bands that have paved the way for us. I love touring so much because you have to be on your game every night. If I’m not feeling it one night I just look out in the crowd to people pouring their hearts into singing along to our songs, and it puts things into perspective. I get to do what I love every single night, and it doesn’t get much better than that!
