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Sick Puppies build momentum with tours, new album
By Erica Goff
Published Friday, August 8, 2008
Australian modern rock band Sick Puppies will return to Fairbanks Saturday with a 21-and-over indoor concert at The Blue Loon.
Sick Puppies
FAIRBANKS — The scenario is not uncommon: Two teens bump into each other, instruments at hand and minds set on jamming, and the ball is set in motion.
While for many aspiring musicians this ends, at best, with some time spent in a garage or basement learning some cover songs and doing the teenage band thing for a short time before moving on to other interests, it was not so for Australian rockers Shimon Moore and Emma Anzai.
“We had double-booked the music room by accident, so we just started playing Silverchair and Green Day covers,” Moore said of his first musical meeting with now fellow band member Anzai when the two were in high school in 1997. “We struck up a musical chemistry right away and we’ve been together ever since.”
Eleven years later, the two form the rock band Sick Puppies with drummer Mark Goodwin. The trio snagged some mainstream attention in 2005 when a YouTube video called “Free Hugs” — made as a virtual get well-card for former band member Juan Mann and set to the band’s song “All the Same” — garnered 30 million views on the video Web site and made the group and their song familiar to Internet users worldwide. The video shows footage of Mann carrying his Free Hugs sign and is made from old footage Anzai had of him. But, Moore said, while the group is glad to have gotten such a break, neither the video or the YouTube phenomenon embraces the identity of the band or its history.
“It just happened to be set to one of our songs, but it wasn’t made to be an identity of the band. It is just a video clip for the band,” he said.
And the group has been working hard to make their music and their identity as a modern rock band influenced by the likes of Incubus, Green Day, Silverchair and Rage Against the Machine known and loved in the mainstream music scene. The group signed with Virgin Records in 2006 and has been “doing all the typical stuff to try to get a break” in the business, including plenty of touring.
“We did what we had to do,” Moore said, referencing plenty of touring and a move to Los Angeles.
While many fans and potential fans are familiar with the YouTube phenomenon, most are less familiar with the story of what came before the video. After their beginning in high school, Anzai and Moore played with fellow Australian Chris Mileski. In 1999, they released their first hit Down Under, “Dog’s Breakfast,” and two years later their song “Nothing Really Matters” won Triple J’s Unearthed band competition, beating out nearly 3,000 bands for the honor. Later that year their debut album, “Welcome to the Real World,” was released and the band began preparing for a debut in North America, one that led to their album, “Dressed Up as Life,” which has seen enough success to keep them on the road and living their rocker dream.
Like many teens passionate about rock, Moore had dreams of the rocker life. Now that he is living it, he’s found it is not at all what he expected.
“I thought there would be lots of beer and women, constant partying, but it’s not. There are no women and we don’t even have room for beer,” he said. “It is like a real job, it is a lot of work.”
The group enjoys it, he added, because being on stage, creating music and connecting with people is “what it is all about.”
“It’s so much about shows and connecting with people. You can make a video, you can make a song, but it is the connection with people and the music that stays, that means something,” he said.
Sick Puppies will make its second appearance in Fairbanks Saturday night, returning to The Blue Loon for a 21-and-over indoor concert. This is a change from the all-ages outdoor concert originally planned, but Blue Loon owner Adam Wool made the change due to weather concerns. Local bands 12 Year Stretch and Means to an End will open the show, with doors opening at 8 p.m.
Moore said the group couldn’t be happier to return after playing a local show in February.
“Fairbanks is a unique place because of its serenity. You can get back to a good way of life, which we don’t often get because we’re living in the fast lane,” he said. “It is a good place to enjoy, relax and breathe.”
In addition to touring — the group will also be doing a few shows in Texas , Mississippi and other areas in the coming weeks — the band is preparing for the release of their new album, “?,” set for September. Moore said they are also promoting a fan-based project called Sick Puppies World Crew, which awards points to fans that become active in band promotion.
“We are trying to be diligent about connecting with our fans and this is one way to do it,” he said.
What: Sick Puppies, 21-and-over indoor concert, with 12 Year Stretch and Means to an End
When: Saturday, doors open at 8 p.m.
Where: The Blue Loon
Admission: $20, tickets available at 222.theblueloon.com, Gulliver's Bookstore and The Blue Loon
