Sick Puppies Interview

[Kemmy]

I just found this... thought I'd post it since it's a pretty interesting read:

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Sick Puppies Interview
Headliners
Louisville, KY
05/23/2007
Live Photos

The Sick Puppies simply ROCKED Headliners, Louisville, KY. A couple of months prior, Musicpix covered the somewhat unknown band here in the US at a tiny little club in Indianapolis, IN. After seeing them perform live, we put them on our radar screen as a band to watch. Now just a few months later, the Sick Puppies are fronting for Flyleaf and Kill Hannah and are playing to packed houses… well on their way to headlining. To see them, to hear them is to love them.

Originally from Australia, the Sick Puppies are touring in support of their debut album “Dressed up as Life” which is a more than solid entrance onto the music scene. “All the Same”- the soundtrack for the video of “FREE HUGS” has been a YouTube smash; garnering more than 15 million hits.

Musicpix sat down with Shimon Moore (lead vocals, guitar), Emma Anzani (Bass) and Mark Goodwin (Drums) prior to the show to talk about their past, present, and future…which includes conquering the world. Read on...



Musicpix: Talk about “FREE HUGS”…I’ve watched the video for the past month when I need a pick-me-up. It’s really fantastic-the song and the video. Tell us about how it came about.

Shim: Before the band came over to the states…we came over about two years ago- we we’re saving up money for airplanes tickets and one of the jobs that I had was holding up this sandwich board that sold “2 for 1 Shoes.” I’d stand there for four hours every day. While I was doing that, I met Juan Mann who was holding up this FREE HUGS sign. So after he and I became friends, I taped the footage of him with my Dad’s camera. I had this footage that I’d never used. I had it in the bottom of my backpack and took it to LA (because I just never clean out my bag) and I had these tapes when we were making “Dressed up as Life” and he called me and told me that his grandmother had died. So, I made this video as a ‘get well’ or symphony card for him to make him feel better. After everyone saw it, they thought it would be really good for UTUBE and Sickpuppies.net and MySpace sites and after we did that, it got about a million hits a week for eight weeks! And now, it over 15 million hits.


Musicpix: And you didn’t have to have a big video budget!

Shim: No, it was zero…[laughing]

Musicpix: There’s a very forlorn feeling in the lyrics of “All the Same” and “Perfect World.” Not helplessness necessarily but there’s a lot of anger and angst and frustration. Where there any moments of optimism?

Mark: Everybody’s been saying that lately….

Shim: It was a fairly dark time for the band because we were living very very simply and for a long time. We didn’t even know if we were going to be able to finish the record. It wasn’t really helplessness or hopelessness-there was always a belief that it was going to happen and we’d get it out there but we didn’t know for sure. We knew that but nobody else did. Emotionally, the lyrics are from darker places, more powerful places, that you can write lyrics from…at least for me, as a 23 year old guy in a rock band. I’m sure if I had more time and I was a little older, I’d see things differently. At the moment, when you write honestly, that’s how it comes across. You have to let the song be what it’s going to be and not get in the way of it. The honestly is important. That’s how I felt. When you write in the moment, that’s what happens. Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought there was an element of hope on the record but I guess there isn’t… [everybody’s laughing] It’s just capturing moments. That’s really the whole point. That’s what most great songs do. When we were learning to be better songwriters in LA, we tried to catch those moments and experiences. I guess if you were to broaden the topic, you could add hope, but the moments don’t have space for hope. It just has space for the one f*ck serious emotion whether it be depression or fear or rage or whatever….I’m pretty hopeful now about where the band is going and I’m pretty stoked.

Musicpix: ? to Emma. The role that you depicted in “My World” is very intense-opposite of the male angst with toilets exploding and the focus on plastic surgery. Can you talk about it?

Emma: When we first got together in a meeting, we wanted to do the most extreme thing…the biggest issue these days (and I’m generalizing) is self image-there is always this emphasis on how women have to look. I guess it was just how to depict it…so I decided to draw the surgical markings on myself to show how silly it could be.

Musicpix: Was it natural? Were you comfortable in those shoes?

Emma I think when you do stuff like that, you have to draw from a little bit of personal experience. Everyone’s got their issues. As a woman, of course, your self-image is something you think about. It’s put out there in magazines-especially in school. Kids just say things and it sticks with you. I drew from that place. It was a little bit daunting because I’d never done anything like that but it was exciting.

Musicpix: You mentioned school…you met in school right?

Shim: Yep, double-booked the music room by accident and neither of us (Shim/Emma) wanted to leave and both of us got stubborn…I said ‘do you know this song?’ and she yea and we played it, she said ‘do you know this song’ and we played it from start to finish without talking much. We did that for about a week and then we started the band. We had a common thread-we liked the same music and knew the same songs.

Musicpix: In the liner notes of your CD, you thank the naysayers for being your fuel….can you talk about that fuel?

Shim: It’s funny because now at this point, once we started enjoying the fruits of our labor-not in terms of money but being signed, being with other great bands and having good experiences and instead of constantly struggling to get a CD released or make it to LA…Now we’re in the US and doing what we’ve been aiming for… a lot of people-my parents didn’t say it, but everyone else said, ‘when are you going to get a real job?’ and ‘when are you going to settle down?’….and especially in school. I did acting when I was younger and when the band started we did all the competitions-we did everything we could because we love it. People would say, “what do you think you’re going to be a big rock star or something?...Do you really think you’re going to make it?” I was like, yeah, f*ck you. So we both believed that because we went through a long down time in-between records that everyone thought that we’d broken up. We hadn’t-we were just biding our time and being really calculated…making sure that we made the right moves to get to where we are now. Now, it’s not so much the case. In terms of the record as a whole? That’s why the record is the way it is and my parts where what they were because of my desire to say to people, “I can do it.” Now, I can really appreciate it because revenge is the best thing in the world because I’m loving it and it doesn’t bother me what they say anymore. I don’t care. I was doing it for me and not them. It was just my fuel for my fire.

Musicpix: Does it feel real or surreal?

Emma: It’s not like we’ve reached a certain goal just yet because we’re still in the process of it and it’s definitely exciting….sometimes you stop and think and its mind blowing. It’s a step in our journey.

Musicpix: What was the thought process when you left Australia? We’re you inspired by any Australian bands?

Shim: Silverchair was the band that made us both fall in love with music and make us want to make a living at it. Back to when people would say, ‘don’t you need something to fall back on?’ And we’d say Silverchair didn’t need something to fall back on…We just had this huge amount of focus. There’s only so far you can get in Australia. We were always going to America. We won a band completion when I was 17…from that moment, we wanted to go to America. We signed with a label and they went bankrupt so we said how can we get there ourselves? It took a long time to do it properly without any help… except for our manager.

Musicpix: What about American artists?

Shim: Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Green Day…all the mid-90’s-post-grunge- a bit of nu metal…not a lot of modern stuff for me personally is influencing. Cool bands like Resident Hero and Kill Hanna know all these other cool bands and we’re learning because I’ve been listening to old stuff.

Musicpix: Talk about your fans? Australians vs. Americans? Do you think that US fans are embracing your band?

Emma: I think they are fairly similar…the fans here are a lot more hungry for good music in general and they really get into it.

Musicpix: How frustrating is it when you’re a performer and people just don’t get it?

Shim: It’s frustrating for me personally…it gets difficult because it’s my job to communicate to the crowd to get the vibe going. Last night in Cleveland it was strange. I don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘bad crowd’ but there are just so many types. In Cleveland, they would go nuts and then just stop abruptly. You’d say something and they wouldn’t go yeah, yeah, yeah…they just wanted the next song. So then you re-access and not saying anything in-between songs. Back in Australia, it was a sitting thing- like a café…nobody was getting up. So I’d say, sit back and have a cup of coffee. I created more of a chilled ambience. We got them to clap but they were in their seats. You start to learn what you can pull off without looking stupid.


Musicpix: If I recall correctly, you were voted the ‘Best Live Band’ in Australia?

Shim: Yea…true.

Musicpix: So obviously you know how to do the job!

Shim: Yeah, we’ve done it for a little while…we’ve been playing live longer than we’ve been writing songs. We started playing cover songs and old bad tunes. We’ve always focused on being a live act. That’s why we came to LA. We knew how to be a band we just didn’t know how to write really great songs.

Musicpix: ? to Mark. How did you get involved with the band?

Mark: There was an ad on the internet and in the rehearsal room. I thought, that’s a weird name? What kind of music do they play? The ad said “ must be ready to be a rock star NOW.” I said, yeah, I’m ready to be a rock star now.[everybody laughs] They needed somebody that was ready to go. I caught up with them in LA doing the LA grind. I had a day job and rehearsed at night. When I found them, it was the exact thing I was looking for. I was living on my own and it’s really expensive there- I was just trying to eat. But when I met them, we clicked right away. I still have the ad. I’ll frame it one day.

Musicpix: Look forward…where do you want to be?

Shim: Emma-you answer that because I want to say some stupid, arrogant rock star answer!

Emma: Like ‘conquer the world’… all bands say that they want to conquer the world….

Mark: Doing this on a very large scale.

Emma: Without sounding really cliché’? Conquering the world…

Shim: Ronnie from The Killers said it best: Anyone who is in a working band and says they don’t want to conquer the world, they are a f*ck liar? We’re just the same. I’d like to do what we’re doing now and getting to know bands better. Like now, we’re getting to know our mates because it takes away a lot of the home sickness and some of the chaos. It gives some sense of normalcy because it provides some emotional stability.

Musicpix: I want to talk about the last track on the album…”The Bottom.” What was your musical life preserver when you were at the bottom? What soothed you?

Shim: Honestly, I used to get inspired by listening to old demos…not because they were good but because they were terrible. It wasn’t because they were good songs because they were bad songs. But I’d listen to what I had done before. You hear your progression and we did get better and you would hear where you were. When you hit rock bottom, you realize that you’ve come a long way. And that’s a sort of reality check that you can give yourself. That’s why it’s really important to keep your old stuff to see your own progress.

Musicpix: So when you conquer the world those demos will be valuable! [Everybody laughs]

Shim: It’s affirming I guess. It’s not an ego trip. You’re not trapped into one day. You’re on a path and you’ve got to keep on the path instead of falling to addiction or depression or falling into anything that would be counterproductive. If you have the talent, the gift or a work ethic or anything you do well-you should do it the best as you possibly can because not everybody has that gift. That’s what you do and you have to remind yourself of that.

Musicpix: Emma? What about you?

Emma: It depends. If you feel down, you tend to listen that helps you be down. Sometimes when you’re down-you need to feel down and you get over it rather quickly instead of suppressing it. I listen to Ben Harper –he feels great.

Musicpix: There are fans of band and fans of genres and then there are music lovers regarding or what it is. One of the songs that blew me away is your cover of Destiny’s Child ”Say My Name.” Obviously you have a diverse taste to music, do you always get a good response to that song?

Mark: It’s a staple…

Shim: It gets a better response than anything we’ve ever written which is a shame. They don’t love our songs as much as the covers but hopefully, we’ll change that over time.

Mark: It’s a ‘call to arms’ so to speak.

Shim: There are people on MySpace talking about that song…then people come to the show and they request it because they can’t get it on CD. I’m personally really glad that people can identify with the band. We’ve got FREE HUGS, “My World” with the plastic surgery issue, the ‘Say My Name’ thing…and the best live act in Australia. We’re not a one-trick pony. We didn’t create the ‘FREE HUGS’ campaign. We just did the sound track. I was just lucky enough to have the idea for the video. We’re making a new video for “All the Same” to put on TV-a regular video with an actual budget. We were lucky enough for it to be a catalyst for us but all the work that we’ve done is standing on its own.

Musicpix: You should really proud…music has always been very important to us and we see hundreds of shows a year…your band has what it takes. We wish you huge success, safe travels and hope that you DO conquer the world!

Band Members:
Shimon Moore-Lead vocals, guitar
Emma Anzani-Bass
Mark Goodwin-Drums

Discography
Dressed up as Life-2007
The Tour

5/25/07 Omaha, NE
5/31/07 Englewood, CO
6/04/07 Portland, OR
6/05/07 Spokane, WA
6/06/07 Portland, OR
6/08/07 San Francisco, CA
6/09/07 Orangeville, CA
6/12/07 San Diego, CA
6/13/07 West Hollywood, CA
6/15/07 Las Vegas, NV
6/16/07 Anaheim, CA
7/10/07 North Myrtle Beach, SC
7/11/07 Greensboro, NC

By Gwyn Tyme
w/Steve Mitchell

[Donna]

Thanks Kemmy - great interview - I know I haven't read it before

[Sheila]

I like it. Thanks for posting it buddy

[Cassandra]

Awesome interview!

Thanks for posting it. =D

[Crystal]

That's definitely a new one for me... Thanks for sharing!