Sick Puppies

Sick Puppies
Sick Puppies performing in 2008
Background information
Origin	Sydney, Australia
Genres	Alternative metal,[1] nu metal (early), post-grunge,[2] acoustic rock[3]
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Virgin, EMI, Capitol
Website	www.sickpuppies.com
Members	Emma Anzai Mark Goodwin Bryan Scott
Past members	Chris Mileski Shimon Moore

Sick Puppies is an Australian rock^[1] band, formed in 1997. Sick Puppies rose to prominence in 2006 when their song "All the Same" was uploaded along with a video to YouTube. The video supported the Free Hugs Campaign which was launched in Sydney, and has since received over 77 million views on the website. This success followed up with Dressed Up as Life in 2007, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 181. Their third studio album, released on 14 July 2009, is titled Tri-Polar. The band's fourth studio album Connect was released on 16 July 2013.

Band history

Early career (1997–1999)

The band was formed by singer/lead guitarist Shimon Moore and bassist Emma Anzai in the music room of Mosman High School in 1997, when they double booked the room and bickered over who got to practice. They soon became friends because of their love for Silverchair. Initially with Shimon on drums and Emma on guitars, the duo would frequently meet up to play Green Day, Rage Against the Machine and Silverchair songs and eventually felt compelled to write their own material. When Chris Mileski joined the band to play drums, Emma switched to bass and Shimon to guitar and vocals and they became the Sick Puppies.

There are two stories as to how the band name was conceived. The official version is that Shimon Moore thought of the name himself when the band members were brainstorming, and then came home a few days later to find his father Phil reading the book Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen. The side version is that a neighbor's dog entered the garage during a rehearsal and vomited on their equipment. An early fan made the comment, "That's one sick puppy" and the name stuck.

Emma Anzai took up a job as a telemarketer and Shimon took a job holding a sandwich board in the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia. Through their own financing and with help from Shimon's father (a musician and producer), the band released their debut EP Dog's Breakfast.

Triple J Unearthed competition and Welcome to the Real World (2000–06)

The band entered the Triple J Unearthed band competition in 2000 with a demo of their song, "Nothing Really Matters",^[4] and went on to co-win the Sydney-region along with Blue and Ariels.Spans.Earth.^[5] which led to a management deal with Paul Stepanek Management. This deal enabled the band to release the full album of Welcome to the Real World and the EP Fly. The band decided they needed a fresh start when the record label they had signed a contract with had folded and their drummer Chris Mileski left the band. They decided to move to Los Angeles when rock photographer Robert Knight, who would later co-star in a documentary called Rock Prophecies with the band, said to their manager, "You should move the band over here, I really think they will do well".^[6] As they were without a drummer, the band posted an ad on Craigslist, where they found their current drummer Mark Goodwin.

Dressed Up as Life (2007–08)

In 2007, they released their second studio album (first on a major label), Dressed Up As Life. The album came after the huge success of the "Free Hugs Campaign", and featured their breakout single "All the Same". The song reached number eight on the U.S. Modern Rock chart and is also featured on the video for the Free Hugs Campaign video which won YouTube video of the year in 2006. They followed up their debut with the single "My World", which peaked at No. 20. The band also released "Pitiful" and "What Are You Looking For" as singles in 2008.

Tri-Polar (2009–10)

The band went into the recording studio in December 2008 to write, record and produce their next studio album that was released on 14 July 2009. They also wrote a song for Capcom's video game Street Fighter IV called "War" and it has been used in the advertisements and promotion for the game.^[7] It also reached the top 40 on the iTunes top rock songs. "War" was used during the Washington Capitals 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs introduction video.^[8] The song was also included as the first track on Tri-Polar.^[9] Their first single off Tri-Polar, "You're Going Down", reached No. 1 and was used as the theme song for the WWE pay per view Extreme Rules in June 2009. It was also used in SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, the My Soul to Take (2010) movie trailer, and in the trailer and opening credits of Tekken. The second single from the album, "Odd One", hit radio on 10 November.

Sick Puppies released a new song called "That Time of Year" on NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack - Vol. 2 and through their MySpace page for the holidays.^[10] The third single from the album, "Maybe", hit radio stations on 22 June. "Maybe" topped at No. 1 on Billboard Heatseekers, No. 15 on Rock, and No. 6 on Alternative. It is the first Sick Puppies song to be on the Hot 100 chart, making it the most successful song of the band.^[11] The album's fourth single is "Riptide", which was released in February 2011 and peaked at number 6 on Billboards Rock Chart. Tri-Polar was released in the UK on 4 April 2011.

Live & Unplugged and Rock Prophecies

On 14 August 2009, Sick Puppies made their film debut in Rock Prophecies, a documentary about the career of acclaimed music photographer Robert Knight. This award winning film features his life as he started out filming music greats such as Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, and his current mission to find today's up and coming bands and help them become tomorrow's top rock acts. This includes him convincing the Sick Puppies to leave their homes to pursue success in the American music industry in Los Angeles.^[12]

According to bassist Emma Anzai, "(Robert Knight) was like, 'Hey I want to put you in my film.' So we were like, 'All right, cool.' So now it's two years later and he documented when we did the first album, the first show, all that kind of stuff. It was really cool. He wanted a new band to . . . develop."^[13] During the process, the band was filmed for a few days at a time, and said that they would forget the cameras were there and act accordingly, so this film captures the band and their true interactions out of the spotlight.^[14]

It was partly due to their involvement in this project and Mr. Knight's endorsement that they were able to acquire their first American record deal with RMR/Virgin/EMI. This record deal then led to the first U.S album, Dressed Up as Life.^[15]

Rock Prophecies was nationally aired on PBS and became available on DVD on 14 September 2010.^[16]

On 7 April 2010, Sick Puppies released an acoustic EP titled Live & Unplugged featuring three tracks from their Tri-Polar album and one B-Side from that album. The versions of "Odd One", "So What I Lied", and "The Pretender" were recorded in a studio, while "You're Going Down" was recorded live in a Chicago radio station during an interview. To promote the EP, Sick Puppies offered a merchandise package that included Tri-Polar and Live & Unplugged with a limited edition lithograph; this package was sold at their concerts.

Polar Opposite (2011–12)

On 1 March 2011, Sick Puppies released their all acoustic seven track EP Polar Opposite which includes acoustic versions of "Riptide", "Don't Walk Away", and more. It was recorded in studio, along with string ensemble accompaniment. Emma also does some more major lead vocals.

Connect and Shimon Moore's departure (2013–2015)

The band released the follow-up album to Tri-Polar on 16 July 2013. The band has stated on UStream that the working title is Under the Black Sky and that there is a song by the same title.^[17] They later confirmed that the album name had changed, and officially stated the title of the album is Connect, and its lead single, "There's No Going Back" was released on 20 May 2013. Second single off the album "Gunfight" was released on 13 October 2013. Connect was released in Europe on 31 March 2014. The album's third single "Die To Save You" was released on 29 April 2014. The album's fourth single "Connect" was released on 19 July 2014.

In October 2014, American musician Blue Stahli announced that Anzai had worked on the track "Not Over 'Til We Say So", for his upcoming album, The Devil.^[18]

On October 20, 2014, it was announced that frontman Shimon Moore had left the band and that the remaining two members would continue on without him.^[19] This left bassist Emma Anzai as the only original member left in the band, although drummer Mark Goodwin had been with the group for most of its existence.

New vocalist (2015-present)

On December 15, 2015, the band teased their upcoming music. The band has also signed on play tours including Rock on the Range. ^[20] On February 8th, 2016, they revealed the new vocalist Bryan Scott and previewed a new single called Stick To Your Guns.

Band members

Current members

• Emma Anzai - bass, backing vocals (1997–present)
• Mark Goodwin - drums, percussion, backing vocals (2003–present)
• Bryan Scott - lead vocals, lead guitar (2016–present)

Former members

• Chris Mileski - drums (1997–2003)
• Shimon Moore^[21] - lead vocals, lead guitar (1997–2014)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

• Welcome to the Real World (2001)
• Dressed Up as Life (2007)
• Tri-Polar (2009)
• Connect (2013)

EPs

• Dog's Breakfast (1999)
• Fly (2003)
• Headphone Injuries (2006)
• Sick Puppies EP (2006)
• Live & Unplugged (2010)
• Polar Opposite (2011)

Videos

• Nothing Really Matters (2000)
• Every Day (2001)
• Fly (2003)
• All The Same (Free Hugs Campaign) (2006) ^[22]
• All The Same (Official Video) (2007) ^[23]
• My World (2008) ^[24]
• Pitiful (2009) ^[25]
• You're Going Down (2009) ^[26]
• Odd One (2010) ^[27]
• Maybe (2010) ^[28]
• Riptide (2011) ^[29]
• There's No Going Back (2013) ^[30]
• Die To Save You (2014) ^[31]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sick Puppies.

• Official website
• Sick Puppies on Facebook
• Sick Puppies on Twitter
• Sick Puppies World Crew