Sicko (band)
Encyclopedia
Sicko were an American
rock group
from Seattle, Washington
, formed in 1991. Exceptionally, the three-piece pop punk group maintained a constant membership for every recording as a band. This line-up was Denny Bartlett (guitar, bass, vocals), Ean Hernandez (guitar, bass, vocals), and Josh Rubin (drums, brother of Aaron Rubin from The Mr. T Experience
). Although the band wrote and recorded an extensive catalog of original material throughout the mid-1990s, the group is perhaps best known for its punk-flavored cover of the song "Closer To Fine", originally written and recorded by the folk duo Indigo Girls
.
Sicko released four full length albums and five 7" eps as well as a retrospective CD with unreleased and rare material, a released demo and a tour video. They also appeared on approximately fourteen compilations on labels such as Lookout! Records
and Liberation Records
. They once exchanged covers with cub
. The vast majority of their recorded output was recorded by Kurt Bloch
of The Fastbacks and released on Seattle-based punk label eMpTy Records. One EP and the retrospective CD were released on Mutant Pop Records
. Three Sicko songs were featured on the Xbox game Project Gotham Racing 2
alongside artists like The Flaming Lips
and Princess Superstar
.
During its heyday - roughly 1993 to 1998 - Sicko actively played in numerous clubs throughout the Seattle area, toured the United States, and toured Japan. A typical Sicko set would last about twenty songs lasting about 45–50 minutes, in a blistering, no-interruptions manner reminiscent of the Ramones
or The Fastbacks (whose lo-fi style resembled Sicko, possibly in part due to Kurt Bloch
's production input in the studio). Denny and Ean would typically switch places on the bass and guitar duties halfway through the set (and often handing each other their instruments while on stage). Sicko often split the bill with other bands that would eventually go on to achieve more national acclaim, including a show with Harvey Danger
in 1994 at the (now defunct) Lake Union Pub, and several shows with the The Presidents of the United States of America
, most notably at a show at the Capitol Hill club Moe's (now Neumo's) on the same night that the Presidents filmed concert footage for the video of their hit song "Lump". Sicko occasionally received dismissive (and often unfair) comparisons by national critics with Green Day
, another punk trio with a more polished and slightly poppier style.
While no longer being updated, the Sicko web site is still up at Sicko.com.
On August 26, 2009, Red Scare Industries
announced that they would be re-issuing the band's catalog.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock group
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
from Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, formed in 1991. Exceptionally, the three-piece pop punk group maintained a constant membership for every recording as a band. This line-up was Denny Bartlett (guitar, bass, vocals), Ean Hernandez (guitar, bass, vocals), and Josh Rubin (drums, brother of Aaron Rubin from The Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience
The Mr. T Experience is an American punk rock band formed in 1985 in Berkeley, California and currently recording for Lookout! Records. They have released ten full-length albums along with numerous EPs and singles and have toured internationally...
). Although the band wrote and recorded an extensive catalog of original material throughout the mid-1990s, the group is perhaps best known for its punk-flavored cover of the song "Closer To Fine", originally written and recorded by the folk duo Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
.
Sicko released four full length albums and five 7" eps as well as a retrospective CD with unreleased and rare material, a released demo and a tour video. They also appeared on approximately fourteen compilations on labels such as Lookout! Records
Lookout! Records
-History:Larry Livermore and David Hayes formed the label in 1987. From the start, Lookout released punk rock records, but over time expanded its scope to include various types of pop rock, reggae fusion, acoustic rock, pop punk, and indie rock...
and Liberation Records
Liberation Records
Liberation Records is a Southern California record company. It was formed by 16-year-old David Taba in 1994. The label notably discovered and released the debut album of Home Grown and, in 1994, released the classic Punk Sucks compilation...
. They once exchanged covers with cub
Cub (band)
Cub was an indie rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia that formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1997. They played a melodic, jangly form of pop punk that was dubbed "cuddlecore" by some music critics...
. The vast majority of their recorded output was recorded by Kurt Bloch
Kurt Bloch
Kurt Bloch is an American songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of Fastbacks. He has also been a member of The Young Fresh Fellows and has recorded tracks and produced albums for Tokyo Dragons, Robyn Hitchcock, Les Thugs, Flop, Sicko , The Minus...
of The Fastbacks and released on Seattle-based punk label eMpTy Records. One EP and the retrospective CD were released on Mutant Pop Records
Mutant Pop Records
Mutant Pop Records was an independent record label founded in Corvallis, Oregon in 1995 by Tim "Timbo" Davenport , also known by the "punk name" T. Chandler. The label released approximately 15 full-length albums in compact disc format, and more than 85 releases as 7" vinyl EPs or commercial CD-R...
. Three Sicko songs were featured on the Xbox game Project Gotham Racing 2
Project Gotham Racing 2
Project Gotham Racing 2 is a racing game for the Xbox, developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft. PGR2 is the sequel to the highly successful Project Gotham Racing. It is the second title in the Project Gotham Racing series.As in PGR, the route to advancement in PGR2 differs from...
alongside artists like The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
and Princess Superstar
Princess Superstar
Princess Superstar is an American emcee and DJ.Her musical style, as she describes it, is flip-flop — a mixture of 'hip hop, electroclash and electronica'.-Background:...
.
During its heyday - roughly 1993 to 1998 - Sicko actively played in numerous clubs throughout the Seattle area, toured the United States, and toured Japan. A typical Sicko set would last about twenty songs lasting about 45–50 minutes, in a blistering, no-interruptions manner reminiscent of the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
or The Fastbacks (whose lo-fi style resembled Sicko, possibly in part due to Kurt Bloch
Kurt Bloch
Kurt Bloch is an American songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of Fastbacks. He has also been a member of The Young Fresh Fellows and has recorded tracks and produced albums for Tokyo Dragons, Robyn Hitchcock, Les Thugs, Flop, Sicko , The Minus...
's production input in the studio). Denny and Ean would typically switch places on the bass and guitar duties halfway through the set (and often handing each other their instruments while on stage). Sicko often split the bill with other bands that would eventually go on to achieve more national acclaim, including a show with Harvey Danger
Harvey Danger
Harvey Danger was an American indie rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993, and rose to prominence in 1998 with the single "Flagpole Sitta." On August 29, 2009, the band played its final show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle....
in 1994 at the (now defunct) Lake Union Pub, and several shows with the The Presidents of the United States of America
The Presidents of the United States of America (band)
The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as Pot USA or "PUSA" or The Presidents, are a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew,...
, most notably at a show at the Capitol Hill club Moe's (now Neumo's) on the same night that the Presidents filmed concert footage for the video of their hit song "Lump". Sicko occasionally received dismissive (and often unfair) comparisons by national critics with Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
, another punk trio with a more polished and slightly poppier style.
While no longer being updated, the Sicko web site is still up at Sicko.com.
On August 26, 2009, Red Scare Industries
Red Scare Industries
Red Scare Industries is a punk rock record label. The label was started in San Francisco by former Fat Wreck Chords employee Toby Jeg....
announced that they would be re-issuing the band's catalog.
Albums
- You Can Feel the Love in this Room (eMpTy Records) 1994
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt BlochKurt BlochKurt Bloch is an American songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of Fastbacks. He has also been a member of The Young Fresh Fellows and has recorded tracks and produced albums for Tokyo Dragons, Robyn Hitchcock, Les Thugs, Flop, Sicko , The Minus...
at Egg Studio, Winter 1993. Released March 22, 1994 - We recorded and mixed everything in about four days. I remember Kurt having a family emergency in the middle of recording so Scott McCaugheyScott McCaugheyAs a singer and songwriter, Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.He is also bassist for Robyn Hitchcock's most recent touring band, The Venus 3, along with Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck....
and Conrad UnoConrad UnoConrad Uno is an American record producer and founder of the independent record label PopLlama Records. Uno began his career making his own music as a teenager in his makeshift basement studio. At the request of his friends, the Young Fresh Fellows, Uno produced their debut album The Fabulous...
helped out pressing the buttons. The way it worked out, the solo on On the Clock was recorded two weeks after the rest of the tracks. Country is the only song not recorded at that session - it was recorded during the Red 7" session. The vinyl version included the bonus track Pain In The Ass, which incidentally is the first song we ever played together
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch
- Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy (eMpTy Records) 1995
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt BlochKurt BlochKurt Bloch is an American songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of Fastbacks. He has also been a member of The Young Fresh Fellows and has recorded tracks and produced albums for Tokyo Dragons, Robyn Hitchcock, Les Thugs, Flop, Sicko , The Minus...
at House of Leisure January 7-8, 1995. Released May 24, 1995 - We originally planned this to be an EP, but there were just enough tracks on it to call it a LP...at least that's what Blake from eMpTy said at the time. We recorded and mixed in two marathon days (poor Kurt was a good sport). The recording studio was in a big, boomy room, which I think is why the record sounds like it does. It's long since been bulldozed and replaced with condos. It was during this session that a photographer from The RocketThe Rocket (newspaper)The Rocket was a free biweekly newspaper serving the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, published from 1979–2000. The newspaper's chief purpose was to document local music. This focus distinguished it from other area weeklies such as the Seattle Weekly and the Willamette Week, which...
came and took our picture for the cover (an uncommon occurrence to be sure). - Vinyl released in Spain on Muster Records
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch
- Chef Boyrudum (eMpTy Records) 1995
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt BlochKurt BlochKurt Bloch is an American songwriter, guitarist, engineer and producer, best known as songwriter and lead guitarist of Fastbacks. He has also been a member of The Young Fresh Fellows and has recorded tracks and produced albums for Tokyo Dragons, Robyn Hitchcock, Les Thugs, Flop, Sicko , The Minus...
with "Pedal Board" Pete Gerrald at Hanszek Audio July 26-30, 1995. Released October 24, 1995 - This was certainly our most ambitious project spending a whopping five days recording and mixing almost 20 songs
- Vinyl released in Spain on Munster Records and on CD in Japan on Real Cool Records. Japanese CD contained the bonus track 80 Dollars from the Red 7" session
- Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch
- You Are Not The Boss Of Me (eMpTy Records) 1997
- Recorded and Produced by Pete Gerrald at Hanszek Audio, Summer 1997. Released October 28, 1997
- This album is a collection of songs recorded over two sessions one in late 1996 and another in mid-1997
- CD also released in Japan on Pizza of Death Records and in Europe. The Japanese CD has the bonus track 8.6 by the fabulous Japanese band Husking BeeHusking BeeHusking Bee was a Japanese Punk Rock band formed in 1994 that disbanded on March 6, 2005.HUSKING BEE was a popular Punk Japanese rock Band.According to Oricon, HUSKING BEE’s member were Isobe Masafumi, Kudo "Tekkin" Tetsuya and Hiramoto Leona . They debuted in 1995 by "NOT SUPERSTITIOUS III"...
. You can hear the real lyrics on their album "Grip". The European CD has a rather bad cover of Astro Zombies by The Misfits
- A Brief History of Sicko (Mutant Pop Records) 2000
- Compiled from various studio and live recordings. Released posthumously on January 20, 2000
- This is a collection of random tracks including our first ever demo tape (horrible) and one of our last shows (also pretty bad). But, tucked in there are some good tracks that we released on Mutant Pop and a cover of Panama, which is about how all Sicko practiced ended