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SICKO
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SICKO
LONG DELETED USA PUNK/POWERPOP CD ALBUM ON THE VERY COLLECTABLE USA DIY LABEL 'MUTANT POP RECORDS' MP-518 2000
Compiled from various studio and live recordings.
Released January 20, 2000 |
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CD Tracks:
Spring 1992 - Alcoholic House Basement
These three songs were recorded during our first recording session. It was done on a Tascam board that recorded to cassette. The songs were originally released as our demo tape. This version of fBSong also made it onto that first compilation seven-inch. Another version (read better) version of fbSong and Broken String can be found on the Count Me Out seven-inch. Another version of Pain in the Ass can be heard on the vinyl edition of You Can Feel The Love In This Room or on the first Empty Records Sampler. We apologize for the quality of these ones…
1. fB Song - we thought this song sounded like the Fastbacks and named it after them.
2. Broken String - Denny had a knack for breaking strings…the one-night record is three guitar strings and two bass strings.
3. Pain in the Ass - the first song we ever played together.
Summer 1992 - Jeff's Basement
These two songs are from a session we did with a friend. He was kind enough to do it for free in his little basement studio in North Seattle. We ended up getting super loaded and erasing some tracks by mistake. Despite our best efforts, these tracks survived.
4. Art Chicks - Ean close to his silliest.
5. Lady - this song predates Sicko. Legend has it a college buddy of Ean and Denny said he could make up a song in 30 seconds. This is what he came up with. We once played it three times in a row at a house party. I don't think anyone noticed.
December 12, 1992 - Egg Studio
This was our first "real" recording session. We had a basement tape which we were passing around but this was for our first seven-inch on eMpTy Records. Somehow Blake at eMpTy convinced Kurt Bloch to do the session, which is about the best single thing that ever happened to our band.
6. Kathy's Dance - this song was on that first seven-inch. It was also released on the first eMpTy Records Sampler. This song is about the girl who unwittingly named the band.
7. Count Me Out - Released originally on the Count Me Out seven-inch. Denny must have been sad when he wrote this one.
8. 80 Dollars - not that you could tell, but this one was about a guitar tuner. We originally released it on a split seven-inch with The Mr. T Experience and then, again, as a bonus song on the Japanese version of Chef Boyrudum.
Winter 1993 - Egg Studio This session was booked to record the first LP. Kurt Bloch did this one as well. Having been a band for a couple years, we had a ton of songs; not all of which were all that great. The next few were the leftovers from that session.
9. Weight of the Sun - one of those songs which we recorded and then quickly forgot. It was released on Campground Records' vinyl-only compilation Viva La Vinyl. Ironically enough, all the records we received were warped.
10. Downhill From Here - a very early song. This one wasn't released anywhere.
11. Along the Way - this one was also released on the first eMpTy Records Sampler.
12. Intro - an early instrumental, which we didn't play particularly well. I remember having significant difficulties with the beginning of the song. This one hasn't been released before.
August 1996 - Hanzsek Audio
There's a big gap here, mostly because every song we recorded between that first LP and 1996 was released on an album. This session was done with Pete Gerrald.
13. Escape Velocity - originally released on the Lookout! Comp Joe Queer's More Bounce to the Ounce.
14. Three Tea - a song about Ean's obsession with tea and tea parties. This one was song one on the Three Tea seven-inch on Mutant Pop Records.
15. Last Word - the second song.
16. Steven - and the third song…about a talking dog.
August 1997 - Hanzsek Audio
This turned out to be our last recording session. Most of the songs ended up on You Are Not The Boss of Me but these were left over. Pete Gerrald turned the knobs.
17. These Days - our REM cover.
18. Panama - a rather poorly done version of this Van Halen classic. This is what most Sicko practices degenerated into. The dialog in the middle is by Linda and Julie (aka Team Party).
August 6, 1998 - The Pier Stage Two, Seattle, WA
Our last show…missing the first three songs due to some microphones not being turned on. Recorded and engineered by Craig Montgomery. Masterfully mixed, edited and made listenable by Pete Gerrald.
19. Rehashed
20. When To Quit
21. Mike TV
22. Little
23. High Hopes
24. Ya Ya
25. Kenny
26. Little Star
27. Farm Song
28. Believe
29. An Indie Rock Daydream
30. Dateless Losers
31. A Song About A Rabbit
32. Weasel of Doom |
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. Two 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 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.
On August 26, 2009, Red Scare Industries announced that they would be re-issuing the band's catalog.
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