Sicko Press Kit

Sicko Re-issues 2024!

release: September 30 2024

label: Top Drawer Records

key points:

  • Re-releasing all four Albums ourselves on our own label bc we are DIY AF
  • All the original songs + 1 Bonus Song per Album (2 on Feel and Boss)
  • Remastered Tracks
  • Restored Artwork
  • Colored Vinyl (two variations: Spatter or single color)
  • New insert with photos and lyrics (LP version)
  • FULL jewel case with 8 Page Booklet of photos and lyrics (CD version)
  • sign up to get on the super secret early access list at www.sicko.com

running time: 

  • You Can Feel The Love In This Room 36:20
  • Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy 27:10
  • Chef Boy-R-U-Dum 33:55
  • You Are Not The Boss Of Me 36:02

personnel: Denny Bartlett, Josh Rubin, Ean Hernandez (on all 4 recordings!)

 

Listen

Downloads

Photos

...we dug out a ton of old photos from the archive, some are shown below, or just download them all here and pick the one you like!

On the Road for Chef.

 

Young Denny and Josh playing at the Jewel Box Theater in Seattle.

 

The juxtaposition of Sicko, live at The Bellingham Bay Brewing Company (maybe).

 

Bio

The members of Seattle band Sicko had been discussing reissuing their four classic albums for years. “The motivation is mostly to have the records back in print and available,” bassist/guitarist/vocalist Ean Hernandez says. Expense and work had delayed their plans, but there is now a chance for fans to collect the oeuvre of the legendary punk pop band in lush but punk vinyl, CD, and digital formats, to be released on September 30, 2024.

Denny met Ean Hernandez in Pullman at college, where they played together in the Pullman Allstars. Ean and Denny moved to Seattle to start a new band during the apex of the grunge era, and met drummer Josh Rubin (brother of bassist Aaron Rubin from The Mr. T. Experience). They stuck out like a sore Doc Marten-stomped on thumb, playing frantic, melodic, and fast punk like their heroes Husker Du and The Fastbacks in a time when much of the “Seattle sound” was defined by how downtempo and mercurial a group could play. Even though Denny and Josh were metal-heads (which made them good at their instruments) Sicko were musically more aligned with the East Bay of San Francisco in terms of style.

The band has an inside joke about the “Sicko Curse”: “We’re a band that has a very devoted but small following,” Ean explains. “There are many Sicko tattoos, but we didn’t sell a lot of records. Based on people’s reactions, you might get the idea that we are popular, but we’re only popular with a very few people!” The band is sidestepping the pitching of their reissue campaign to a label because they don’t want to waste some label's time and money (again), so they’re doing it themselves, following the punk ethic of making exactly what they want to make and getting it out there themselves.

The three all had different but many of the same influences, with Ean inspired by Stiff Little Fingers, Husker Du, and Soul Asylum, as well as the new bands in the wake of Green Day; Denny too loved Lookout! Records bands, MTX and Cringer; with their aesthetic featuring “a bit of Bad Religion as well” (Ean). Even though they enjoyed Nirvana, Mudhoney, The Melvins, and the other great and popular bands moving to majors at that time, one thing they all definitely had in common was a mutual shared adoration for Seattle’s own The Fastbacks.

Thus, it seemed fated, due to region and shared creative inspiration, that they would end up being produced by Kurt Bloch of The Fastbacks. They had gotten attention from Blake Wright of eMpTy Records, with Denny’s artist sister Jill bringing over a bottle of R&R with their demo to his office and making him listen to it. “She can be quite persuasive,” Ean says.

Once signed, Kurt brought them into Conrad Uno's Egg Studios and recorded their first single and album. (The later albums were recorded at House of Leisure and Hanszek Audio.) This is when they started playing favorite venues like The Offramp, OK Hotel, Re-bar, RKCNDY, and the Weathered Wall; as well as for scenemaker Kate Becker at the Redmond Y and the Velvet Elvis.

Denny says, “Playing with my girlfriend-at-the-time’s band Chinchilla when they were touring with Jawbreaker was a good time. There was also a show at Moe’s with Model Rockets and The Presidents of the United States of America around New Year’s was a pretty good show. Of course it was always a highlight playing with J Church and our Japanese tours with Husking Bee and Sprocket Wheel were some of the best times.”

Sicko were on eMpTy for all four of their full-lengths; Blake folded the label about 20 years, and gave the masters back to the bands, which was one headache the group avoided when finally putting the reissues in motion.

The four albums are:

‘You Can Feel The Love In This Room’ (1994), with the reissue also featuring “Pain in The Ass” from ’13 Soda Punk’ comp, and the “Kathy’s Dance” single (their first 7”).

‘Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy’ with “80 Dollars,” a song they contributed to a split with The Mr. T. Experience.

‘Chef Boy RU Dum’ which also adds “Escape Velocity,” from Lookout!’s More Bounce to the Ounce comp.

‘You Are Not The Boss Of Me’ adds the Misfits cover “Astro Zombies” which had previously been on the Crackle records import CD; and a cover of Husking Bee’s “8.6” from the Pizza of Death import CD as well.

In terms of formats, the LPs have two options: colored splatter vinyl, or one color vinyl, for all four records; the first 100 LPs will be signed by the band; CDs with jewel cases and an eight page booklet with flyers, lyrics, and posters in each release; digital downloads (“cheaper than Bandcamp!” Ean adds); test pressings, with a special insert and signed by the band, and liner notes from all three of the members as well.

What’s really lovely about these updated versions is how the expansive packaging accentuates their extraordinary and completely restored cover art, which has a history of its own: Jason Lutes, artist for the Stranger and later the acclaimed graphic novel ‘Berlin’ did the debut’s original artwork and created the band logo. “We got super lucky as its art that has stuck with us for the entire history of the band,” Ean says. Denny’s girlfriend, also legendary comics artist Megan Kelso, knew Jason and that he had broken his leg in a bike accident and while healing needed funds. “Megan suggested that we approach him and offer $50 to draw a cover for the first 7” - he drew the iconic characters and the logo we still use.”

For the first album they reached out to Jason again. He was starting to rise with his comics and they felt lucky to get him back. “He drew the art, and then did nine layers of cutout cellophane overlays for the separations,” Ean explains. “It was probably overkill, but I felt it was indicative of a new talented hardworking artist trying to prove himself.”

The cover for the second album ‘Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy’ was drawn by Jill Bartlett; for many this is THE Sicko album, with her monkeys becoming the most common Sicko tattoo.

Third LP ‘Chef Boy RU Dum’ was drawn by artist Pablo Griggs who gained popularity with his silkscreen rock flyer art in the mid-90s. They can’t track him down, he has no Internet presence.

‘You Are Not The Boss of Me’ has cover artwork drawn by longtime friend Joe Newton of Gas Huffer (also on eMpTy, and a frequent live bill-sharer).

A huge part of the band’s pride was how they worked hard to win over audiences with their frenzied intensity and commitment. The band survived their “stealth touring” - “you drive into a town where no one is expecting you, no one knows you, no one knows about your show, no one comes, and then you sneak back out of town!” They learned to “suck it up” as they gave every show all they had, as fans can attest, slowly building a following, inspiring rabid dancing audiences wanting to meet them.

“It took years and years to build up steam,” Ean says. “When we did our last tour in the original period of the band (’92-’98), it was in Japan and we were playing to several thousand people on some nights, getting paid well, selling out merch, etc. There we signed autographs and posed for pictures for hours after the shows.”

Sicko also toured Spain — they had a Spanish booking company and the US record label sent them the wrong dates. By the time everyone realized this, it was too late to book a European tour, and the booker could only set up shows in Spain, but the airline tickets had already been bought! So, Sicko's tour in Spain stretched from 3 dates to 10 and included several spots that probably weren't on the regular touring circuit.

The reunion shows in 2019 also went great; “we would fly into a city hang around for a day, borrow amps and drums, play a show to a packed room of middle-aged dudes getting emotional about their salad days … and we heard stories about what Sicko meant to folks or how they found out about us from their skateboarding buddies in high school, just hanging out and soaking up the love in the room “Then we would fly home and be back to work on Monday,” Ean says. “Really easy and fun and all around a great experience. I hope we can do more of this in the coming years!”

On September 30th 2024, a secret email will go out to the folks who have signed up for the mailing list at www.sicko.com. That site is the best place to nab these records, and they will have first crack at the goodies. The following week, they’ll let all the world know!


Liners

You Can Feel The Love in This Room

“Did you see Danzig when he was in town?” This was the question that eventually resulted in Sicko as we know it. Walking across the University of Washington campus in a Misfits t-shirt on my second day in town, I was stopped and questioned by skinny, long-haired Justin. In a town full of grunge, it was unusual back then to find people into punk rock, so we had to connect when we had the chance. About a year later, Justin in passing mentioned that a friend of his had a band and was looking for a drummer.

One day in October of 1990, I rode my bike with a pair of sticks to a house in the University District where Ean and Denny and I played together for the first time. They had some dilapidated drum set in a stinky basement and we set to work. I was probably the fastest drummer they’d tried out and when I divulged my brother was in The Mr. T Experience, I think the decision was made to let me in the band.

Those early years playing around Seattle and Eastern Washington culminated in the album you’re now holding. The name comes from a show at the Hoedown Center in Richland, WA. While we were playing, a fight broke out and when the opposing parties took it outside most of the crowd with them. Denny remarked, “You can feel the love in this room!” and an album title was born.

For me, You Can Feel the Love In This Room was beyond anything I could have imagined. Being on a local record label and recording at Egg Studios with Kurt Bloch at the dials seemed like peak Sicko. I think the record is what Sicko was all about in those early years and represents us punching a little above our weight. I’m still surprised with what we managed to create given the making-it-up-as-we-go method we were following. I hope holding the record in your hands gives you a little of the joy I felt holding it for the first time in my hands 30 years ago.

- Josh

Laugh While You Can Money Boy

What do I remember about recording Monkey Boy? Not much really. I remember that we recorded and mixed it over the course of a weekend at a studio called House of Leisure that Kurt Bloch had recommended. The studio was basically an old garage in Belltown, and since it was the middle of winter it was cold AF in there. That probably kept us moving fast enough to finish the whole thing in two days.

I was working at London Music on Broadway at the time and I was convinced that the Randall 4x12 cab we had in the shop would sound better than the off-brand cab that Ean had so I "borrowed" it for the session. Did it make all the difference? Probably not. But it was fine.
At some point during the recording a photographer from the Rocket showed up to take some shots, and since it was so cold in the studio I was wearing some dorky poly-pro hiking shirt that I never expected would end up on the cover of the Rocket. In fact, we were never supposed to end up on the cover but Team Dresch, who was, sent in their own photos which rumor had it, turned out to be too lewd to be on the cover so we were the fallback.

The album title came from one of my favorite movies of all time...The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. But it was actually a coworker at Seattle Film Works who had suggested using it for an album title.

And while we were really happy with the single and album cover that Jason Lutes had already done for us, I convinced the guys to have my sister Jill do this one as she was an out of work artist that could use a couple bucks. And it turned out to be iconic enough that several people around the country actually have tattoos of that cover.

- Denny

Chef Boy RU Dum

30 years later, holding a well anticipated reissue of 4 LPs, you could be forgiven for imagining that Sicko has always been a popular band, especially if you made it to any of the packed and emotional reunion shows in late 2019. But you would be very very wrong. When Sicko started in 1992, we played to empty rooms on weeknights, shared bills with bands we didn't fit with, and sold no records (we didn't have any!) to no one. The first 7" on eMpTy Records in 1993 gave us a bit of local credibility, but didn't really put us on anybody's map. Our first LP record release drew a small crowd of friends on a Tuesday night, and we even paid for everyone's beer! Our subsequent tour in support of You Can Feel The Love in This Room continued in that tradition, with Sicko playing to empty rooms, on misfit bills, or both. I used to call this "stealth touring"... if you sneak into a town where no one knows you and no one expects you to turn up, play to a sound guy and his dog*, and sneak back out, you are stealthy at touring. You also may as well have stayed home! I got into plenty of arguments with our booking agent about this… the accepted wisdom was that your first tour just had to suck and that was all there was to it.

Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy saw us making a 2nd LP (really an EP) yet remaining steadfastly off the map. Actually falling off the map to some extent, since drummer Josh quit for a while and we had to put up ads around town with little tear-out phone numbers and copy along the lines of "Sicko Needs A New Drummer". This did not go well either, and the only way we could actually find a drummer to go on tour was by pressuring our old pal Johnny Ray to fill in for 10 days on a series of dates in California. We didn't have a van either, so Johnny allowed us to ruin his cool conversion van in the process, thanks John. These shows were better than what we were accustomed to… I'll never forget the Zoinks! show in Reno, where Bob Conrad got up on the mic at the end of their set and said "we have Sicko in the house!"... and people I didn't know personally actually cheered. I was standing next to Denny, we both looked at each other and smiled. It was a surprise to me, at least. Johnny quit at the end of the tour too. So… grim days for Sicko.

The aftermath of Chef was the first time that I remember really feeling like the band was getting the recognition it deserved. Thankfully, Josh came back to us, and we got back into the studio with Kurt Bloch for the 3rd time, managing 2 releases in 1 year. The record release party was still on a Tuesday but it was packed, and we all wore silly chef outfits. The tour following Chef was great too, lots of people came out that were eager to see us and hang out with us, lots of merch sold, and even a tour of Spain. I kept a diary with polaroids and little notes. Josh shot tons of video that went on to become the Sicko Tour Video. I kissed a girl. We played with J-church and the Mr. T Experience in San Francisco. Our van worked. There was no opener the night we played Templo del Gato in Madrid, and a packed house went wild from the first 4 stick clicks. It was a good time to be a young man playing in a band, some of the best times of my pre-grownup life. Sicko was finally on its way.

* the dog story really happened.


- Ean

You Are Not The Boss of Me

Without hyperbole, Sicko is the greatest pop-punk band of all time. After the one-two punch of their second and third albums in 1995, Sicko fans who lived east of Chicago finally got to see them on their ambitious six-week nationwide tour in 1996. The underground had not turned its back on pop-punk yet at that point, and packed audiences went wild at Sicko’s powerful live presence. To this day, the Sicko set that I witnessed in Cleveland remains the finest live pop-punk experience of my life. Sicko’s on-stage energy was palpable, turning the room into a sea of jumping devotees.

What is it that sets Sicko apart? Their lyrics deal with seemingly banal, everyday subjects in a cerebral way that is simultaneously humorous and melancholic. Musically, they are more focused on fast, catchy power pop hooks than they are by the bubblegum “la la core” stylings that were so en vogue in the 1990s. Plus, the dual lead vocals from two of punk’s finest crooners adds further distinction.

You Are Not the Boss of Me took the formula of the first three Sicko full-lengths to new heights. When it was released on October 28, 1997, it instantly became a favorite. Endlessly quotable, it followed many of the tropes from the first three albums, including no silence between the tracks. Thematically, the lyrics deal with pop culture figures from the likes of Winnie-the-Pooh and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, grappling with brushes with success as a band, and generalized anxiety over loss. In hindsight, it feels like a goodbye record, even if it was not intended as such at the time. Hauntingly prescient is the lyric, “I don’t care if things never change ’cause at this point success would seem strange.” Maybe it’s Sicko as a group that is the one that got away, rather than a specific person.

Sicko was one of the first bands with a full-blown, .com website. Their reimagining of the Washington State theme song that they posted prior to this album’s release was the first track that many of us ever downloaded from the internet.

Unfortunately, Sicko broke up in 1998 before touring this record, except for a weekend of shows in Hawaii and their second tour of Japan. When Sicko reunited for a benefit show in 2000 and then again in 2002, I vowed to travel to catch them again. Sadly, the early 2000s Sicko did not last. It was not until their return in 2018 that I finally got to see them again, first in NYC in 2019 and then in Seattle, right before the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. Ean, Denny, and Josh are still killing it live.

When I wear a Sicko shirt to shows, countless people come up to me with fond Sicko remembrances. Hopefully, Sicko returns with another studio album someday. Until then, their quartet of pop-punk masterpiece albums will remain in heavy rotation on our hearts, minds, and turntables.

- Art Ettinger, Razorcake Magazine

Track List

You Can Feel The Love in This Room

  1. Where I Live
  2. Beam Me Up Denny
  3. Your Wake
  4. Wisdom Tooth Weekend
  5. My Son
  6. The Sprinkler
  7. Kenny
  8. Ouch
  9. BONUS: Pain in the Ass
  10. Me And Carl
  11. On The Clock
  12. Sprawling
  13. Country
  14. Spider
  15. Attention Span
  16. You Gotta
  17. Ya Ya
  18. Closer To Fine
  19. BONUS: Kathy's Dance

Laugh While You Can Money Boy

  1. Wave Motion Gun
  2. Farm Song
  3. When To Quit
  4. Johnny Be Not So Good
  5. Bad Year
  6. Rehashed
  7. Snowcone
  8. Little Star
  9. The Juice Is Loose
  10. Who Owes
  11. Mom
  12. What's On
  13. Lady/Weasel
  14. BONUS: 80 Dollars

Chef Boy RU Dum

  1. Half The Battle
  2. I Hate Big Deal People
  3. Don't Ask Don't Tell
  4. 60 Pound Mall Rat
  5. The Dateless Losers Club
  6. Cover Up
  7. Obsessive Compulsive Complainers
  8. You Are A Space Alien
  9. Little
  10. Believe
  11. Escalater
  12. The Inland Empire Strikes Back
  13. Computer Geek
  14. Fields
  15. On The Dole
  16. Bad Situation
  17. The Breakfast Song (Live)
  18. BONUS: Escape Velocity

You Are Not The Boss of Me

  1. Window Of Opportunity
  2. A Song About A Rabbit
  3. Mike TV
  4. An Indie Rock Daydream
  5. The One That Got Away
  6. Hipster Boyfriend
  7. Attention Please
  8. My Tribute To The Misfits (Aka: Your Sister Is A Werewolf Tonight)
  9. BONUS: Astro Zombies
  10. Washington My Home
  11. What Happened
  12. High Hopes
  13. In So Many Words
  14. If I'm Vacant
  15. Summer Never Came
  16. Yakuri Abe
  17. The Best Thing In The World
  18. Wrathchild
  19. BONUS: 8.6