rock

Sick Puppies

1 festival played →

Australian trio who spent the late 2000s making radio-sized post-grunge — big choruses, bigger riffs, and a knack for songs that soundtrack a fight.

Sick Puppies trace back to 1997, when Shimon Moore and Emma Anzai double-booked a practice room at Mosman High School in Sydney and ended up arguing over who would use it. They bonded over a shared love of Silverchair, covering Green Day and Rage Against the Machine before writing their own songs. When drummer Chris Mileski joined, Anzai moved to bass and Moore to guitar and vocals, and the trio became Sick Puppies.

Working day jobs, Anzai as a telemarketer and Moore holding a sandwich board in central Sydney, the pair scraped together money and help from Moore's father to release the self-financed EP Dog's Breakfast. A placing in the Triple J Unearthed competition brought a management deal, leading to the 2001 debut album Welcome to the Real World and a second EP, Fly, in 2003.

When their label folded and Mileski left, the band relocated to Los Angeles on the advice of rock photographer Robert Knight, finding new drummer Mark Goodwin through a Craigslist ad. Their 2007 album Dressed Up As Life carried "All the Same," which reached number eight on the US Modern Rock chart after being paired with the widely viewed Free Hugs Campaign video; follow-up single "My World" reached number 20.

Their sound sits between alternative rock, hard rock and post-grunge: distorted riffs, melodic vocals and choruses built for volume, with Anzai's bass carrying more melodic weight than the genre usually allows. The exposure from "All the Same" marked the band's shift from Sydney clubs to American rock radio.

Moore left the band acrimoniously in 2014 and was replaced on vocals by Bryan Scott, with Anzai and Goodwin remaining the band's core. Sick Puppies have kept recording since, releasing their most recent album, Wave the Bull, in March 2025.

Read more

rock