| Q&A with Sick Puppies lead singer Shim Moore |
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| Wednesday, 27 June 2007 | |||
Sick Puppies lead singer Shim Moore relocated to Los Angeles from his native Australia only two years ago. Already, he and his band mates are out on the road opening for Breaking Benjamin, one of the hottest young mainstream rock bands playing on the radio today. Sick Puppies, whose latest single, “All The Same,” has become a fixture on Billboard's Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks chart, will be at Lonestar Pavilion at Sunset Station on Tuesday, July 3.
How much do you credit “All the Same” for granting you some mainstream exposure? It wasn't really intended to be the first single for the band, but in retrospect, it was the greatest thing that could have happened. We made a video on YouTube, and the radio picked it up and it started getting played all over the radio. We weren't even going to release it, but the universe had other plans, so we sort of ran with it. What was it like picking up and moving from Australia to the U.S.? We came over with our guitars and some furniture, we moved into a place and spent all of our money. We made a record independently, but it broke, so we were able to upgrade to Virgin Records. Did you ever think about staying in Australia and trying to make a career for yourself there? We tried, but really, we wanted to do the biggest thing that we could. That was really it. There's only so much you can achieve. We could put the same amount of effort in Australia that we put in the U.S. The effort would remain the same, and it's 100 percent either way. But if you crack it in the U.S., it's 10 times bigger. It's like gambling at the big table. So we said, “f*** it; let's give it a go at the big table,” and we survived. What was it like when you first came over to America? I'd never been out of the country, and I was scared to death. I didn't know what the f*** I was doing, and I didn't know anybody. That was it. We came with a page of contacts of people to call, and we met people we'd never met before, but they treated us like they knew us because they had heard our records. We just called the club people and asked if they wanted to hear our music. Some said yes, and a lot said no. What was the first thing you noticed that was different about the U.S., as compared with Australia? The first thing was the air. We came to L.A., and the moment we stepped out of LAX (airport), I couldn't breathe properly. It was smog we'd never known in Australia because there are not as many cars. For six months, my singing was less than what it was in Australia because my throat was adjusting to smoking (the equivalent of) a pack of cigarettes a day. At least American women dig Australian and British accents. I've heard people tell me it's attractive, but I haven't really experienced any great revelation. It's not anything where I say, “G'day mate, let's throw another shrimp on the barbee,” and someone wants to get down with me. It's not some magic wand. Our drummer Mark (Goodwin) is American, and he came to Australia and women found him exotic. It worked for him there. Truth be told, I haven't had much time to practice because I've been working 12-15 hours a day. CLINT HALE | 210SA |
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