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Rick People Bad Habit Records

SICK PEOPLE

Brisbane. 15 or so years ago. The burst of early/mid commercial hardcore had subsided. Kids who had been drawn in by the tail end of "North Coast Hardcore" were looking for the next thing. There was a rise of interest in old school New York and that fed into a real opening up of interest in more obscure punk from around the world.

Perfectly timed, an all-ages venue opened that was on the edge of being a squat, and all manner of wild acts went down. People moshing with swords, people climbing on the dinosaurs across the road in the museum grounds, and all sorts of high risk behaviour that happens with a lack of responsible adults keeping a handle on things.

A few of those kids started a band called Sick People. Named after a song by Breakdown, a band that was known for the “macho” style of hardcore that was big in the late 80s wasteland of New York City.

Sick People played a bunch of great shows throughout the early 2010s, and really defined an era of Brisbane punk (along with Shackles and Last Chaos). They played with the youth crew bands but also played with Nausea; another perfect reference for this band. A lot of blood, sweat and Facebook antics.

Fast forward to the present and Sick People are back. They just played a killer set in Namba with Gaoled. Cherry of Antivision caught up with Rick to bring us this interview.

Photos by Shane Oliver.

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Cherokee: First off, welcome. Name and role in the band?

RICK: Thanks for hitting us up, I’m Rick and I sing in the band.

C: Favourite place to eat in Brisbane?

R: Hard to choose, probably somewhere in Sunnybank, depending on the day, or Genkotsu Ramen in Runcorn.

C: Funnest Sick People show?

R: Way too many of these to choose from honestly but the top 3 in Brisbane in the original run of the band would be Boundary Hotel w/ Primitive Blast and Controlled, Sun Distortion w/ Innumerable Forms and Shackles’ last show @ Total Attack 2017. They all represent some truly insane moments, anyone who was at the Boundary show will tell you how mental it was…

C: Are you a hunter or gatherer?

R: I’d say I’m neither one or the other, my natural instincts are to build things and make the changes I want to see. Part of that is hunting and part of that is gathering I suppose, if you can’t slow down and be perceptive of what’s happening around you, can you really create anything?

C: Thoughts on Dave Grohl?

R: Can’t imagine even giving much of a fuck about anything he’s doing but I can say that his involvement in doing the Bl’ast “Blood” release is one of the best things to ever come out, an essential HC masterpiece.

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C: True or false.... Sick people once played a show where swingers were tricked into going via a troll on Facebook?

R: Haha, that wasn’t us but there was a lot of stuff like this in that era tied to our friend circle… This was a show at the Bearded Lady with another band I played guitar in and our singer decided to make a coinciding fake facebook event for a swingers meet and infiltrated a swingers group… a few surprised interactions when the bar wasn’t serving discount drinks for the swingers, the rest is history.

C: Any new hardcore bands you'd like to do shows with?

R: Honestly heaps, it’s been incredible to come back after a big break and to see the state of “the scene” now. The bands are diverse, excited, DIY… it’s incredible to see the mix that is out there at the moment, nothing like when I came into things and everything was so split up and segregated. I personally would like to put most of our energy into supporting the younger generation who are motivated to create new things and those who are underrepresented.

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C: Biggest influences that aren't musicians/bands?

R: My grandfather, without a doubt. He is someone who came from nothing, survived a life that many couldn’t and never asked for more. He taught me how to work hard, build what you need before someone will give it to you, to be fair, to show respect but never be disrespected, how to be compassionate and show empathy without being feeble, how to be someone who can grow with the times and be ready to take responsibility.

C: Bands that you think should reform?

R: I don’t think any band should reform, but it’s all subjective and there are heaps of bands I would love to see that I never have and will never get a chance to. The present is for now though and anyone coming back should be aiming to do so to serve a purpose.

C: Favourite shows played since returning?

R: They’ve all been incredible for many different reasons. Being in a second wind of sorts is something I don’t think I ever understood until it was us and every show is just a new unique crazy experience, totally different from when we were just kids.

I’m gonna lump the first two shows back at King Lears and A Cold Day in BNE together as they were both very emotional and humbling experiences. Saw faces I hadn’t seen in years, played to packed rooms and heard from so many people about how important of a band we were to them. I don’t think there is anything more humbling than that.

The other stand out is the Sick Of It All show in Frankston. We’ve never been a band that supports big international acts but SOIA was one of the bands who I sunk my teeth into getting into this stuff and to play with them in Frankston at Singing Bird, one of the best venues in the entire world, a true DIY community space… that was incredible. Extra plus for listening to E.Town Concrete all day with the rest of the band!

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C: Any advice for anyone wanting to start band?

R: Do it, just do it. Put your nose to the grindstone and create something. Push out all the noise and nonsense that comes with life… overcommit, work hard, be visible, do it for yourself, don’t be afraid to stumble and learn, don’t settle for enough, push for more.

There’s heaps of bands, they’re a dime a dozen, full of time-wasting rockstar wannabes, elitists and jokers. Make your band count for you and crush those fuckers.

C: Will we hear any new Sick People recordings?

R: We keep talking about it and Crispy keeps saying he’s got tonnes of riffs but we’re all crazy busy. However, having so many people who are related and live together in the band now, it should be easier than ever! I’d love to get something out there, maybe even release some covers or something fun to show our range of influences.

C: Thoughts on hippies?

R: Depends what we mean with hippies. In my experience, hippies are an idea on paper that doesn’t get executed or mostly a disparaging comment from conservative idiots. There’s the idea that hippies are left leaning or socialist in their values, that’s kind of dead and gone. We’re just left with all this niche micro subculture bullshit and honestly most of these “hippies” are pumped up privileged people playing naturopath via eco friendly conservatism.

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C: Best places to find punk/hardcore records?

R: I’m probably a bit out of the loop but every time I go to Bad Habit, I’m dumping tonnes of cash and making sure that Michelle and Aaron can feed the family. Shoutout to Butterbeats, Repressed Records, Searchers and Rowdy’s as other great record stores around the country plus the countless DIY distros working hard to keep the culture alive.

C: Thanks for answering those. Last question, what's the next Sick People show lined up?

R: Thanks heaps for the interview! Keep up the good work with everything you’re doing and can’t wait to see how it all develops. Next show is tomorrow at Black Box with Crave Death, Gaoled and Cerebral Erosion thanks to you, Bad Habit and Team Glasses.

After that we’ve got an all ages show at the end of November at Ahepa Hall in West End with Just Say Go!, Drudge and The Meat. It’s also a fundraiser for Lady Musgrave Trust, which is huge thing for me. JSG was one of the first local bands I got into when I was a kid so it’ll be insane to do this. There’s one more show for us in December which is yet to be announced that is gonna rule!

Follow Sick People on Instagram at @sickpeople.ahc

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