St. John’s alt-rock/punk four-piece Sick Puppy calls themselves “your girlfriend’s favourite band,” but I respectfully disagree — they should be “everyone’s favourite band” instead.
The band just released the first single from their upcoming album NOBODY GETS HURT, to be released in late July.
Titled “Rick Nielsen” after the Cheap Trick guitarist, Sick Puppy frequently plays this song at their shows, and it’s now available for your 24/7 listening pleasure.
“Cheap Trick is one of the greatest bands of all time, and Rick Nielsen is kind of a legendary figure for weird, goofy freaks who love writing beautiful, timeless pop songs, something we greatly respect,” drummer Jacob Cherwick tells me.
“Rick is the primary songwriter and creative visionary for that band, yet he never sang lead vocals on any of their songs and always chose to keep himself off of their album covers, instead featuring the more conventionally attractive singer and bassist of the band. He felt his songs would have a better shot at being hits if he were not the face of the band,” Cherwick says. Nielsen’s career decisions function as a driving metaphor for the relationship described in Sick Puppy’s single.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Isobel McKenna is absolutely magnetic. Her lyrics are equal parts honest, cathartic, and catchy. I often find myself looking forward to their shows to hear their song “SURROGATE BOYFRIEND” live because it gets stuck in my head so easily.
Along with bassist Alison Graves, guitarist and steel player Luke Rose and drummer Jacob Cherwick, McKenna truly knows what works, and it shows.
“Rick Nielsen” is referential, name-dropping other bands like Kate Bush, Deftones, Springsteen and Weezer to contextualize and characterize the subject matter of the song.
The song describes feeling lonely and dissociating at a Valentine’s Day party, reminiscing on an undefined relationship that appears one-sided on the speaker’s part. Their incompatibility is inferred through the nods to other bands.
The line “I like crying to Springsteen, but you love jamming to Weezer” is very clever, and also enough to figure out why this person did the speaker wrong.
It’s incredibly vivid, just listening to “Rick Nielsen” feels like you’re there, standing alone in the corner of this Valentine’s Day party with some 80s/90s alt-rock music blaring, just wishing that one person would look over at you, before giving up and leaving early.
The messaging of “Rick Nielsen” is incredibly resonant — yearning for someone to reciprocate your feelings is kind of like being a musician who purposefully takes a backseat.
Like, you aren’t any less great or talented than others, but people (or in this metaphor, a person) don’t often care about supporting figures as much as the leads, even though they’re just as important.
The relationship between a musician and their fans in this way is absolutely similar to the romantic relationship between the two people described in this song. It’s an evocative comparison.
The chorus is catchy and candid, repeating “Oh my god it’s just such a shame / That what we had I can’t even name / I was looking for somebody to blame / Somebody to remember my name.”
One thing I’ve consistently admired about this band is their knack for writing strong build-ups in their songs. The drums are heavy, the guitar licks are delightfully distorted and metallic-sounding.
Nearly every Sick Puppy track I’ve heard culminates into a cathartic, sung-yelled peak with McKenna’s powerful vocals.
Every song has a payoff both figuratively and sonically. Listening to this band just feels good, like letting go of something and being better off for it.
The final popular culture reference comes in the form of a double-meaning lick name-dropping Nielsen, saying “I want you to want me/it’s just like Rick Nielsen said…”
“I Want You To Want Me functions both as a line of internal monologue in the lyrics as well as the title of one of Cheap Trick’s biggest hits, penned by Rick Nielsen himself,” says Cherwick.
Additionally, vocalist McKenna says that she’s “always been a big fan of meta song titles,” citing “One by Metallica” by ihatesex and “I wish I was Stephen Malkmus” by beabadoobee as examples.
“It’s fun to me as a music fan bc it’s kind of like a rabbit hole of references to fall into,” she says, “[We’re] always striving for succinct and simple lyrics à la pop but with rock n roll flair and humour, which is very Cheap Trick.”
If “Rick Nielsen” is any indication, it seems as though Sick Puppy’s upcoming record, NOBODY GETS HURT, is going to be more grungey, alt/indie rock-forward than their last locally beloved 2022 EP, HAUNT THE HILL, which has a more hardcore and punk soundscape.
Sick Puppy is a great band to check out if you’re a fan of groups like Mannequin Pussy and Ribbon Skirt, or if you’re an aficionado of some healthy, feminine rage.
They’re headed to play Calgary’s independent music and arts festival, Sled Island, in June, joining the steadily growing catalogue of up-and-coming Newfoundland bands embarking on tours and carving out a well-deserved space for the province within the national alternative music space.
To said aforementioned girlfriends, and everyone else, I implore you to give this fantastic local act a shot, and stay tuned for NOBODY GETS HURT, out July 24.
Listen to “Rick Nielsen” here.