Category: Sick Pills
Sick Pills in Motif Magazine
You can read the article here
Sick Pills – Late Night Death Trip EP
75OL-309 Sick Pills – Late Night Death Trip EP
Digital download and streaming available here
CD with bonus tracks
$8.00 S&H Included
Track Listing
- Wanna Die 02:41
- One More Chance For Love 03:24
- Waiting to Die 03:12
- Nothing to Me 03:46
- Late Night Death Trip 03:12
- Evil In Your Eye
- Gates of Steel
- No Good
- Goodbye Horses
Sick Pills Nothing’s Funny Anymore
75OL-294 Sick Pills Nothing’s Funny Anymore CD
Digital download and streaming is available here
$7.00 S&H Included
Track Listing
- Remind Me You’re Gone
- American Virus
- Life’s a Joke
- No Good For Anyone
- Fix Me
- Yeah Yeah
- Be My Girl
- Friday Night
- Need You To Know
- Watching the World
Fourth full length album from New Bedford, MA punk/alternative/rock band Sick Pills.
Motif Magazine reviews Sick Pills ‘Nothing Is Funny Anymore’
Sick Pills — Nothing’s Funny Anymore (75orLess Records) — Take 2 Because They Are Good for You
As a hockey junky it is really amazing that I get anything done this time of year. I’ve referenced the debut album of The Blood Moons as one of my favorite local albums many times. Before that, there was Chris Evil & The Taints who they turned me onto Roky Erickson with their cover of “Night of the Vampire” many blood moons ago. So now in the virtual podcast format of Keep On Moving, I was stoked to chat with Chris “Evil” Guaraldi, or as I like to call him, Dr. Evil. Dr. Evil and I met in 2002, drinking homemade red wine at the New Wave Cafe in New Bedford when The Taints were playing with the Midnight Creeps, whom I was mis-managing at the time. I could go on, but this column is five days late and exceeded its word count (Ed: I can’t even…). So Dr. Evil’s Band, Sick Pills, have a great new album called Nothing’s Funny Anymore that I love. Let’s cut to straight to the Doctor cause it took 17 years to make this interview happen.
Marc Clarkin (Motif): Is there any backstory that inspired the tunes on Nothing’s Funny Anymore?
Chris Guaraldi: When it comes to themes, I do usually like to have some sort of “theme,” mostly because it’s easier writing lyrics if I know what I’m trying to say. Nothing’s Funny Anymore has a few different themes going on. The year 2018 was a little bit of a bummer. It started off with my dog Rocky [the adorable cover dog for Sick Pills Under My Skin album] dying suddenly, and that pretty much set the tone for 2018. Our drummer, Bob, was also going through a fairly rough personal event so that kind of worked its way into some songs. I write a lot of love songs/break-up songs, but they’re all pretty much friends’ experiences where I try to put myself in their situation and talk about how I would feel. The current political climate crept in there too (“American Virus”). It’s a little overwhelming seeing how openly racist, sexist and homophobic people have become because they feel emboldened by the current state of the country. As a fairly progressive person, I don’t think it’s all on one side either. “Watching the World” is definitely about that. I wrote more political songs than were on the album, but I really loathe the idea of writing too much political stuff because, really, who am I tell you what to think or believe.
MC: Musically, songs seem to have another dimension to some of the previous Sick Pills releases. From the winding paralysis ’60s Kinks-esque rock of “Watching the World” to the stripped-to-the-bones feel of “No Good,” what were some of the different things you worked in compared to past Sick Pills albums?
CG: I don’t know if it’s that much different from the past few albums. The first Sick Pills album (Sickening) was kind of an “I don’t know what I want to do but I want it to not be what I’ve done with Taints and Blood Moons.” I really wanted to make an ’80s-college-rock sounding thing, but after that first album I just started writing songs the way I normally would and a little more toward the rock ‘n’ roll side of things. Under My Skin is our “rock” album I guess; Mettle is kind of back to punk rock. I pretty much just plug my guitar into the computer and play along with some drum beats and hope to be inspired, or I program some bass lines and then work from there. We did add some keyboards/organs from our friend Ethan Weiss [he plays in space-y prog metal band Lazertuth]. He played keys on all the Blood Moons stuff and I asked him if he would like to play on some of the new Sick Pills songs. You can hear him on “Remind Me You’re Gone,” “No Good,” “Fix Me” and the re-recording of “Be My Girl.” Overall, it’s our fourth album and we wanted to try and be a little more dynamic.
MC: The album gets its title from a line in “Life’s a Joke,” which, despite the title and lyrics, is one of the most infectious pieces you have written. Between the breakdown and post-breakdown “Free Bird” surge, the band has a lot of different dynamics clicking. What is the backstory on that song coming together?
CG: “Life’s a Joke” started with the main melody line/guitar lead thing, which I thought was kind of catchy, and the chords just kind of wrote themselves. The whole song was pretty standard structure-wise, but I wanted to do something a little different for the middle. I thought going “heavy” for the break would be a cool change for such a poppy song, and it fit with the downer lyrics. When I started writing the lyrics, I came up with the chorus first and came up with the verses/pre-choruses from there. The verse and chorus music was so poppy I thought it would be nice to write some bummed-out lyrics.
MC: “Fix Me” kind of reminds me of Zuma-era Neil Young meets Stax Records on a dive bar jukebox. Any influence there?
CG: With “Fix Me,” I had to look up that era of Neil Young. I definitely know Cortez the Killer, but I don’t know anything else off that album. It was definitely not an influence for that song — at least not by me. I can hear it, though. I’m sure there’s a Stax influence there, too, especially with the ’60s sounding organ! When I started writing it, I was trying to make the slowest, most depressing song I could possibly write. I believe this is the longest song I have ever written. The original demo was about seven minutes long, so we definitely sped it up and trimmed some fat.
MC: What are some of the places people should check out for music in New Bedford?
CG: In regard to New Bedford, I still host a weekly open mic at Pour Farm going on nine years now, I believe. I’ve been doing shows/running open mic night at Pour Farm for a long time, and it’s a great place. They gave me a chance to do stuff there when there weren’t a lot of options, and that means a lot to me. No Problemo has a decent amount of shows, too — usually on the heavier side (punk/metal/hardcore/etc). It’s an awesome restaurant and good place to see bands. There are a few more places, but a lot of it is mostly cover band/bar band music. Next to No Problemo is a newer place, Greasy Luck, which seems to cater mostly to ’80s hair metal bands (not my thing). Greg Ginn’s Black Flag is playing there, though, so maybe they’ll start booking more stuff like that. Also in the area is Purchase Street Records. It’s a pretty decent record store with lots of old and new stuff — lots of metal/punk/hardcore records. New Bedford isn’t perfect, but there’s a lot of great stuff going on.
Sick Pills will celebrate the release of Nothing’s is Funny Anymore with shows at The Pour Farm in New Bedford with Baluchitherium and Jake Perrone on May 10th and at O’Brien’s in Boston on May 14th with The Cretins.
Sick Pills Be My Girl EP
75OL-275 Sick Pills – ‘Be My Girl’ EP
$6.00 S&H Included
Digital download and free streaming is available here
Track Listing
1. Be My Girl 3:09
2. Die For You 3:33
3. Spin Me Round 3:20
4. Killing Moon 3:35
Sick Pills – Mettle
75OL-247 Sick Pills – mettle CD and Digital download
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download available here
Track Listing
1. Bye Bye Baby
2. Can’t Take It
3. On The Radio
4. Whatcha Doing To Me
5. Tear Me Apart
6. Nothing’s Gonna Be Alright
7. As Bad As Today
8. Na-na-na-na-na My Head It Hurts
9. Mess In My Head
10. Letters
11. Lost In Space
12. Hang Around With You
13. Won’t You Be My Headache
Third album by New Bedford, MA’s Sick Pills whether you want it or not!
Eric Baylies Top 10 in The Noise
Top 10 New England Bands
1. Doomsday Student: Doomsday Student is one of the best live bands in the world and put out incredible skronky post-everything albums.
2. 6 Star General: 6 Star General have been one of my favorite bands for about 10 years. The pride of Warren, Rhode Island, they consistently put out fantastic albums almost annually.
3. Lazertuth: the pride of outer space and southesatern Mass. Lazertuth is a modern day Magma.
4. Goon Planet: Providence has produced a lot of great noisy bands over the years, and Goon Planet is the latest in a long line of geniuses.
5. Pyramid: If Blondie or the Pretenders were a little more punk, but kept the great hooks, they would sound like Rhode Island’s Pyramid.
6. Sick Pills: Chris Evil and company have been cranking out punk gems for a long time, but Sick Pills add touches of The Modern Lovers and Cars to the mix.
7. Picniclunch: Picnic Lunch is the new kings of no wave.
8. David Carradine: Providence thrash punks have been destroying stages world wide for over a decade.
9. Ioneye: Newport, Rhode Island’s Ioneye is the solo project of Stephen Lepre, one of the greatest shredding guitar players on the planet.
10. Olneyville Sound System: OSS has been one the pillars of the Providence noise scene for 20 years, but is set apart a little due to the fact that they happen to also write great songs.
Blood Moons Reunion Show in Motif
The Blood Moons
The Blood Moons’ debut (self-titled 2009) was one of my favorite local records that I’ve heard since someone thought it was a good idea to pay me to talk about music. The Blood Moons were a departure of sorts from the hardcore punk rock of singer-guitarist Chris Guaraldi’s previous band, Chris Evil and The Taints. The Blood Moons had an element of dark country set to garage beats that really had a unique vision. They released another self-titled (album names were never the band’s strength) split EP with Six Star General before ceasing to play out regularly. Guaraldi formed Sick Pills, who put out a record and did another Taints record. This reunion show should be a real treat. Catch one of the best local bands from 2009 to 2011.
Live Reviews of Sick Pills and Six Star General in The Noise
6 STAR GENERAL
SICK PILLS
The Parlour, Providence, RI
3/5/16
Winter is winding down but it is still bitter cold as I brave the frozen tundra to ride my sled dogs to Providence to see two great bands for a 75orless records night. Where are all the sunny tundras? The Parlour is a nice place to play a show or see one. I just don’t like the paintings of giant Marshall amps on the rear of the stage. I think it makes the real amps look small and is distracting, it makes it cheesy if you videotape your set or take pictures, but hey, what do I know about sliced bread? 6 Star General have small amps but big sounds. Singer and bassist Mark is ever entertaining as a frontman, with asides, introductions, observations, and conversations between songs. 6 Star General have been winning hearts and minds with their blend of 90’s college rock and punky alternative for over a decade and they have this down to a sweet science. Well placed covers of Daniel Johnston, Grandaddy, and Camper Van Beethoven give you a glimpse of their influences. The night might have been running late, because their set seemed a bit short to me, but that’s rock and roll sometimes.
After a short break Sick Pills storm the stage, like well mannered Vikings. Singer/ guitar player Chris Evil has been playing around New England in Blood Moons and Chris Evil & the Taints for many a year. This band mixes his punk and garage influences with a bit more straight up rock ’n’ or roll. They do a cool version of “Goodbye Horses” from Silence of the Lambs, but rely mainly on their well crafted catchy punk nuggets. This is their first show in a couple of years with their old drummer, but they sound pretty well rehearsed. These two veteran bands of the Providence punk and whatever scene make the frostbite worthwhile. (Eric Baylies)
Motif Magazine reviews Sick Pills ‘Under My Skin’ album
Sick Pills — Under My Skin (75orLess Records)
I’ve fallen dreadfully behind on my record reviews, but one of favorite releases of the year is the sophomore release from New Bedford’s Sick Pills, Under My Skin. I got into listening to this biscuit a few weeks ago on a road trip to Philly where I literally listened to it on repeat for three hours. For the uninitiated, Sick Pills have a post-punk ’80s indie guitar swing feel to them. Sick Pills are kind of in between as far as singer/guitarist Chris (Dr. Evil) Guaraldi’s other bands. Sick Pills are not as heavy as Chris Evil & The Taints, but heavier than The Blood Moons. Under My Skin kicks off with a couple of punk stompers in “You Make Me Sick” and “Black Skies,” and then proceeds to sprinkle in different influences. “Close To You” somehow has parts that channel both The Knack and Sonic Youth. “Don’t Know What To Do” has this kind of epic indie rock blues sway. Tunes like “Get Away From Me” and “I Got Nothing” have a ’60s garage rock groove, while “All Day” has a mid-’80s era Replacements feel. Sick Pills do not play PVD often, but as it happens they are coming to Firehouse 13. I’m particularly excited for this show, not only because Sick Pills did my favorite local release of the year, but because it also includes Deadlands (top 10 local release last year), and you can catch The Lincoln Tunnel channel indie rock of bands like The Replacements and Sebadoh.
Catch Sick Pills on a stacked local bill with Deadlands, The Lincoln Tunnel and The Matt Fraza Band at Firehouse 13 on Jun 20.