Sick of It All
Sick Of It All (
SOIA) is a
New York hardcore band formed by brothers Lou (vocals) and Pete Koller (
guitar), Armand Majidi (
drums) and Rich Cipriano (
bass) in 1984.
Early career (1984-1992)
Hailing from
Queens in
New York City, Sick of It All was formed alongside
New York hardcore bands
Straight Ahead, and Rest In Pieces which both featured Majidi and current Sick Of It All bass player Craig Setari. Majidi joined up with the Koller brothers and Rich Cipriano to record the Sick Of It All demo in 1986, after original bassist Mark McNielly and drummer David Lamb left. The band began to play Sunday afternoon matinees at renowned Hardcore venue
CBGB's, and soon after released a self-titled
7" on
Revelation Records (which was later re-issued on the tenth anniversary of its release, in 1997).
The band signed to
Relativity Records in 1988 and released their first full-length,
Blood, Sweat And No Tears, in the following year. Their follow-up full-length
Just Look Around was released in 1992.
Major career (1993-1999)
Although accused of
selling out, Sick Of It All released their heaviest record to date on
major label EastWest Records, titled
Scratch The Surface. The record was a surprise to those who assumed the band would create a more radio-friendly sound. They also recorded a video for "Step Down". The record was also the first recorded with long-time friend and former Straight Ahead, Rest In Pieces, Youth of Today and Agnostic Front bassist Craig Setari, who had replaced Rich Cipriano in early 1993.
The band received bad publicity when in December 1992, a mentally-ill student wearing a Sick Of It All shirt shot and killed two people at a Massachusetts school, and wounded several others. After being inundated with claims that they initiated violence at shows and through their music, the band defended themselves in the press (particularly
The New York Times).
The fair success of
Scratch The Surface allowed the band to tour worldwide, and it was not until 1997 that they released their second record on the EastWest label,
Built To Last. More punk-inspired than their previous effort,
Built To Last produced a number of live staples for the band, including "Us vs. Them," "Busted" and "Good Lookin' Out." The album also marked the end of Sick Of It All's contractual agreement with EastWest.
The Fat Wreck Chords years (1998-2004)
In 1998, Sick of It All signed to
independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, owned and run by Fat Mike of Californian band
NOFX. After releasing the "Potential For A Fall" single - for which another video was filmed,
Call To Arms was released in February
1999. The album featured relatively few traditional Hardcore tracks, as the intensely personal lyrics of songs like "Let Go," "The Future Is Mine," "Morally Confused" "Hindsight," and "Martin" shone through.
The
2000 follow-up was
Yours Truly was less critically acclaimed. Despite containing some of the bands favoured live tracks, including "Blown Away," "The Bland Within," "District" and "America," some fans felt alienated by the album's progressive nature and in a recent interview, frontman Lou Koller claimed that the album's cover art probably contributed to its poor reception.
1In 2001, Sick Of It All released their home video
The Story So Far, and a year later a live record was released as part of Fat Wreck's
Live In A Dive series. The album showcased tracks from Sick Of It All's entire career up to that point in time.
2003 saw Sick Of It All release their seventh studio album:
Life on the Ropes. In 2004, the band also released an album of b-sides, covers and rare tracks entitled
Outtakes For The Outcast, which contains some Sick Of It All recordings.
Current events and the future of the band (2005-present)
In early 2005, Sick Of It All signed on to metal/hardcore label,
Abacus Recordings to record the follow-up to Fat Wreck's
Life On The Ropes. The new album, titled
Death to Tyrants was released on on
April 18,
2006.
In 1995, the somewhat dubious German label Lost And Found Records released in Europe only,
Spreading The Hardcore Reality and
Live In A World Full Of Hate, the latter of which was supposedly recorded live in New Jersey in 1993, but was actually recorded at a chaotic show in Berlin in 1994. This bootleg ruse was created because of the band's contractual obligations at the time.
Numerous Sick Of It All fans have tattoos of the "Alleyway Dragon" - the band's official logo. Some people have claimed that the band misappropriated a gang symbol, but the band often claims that the Alleyway Crew was never an actual gang to begin with. A gang of friends, perhaps, but never one with criminal intent. They claim the dragon is a symbol of friendship. The "Alleyway" is a school yard in Flushing, Queens, where the band and all of its friends would gather.
The former
roadie of Sick Of It All,
Toby Morse, went on to form popular
punk band
H2O.
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Sick of It All (1987)
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Blood, Sweat and No Tears (1989)
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We Stand Alone (1991)
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Just Look Around (1992)
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Scratch the Surface (1994)
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Live in a World Full of Hate (1995)
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Spreading the Hardcore Reality (1995)
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Built To Last (1997)
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Potential for a Fall (1998)
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Call to Arms (1999)
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Yours Truly (2000)
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The Story So Far (2001)
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Live in a Dive (2002)
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Life on the Ropes (2003)
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Outtakes For The Outcast (2004)
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Death to Tyrants (2006)
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Official Website*
Sick Of It All Lyrics*
Fat Wreck Chords - Sick Of It All*
Abacus Recordings
