Sick Puppy
This St. John’s, Newfoundland, band is DIY in its purest form. Sick Puppy’s latest record, “NOBODY GETS HURT,” came out July 24 — and everything from its production and engineering to its cover art was handled by the band and local friends. The result is an album made entirely on their own timeline and artistic terms.
Recently, two of the group’s founding members, Jacob Cherwick and Isobel McKenna, spoke about what that looked like for the band.
Listen to this interview anywhere podcasts are available.
The following transcript was generated with transcription software and reviewed for accuracy. Minor errors or omissions may remain.
YY: Sick Puppy started around 2022, as I understand it. But you were all musically involved with other local projects for quite a while prior to that. And some of you still are, is that right?
JC: Yeah. I mean, we all are in some way or another. I think we all, I play in a bunch of different bands. Luke, our guitar player, plays in a bunch of different bands. Allison, our bass player, plays in a few bands. I think this is Isobel's only band at the moment.
IM: This is my first band.
JC: Yeah, but Isobel and I both do artwork for other people's music too. So yeah, we're all involved in a bunch of stuff.
You're no strangers to art and just releasing music in general. And so with that said, "NOBODY GETS HURT" is still the first proper album for this band. And so how was it putting this record together compared to anything the members of the band have done previously?
IM: Well, this is the first record I've ever been a part of making, like, the music side of things. So it was all a learning experience for me. So yeah, I don't know, I don't really have anything to compare it with, but Jacob does.
JC: Yeah. I mean, I feel like it was pretty similar to how I've made records with other bands before. So I was fairly used to it. And I think Luke and Allison were to some extent too. But but yeah, I feel like this one, we definitely took our time doing it. Other than the drums, we pretty much recorded everything ourselves. So yeah, we really took our time getting everything recorded and arranged. And like some of the songs weren't even fully written when we started recording things. And so we, like, we didn't really try to rush anything. We weren't on any strict timeline or anything. So it, it came together, like over the course of, I'd say about a year and a half. Yeah, total. But yeah, we took our time.
I was thinking about this as I was like doing research. I've talked to quite a few bands recently from Canada, but that's all like the Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal areas. And so it's hard to put Newfoundland in the same category because of the distance, for one, but I also really think of the area as almost culturally isolated from the rest of Canada in a way. And so first of all, are you guys from St. John's originally? And then is that the way that it feels for you guys?
IM: Well, funnily enough, none of us are from St. John's originally. We all kind of ended up here at me and Jacob both moved here when we were like kids because our families moved here. So yeah, it's funny that, but we've all lived here for like over -- Luke and Allison have lived here for over 10 years now.
JC: Luke was the last to move here. And he's lived here over 10 years. So we've all been around for quite a while.
IM: But definitely it is culturally isolated. And that can be difficult, but it also can make people need to do things themselves and figure out how to like, people don't come here on tour like bands don't really come here on tour. So it's like, if you want to see a certain kind of music that you don't have, like you don't see in town, like you start making it kind of thing, that's like how it works here. So it's like it's limiting, but it's also inspiring.
JC: Yeah, I think there's, I think like the music community here at least is like super unique in that everyone is kind of forced to interact with each other just because it's not that big of a group of people.
IM: We can't afford to have like different micro scenes in this city because everyone knows each other.
JC: Everyone knows each other.
IM: Everyone's like someone's sister or cousin or something.
JC: Yeah. And it's like at a certain point, it's like, if you need somebody in your band that can play guitar, you kind of have like a finite list of people to, to call to do that. But there is still, there is a lot of great musicians here. It's like, it's, it's one of the highest like concentrations of artists per capita, like the area code that we're in right now. I think in according to like Statistics Canada is like the highest concentration of professional artists in one area code.
I would not have guessed that. I would imagine that, yes, being on an island probably makes touring hard as a band and not just not getting to see a lot of touring acts from outside of the area.
IM: Yeah, but it's like we have Lawnya Vawnya Music Festival every summer here, and that's like a big deal because it is like one of the only times that other Canadian bands come here that are maybe not like that big yet. So it's fun and everyone wants to be there and see it.
JC: Yeah, we have a few big corporate music festivals that happen every year that bring in, for the most part, it's kind of like legacy Canadian acts and stuff or maybe some newer Canadian pop acts or whatever. But it's very much radio music type festivals or whatever. But there is, yeah, there's like one festival in town that's like an alternative festival that brings in all kinds of cool stuff every year. And so we get little glimpses of it. And everybody from Newfoundland that's into music, I think is kind of just used to paying to travel to the mainland to play or to go see bands or whatever. But it's not as easy as just hopping in your car and going on tour. It's like you're investing at least four days of travel and probably a couple thousand dollars before you even play a show. Yeah. Off the island.
Is that something you have much experience with doing?
JC: For sure. I mean, this band hasn't toured like we haven't really toured by car much like most of the shows we've played have been festivals like around Canada. So we've just been flying in to wherever the festival is and like we're lucky enough to that, like the Newfoundland government has arts funding to so we can like get some funding to help pay to fly places like that. But but I've toured with bands in vans too, and like, it's fine. You can do it. And, and we'll play shows across the island on their way back there and way back and whatever. And, and people have been doing that for, for decades, but it definitely is. Yeah, it's a little more difficult than being in Toronto or Montreal or something like that.
I wanted to start talking about the album a little bit. Your first EP was back in 2022, and it was definitely more hardcore, punk-centered. And there's still elements of that on this record, but it's a lot more expansive in terms of style. And so what do you think led you in this sonic direction?
JC: When we started out like, like Isobel said, this is Isobel's first time playing in a band. And when we started, we, we first started playing together during the pandemic actually, like in 2020, Isobel and Allison and I were all living together for like the first big lockdown. And they were both learning how to play these instruments for the first time. And so it was kind of like a like we were just kind of screwing around, like seeing if we could write some riffs or whatever and see just like so everyone could play something together. And that kind of lent itself to like the more straight ahead kind of like power chord hardcore thing. And I mean, we're all into hardcore as well too, and like have all been going to hardcore shows in and around St. Johns for, for years and years and years. So it was like a familiar territory for us. But yeah, I think over time, we've all got more used to playing together and Allison and Isobel have gotten more used to their instruments. And so the sound is just kind of naturally developed with that. And also, I think we, we are all into more than just punk and hardcore as well. So I think there's just, there's a lot of different influences that kind of start seeping in once we've had more time to kind of sit and work on music.
IM: Yeah. What he said.
And I noticed that the record came out on your very own Half Case label, which is less a label and more of an all encompassing creative team, as I understand it. And so could you talk a little bit more about what that is and how the outlet started for you?
IM: Me and Jacob both have done graphic design kind of client-by-client basis for a while, not super professionally. But we found ourselves like always working on each other's stuff or like asking each other like opinions about X, Y, and Z. And don't know how it really started, but I think we were just like, "this would make more sense if we had one name that we can do everything under" and just like streamlining for like annoying stuff like invoicing and like that kind of stuff. But yeah, and Jacob does a lot of like audio engineering under the same label too. And I think it's like kind of interesting. There's, I don't think there's a lot of places that you can get, like your album mixed and mastered and the artwork and layout done for it all in one place and under one invoice if necessary. So yeah.
JC: Yeah, I feel like this album is almost like a bit of a sneaky like advertisement for, for Half Case in that way too.
IM: Well, I think we were like pushing ourselves on what we could do ourselves for this. And yeah, I wanted us to do as much as we possibly could ourselves. And I just like seeing, I want to know how much money we actually spent on making the album.
JC: Yeah. It's not much.
IM: It was like, "how little money can we spend on this by doing most of it ourselves?" But it is also just like a good exercise. And yeah, it's fun.
I don't know how old this is on your site, but I couldn't help but notice that Jacob's number one font right now is Eurostile Extended Black. And I can't tell you how much that resonated with me, because almost my entire branding is that font.
JC: Yeah. It's one of the best. I feel like I got turned onto that font years ago. And then as soon as I knew what it was, I just started seeing it everywhere. And it's like it's popped up everywhere, like throughout history. It's crazy seeing like I'm seeing old posters from the '50s or '60s and I'm seeing Eurostile on them. I'm seeing like hardcore flyers from the '90s with eEurostile on it. It's everywhere.
IM: The everyman's font.
JC: Yeah. It's kind of a perfect font in many ways.
Years ago, I was trying to make my branding more cohesive and so I got this old typeface book, and that was in there. And it just stood out to me immediately.
JC: It's everywhere. I've snuck it into so many projects. I don't think it made it onto anything in this album cycle, but it's definitely been on a lot of other records that we've worked on.
That's cool. Where would you say is like the hub? Like if you're going to go see a show, what's the place?
IM: Peter Easton on Friday night. Or the Ship Pub.
JC: Yeah. I would say the Peter Easton Pub. Ship Pub as well.
IM: The Ship Pub is like a very old venue here. It's kind of an iconic local venue. Those two places are probably the the nexus.
JC: The Ship is definitely like in terms of general music venues in St. John's, that's been kind of like the hub for everything since probably the 1970s, I think. And it's gone through different ownership over that time too, and whatever. But it's like consistently been a meeting place for musicians. And there's live music there almost every night of the week. And then, yeah, the Peter Easton is kind of the place where we spend the most of our time now, but they only do shows on Friday nights. So it's like, you got one night a week to go there and see something, but it's always usually something good.
IM: Everyone's fighting over the Friday night booking, but it's fun.
How often do you guys get to play shows as Sick Puppy?
JC: It depends. I mean, we've kind of been off and on lately because I mean, Luke and Allison are not here right now because they both happen to be in Ontario right now. And and they've been traveling a bit lately. So we've kind of been just playing gigs once everybody's in town together. But I'd say we usually play like once every couple of months maybe.
IM: Yeah. I also feel like you can play too much, especially in St. John's where it's like there's a, there's kind of a limited pool and if people know they can see you like every couple weeks, it's less of a draw to come see you.
JC: Yeah. There is some bands that have insanely short lifespans here, and they play like two shows a week every week for maybe five or six months. And then they're so sick of playing and everyone's so sick of seeing them that the whole thing just kind of fizzles out and loses steam. So we try to make sure that doesn't happen.
And we talked earlier about the other projects that you've all been a part of in the past. And this came from your Spotify bio, but Sick Puppy is made up of members from I counted six other bands and there's only four of you. And so who comes from where?
IM: Well, none of those are mine.
JC: Yeah, none of those are Isobel's, I suppose.
IM: Most of it is Jacob.
JC: It's mostly me and Allison. Allison played in a band called BBQT, which started in Newfoundland. And then they relocated to Montreal, and they were based out of Montreal for a while, and and they toured quite a bit and had a decent following. And then she moved back here and we started this band. And then I think all of the rest of those are probably all bands that I'm in. But again, those are just bands that any of us have been in that have music up on Spotify. There's like many other bands that we've all played with that, that have never even made it as far as that.
Yeah. Honestly, it sounds like for its size you guys have an incredibly rich music scene there for sure.
IM: Definitely.
A few years passed from the time that you released that first EP to when you put out the first single from this album. So what did that period of time look like for the band creatively, and where do you see things going next?
IM: Just a lot of writing.
JC: We gained a member.
IM: We gained a member, because we were jamming at Luke and Alison's house and Luke was sitting on the couch playing Madden or something. I was like, get off your ass and play the second guitar part.
JC: We were jamming all the time. So eventually we told him to pick up the guitar. But Luke is also a fantastic musician. I've played music with him for several years, just not in this band until more recently.
IM: But yeah, just a lot of writing. I mean, we all have lots of other stuff on the go. Like we're not full-time musicians by any means. So yeah, just out of like life necessity, you know, we have to take like there, there was definitely like months at a time where nothing was happening. And then like a month of like recording every day. And yeah. So that's just the way it, that's just the way it shakes out. But yeah, kind of feeling relieved that the album's out now and kind of letting it still getting used to it being out in the world and not having to worry about it anymore. And then yeah, definitely we'll get back to writing some stuff soon. Hopefully we'll get off the island. Yeah, for a week or something and play some shows. But yeah, keeping it chill.
