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Interview with SIC
Geschrieben von: Administrator   

sic 2010

Hi Eddie, would you please introduce SIC to the people who don´t know you by now?

Sure thing, SIC is a modern Thrash Metal band from the Faroe Islands, located in the North Atlantic, right in the middle of nowhere, and we're here to inflict mayhem on you all for good, so get used to it ;)

How and when did you start with SIC?

It was back in 2002 when I and our former drummer thought it was about time to start a metal band. We began jamming and got us a bass player and switched between different guitarists and vocalists. Finally in May 2003 our vocalist Mikkjal joined the band and was also playing the guitar from 2003 to 2005. In 2005 I and Mikkjal thought it was time to move on as we were way more serious than the other members in the band. That's when we hooked up with the current line-up.

Can you explain your style of music to us and who´s responsible for songwriting?

We refer to ourselves as playing Modern Thrash Metal. We draw inspirations from many different bands, ranging from Metallica to Meshuggah to Faith No More to Korn to Slayer to blues music. We find inspiration in the surroundings, in the harsh nature that's around us and from all the paths we have drifted. We try to capture all of our favourite elements and emotions from the bands that we love and try to define it our own way and bring it out to the masses!
I usually always come with all the riffs and occasionally with some melodies, but that's more Frans' thing. It then starts with me jamming the riffs with the drummer, we'll jam it, twist it and make it SIC'ish, if you will, and try to fit various riffs together. Then the others usually step in, change this and that, come with constructive critique and we all form it to a song, one way or the other. So yeah, basically we're all responsible for the songs coming to life, if you say that I most often write the riffs.
Think the conclusion is: SIC is responsible for the song writing.

What does SIC mean?

It means Shut It Cunt! (laughs)
Upon forming the band we were of course in the need of a band name but whatever we came up with, nothing seemed to fit.
I came across (sic!) while doing homework in college back in 2002. I looked it up, turned out to be Latin and meaning something in the lines of "Thus, so it says" (...) basically you use it when quoting a direct source in a written text. Also used as "Sic 'em" (to attack). I had and have many reasons for thinking that that name was perfect for us. To put it short: "what you see is what you get; this is what we do, don't like it? Fuck off!" I realize that that may come across as arrogant, but that is not at all the intention. It simply means that we are dead serious about what we do and do not fool around!
Just look it up in the dictionary for the official definition, hehe.
There have been rumours and speculations floating around whether or not the name SIC is taken from the Slipknot song (sic!) or if SIC is an acronym for many things, like Shut It Cunt, Satan Is Cool and god knows how many different acronyms we've been told by fans that they believe our name stands for.

sic


Eddie, your debut album "Pandemonium" was masterly produced by Tommy Hansen ( Helloween, Pretty Maids, Hatesphere etc.). How did SIC, a newcomer, get in contact with this producer legend?

It was during 2006 that we decided that it was about time that SIC should begin writing all the material as well as booking the studio. We love making absurd dead-lines, that way we work 10 times harder and thus the result that much greater! I was looking around in Scandinavia for good studios / producers and yet affordable for a band like us.
I found Ziggy from ZigZound Studios in Århus (Mercenary, etc..). We booked him for September 2006. I went to Denmark one week before the rest of the band and when I had arrived, Ziggy called me telling me that he had been hospitalized and however much I understood his situation, I freaked out and said that he had to figure something out as SIC had already booked the tickets, used shitloads of money and we'd just lost our good friend and mentor Karl Anton Klein a week earlier.  Ziggy was kind enough to contact Tommy Hansen. Tommy agreed even if he and his wife were supposed to go on holiday during this time. Working with such an experienced producer as Tommy did wonders for us and we grew a lot during these 15 days that we recorded.

Your manager Orpheus lives in Athens. Tell us how guys from Faroe Islands got a greek manager, hehe!

It began on MySpace. In 2007 when we had released our album Pandemonium we began using all the different internet tools that we could find as well as using all the community sites such as MySpace. We blogged a lot making sure that as many as possible would know about our release. Our good friends from Aussie Invasion read one of our blogs and began playing our music and they pointed us to Orpheus as I remember it. At first he just reviewed our album for Rock Hard, where we received 8 out of 10 possible. Later on we began chatting on occasions and at one point I told him that we were in the need of a manager and it turned out that he was already one. Having worked for many labels I knew that he had good contacts, one thing lead to another, and we signed a deal with him.

In the booklet of "Pandemonium" you thank a guy called Karl Anton Klein. Who was this man? He seemed to be very important for you guys.

Karl Anton was a big person with an even bigger heart. Unfortunately his lifestyle and bad health lead to his death when he was only in his mid 40's. He was the leader of the youth center in our hometown and he was the kind of guy that would see the good in little trouble makers like us when all others would turn away. We couldn't have asked for a better mentor in life and we know he's smiling upon us now.

Tell us a bit of the metal scene on Faeroe Islands.

Since the '90s there have been a few metal bands but they all just seemed to stop at some certain point. From early 2000 it was only Týr and SIC that were serious and ambitious enough to plan album releases and world tours. Up until now it has only been SIC and Týr that have been active. But this year all the underground bands are taking it one step further: releasing their debut albums and even planning tours. I love seeing the metal scene here being as rich as it is just now. There are 4 or 5 metal albums coming this year in the Faroe Islands. That's a lot considering that we are only 48.000 people living on these islands!

In april 2009 you supported Hatesphere on their "Alive and dressed to the nines tour".

I´m pretty sure some funny things happened in this time. Do you have some witty anecdotes for us?
The tour was packed with fun stuff. To mention it all would take ages and forever. But, to mention a few things that stand out... In Slovenia (I think) the party was slowly getting crazy and at one point Gudmar (Bass Player) decides to give Orpheus the most crazy wedgy you've ever seen, he pulled his boxer all the way up his back and over his head, the poor bastard most have been in agonizing pain and to make things even worse Gudmar then ripps them off of him and Orpheus is crippled on the ground and is helplessly watching a Gudmar lights his boxers on fire. At this point the security from the venue steps out and asks us to stop whatever it that we're doing right away - we took them quite seriously, because earlier that evening they had shown us their whole artillery (guns, machineguns, etc) behind the bar (laughs).
Another was in Switzerland I think. Both tour busses had arrived with all 4 bands. Upon load in we all stumble upon this couple right next to one of the busses having sex and they were not at all afraid of the attention, in fact I think it turned them on. They kept on going for ages, and for me to keep on telling details would just get boring hahaha..
Then there was poor me on the ferry on our way home from the UK. Earlier that evening I had been telling the guys that it was really f***ing important that we wouldn't get too wasted and so on, as we had to get out of the tour bus when we boarded and guess who's the only one too wasted to wake up? Eddie! Mikkjal struggles with me for a while and eventually gives up, then someone else and they keep on going until they think I'm up. I start walking out on the car deck with one shoe on one foot and one sock on the other and a tank top and NOTHING else, and all these poor families on the deck had to see this dead beat rocker walking there with almost no clothes at all, priceless, where's the camera when you need it? But hey, this was the last night of a 2 month tour so of course I partied hard. There are many more funny stories but I think I'll stop here (Iaughs). And, I'm sure that we'll include tons of goofy material on our DVD when it will be released.

Hilarious!!!!!! Such a shame that we missed the car deck action! (anm. Rike)


We´ve met you guys a few times on that tour and everytime we had to smile... The headliner Hatesphere shared the bus with two other bands but SIC had their own, very cool Jägermeister tourbus. Why the hell? Are you guys rich or did you have a nice sponsor? Haha!

Jup, we're all millionaires that were bored and started a band hahaha, neh we're just like all other metal heads trying to make it = broke as fuck but having a hell of a good time, how many can say that?!? (laughs)
I did notice some eyebrows being raised when all bands met. Hatesphere actually thought that it was their bus when they arrived and I remember that I had to say "nope this one is ours" and I felt like a complete jackass / show-off haha
Personally I regret having our own bus, no matter how cool that bus was, I don't even want to begin talking about how expensive it is. But bottom line is: Together with Orpheus I began planning this tour. Initially it was without Hatesphere and we planned a tour where we were "headliners" but then we got the Hatesphere offer which we couldn't say no to. I had sent applications out to funds and sponsors and I managed to raise money for the tour, the bus, travelling, food, and so on.
No matter how you twist and turn it, the fact is, when you are a crew of 5 or more, having a tour bus is the cheapest solution for a band as it covers travels and a place to sleep. Having said that I would not recommend an up and coming band to do it though, they should rather stick to a buy-in tour, where they share the bus with the headliner!

sic


Right after the tour with Hatesphere, SIC toured trough UK. Was it a headliner tour for you and how was it?

It was a headliner - part co-headliner - tour. Dave Kok from Vunk Ventures arranged all shows in the UK.
It was different. We had spent all of April together with Hatesphere and 4 other support bands. Everyday you'd hang out with all these people, and you made some really good friends with all of them, and from one night to the other, it was just us, it was a weird feeling, but we were just as excited about it. Of course, there were more people to the Hatesphere shows, needless to say. But, SIC is slowly building a solid and stable fan base all over. We can't wait to go out again! I don't think we'll be doing a headlining tour with the next album. We'll do a cool buy-in tour with some killer band because it more beneficial for the band - you reach out to far more people in much less time!

When I listened to SIC the first time, i noticed some influences of Korn, Sepultura and Soulfy. Eddie, what do you think about the discussion of a possible reunion of Sepultura with the original line-up?

Yeah, the bands you just mentioned are a few of the bands that always inspired us. I'm not really sure to be honest. I would love seeing Sepultura playing again with the original line-up, but I'm just not sure if it'd be the same. Having seen several performances with Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy online and so on it seems - sad to say - that there's not much energy left in Max. But, I'd go to a gig, hell yeah. I won't judge it before I hear it, but I just don't think that it'd be the same. I'm sure that many disagree with me, but that's all cool.

What bands or albums were your favourites in the last months?

Hmm... Tough one, I've been so focused on SIC the past months that I've hardly listened to any particular band. After the tour there were two bands that I've listened a lot to and that was Gojira and Hatesphere, as well as the other bands that we toured with. Just heard the new Mnemic album, that one is killer as well, way better than their last one. Today I've been listening a lot to Use Your Brain, Clawfinger, don't really know, I listen to all sorts of bands all the time.

Right now, you´re in the studio recording your 2nd album. Where do you record it and what can we expect from the new stuff?

I'm sorry to say that we're not in the studio right now. We were supposed to enter the studio in January/February 2010. But, due to several reasons on the home front this was not possible. We are working extremely hard to make it in April/May. As to where we'll record it, I simply cannot comment on that just now as negotiations are still taking place, this due to the face that we had to postpone the whole thing. You can expect to hear new stuff this year. We have 13 or 14 tracks that we'll record. We will be posting studio diaries and so on when we're making the album, and we'll release it as soon as it is possible, we'll not delay it any further when it's done!

Is there a release date and do you guys plan a tour in 2010? (I can´t wait for it, aaargh!!! hehe!)

I'm glad that you're eager for it, so are we!!! Hehe
No, as I just mentioned there is no release date just yet, we'll announce it later this year (the next few months). We will look for buy-ins for next fall - we all simply can't wait to get back out there! This material that we're sitting on is so much more than Pandemonium was! It's much more brutal, more insane and so on. We still have the "SIC-sound" but we've taken up 13 steps! hehe

Eddie, what wishes and dreams do you have for SIC?

That we can keep on doing what we're doing, that our fan base will continue to grow - 'cause, without the fans there is no band (laughs). We want to keep on touring, to do what we do best!

The last words are yours...

Ok, people you all should keep an eye out for our upcoming release "FIGHTERS THEY BLEED"! We promise you an intense ride throughout the entire album.
We urge you all to keep track of us either on MySpace or FaceBook to get the latest news on what's going on with the band.
Hope to see as many of you as possible out on the road! Until then, take care, keep it brutal and stay FUCKING METAL!


THANK YOU and Merry X-mas:o) Rike*** and Sven

Thanks guys, we'll all see you soon I'm sure! ;)

Update: We have to mention that the interview was done in december 2009 but it reached us a couple of weeks ago.
SIC are recordind the new album "Fighters They Bleed" at the moment at Jakob Hansen and after that´s done it´ll be mixed from Thue Madsen.
Dennis Buhl (ex-HateSphere) will do the drums on the new album. Wheeee! What else to say than: Killer-Combo!
Before SIC will release "Fighters They Bleed" there´ll come a live album titled "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum".

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