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Sick of It All

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Sick of It All (SOIA) is a New York hardcore band formed by brothers Lou Koller (vocals) and Pete Koller (guitar), Armand Majidi (drums) and Rich Capriano (bass) in 1984.

History

Early career (1984-1992)

Hailing from Tarrytown in Westchester County, NY, 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 Capriano to record the Sick of It All demo in 1986, after original bass player Mark McNielly and drummer David Lamb left. The band began to play Sunday afternoon matinees at renowned 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).

In 1988, Sick of It All signed to Relativity Records and recorded their first full-length, Blood, Sweat and No Tears, which was released in the following year. The album's follow-up, Just Look Around, was released in 1992.

File:Sick of it all logo.svg
Isotype of the band ("Alleyway Dragon"

Increasing popularity (1993-1997)

Sick of It All released their record Scratch the Surface on major label EastWest Records. They also recorded a video for "Step Down" and the title track "Scratch The Surface". The record was the first recorded with long-time friend and former Straight Ahead, Rest In Pieces, Youth of Today and Agnostic Front bass player Craig Setari, who had replaced Rich Capriano in early 1993.

The band received bad publicity in December 1992 when Wayne Lo, a young student wearing a Sick of It All t-shirt, shot and killed two people and wounded several others at Simon's Rock College in Massachusetts. 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. In 1997 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 NOFX. After releasing the "Potential For A Fall" single - for which another video was filmed, Call To Arms was released in February 1999.

The 2000 follow-up Yours Truly was less critically acclaimed. Despite containing some of the bands favored 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. 1

In 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 Chords' 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.

Recent activity and the future of the band (2005-present)

In early 2005, Sick of It All signed to Abacus Recordings to record the follow-up to Fat Wreck Chords' Life on the Ropes. The new album, titled Death to Tyrants, was released on April 18, 2006. The band has recently toured with AFI and The Dear & Departed in early 2007.

A tribute to the band, titled Our Impact Will Be Felt, was released on April 24, 2007, and includes covers from artists such as Bane, Bleeding Through, The Bouncing Souls, Hatebreed, Himsa, Madball, Most Precious Blood, Napalm Death, Pennywise, Rise Against, Sepultura, Stretch Arm Strong, Unearth, and Walls of Jericho.

Sick of It All has begun writing new material for their next album, which is possibly due for release some time in 2008.

Miscellaneous

  • Numerous Sick of It All fans have tattoos of the "Alleyway Dragon", the band's official logo. The Dragon is from a sheet of Greg Irons flash. It is not, as some people have claimed, a misappropriated gang symbol, but then the Alleyway Crew was never a gang to begin with. It was, and is, a group of friends. The dragon is a symbol of friendship as well as a way that members would relate who was hanging out at a particular gathering. The "Alleyway" is in a school yard in Flushing, Queens, where the band and all of their friends would gather.
  • The band is credited with the "wall of death" (also known as the "Braveheart") in which the crowd would split into two sides and charge the other at the start of selected songs.
  • Toby Morse, a former Sick of It All roadie from suburban Maryland, went on to form the band H2O.
  • Former roadie, Tim Shaw, joined New Jersey's Ensign in 1995 and has been singing for them since.

Members

Discography

Full-lengths

Year Title Label Format Other information
1989 Blood, Sweat and No Tears Relativity Records CD/LP
  • Debut full-length album.
  • Contains material from their first EP.
1992 Just Look Around Relativity Records CD/LP Last album released on Relativity Records.
1994 Scratch the Surface East West Records CD/LP First major label release.
1997 Built to Last East West Records CD/LP Second and last major label release.
1999 Call to Arms Fat Wreck Chords CD/LP First album released on Fat Wreck Chords.
2000 Yours Truly Fat Wreck Chords CD/LP
2003 Life on the Ropes Fat Wreck Chords CD/LP Last album released on Fat Wreck Chords.
2006 Death to Tyrants Abacus Recordings CD First album released on Abacus Recordings.

EPs/Singles

Year Title Label Format Other information
1987 Sick of It All Revelation Records CD/LP
  • Originally released in 1987 as a 7" EP.
  • A CD release of this EP did not surface until 1997, ten years after its release.
1991 We Stand Alone Relativity Records CD/7"
  • Currently out of print.
  • Contains versions of We Stand Alone and What's Going On recorded previous to the Just Look Around sessions and a studio cover of Minor Threat's Betray.
  • Contains live material from Blood, Sweat and No Tears and the self-titled EP.
1994 Step Down East West Records CD
1996 Cool as a Mustache East West Records CD Single given away for radios containing one unreleased track called 86 (later released on Outtakes for the Outcast.
1999 Potential for a Fall Fat Wreck Chords CD Single
2000 Us Vs. Them East West Records CD Single given away on Warped Tour and other Sick of It All shows; contains Us Vs. Them (version as on Built to Last) and 7 live songs.
2000 Maladjusted Mercury Records CD Single released only in Germany. Contains Maladjusted (version as on Built to Last) and 3 live songs.
2003 Relentless Bridge Nine 7" Single

Other releases

Year Title Label Format Other information
1995 Live in a World Full of Hate Lost & Found CD Live album.
1997 Spreading the Hardcore Reality Lost & Found CD Compilation album, cointaining early material.
2002 Live in a Dive Fat Wreck Chords CD This release is part of the Fat Wreck Chords series of Live in a Dive albums.
2004 Outtakes for the Outcast Fat Wreck Chords CD
  • Compilation album, containing unreleased original songs, B-sides, and cover versions.
  • Last release on Fat Wreck Chords.
2007 Our Impact Will Be Felt Abacus Recordings CD Tribute album by various artists dedicated to Sick of It All.

Guest appearances

Video

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