Shimon Moore from the Sick
Puppies
Before a show on their current tour, the Sick Puppies had a moment to just chillout. Vocalist/guitarist Shimon Moore shared some of his time to talk to me about the band's early years in Australia, being in America, the infamous "Free Hugs" video, the Saw movies, taking dating advice from someone in the band, and so much more.
Shimon: Hey man, what's happenin'?
Asif: Not much man!
Shimon: Cool! Let's do an interview!
Asif: Alright, let's do that! (laughs) Let's start from the beginning okay?
Shimon: Sure!
Asif: Back in 1997 when you met Emma in high school, you guys were in a music room together that got double-booked, right?
Shimon: Yeah!
Asif: Well, at that point she had asked you if you knew a bunch of songs by different bands. Who were some of those bands?
Shimon: Silverchair and Green Day were the primary ones. Those were the main ones we both knew. There was some Rage Against the Machine, but that was about it. Then we started to play our own stuff!
Asif: Have you heard the new Silverchair album?
Shimon: Yeah! I really like the first half of it. The second half I'm not too sure about. I just haven't gotten into it too much.
Asif: I really like the single "Straight Lines" but that's about it.
Shimon: Yeah – it probably just takes a bit more getting used to, you know?
Asif: Good point. I'll try to be patient with that album then!
Shimon: (laughs)
Asif:
So, the "Free Hugs" video. Is it true that the reason there was
controversy is because authorities thought someone would possibly get hurt
giving Juan a hug and that they wanted you guys to pay $25 million worth
of public liability insurance?
Shimon: Yeah, they wanted us to take out a $25 million public liability insurance because that was how much the city might have been liable for if someone got hurt and tried to sue the city.
Asif: That's the most insane thing I have ever heard bro! How does someone get hurt giving someone else a hug?
Shimon: I know, I know! And that was the whole point of the petition. It was the dumbest thing anyone had every heard and is why so many people came out to sign the petition because it was just ludicrous.
Asif: Man….wow. I'm speechless.
Shimon: That's bureaucracy!
Asif: So what's with the Destiny Child cover of "Say My Name"? Is the band actually a fan of Destiny's Child or do you just like mocking them?
Shimon: Umm. Well, when that song was a hit it was in the #1 slot for about 13 weeks. Every Saturday morning I'd watch the video countdown and at the end of every week, Destiny's Child would be #1. Then the song would be stuck in my head for the whole day! So I sorta put this Green Day chord progression from "Brain Stew" underneath the song and just kinda wrote the song in a few minutes. I showed it to the band and they were like "yeah, whatever" and they played along it was a real simple song. And then it just caught on at the live shows and people were requesting it and we kinda got our name from that song for a short period of time so we tried to release it as a single. Then they banned it because we said "bit*h".
Asif: (laughs)
Shimon: That's just insane to me as well.
Asif: The joys of censorship! (laughs)
Shimon: (laughs)
Asif: What is the biggest difference, for you, that you have recognized between Australia and America?
Shimon: Man, there are a million differences. One of the biggest ones is probably that everything is bigger. Portions are bigger. Especially in Texas! The general consumption is so much larger; there are so much more options, there's more to choose from, there's more waste, there's more everything. In Australia it's almost the law to recycle and here it's not. All those sorts of things add up to the cultural differences. There are just lots of other things. For example, we were in Baton Rouge a couple days ago and these people that came to the show knew we had the day off the next day and we were just going to be sitting on our bus and just sitting there and doing nothing. They invited us to their place to have showers and do laundry and stuff. That would never happen in Australia or even New York or L.A., but in the South, it's an interesting cultural difference. So you find different things wherever you go.
Asif: How has coming over to the U.S. from Australia changed your songwriting, if at all?
Shimon: Oh, dramatically!
Asif: Really? Has it changed the way you write or what you write or even the performance of a show?
Shimon: Everything, Everything! The
whole point was to change and was to grow. We came over to learn from all
of the best people in the business. We met some world famous producers and
wrote some songs. They saw the video [the Free Hugs video] and they
liked parts of what we did and they knew there were elements that needed
to be improved such as our songwriting. So we collaborated with as many
people as we could and learned as many tricks as we could and that pretty
much gave us the focus and structure required to write some of the best
songs we had in us. We still focused on keeping on making the sound that
we felt was our sound. It had all the elements of all the bands we love
and wasn't just about trying to get on the radio.
Asif: That's really interesting. What do you like to do for fun in your free time?
Shimon: I like to write songs.
Asif: So pretty much your free time and your work is one in the same, huh?
Shimon: It's the same, yes! Unfortunately, for my mental health, it's something that is always continuing [work into free time and free time into work]. We watch movies or whatever, but when we are home we are just ready to write another song.
Asif: What are your favorite movies? Have you seen any good ones lately?
Shimon: I saw Saw 3 recently and that was pretty good actually. I didn't like Saw 2 because I thought it was too gory. The first Saw movie was awesome! That was like a life changing experience for me.
Asif: How so?
Shimon: It was inspiring because we had just gotten over to the U.S. and we were living in an apartment on nothing and confined to really small rooms and hadn't met anybody yet. The first months living there was all in shambles. We didn't know what we were going to do. What would we do when we were out of money? Would we go back home? We were almost out of hope. Then we saw this movie Saw. Do you know the history behind the movie?
Asif: Somewhat, yes. The Saw
movies are my favorites as well, so I am a geek and know quite a bit about
them.
Shimon: Well the history behind this movie was that these two Australian
guys had written a film that they could make in one room. Have you heard
this at all?
Asif: Partially. Keep going though, I am intrigued! (laughs)
Shimon: These guys wrote the film and they took it to a production house and they said "do you guys want to buy it?" and then when they said "okay, I want to act in it and he wants to direct it" everyone said "fu*k off." So they held out until they found someone who would give them a small budget. Then they made the film, it blew up, and it was sweet!
Asif: I thought James Wan and Leigh Whannell were geniuses with those films.
Shimon:
Yeah! It was just inspiring to know that two little guys from Australia
were the same as we were, except we were this guy and this girl from
Australia. We had nothing but an idea, and we just sorta stuck to our guns
and took all of our common experiences and try to build something and here
we are. We've started building it.
Asif: That's great man. Back to the movies – I think it's funny that you liked the third one and didn't like the second one because I was totally opposite. I liked the second one and not the third as much because I thought the third was mostly for gore.
Shimon: Oh really? I guess the third one felt more like a thriller. The second one just felt like a bunch of people just running around trying to get out of traps. The third was more of a head-f*ck game, which is more what I'm in to!
Asif: (laughs) Okay! I hear ya on that.
Shimon: I dunno. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to watch the second one.
Asif: I have to ask you about my favorite track on the album and just one of my favorite songs in general, "My World". I know the song is about the fear of abandonment. Is it because you've dealt with abandonment before, or is abandonment just a great fear of yours?
Shimon: Actually it's because it's happened to me.
Asif: Alright, good to know! If you could have one thing in the world right now, materialistic or non-materialistic, what would it be and why?
Shimon: It would probably be happiness. That is what we are striving for doing this. Everything else is just "stuff".
Asif: I like that answer! With you and Emma in the band, this is something I've always been curious to know about. Do you ever look at a girl and say "she's hot" and then get Emma's feedback on the girl or does the opposite ever happen?
Shimon: I very often get Emma's ideas on what I could do to pursue a girl on an emotional level, but I don't seek approval if that is what you mean. Her and I just have fu*ked up tastes in the first place. All the guys she finds attractive I look at and say "Are you for real?" and she does the same thing to me. She's like "Really? You like her?" and I'm like "yeah!" She goes for the textbook models in Calvin Klein or whatever. So, we actually keep surprising each other in what our tastes are because we are polar opposite in so many other ways except for our musical tastes and musical aspirations.
Asif: Does the advice even work then?
If she's giving you advice on the wrong types of girls…
Shimon: No, she gives great advice! We are both very introspective people and she gives the good female perspective. If I want to approach a girl in some way or another she might say "that might be coming on too strong" or "she might think you are too arrogant" or whatever and I wouldn't have thought of it because I don't really think about that topical sh*t.
Asif: That's great man. Hey, thanks for your time man. Looking forward to rock out at the next show!
Shimon: (laughs) Cool man!
BY: The Asif
PHOTOS: Courtesy of the Sick Puppies
SPECIAL THANKS: Marilyn Kelly @ Capitol Music & James Scott @ EMI
