As we reluctantly welcome in the new autumn season, we gear ourselves to a new month of music. Among them is a good number of releases from the United Kingdom, so let’s get on with things to introduce you to a West Midlands artist with a fun and playful Britpop-influenced sound that recalls such artists as Gene, Manic Street Preachers, Muse and Super Furry Animals. Certainly a good lot of great talent to either draw from or simply be lumped in with – this may be a chicken and egg situation, where the music may have been inspired by these artists or standalone, going on to inspire yet other artists to be creating in this vein.
In any case, SICKY is the artist’s name and he will be dropping a new album soon enough. Today we present the lead track ‘The Bridge’, rightfully labeled “a pragmatic Northern Soul-inspired bucket of joy”. This music is down-the-middle catchy and clever. It is, at the same time, gleeful, tuneful, and a hell of a lot of fun.
A Black Country boy now residing in Shropshire, SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, who has played in various bands, ranging from the brass soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO. Now he derives pleasure from banging out tunes and crafting new material. Literally everything you hear in his music is him squeezing noises out of anything that’ll sing.
‘The Bridge’ is the lead track from his new ‘Garbage Town’ album, which is being released a year on from his lockdown album ‘Bowling Balls’, a collection that was partially inspired by Ray Bradbury‘s book ‘The Martian Chronicles’.
“The Bridge is a song of few words, but underneath, they have huge meaning. Inspired by someone close to me, who had the sheer guts and determination to take on a darkness and set things straight. On the musical side of things, it was inspired by frequenting a Northern Soul night that happens once a month in my local town (called ‘Motown in Lowtown’ – I kid you not),” says SICKY.
“Those classic tunes tend to stay with you on the drunken walk home and beyond…. As a kid I used to wade through my older brothers box of northern delights (he would have killed me had he known) Those records became ingrained and still sound cool today.”
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This music is inspired by Prince and Bowie, perhaps in equal measure, as well as Nirvana, Supergrass, Blur, Queens Of The Stone Age, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Elvis.
SICKY explains: “Garbage Town is not a place – it’s a state of mind. The lyrics talk of breaking free and leaving all the bad stuff in your head behind. Feels like all roads have led to this album. I play and record/produce everything myself so I’m a bit like a decathlete… Quite good at a couple of things and pretty average at the rest. Hopefully it sounds like in-your-face dirty pop.”
‘The Bridge’ can be downloaded from all good digital platforms, including via Spotify and Apple Music. The full ‘Garbage Town’ album will be released on November 18 and can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp at https://sicky2.bandcamp.com/album/garbage-town
CREDITS
Written by Mick Butler (SICKY)
Recorded, mixed and produced by SICKY in Shropshire
Mastering by Streaky at Streaky Mastering
Written & recorded in January 2022. Mixed in July 2022
Artist photo by Helen Marshall
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