Sounds Like Chicken
Sounds Like Chicken (sLc) was a band from Melbourne, Australia in 1999 and broke up in 2007. The band played a unique blend of ska, rock and hardcore punk, often referring to themselves as hardcore-tribal-ska. They placed a high emphasis on touring to show off their famously high energy live performances.
sLc were released on the Victoran based independent label Boomtown Records, home to Behind Crimson Eyes, Angela's Dish and many other emobands. They, along with good friends Wishful Thinking, were often in conflict with the label as to how best sLc could be promoted. This tension prevented sLc from releasing more material during their active period and eventually conytibuted to their break-up.
Sounds Like Chicken shared the stage with bands such as Reel Big Fish (USA), Mad Caddies (USA), The O.C. Supertones (USA), Killing Heidi, Bodyjar, 28 Days, Crowned King (CAN), Gyroscope, Area 7, Hilltop Hoods, Antiskeptic and many more. Sounds like Chicken also had rotation on the radio station Triple J, mainly with their double A-side single Take a Bullet to the Grave/El Chupanebre and their other single Global Domination.
They have broken up as of March 17th, 2007, and have made all their music available for free download at http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Sounds_Like_Chicken_(2). Another project has been taken up by some members of the band, San Salvador.
Sounds Like Chicken began in 1999 when Nathanael Kitingan (Nat Kitingan) met Nyall Dawson at Monash University in Melbourne. Nat and Nyall attempted to start an unnamed musical project with Hugh Ogilvy (also from Monash University) featuring Nyall on electric violin, Hugh on guitar and Nat on drums. This trio did not get off the ground and so Nyall's brothers Elliot Dawson and Joel Dawson joined to form Sounds Like Chicken, a ska project taking influences from Voodoo Glow Skulls, The O.C. Supertones, The Insyderz and Five Iron Frenzy. This early lineup was Nyall (vocals), Nat (bass/vocals), Elliot (drums), Joel (sax) and Hugh (guitar).
Sounds Like Chicken's first show was at Joel's 21st birthday party in mid-2000. Hugh left the band at the end of 2000 due to other commitments and was replaced by Tom Dowding on guitar. Tom was an extremely accomplished bass player and so Nat decided to swap to playing guitar so that Tom's talent could be fully utilised. The band decided they needed another horn and so after a number of unsuccessful audition attempts, in 2001 Nat met Natalie Parker at university and invited her to a practice. Natalie was initially apprehensive but was eventually convinced by the boys to join the band. During her second practice she was already laying down trumpet tracks on their first demo recording which ended up becoming the band's self-made demo EP, "Slowly Going the Way of the Chicken".
Sounds Like Chicken toured interstate for the first time under this lineup in September 2001[4], playing in Sydney and Canberra and also at the Black Stump Music Festival. In 2002, Tom Dowding departed from Sounds like Chicken to be replaced by Joshua Diemar on bass. It was in this year that Sounds Like Chicken released their first studio EP, "I Am Gibbon, Hear Me Roar", produced by David Carr (Antiskeptic, Taxiride). This EP took the band to another level, gaining airplay on community radio, Christian radio and even on Triple J. The band's roster became busier with more interstate touring which proved a juggling act for the boys and girl as they were all studying at university or working day jobs.
In early 2004, the band were signed to Boomtown Records, a Melbourne-based indie record label distributing through Shock Records and MGM. Sounds like Chicken decided they needed a fuller sound and so asked long-time friend Dave Powys (ex Staff Discount and Never In Doubt) to join on second guitar, making them a 7-piece band. Dave moved down from Canberra and recorded on the single Global Domination, their first release with Boomtown and distributed through MGM. The single received national airplay and spot airplay on Triple J and was sold out within 2 months of its limited pressing.[5] It was noted that producer Dave Carr's production was a big step up from previous releases,[6].
It was shortly after this that Josh decided it was time to move on and the band was without a bass-player. They were booked in to record an album and so asked if Carlos Echeverria (ex Know Exit and Wishful Thinking) would fill in and record bass for them. Their first full-length album, "...Like a Cannonball to the Ocean Floor" was released late that year through Boomtown, also doing well on the airwaves. The album drew acclaim from reviewers as a "brilliantly released debut album"[7], although the mammoth effort of 17 tracks drew some criticism. Sounds Like Chicken did a joint national tour with label-mates Wishful Thinking to launch the album. Carlos officially joined shortly after the album's release.
2005 saw Sounds Like Chicken's drummer, manager and founding member Elliot Dawson leave, wanting to build a house and be a real man. For a while the band were without a drummer, but Mike Haydon (of Melbourne band The Knockabouts), only 17 at the time, was able to fill the role of drummer. Mike had been a tour roadie for the band for the past 3 years and so was already well-acquainted with their songs.[8] That year Sounds Like Chicken released the second double-A side single off the album, "Take a Bullet to the Grave/El Chupanebre" through Boomtown Records, and completed a national tour over 3 months to launch it.
After a nationwide search, Ben Hobson joined the band on bass.
On December 18th, 2006 Sounds Like Chicken announced they were calling it a day in a bulletin released on the band's MySpace. The main factors in the break up was the future departure of Nyall Dawson and other key members of the band, the band stated...
"We guess it’s time for some of us to move on. God has other plans for our lives and with the impending departure of some key members, we felt that SLC would simply not be SLC if we went on without them. We all feel at peace about this decision."
Shortly after, the band announced plans for an Australia wide farewell tour to take place in February-March 2007, along with the release of a final limited-edition compilation disk titled Death To The Crow to coincide with the tour.
Sounds Like Chicken's final show was held at TLC Bayswater, Victoria on Saturday the 17th of March, 2007.
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