Sicko is an American rock group from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1991. Exceptionally, the three-piece pop punk group has maintained a constant membership for every recording as a band. This line-up is Denny Bartlett, Ean Hernandez, and Josh Rubin. Although the band wrote and recorded an extensive catalog of original material throughout the mid-1990s, the group is perhaps best known for its punk-flavored cover of the song "Closer To Fine", originally written and recorded by the folk duo Indigo Girls. Sicko released four full-length albums and five 7" eps as well as a retrospective CD with unreleased and rare material, a released demo and a tour video. They also appeared on approximately fourteen compilations on labels such as Lookout! Records and Liberation Records. They once exchanged covers with Cub. The vast majority of their recorded output was recorded by Kurt Bloch of The Fastbacks and released on Seattle-based punk label eMpTy Records. One EP and the retrospective CD were released on Mutant Pop Records. Three Sicko songs were featured on the Xbox game Project Gotham Racing 2 alongside artists like The Flaming Lips and Princess Superstar. During its heyday - roughly 1993 to 1998 - Sicko actively played in numerous clubs throughout the Seattle area, and toured the United States, Spain, and Japan. A typical Sicko set would last about twenty songs lasting about 45–50 minutes, in a blistering, no-interruptions manner reminiscent of the Ramones or The Fastbacks. Denny and Ean would typically switch places on the bass and guitar duties halfway through the set. Sicko often split the bill with other bands that would eventually go on to achieve more national acclaim, including a show with Harvey Danger in 1994 at the Lake Union Pub, and several shows with The Presidents of the United States of America, most notably at a show at the Capitol Hill club Moe's on the same night that the Presidents filmed concert footage for the video of their hit song "Lump". The Sicko web site is still up at and was refreshed in October 2017. On August 26, 2009, Red Scare Industries announced that they would be re-issuing the band's catalog. Sicko reformed to play one show on January 19, 2018 in support of the Seattle Pop Punk Festival. On September 13, 2019, Sicko released a new compilation "In the Alternate Timeline" on Red Scare Records. In support, Sicko played shows in October and November 2019 in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and New York.
* Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch at Egg Studio, Winter 1993. Released March 22, 1994
* We recorded and mixed everything in about four days. I remember Kurt having a family emergency in the middle of recording so Scott McCaughey and Conrad Uno helped out pressing the buttons. The way it worked out, the solo on On the Clock was recorded two weeks after the rest of the tracks. Country is the only song not recorded at that session - it was recorded during the Red 7" session. The vinyl version included the bonus track Pain In The Ass, which incidentally is the first song we ever played together
Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy 1995
* Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch at House of Leisure January 7–8, 1995. Released May 24, 1995
* We originally planned this to be an EP, but there were just enough tracks on it to call it a LP...at least that's what Blake from eMpTy said at the time. We recorded and mixed in two marathon days. The recording studio was in a big, boomy room, which I think is why the record sounds like it does. It's long since been bulldozed and replaced with condos. It was during this session that a photographer from The Rocket came and took our picture for the cover.
* Vinyl released in Spain on Muster Records
Chef Boyrudum 1995
* Recorded and Mixed by Mr. Kurt Bloch with "Pedal Board" Pete Gerrald at Hanszek Audio July 26–30, 1995. Released October 24, 1995
* This was certainly our most ambitious project spending a whopping five days recording and mixing almost 20 songs
* Vinyl released in Spain on Munster Records and on CD in Japan on Real Cool Records. Japanese CD contained the bonus track 80 Dollars from the Red 7" session
* Recorded and Produced by Pete Gerrald at Hanszek Audio, Summer 1997. Released October 28, 1997
* This album is a collection of songs recorded over two sessions one in late 1996 and another in mid-1997
* CD also released in Japan on Pizza of Death Records and in Europe. The Japanese CD has the bonus track 8.6 by the fabulous Japanese band Husking Bee. You can hear the real lyrics on their album "Grip". The European CD has a rather bad cover of Astro Zombies by The Misfits
* Compiled from various studio and live recordings. Released posthumously on January 20, 2000
* This is a collection of random tracks including our first ever demo tape and one of our last shows. But, tucked in there are some good tracks that we released on Mutant Pop and a cover of Panama, which is about how all Sicko practices ended
