Sounds Like Chicken was a band from Melbourne, Australia, which formed in 1999 and disbanded in 2007. They were one of Australia's most well-known ska bands and one of the most popular Christian bands in the country. They were signed to

Boomtown Records Boomtown Records was an independent record label founded by Jaddan Comerford in October 2002 and based in Melbourne, Australia. In 2011 the label was rebranded with Staple Management to new company, UNFD. History The label was established by J ...

. Sounds Like Chicken's musical style included a blend of

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

. The band placed a high emphasis on touring and were known for their "high energy" live performances. Sounds Like Chicken shared stages and toured with bands including

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radio Off''. Soon af ...

Mad Caddies The Mad Caddies (or the Caddies) are a ska punk band from Solvang, California, United States. The band formed in 1995 and has released seven full-length albums, one live album, and two EPs. To date, Mad Caddies have sold over 500,000 albums wo ...

, Crowned King,

Hilltop Hoods Hilltop Hoods is an Australian hip hop group that formed in 1996 in Blackwood, Adelaide, South Australia. They are regarded as pioneers of the " larrikin-like" style of Australian hip hop. The group was founded by Suffa (Matthew David Lambert ...

, Kisschasy,

Area-7 Area-7 (also known as Area 7) are an Australian ska punk band. Formed in Melbourne in 1994, they have released four studio albums, ''No Logic!'', '' Bitter & Twisted'', '' Say It To My Face'' and '' Torn Apart''. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2 ...

, Gyroscope, Bodyjar, 28 Days,

Killing Heidi Killing Heidi are an Australian rock band, formed in Violet Town, Victoria in 1996, initially as a folk-pop duo by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper. The band has released three studio albums: '' Reflector'' (March 2000), which reached No. 1 ...

, The O.C. Supertones, and

Antiskeptic Antiskeptic is a rock band based in Melbourne, Australia. The band has enjoyed over ten years of successful touring nationally, releasing three full-length albums, three EPs and two DVDs. The band have toured with many successful groups, inc ...

. Sounds like Chicken also had rotation on the radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broad ...

, mainly with their double A-side single "Take a Bullet to the Grave"/"El Chupanebre" and their other single "Global Domination". After their breakup, SLC released all their previous recordings under Creative Commons (by-nc-sa), for free online distribution. The band reformed for a once-off show on 11 May 2014 as a benefit for independent record store Fist2face.

History

Early band history

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 An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

, Hugh on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

and Nat on drums. This trio did not get off the ground and so brothers Joel and Elliot Dawson joined to form Sounds Like Chicken, a ska project taking influences from

Voodoo Glow Skulls Voodoo Glow Skulls are an American ska punk band formed in 1988 in Riverside, California, by brothers Frank, Eddie, and Jorge Casillas and their longtime friend Jerry O'Neill. Voodoo Glow Skulls first played at backyard parties and later at Spa ...

, The O.C. Supertones,

The Insyderz The Insyderz were an American Christian ska-punk band from Detroit, Michigan. They formed in 1996 and disbanded in 2005. The band reformed in 2009, but have not been actively playing shows in the last few years. The Insyderz are one of the "big t ...

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, 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 (

Taxiride Taxiride are an Australian rock band. Formed in 1997, the band consists of Dan Hall, Jason Singh, Tim Watson and Tim Wild. Prior to formation, the four founding members of Taxiride—Hall, Singh, Watson and Wild—had been playing in cover ban ...

). The EP gave the band airplay on community radio, Christian radio, and Triple J.

Boomtown Records era and lineup changes

In early 2004, the band were signed to

, a Melbourne-based indie record label distributing through Shock Records and MGM. Deciding that a bigger ensemble was required, Sounds Like Chicken 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 ''Global Domination'' is a 1993 strategy game modeled closely on the board game ''Risk''. Impressions Games expanded on the game dividing the world into more territories, adding unit types which could be controlled in a mini-game, adding the conc ...

, 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. It was noted that producer Dave Carr's production was a big step up from previous releases. It was shortly after this that the band 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 Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs based on what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than on evidence, rationality, or reality. It is a product of resolving conflicts between belief and desire. Methodologies to examine wishful thin ...

) 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", although the length of 17 tracks drew some criticism. Sounds Like Chicken did a joint national tour with label-mates

to launch the album. Carlos officially joined shortly after the album's release. In early 2005 founding member and manager, Elliot, decided to part ways with the band. Mike "Carcass" 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. 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. On 3 November 2006, founding member, Nyall Dawson, announced his decision to depart the band early in 2007. Sounds Like Chicken have played and toured with numerous well-known Australian and international acts and have been featured on various international and Australian compilations and soundtracks such as

Turn the Other Cheek Volume 1 Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...

Break up

On 18 December 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 breakup 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. There was 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 17 March 2007. The band's entire discography (except for Death to the Crow) was made available for free download on their website and on Jamendo. In April 2007, former SLC members Mike Haydon, Dave Powys, Ben Hobson, Nat Kitingan and Joel Dawson together with new addition Paul McCasker formed reggae band San Salvador. They released an EP ''How To Hear'', two singles "Like a Train" and "Spark the Fire" and later the mini-album "Rugged Are The Mountains". Former members Mike Haydon and Joe Ireland later joined indie band

The Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

which featured two tracks in Triple J's hottest 100 in 2010. Dave Powys also went on to join indie folk band

The Paper Kites The Paper Kites are an Australian indie rock/folk rock band from Melbourne, Victoria. The band was formed in 2009 by lead vocalist/guitarist Sam Bentley and keyboardist/guitarist Christina Lacy. To date, the band has released five studio albums ...

Reunion show

On 31 March 2014 it was announced on the band's fan-run Facebook page that they were reforming for a once off show on 11 May 2014 as a benefit for Fist2face record store. The show was held at Ding Dong Lounge and featured supports from Antiskeptic, The Ramshackle Army, Best Before, Payoff and more. The show sold out.

Members

Final members

*Natalie Parker -

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

*Joel Dawson -

Tenor Saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

*Nyall Dawson -

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

/"Thrashcore" vocals *Dave Powys -

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

*Nat Kitingan -

(also played bass guitar in 1999-2000 and on tour in 2006) *Ben Hobson -

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Mike Haydon (2005-2006) - drums

Past members

*Elliot Dawson (1999 - 2005) - Drums *Carlos Echeverria -

*Josh "Ramsey" Diemar -

*Joe Ireland -

(from the band Know Exit and later Goodnight Combat Fighter and currently in an indie band

, an unofficial touring member who played numerous shows with SLC around Australia in 2004–2006. The band decided posthumously to credit Joe as an official member, due to his considerable contribution to the group) *Tom Dowding -

*Hugh "HOgilvy" Ogilvy -

Discography

Singles and EPs

*"Slowly Going the Way of the Chicken" (2001) *"Slowly Going the Way of the Stump" (2001) *"I Am Gibbon, Hear Me Roar" (2002) *"Global Domination" (2004) *"Take a Bullet to the Grave" / "El Chupanebre" (2005) *"Death to the Crow" (compilation) (2007)

Albums

*''...Like a Cannonball to the Ocean Floor'' (2004)

Compilation albums

*''

'' *'' Sorry If It Isn't Cool Anymore!'' (Mushroom Cloud Records, US) *'' RP Records Showcase 03'' (RP Records) *'' Freerider MX'' (DVD Soundtrack) *''

Endtime Records Compilation Volume 1 The end time (also called end times, end of time, end of days, last days, final days, doomsday, or eschaton) refers to: * Eschatology in various religions—beliefs concerning the final events of history or the destiny of humanity End Time, En ...

'' (Endtime Records) *''The Fight'' (DVD soundtrack) *'' Boomtown Showdown 06'' (Boomtown Records, Live DVD) *'' Elevation 06'' (96 Five FM Brisbane)

References

External links

Boomtown RecordsSounds Like Chicken Official WebsiteSounds Like Chicken on Myspace
{{Authority control Victoria (Australia) musical groups Australian reggae musical groups Christian punk groups Christian ska groups Australian ska groups Australian Christian rock groups Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Australia