Q&A: Sick Puppies Charge Headfirst into Chaos on New Album “WAVE THE BULL”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photography Credit: Travis Shinn
SICK PUPPIES HAVE ALWAYS THRIVED IN THE EYE OF THE STORM—but with their fifth studio album, WAVE THE BULL, the rock/alt trio doesn’t just weather the chaos—they become it. This isn’t a band playing it safe or pulling punches. WAVE THE BULL is a visceral, full-body experience that throws listeners headfirst into the emotional wreckage and dares them to find strength in the scars.
For Emma Anzai (bass), Bryan Scott (guitars, vocals) and Mark Goodwin (drums), this record isn’t just their fifth—it’s their most intentional, most unrelenting work to date. WAVE THE BULL doesn’t care about comfort. It’s not interested in easy answers or clean resolutions. Instead, it leans fully into the chaos of life—into the fights we pick, the losses we mourn and the scars we carry like armor.
Written as the trio reflected on the emotional states of both life and their long-running career, the album is a visceral expression of endurance. And Sick Puppies don’t just tell you what that journey felt like—they drag you through every step of it.
Structured like a three-act play, WAVE THE BULL unfolds through a color-coded narrative arc. The black-labeled “Omen” tracks are the dark premonitions, the psychological tension before impact. Songs like “THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD” and “FRIENDS LIKE YOU” simmer with distrust and unease—warning signs wrapped in jagged guitar riffs and venomous hooks. They feel like waking up with your gut clenched, knowing something is coming but not being able to stop it.
Then the red “Fight” tracks hit like a left hook to the temple. They’re aggressive, primal, and unapologetically loud. “CREATURE” is the soundtrack of refusing to back down. It snarls. It swings. It's a reminder that sometimes survival looks like rage. These songs are the pulse of the album—the heartbeat when adrenaline kicks in and fear becomes fuel.
But Sick Puppies don’t stop there. In a brilliant emotional shift, the white “Aftermath” tracks capture the uneasy quiet after the war. The blood has dried, the room is still, and all that remains are the questions: Who am I now? What did I lose? What did I gain? On “GOING PLACES,” the band doesn’t offer resolution so much as a resigned acceptance—a realization that moving forward doesn’t always mean leaving the past behind.
Through it all, WAVE THE BULL never loses sight of its central message: we are not meant to emerge from life unscathed. And that’s the point. The scars, the grief, the fury—they are all proof of our capacity to feel, to fight and to continue. It's a battle cry for those who know that healing isn't always pretty, and growth sometimes comes with bruises.
So wave the bull. Let it charge. Because Sick Puppies just proved that sometimes the only way out is straight through the fire.
Photography Credit: Travis Shinn
LUNA: Thank you for talking to Luna. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar with you yet, what kind of atmosphere or space do you aim to create for your listeners?
EMMA: It's a place of escape and catharsis, mainly in the live shows, because I remember when I saw live shows when I was younger, it was a place where I could go and forget about things for a minute. It would be cool to be able to offer that to people who like our music and come to our shows.
LUNA: You just released your fifth studio album WAVE THE BULL and a huge congratulations is in order! The album embraces the inevitability of scars—what themes and emotions did you feel compelled to explore this time around?
EMMA: I think probably the main thing would be adversity. WAVE THE BULL means waving on adversity and not being afraid of it and knowing that you'll be able to handle it. That's a running theme throughout, because it was challenging anyways and life is challenging anyways. Making this album was that, especially through the pandemic and life in general, and then finding a home and a label in general to put the music out after it's been such a long time. It was challenging, but rewarding nonetheless.
LUNA: It’s been nine years since Fury—how does WAVE THE BULL differ in terms of sound, message, or attitude? What new avenues—musically or personally—did you explore that felt like uncharted territory for Sick Puppies?
EMMA: I think Fury was just something that we went into very impulsively and fast in a good way, because that's what we capture on the album. It was furious, in a sense. With WAVE THE BULL, we had a lot of time. I think in between, what happened was we wanted to explore so much that we wrote a whole bunch of songs that we explored the far ends and then brought it back to the middle. But the exploring took a little bit of time, and I think that in the end we came back to the roots. I know bands always say that, but it's nice to explore and then come back to the roots. There's a whole bunch of songs that we didn't end up using. We wrote a bunch even before we wrote the songs for WAVE THE BULL, so it was just about that process, that's something we didn't do with Fury. We came out with the first thing we wrote and that was it. So this time around, there was a lot of thought and a process and starting from scratch.
LUNA: How did each song evolve from its initial idea to its final form? Can you share any behind-the-scenes moments where things clicked—or fell apart and had to be rebuilt?
EMMA: It happens differently, as everyone says, mainly, it's a riff or a verse or a chorus idea that one of us may have. Sometimes it's like a concept, like a theme. We'll be talking and I'd be like, ‘wouldn't it be cool if we could talk about this or write a song about this,’ and it all sort of comes in together. It happens differently each time.
LUNA: Is there a specific track on WAVE THE BULL that feels closest to your heart or represents Sick Puppies the most right now? What makes that one stand out for you?
EMMA: “CREATURE” is definitely a song that encapsulates the band perfectly, because it's the new era and old era at the same time. It is definitely one of the songs where I feel most at home with that song, just as a band and personally, and just the aggression and the theme.
LUNA: Was there a song that was particularly challenging to finish, but now feels like one of the most rewarding?
EMMA: “THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD,” and that sounds like it would have been pretty straightforward, but for some reason there was just the lyrical and bridge stuff and putting everything together. I remember that one took a long time, but I was really glad that we took the time to do that one, because that's one of my favorites as well, and really cool live as well. I think lyrically and thematically, we were just trying to tie something together, and it took a while.
LUNA: Do you feel like this album redefines the Sick Puppies identity, or does it sharpen what’s always been at your core?
EMMA: I would say redefines, because it can't necessarily be the same as it was before. Even if we wanted it to be, it's not. I would say refined and it would be the same, because whenever you write music, it's always indicative of what you're going through at that time. When you look back, there's tons of stuff when you look back, or when you're younger, when you go through things, it's different to how it is now. Definitely a redefinition.
LUNA: What do you hope listeners feel or understand about Sick Puppies—and about themselves—after hearing WAVE THE BULL from beginning to end?
EMMA: Going back to what we were saying earlier about being able to face adversity, knowing that it is coming, regardless of who you are or what your life circumstance is, there's always going to be that in whatever form and it's always relative, but that you will be able to get through it. Also, as I was saying earlier, to use the album as a catharsis, just to be able to just put it on and go to the gym or go for a walk, or enjoy the lyrics, or anything that helps you connect to yourself.
LUNA: Are there any songs from WAVE THE BULL that you’re especially excited to perform live? How do you imagine they’ll land in a room full of fans?
EMMA: Going back to “CREATURE” again because it's so raw. It captures what the band is, so I'm excited to see how people like that.
LUNA: How did you celebrate the album release?
EMMA: We’re all in different places. We talk a lot on the phone and we get on video calls a lot, so we've been hyping it up even before that. We're going to get together and celebrate properly when we're together when we do some shows.
LUNA: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Luna?
EMMA: Really good, especially now that we've released the album that took a long time and there was a lot of lead up to that. From now on, I think we can enjoy the work, enjoy the fruits, and playing shows is the most fun part, so definitely looking forward to that.
