Free hugs. 18 Million people have watched the video on YouTube, and perhaps you have too. If so, chances are the song stuck with you - I know it stuck with me. The powerful-yet-mellow song behind this video is called “All The Same”, but in my opinion, it’s anything but.

The latest Aussie sensation are known as Sick Puppies, and are gaining popularity and international acclaim daily. Australian music makes up only 1.6% of the music industry, so this is quite the feat. I’m sure having the backing music to the Free Hugs campaign video on YouTube  (a video has that gained over 18 million views, and also won the 2006 YouTube Video of the Year Award) didn’t hurt.

The band, which includes two Australian-born high school friends (Shiman Moore and Emma Anzai) and their Los Angeles-native friend and drummer Mark Goodwin (who they happened to have scouted out on Craig’s List), are trying their best to breathe some fresh air into the rock scene. After the April 2007 release of their first album Dressed Up As Life, Sick Puppies have been on a path that many aspire to travel.

With media appearances on shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Oprah, 60 Minutes, and CNN, the band are already gaining quite the impressive repertoire. Having moved to the US to further the band’s career, Sick Puppies have been endlessly touring their new home-country for the promotion of their album, and will soon be playing shows with Finger Eleven, Three Days Grace, Sum 41 and The Smashing Pumpkins.

Lucky for the readers of SHOUT!, I got the opportunity to interview Shimon via e-mail. After having the record out for less than a year and already reaching this level of success, who knows where they will be in a year. My guess - rocking audiences all over the world.

SHOUT!: While talking to friends about your music, I’ve had quite a few people ask me to describe your sound. To be honest, I really don’t know how to describe it - with ’soft’ songs like All The Same, and ‘Harder’ songs like Cancer and The Bottom, it’s quite the mix of sounds. How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?

Sick Puppies: We have been influenced by so many different styles over the years. And each of us differently. But I think that Rock music is so broad. Not just now but always. Rock and roll has been a symbol of freedom since it started. That’s WHY it started. I think you can and should be free to explore anything you want in music and in rock… So I just say we’re a rock band.

S!: I personally got into the Sick Puppies after hearing you on Loveline back in April. I’m really curious, what is it like to be on a show like that - one that’s so risqué?

SP: I don’t consider it “risqué” I consider it relevant. It’s quite a responsibility because people call up with very serious problems and this is them talking about their deepest darkest secrets. I think it takes a lot of balls even though it’s anonymous.

S!: I remember a story you told that night on Loveline about two of you starting to play together in High School. Care to re-tell that story for our SHOUT! readers?

SP: Emma and I actually would never have met if it weren’t for an odd twist of fate in high school. The music teacher double booked the music room one lunch time and we both refused to leave. I was on drums and she was on guitar. So she asked me if I knew any Silverchair songs. I knew all of them. Same with Rage Against the Machine and Green Day. We found a chemistry with each other that we couldn’t believe.

S!: It’s a fairly well known fact that two of the three of you are from Australia. Do you see the demographic of your fans change when you’re in the U.S. or any other part of the world?

SP: The demographic of our fans has changed since the “Free Hugs” clip came out. I think because everyone could relate to it, so people of all cultures and ages got into the song. Then a lot of them got into Sick Puppies. 

S!: So many of the lyrics on Dressed Up As Life are very honest and personal. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to know that your thoughts were going to be heard by thousands of people; so how was it for you releasing vulnerable thoughts like that into the world with the release of the album?

SP: Pretty easy for me. I’m like an open book like that. I wear my heart on my sleeve all the time. It was just natural for me after we decided we were going to give everything we had in all forms on this record.

S!: Thanks for participating in this interview; is there anything else you’d like to say?

SP: Sick Puppies are a live band. If you like the record or the “Free Hugs” clip…or anything else that you’ve seen, you will like the show. I guarantee it. That’s the whole reason we got started and the whole reason we get up in the morning. Please come out and have a party with us when we get to your town.

• MySpace URL: www.myspace.com/sickpuppies