Netherlands’ latest garage rock ’n’ roll troublemakers, Sick Shooters, are ready to unleash their explosive debut album, Super Sonic Rock Saga, next month via Wap Shoo Wap Records.
All four members of the Utrecht quartet earned their stripes in local punk outfits No Brains, Spurn, and Ultragoblin. Forged in the underground and sharpened by years of noise and sweat, the band comes out swinging with a sound that’s raw, urgent, and unapologetically loud.
Super Sonic Rock Saga fires off eleven razor-tight tracks packed with undeniable hooks. Powered by gritty, stripped-back production—and the striking absence of a bass guitar—the record captures the snap of ’90s garage punk while tipping its hat to the punchy melodicism of ’70s power pop. It’s lean, high-voltage rock ’n’ roll that wastes no time and pulls no punches.
From straight-up punk rock blasts like ‘Evacuation’ and ‘Never Comin’ Home’, to fist-pumping garage anthems such as ‘Heartbreaker Soulshaker’ and ‘Supersonic Lovin’’, and even bittersweet love songs like ‘Sweet Telephone’ and ‘Daisy’, the band proves they can hit hard without losing melody. No filler. No half measures. Just full-tilt rock ’n’ roll.
A new generation of Dutch garage rock has arrived.
And to go deeper on what fuels the band’s sound, you can read the conversation with Laurens den Haan (guitarist) about Sick Shooters’ main inspirations below.
M.O.T.O. (Master of the Obvious) – Kill M.O.T.O.
It’s just such a solid record with simple yet catchy songs. I think it’s something we’ve all listened to a lot, and it came up in conversation when we talked about starting this band. We were like, “We want to start a M.O.T.O.-esque rock ’n’ roll band.” It’s just solid, you know. Especially anthems like ‘I Hate My Fucking Job’ and ‘Choking on Your Insides’. Actually, ‘Choking on Your Insides’ is a song we also cover live right now. I think M.O.T.O.’s ability to write a catchy song without it getting boring, while still being so simple, is something we try to do within our own songwriting as well.
Patrol – Patrol EP
For the second release, we’d like to highlight the EP from Patrol — the first one, and the only one they’ve released so far. It’s just great, kind of semi-lo-fi. They’ve got a solid mix with this sort of stadium rock feel. It’s just really cool. I really like how the vocals are mixed, and the guitars are just so punchy. It’s a band we all saw live in Amsterdam for the first time. First, all the guys were great – they were nice to talk to. The stage presence was very striking and powerful. And they played tight as hell. I’ve seen them a couple of times since then, and they just keep getting better, with some great music as well. So, it’s something that inspires us a lot, even though our music doesn’t really sound like it that much. Yeah, it’s just great rock ’n’ roll.
The Cramps – Songs the Off The Bone
For the last release, I’d like to highlight an entire album – or maybe even just one song – by The Cramps. The album is Songs the Off The Bone, and the song is ‘I Can’t Hardly Stand It’. I first heard it when I was very young, maybe nine or ten years old, in the skate video Baker 3. It was the first real skate video I ever saw, and I was just starting to skate myself. It was just so cool. All these guys skating, and the music fit it perfectly. It really stuck with me. I didn’t find out what the song was until a few years later. Then I watched the video again when I was about twelve or thirteen and got back into it. After that, the album was basically on repeat for me. It was probably the first kind of guitar music I really listened to. I also started watching YouTube videos of their live shows, which were just so weird and fascinating, them crawling around half naked half leather. At the time I didn’t really know what the genre was or what it meant, I just thought they were cool as fuck. I’m not exactly sure how they influence us today, but for me it was kind of the starting point of getting into guitar music, and that counts for something. Just a great release by a legendary band that everybody knows, of course.
