Sick (Loaded Album) - Background and Production

Background and Production

When singer and guitarist Duff McKagan began working on a new project with his former Guns N' Roses band mates Slash and Matt Sorum in 2002, he effectively put Loaded on hiatus the same year. Adding former Loaded guitarist Dave Kushner and Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland to the lineup, they formed the hard rock supergroup Velvet Revolver in 2003. They released their debut album, Contraband, in 2004 and the follow-up, Libertad, in 2007. Loaded reunited in 2006 to perform a benefit show for Jerry Allen's Cancer Fund and continued to play shows on occasion. Knowing that Velvet Revolver's tour was ending, McKagan announced that Loaded were working on a new album.

Loaded rented a rehearsal space and wrote new material including "Mothers Day," "I See Through You," "Sleaze Factory," "Flatline," and worked on older material such as "Sick," wrote in 2002, and "Wasted Heart," wrote in 2006-07. They began recording the album on June 4, 2008 with producer Martin Feveyear at Jupiter Studios in Seattle, Washington. The album was primarily recorded by the band, with Norman Baltzo, Greg Schroeder and Nate Schlermer providing horns on the song "Blind Date Girl," and was completed in less than two weeks, costing only $20,000. Loaded subsequently signed a deal with independent record label Century Media