UK alt-pop artist SICKY shares 'Billy Cousins' from adventurous third album 'Troubled Delight'

March 24, 2025

British indie alt-pop artist SICKY presents 'Billy Cousins', the first track on track on his third album 'Troubled Delight'. Written about a fictional character, Cousins is an imaginary superhero you can pretend to be when you find yourself doubting everything.

SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of Britpop-infused indie rock borrows flickering elements from Beck, Supergrass and Blur. Originally from England's Black Country, he now lives in Shropshire. Formerly with several bands, ranging from the brass-soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO, Butler now derives pleasure from banging out new SICKY material.

Empowering, fun and fearless, every track on 'Troubled Delight' is under three minutes. Three songs feature Jen Bone (Project Blues Band) on double bass, adding a bounce and flow to proceedings. Rebecca Butler sings on 'Mankind' and Lily and Scarlet Butler contribute backing vocals on the lead track 'I'm Happy If You're Happy'.

Just recently, SICKY also shared the single 'Slide', capturing the gritty reality of a relapse into harmful behaviour and the painful aftermath, reflecting a deeply personal and relatable struggle.

“'Billy Cousins' is a song about an imaginary character you can pretend to be when you find yourself doubting everything. The production is probably inspired by the Prince era, which left its mark on me. I’m talking about the Get Off/Sexy MF/Batman era. Big beats, outrageous grooves and killer hooklines. The little purple one blew me away with this stuff,” says SICKY.

“The video features a scene from the wonderfully nuts 1963 film ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’, which had just about every famous face from the time in it. A film that was shown regularly on TV, I can still hear my mom howling with laughter at the over-the-top characters – laughing so hard she’d have to leave the room. The Dick Shawn (real name!) character Sylvester in the video has something of Billy Cousins about him… Not a stoned care in the world, so the song’s a bit of fun in these trying times. If you want to step out and breathe for two minutes and fifty-five seconds, 'Billy Cousins' could be the perfect escape from the madness of reality.”

Other songs on this album are about real life happenings. Happy moments, fallings out, false promises and even a sense of fun even in the darker moments, showing that you don't have to make depressing music to talk about hard life realities. 'Ten Minutes'features Bridgnorth’s St. Leonard’s church bell. 'Money For The News' has sliding doors at a Stourbridge shopping centre. 'My Girl’s Gone' has a snippet from the film 'Quatermass and the Pit' with kind permission from Hammer Films in London. 'The Hill' recounts the pain of a 22-mile charity walk (never again!), kind of a metaphor for life.

SICKY first appeared on the scene (in this incarnation) during the lockdowns of 2021, releasing his debut album 'Bowling Balls', which was partially inspired by Prince, Bowie and Ray Bradbury's book 'The Martian Chronicles'. In 2023, SICKY released his sophomore album 'Garbage Town' to wide acclaim.

The 'Troubled Delight' album is out now and available from fine digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

CREDITS
Written by Mick Butler (SICKY)
Recorded, mixed and produced by SICKY in Shropshire
Mastered by Charlie Francis at Synergy Mastering Cardiff.
Photos by Helen Marshall
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Jen Bone - double bass on Tracks 2, 4, 5
Rebecca Butler - vocals on Track 11
Lily and Scarlet - back vocals & random noises on Track 2

British alt-pop artist SICKY releases fun and fearless third album 'Troubled Delight'

February 14, 2025

British indie alt-pop artist SICKY presents 'Troubled Delight', an album that lives up to its name, doing exactly what it says on the tin. Dark, empowering, frightened, fun, determined and absolutely fearless. He also presents the video for 'Slide', capturing the gritty reality of a relapse into harmful behaviour and the painful aftermath, reflecting a deeply personal and relatable struggle.

SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of Britpop-infused indie rock borrows flickering elements from Beck, Supergrass and Blur. Originally from England's Black Country, he now lives in Shropshire. Formerly with several bands, ranging from the brass-soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO, Butler now derives pleasure from banging out new SICKY material.

This is SICKY's third album to date - a more organic beast than his 2023 widely acclaimed sophomore album 'Garbage Town', featuring instruments "borrowed from the kids' music room", he says, "including a broken violin, a ukulele, gloks, bells, drums and a mouth organ… Anything you could get a noise out of really". Literally everything you hear in his music is him squeezing noises out of anything that'll sing.

"This was an accidental project. It started with a sketchy song idea, which led to another to another. It's my way of venting life, offloading the good and bad stuff it throws your way. It's better than carrying it around with you. I feel very lucky to have this musical release so I can reboot and move on. Hopefully the songs are relatable to people, because surely we're not all that different are we?" says Mick Butler.

"'Troubled Delight' was a load of fun to make. Every track is under three minutes, so blink and you’ll miss it. Three songs feature Jen Bone (Project Blues Band) on double bass, adding a bounce and flow to proceedings. My niece (Rebecca Butler) sang on 'Mankind' after a big night out on the town and somehow still managed to sound like an angel. And last but by no means least, we have Lily (10) and Scarlet (8) on backing vocals for 'I'm Happy If You're Happy', adding in some junior punk chaos.

He adds, "This album kicks off with 'Billy Cousins', a fictional character - an imaginary superhero you can pretend to be when you find yourself doubting everything. Other songs are about real life happenings. Happy moments, fallings out, false promises. Hopefully there's a sense of fun even in the darker moments; you don't have to make depressing music to talk about hard life realities in my book."

'Ten Minutes' features Bridgnorth’s St.Leonard’s church bell. 'Money For The News' has the sliding doors of a Stourbridge shopping centre. 'My Girl’s Gone' features a snippet from the film 'Quatermass and the Pit' with kind permission from Hammer Films in London. 'The Hill' recounts the pain of a 22-mile charity walk (never again!) and kind of feels like a metaphor for life."

SICKY first appeared on the scene (in this incarnation) during the lockdowns of 2021, releasing his debut album 'Bowling Balls', which was partially inspired by Prince, Bowie and Ray Bradbury's book 'The Martian Chronicles'.

As of February 14, the 'Troubled Delight' album is available from fine digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

CREDITS
Written by Mick Butler (SICKY)
Recorded, mixed and produced by SICKY in Shropshire
Mastered by Charlie Francis at Synergy Mastering Cardiff.
Photos by Helen Marshall
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Jen Bone - double bass on Tracks 2, 4, 5
Rebecca Butler - vocals on Track 11
Lily and Scarlet - back vocals & random noises on Track 2

UK alt-pop artist SICKY releases 'Slide' single on the gritty reality of a personal struggle

January 17, 2025

British indie alt-pop artist SICKY presents his new single 'Slide', which captures the gritty reality of a difficult experience, involving the relapse into harmful behaviour and the painful aftermath. Featuring Jen Bone (Project Blues Band) on double bass, this is a raw and powerful exploration of a deeply personal and relatable struggle previewing SICKY's new album 'Troubled Delight'.

SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of melodic Britpop-infused indie rock spells good news for fans of Beck, Supergrass and early Blur. Originally from the Black Country region of England, he is now based in Shropshire.

'Slide' follows the lead track 'I'm Happy If You're Happy', an upbeat affair exploring temptation and the art of winning over another.... of all the possibilities if the bait is pitched right.

"This is a song about falling off the wagon. Going on a huge session and suffering the consequences. Nightmares, cold sweats, a hangover from hell and the wondering why in the world you did it to yourself. The video covers this perfectly I think. 'Slide' features the double bass skills of Jen Bone, who also played on the first single 'I’m Happy If You’re Happy'. I’d like to think the Soggy Bottom Boys would approve of the vibe on this track," says Mick Butler.

SICKY's forthcoming album - his third to date - is a more organic beast than previous offerings, featuring instruments "borrowed from the kids' music room", he says, "including a broken violin, a ukulele, gloks, bells, drums and a mouth organ… Anything you could get a noise out of really".

While Mick Butler has had his run of playing in bands, ranging from the brass soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO, he now derives pleasure from banging out tunes and crafting new material. Literally everything you hear in his music is him squeezing noises out of anything that'll sing.

This single arrives two years since the release of British alternative artist SICKY presents his thickly layered and widely acclaimed sophomore album 'Garbage Town'. SICKY released his debut album 'Bowling Balls', partially inspired by Prince, Bowie and Ray Bradbury's book 'The Martian Chronicles', in 2021 during lockdown.

As of January 16, 'Slide' is available from fine digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The full 'Troubled Delight' album will be released on February 14.

CREDITS
Written by Mick Butler (SICKY)
Recorded, mixed and produced by SICKY in Shropshire
Mastered by Charlie Francis at Synergy Mastering Cardiff.
Photos by Helen Marshall
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
Jen Bone - double bass on Tracks 2, 4, 5
Rebecca Butler - vocals on Track 11
Lily and Scarlet - back vocals & random noises on Track 2