Sic Vikki: The Early Years

Sic Vikki (Sik Viki) began circa 1985 in Philadelphia and the band made waves in and around the Philly region. 

 

After writing and rehearsing for nearly a year, the band began performing and recording at The Warehouse Studio in Philly. The owner of the studio, Nash Cohen, became interested in managing the  band, and we quickly named the studio “Nashville.” The band then recorded several dozen songs with Nick Didia and began shopping them to record companies.

 

After a lack-luster response from the record companies, Nash Cohen brought in the world renowned manager, Bill Aucoin who had previously managed Kiss, Billy Squier, and Billy Idol and was very used to creating large production bands. 

 

When Bill came into the picture, he recruited songwriter/producer Steve Plunkett (Autograph) and the band began working on a new live show and image. The music went from raw, hard rock to a more polished hard rock glam-band style of music. Bill wanted to add “more sex” to the music, image, and live show. Within several months Sic Vikki signed with Polystar Records, a then Japanese division of Polygram.

 

By spring of 1992, the Vikki’s began recording their debut album “Kiss Me In French” in Los Angeles. The recording took place during the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict and made for some interesting stories. Once the record was completed with producer Steve Plunkett, the album was picked up throughout European territories and the Vikki’s went on their first international tour of Europe. It was an amazing time for the band. They had finally polished their act and were playing sold out shows in the Philly area as well as Switzerland and Germany.

 

After the European tour, Rich Cox, along with drummer Steve Salter and keyboardist Tony Annunziata, began another project called Kissing Babies, recruiting longtime friend Eric Az on guitar and bassist Joe Bello. While continuing to perform with the new band, the European labels asked for another Sic Vikki album. Rich Cox flew to LA and completed 11 demos with Steve Plunkett in 6 days. That became the basis for the second Sic Vikki album “Streetside Picasso.”

 

The new band then recorded Streetside Picasso at Nashville studios and went back out on the road as a revised version of Sic Vikki. In its day, Sic Vikki epitomized the hair-metal, glam-band group, along with outrageous outfits, sex appeal, and power pop tunes with great hooks. Looking back, it was a tumultuous time for all of us. We were all dealing with life issues, kids, families, girlfriends, drug problems, etc. It is amazing that we lasted as long as we did.