A Tale of Two Sweets: Rebellion 2024 and Beyond
Andy Scott, 'Sweet'. All photos courtesy of ©dickslaughter.com
Usually in rock, “split” is synonymous with “ended.” But no, SWEET REALLY did split up.
Some history: Sweet are one of glam-rock’s biggest bands. ‘Ballroom Blitz’, ‘Blockbuster’, ‘Fox On The Run’ – nearly 50 years after punk destroyed glam overnight, these remain classics. Lead singer Brian Connolly quit in 1979, and by the early 80’s, the band had split.
By 1985, two versions of Sweet now existed – ‘New Sweet’, fronted by Connolly, and original guitarist ‘Andy Scott’s Sweet’, each playing the same repertoire. The former continued until Connolly’s death in 1997; the latter plays to this very day. In 2008, California-based bassist Steve Priest formed his own Sweet, focusing on North American touring. In 2020, Priest died. However, despite zero original members, the band decided to continue performing as ‘The Sweet’ (note the definite article).
To recap: since 1968, there have been 4 bands all called ‘Sweet’, all playing the same songs. 2 bands still exist, only one with a 1970’s band member.
And you thought Spinal Tap were dysfunctional.
August 2024: Andy Scott sat on the Literary stage of Rebellion Festivals, cheerily musing on Sweet’s influence on punk rock, playing Sunday football with Paul Cook, among other topics. On Steve Priest’s incarnation, the mood turned downbeat. To paraphrase:
Andy Scott, ‘Sweet’ - ©dickslaughter.com
In the late 00’s, Andy reached out to Steve after talking publicly about wanting to play live again, having quit touring in the 1980’s. Rather than inviting Andy to join him, he started playing clubs in LA with a new band. Andy, understandably, felt irked by this. Then in 2019, when Steve was unwell, the band calling themselves ‘The Sweet’ started playing shows without Steve. According to Andy, Steve was unhappy with this, stating in conversation, “I don’t know how to get rid of them.” After his passing, Steve’s widow Maureen O’Connor took on the role of managing the band, still under the name ‘The Sweet’. Anticipating the expense of pursuing a legal trademark case, at age 75, Andy has resigned himself to there being two Sweets. He just wants to keep touring and recording. But he has one idea that could give him the edge:
“AI is fantastic, isn’t it? I’m wondering if we can get Brian to sing on the next album.”
Here’s the thing – I had seen ‘The Sweet’ a year earlier.
During a 2023 trip to Venice Beach, I found myself at The Venice West, having stumbled upon a listing for ‘The Sweet’ and, knowing none of the backstory given in this article, assumed it would be “the real Sweet,” rather than a tribute.
In August 2024, I stood in the 3250-capacity Empress Ballroom of the Blackpool Winter Gardens, on the final night of Rebellion Festivals, as Andy Scott followed his band, ‘Sweet’, on stage.
To my mind, these were the major differences:
‘The Sweet’ lead singer Patrick Stone delivered, with gusto, a near-perfect impersonation of Brian Connolly. Paul Manzi, vocalist for Arena and now fronting ‘Sweet’, took the “Paul Rodgers fronting Queen” approach, bringing his own style. Mind you, Manzi did do a Live Aid-esque call and response which, of course, the audience ate up.
‘Sweet’ gave their music context. ‘The Sweet’ did not. This was most notable in an anecdote about Mary Whitehouse attempting to ban ‘Teenage Rampage’. Do Americans even know who Mary Whitehouse was? Yanks – if you do, let me know in the comments. For the rest of you, imagine if Phyllis Schlafly was only concerned about media smut.
‘The Sweet’ sounded like a bar band. ‘Sweet’ sounded like a stadium band. This is tricky, because I watched one band perform in a bar, and the other perform in a stadium. Had the stages been switched, perhaps I’d be thinking the opposite. How can I possibly put my finger on this? Is it simply the symbolic weight of Andy Scott standing stage left on guitar? Maybe. After all, take him off stage and we have two bands with precisely zero original members. Both may as well be tribute acts. But with Andy standing there, it’s clear to me which one deserved the bigger crowd, and it’s clear which one was the tribute band.
Here's the thing – both bands sounded fantastic. Yes, even the American “tribute.” As I said before, those songs have stood the test of time, and both Stone and Manzi commanded their respective stages with very impressive vocals. ‘The Sweet’ joint bandleaders Richie Onori and Stevie Stewart clearly knew their way around the songs, having once been guided by Steve Priest. But even with a decade less experience to their name, Andy Scott’s current band possessed an equal command of the material. Both he and Onori/Stewart have led their bands to places where their performances sound watertight. Even technical issues for ‘Sweet’, leaving them with no stage monitors for their first two songs, didn’t seem to impact their sound.
Dave Schulz, ‘The Sweet’ - ©dickslaughter.com
Legality aside, some ‘Sweet’ fans will tell you that ‘The Sweet’ shouldn’t exist. If Andy is to be believed, even Steve thought that towards the end of his life. Personally, I have never enjoyed tribute bands. I understand their purpose (especially after the recent Oasis shambles), but generally if the “real” band are out of commission, I’d rather hear the original recordings at home. But I must be honest.
Much as I enjoyed ‘Sweet’, I had more fun with ‘The Sweet’.
That doesn’t mean it was a better show, or that they were a better band. My technical knowledge of musicianship is frankly not good enough to objectively judge.* (Unlike ‘The Sweet’, who were able to make such a judgement for Tim Heidecker.) What I do know – surrounded by a hundred or so dancing patrons in a Californian bar with an oversized PA system, I had a better time there than in Blackpool among 3000 fans. Even if the latter was the perfect place to hear ‘Ballroom Blitz’.
What does this all mean? I’m not sure. Maybe that authenticity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That bands can survive the loss of key members. That, like the Ship of Theseus, something could still be that thing even with few of its original parts. (Case for: Gong. Case against: The Clash.) That maybe, just maybe, we call all be in Sweet for 15 minutes someday. I feel like I should leave the final thought to Andy Scott who, despite his interest in AI, confided to the audience:
Andy Scott, 'Sweet' - ©dickslaughter.com
“Hopefully we will never be holograms.”
Decide for yourself:
Sweet (UK) | The Sweet (USA)
*My knowledge of writing is good enough, however, to know that the songs written by ‘The Sweet’ since Priest’s passing are, by their own tacit admission considering they don’t appear in the setlist, not their greatest asset. But I simply must direct you to the video for their single ‘System Of The Slaves’, one of the funniest, most literal uses of stock footage I have ever seen.
PS. This is how my Rebellion 2024 journey ended. To find out how it started, keep reading In Spite Magazine…
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