You’ve definitely heard Sweet, even if the name doesn’t ring a bell. With iconic hits like “Ballroom Blitz” and “Fox On The Run” and a mammoth career spanning over fifty years, Sweet has navigated a tumultuous history. Yet throughout all the spinoff groups, the revolving door of band members, and the multiple hiatuses, one constant has remained: Andy Scott. Joining the band in 1970 during their bubblegum pop era, Scott played a pivotal role in transforming their sound towards heavy rock.
Their chart-topping hits have been featured in blockbuster films like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and continue to be the soundtrack to countless good times. This October and November, Sweet will return to Australia one last time for their Farewell Tour, playing a whopping thirteen shows. I had the pleasure of sitting down with guitarist and original member Andy Scott, and as a long-time listener, it was a joy to hear him speak so fondly of the band and share wonderful memories in anticipation of their Aussie shows.
Sweet has been through many changes with an ever-changing line-up and a few hiatuses, but through it all, you’ve remained a constant. What has kept you going all these years?
I think the music seems to have legs, which I’m really glad about. It’s also being picked up by film and TV these days, so we find ourselves in some wild scene. They’ll usually put us in where there’s some violence, you know. There was a brilliant one in a TV series a few years back where they burst into this place and arrested this guy in a nightclub and they’re marching him out to the tune of “Blockbuster”, and it was perfect. And of course, Guardians of the Galaxy – it was very, very nice to be involved with that.
Looking way back to when you first joined the band, was there any part of you that would ever have thought you’d still be doing this now?
Well, there’s one quick answer- no. None of us did. When I first joined, The Sweet had been together for a year and a half, and they were at a point where if something didn’t happen, they would probably all be looking at trying something else. They wanted us to be a pop band because Brian Connolly was the driving force back then and he looks like a pop star, you know. And I did say to him when I first joined, ‘I’m so glad none of your earlier singles was a hit because I think that would have been the only hit you ever had,’ and that’s not talking about me, that’s talking about the way things were in the very late 60s.
There were lots of bands that had big hits-like The Love Affair with Everlasting Love, and they didn’t want to be part of that. Luckily, we met these two songwriters – Chinn and Chapman, who were just penning fantastic, easy hits. And even though that was not really what we wanted to do, when you’ve been close with certain things and it hasn’t quite happened, you tend to look at the bigger picture and say, ‘If we do this, can we change to this?’ Status Quo – they started off as one type of band and moved on. Fleetwood Mac started off as one type, and I think Sweet were probably the next band to be an ultra-pop band that turned into a glam rock band and then a progressive rock band.
My dad grew up with your music, I grew up listening to your music and now my kids are growing up listening to your music- when did you realise that you guys were going to be one of the classics?
Well, Mick Tucker and I went on the road in ’84/’85 and the first tour that we did was Australia. We came over there and we toured every bar, every ballroom. In fact, the tour was called The Bar Room Blitz. We were supposed to be there for five weeks, but we were there for nine or ten. We just didn’t go home, we just kept touring, and it was fun. It set the scene for many more to come. You see younger people in the audience and you immediately start to think of it as a ‘no, dad!’ situation- that the kid’s been dragged to the show going ‘no, dad, no!’ But then you realise that they know the songs and they’re singing along. And I think the internet has been a wonderful thing, from that point of view… It’s broadened the scope of musicians and people who want to listen to music and find things. You can find videos of old bands that you thought were long forgotten.. so I’d say that from a music point of view, it must be fantastic being young. But on the other side of that, the problem is trying to find something original today, it’s difficult…I take my hat off to the Ed Sheeran’s of this world.
Speaking of, are there any current artists that you enjoy listening to?
Well, bands come and go, and I’ll hear a song on the radio and think, ‘Yeah, who’s that?’ But, no, I’m afraid my iTunes account has become quite stagnant recently.
After all this time, do you genuinely still enjoy making and performing music?
I don’t think you should do things that you don’t enjoy. I’ve said that if you don’t enjoy something, why are you doing it? I understand that a lot of people don’t have a choice and they might end up working in a situation that they don’t really enjoy, but it pays enough for them to live properly- I do understand that. But, you see, I come from a family that was fairly encouraging… I was very lucky. It was a hobby- a bit more than a hobby, I found out that people enjoyed what I did and we moved on from there, and all of a sudden it was a profession, it was a career.
You’re coming back Down Under one last time for your Farewell tour, what led to the decision to say goodbye now?
Well, I need to clear this up- I said in an interview that I didn’t want to tour anymore and what I meant was those long two or three-month tours, living out of a suitcase and gigging five nights a week. I couldn’t do that now, my health is more important. So, tours like that I don’t want to do. When we go to Europe, we’ll do two or three shows, then take a week off, then do another two or three shows… But, coming to Australia- we’re doing a Rock The Boat gig first, leading up to the tour. And somebody came out of the woodwork and said, ‘Well, you’re here, why not do some dates?’ And we’ve been trying to do that, even though we’ve played some Rock The Boats in the past, we’ve been trying to get somebody to pick it up after the boat, and this time it’s worked. He’s put together about a dozen gigs, with days off in between… I think it’s a matter of time before some TV station wants us to get up at some god-awful hour, but we’ll do it, we’ll go on.
As you mentioned, you’re doing quite a few shows while you’re here with some time off between each show, is there anything that you’re looking forward to doing while you’re here?
It will be a bit more relaxing, but there are a couple of guys in my band who haven’t been there very often- if at all, so I think they will be doing a tour of the Opera House and all that kind of stuff. We were actually shown the Opera House in ’74 just before it opened, it was still a work in progress. This guy showed us around, and you could tell he didn’t really want to do it but someone said to him, ‘Oh, show The Sweet around, will you?’, so we’re having a look around and I said, ‘well, it won’t be long before you have bands like us playing here.’ And he looked at us and said, ‘Hopefully not in my lifetime’. And I have to thank Susie Quatro because we did the Opera House with her. We were the support act for her band, it was great.
Looking back over your amazing fifty-plus years with Sweet, are there any key moments or memories that really stick out to you?
Well, there’s too many. I’ve tried to blur the occasions where, you know, someone was threatening to call the police or something. I try to remember all the positive things. If I was to write a book, the publisher would say to me, ‘You’ve got to include this, you’ve got to include that’, but I’d have to say, ‘they’re still alive, mate! I’m not going to write about that.’ But, you know, I don’t think I will ever write a book now, everything is online.
[One time we] went to Hartford in Connecticut…because it had been snowing, the roof collapsed on the basketball stadium next door and the gig was cancelled. Now, the weird thing about this was that the crew were thinking of putting the gear inside, and out of the truck, but they didn’t. And when we woke up in the morning at like 7am and looked out the window we thought ‘That doesn’t look right’. I remember phoning my manager who was with us and he went, ‘Yes. We’ve all seen it, don’t worry. Gig’s off.’ It was really quite funny, looking back.
SWEET FAREWELL AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
8 Nov- The Palms at Crown, Melbourne VIC SOLD OUT
10 Nov- Airlie Beach Music Festival, Airlie Beach QLD
13 Nov- Twin Towns, Tweed Heads NSW
14 Nov- Empire Theatre, Toowoomba QLD
16 Nov- Princess Theatre, Brisbane QLD SOLD OUT
18 Nov- The Gov, Adelaide SA SOLD OUT
19 Nov- The Gov, Adelaide SA SOLD OUT
21 Nov- Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
22 Nov- Penrith Panthers Rugby Club, Penrith NSW
23 Nov- Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul, NSW
25 Nov- The Palms at Crown, Melbourne VIC
27 Nov- The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
29 Nov- Regal Theatre, Perth WA
Grab your tickets before they sell out HERE
