Sweet

The glam-rock heroes are on the road right up until Christmas.

Guitarist Andy Scott checks in as the glam-meets-hardrock titans prepare for an uncharacteristically large headline tour of the UK.

Did you hang out with Ritchie Blackmore when Sweet were special guests of Rainbow at last summer’s Stone Free Festival? No. We had been told by security that when his car arrived, under no circumstances was anyone to engage with him or to make eye contact. So the first thing I did was go over and say hello, and he and Candice walked straight past me to the dressing room. It was a bit ridiculous, really. I laughed my head off.

For Sweet, a run of twelve headline dates around the UK is pretty unusual.

Yeah, it’s great. It takes us right up to Christmas. And I’m told the advance sales have been extremely good.

Last December you had so much fun playing at Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club in London. This time Sweet are doing two nights there.

That was a mad experience. My son Damian, who does our sound, told me afterwards that he could hardly hear the band because the audience sang so loudly. We’re really looking forward to going back.

What can you tell us about the set-list? As these are headline shows, will there be more hard rock than usual?

I would like to add a few more of the heavier numbers, but Pete [Lincoln, lead vocals/bass] has a couple of other projects and it’s hard to find time [to rehearse]. But if we can work them up in soundchecks I will get Sweet F.A. [from Sweet Fanny Adams, 1974] or Windy City [Off The Record, ’77] back into the show.

Apparently you personally have been involved in the upcoming third Cats In Space album?

Yeah. I’ve put some vocals down on a couple of those tracks. They’re such a great band and they’ve done quite a few useful support slots, so I’m surprised that a bigger label hasn’t picked them up by now. Let’s hope this one cracks it for them.

You’ve also been producing Novatines, a band from Bath that will be supporting Sweet on some shows?

After they blew me away at a Rock Against Cancer charity gig I took them into Real World Studios [owned by Peter Gabriel] and produced an album for them. They’re a cross between Sweet, with our commercial edge, and maybe a band like Foo Fighters.

“I’d like to add a few more of the heavier numbers

to the set.”

You’ve previously stated that an all-original Sweet album is no longer a viable proposition. Is that still the case?

That was before Sony put us back in the European charts with their reissues. I still have those reservations, but if Sony said: “Let’s have a new studio album”, then the situation might change. DL

The final date of Sweet’s 2018 tour is at The Welly Club in Hull on December 22. More dates will follow in 2019.