The Sweet will cap off a fantastic week of music for Whoop-Up Days, Aug. 24.
While guitarist Andy Scott tours with his own version of Sweet,
Original bassist Steve Priest brings his own version of the Sweet to Whoop Up Days. But the two groups don’t conflict.
The original Sweet had a series of sweet hit in the early ’70s including “Ballroom Blitz,” Fox on The Run,” “Love is Like Oxygen” “Little Willy” and more.
“When they tour in the UK, we don’t. I own the rights to the name in America. So it’s — sweet,” chuckled Priest.
“I don’t talk to Andy and he doesn’t speak to me. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I don’t. It’s a thing,” Priest said from from Madison, Wisconsin where the band played another great show.
“You should have seen it last night. It was probably one of the best we’ve ever done. We played a great show. We had like 5,000 people there,” he said.
“We just rock and roll. That’s what I do. We have fun on stage. We like to entertain. That’s what we’re there for,” Priest enthused.
“ The music is the secret. And why should I stop? What else am I going to do? It’s in my blood,” he said.
His band includes vocalist Joe Retta, keyboardist Stevie Stewart and drummer Richie Onori.
“It’s the bast band I’ve ever been, since, well, Sweet,” he enthused.
The original Sweet formed when original vocalist Brian Connolly, guitarist Frank Torpey and Priest were playing with another band featuring drummer Mick Tucker. Eventually Torpey was replaced by Mick Stewart who was replaced by Andy Scott.
“It’s a long story,” Priest related.
“We were in two different bands playing until one night the drummer Mick was fired by his last band, so Brian asked him if he wanted to form a three piece, and that’s how it started,” he said.
They started by playing covers then started writing their own songs.
“We weren’t writing for a specific era or time, we were just writing songs. They’re timeless. They will live forever and I hope I do too,” he said.
We must have hundreds of songs,” he continued.
“When we wrote Fox on the Run it was two o’clock in the morning, we needed a title and we came up with Fox On the Run and it worked,” he said.
Plenty of bands from Ace Frehley to the Surf Punks have covered Sweet’s songs. Some others stand out.
“Umpteenth bands have covered Ballroom Blitz. But there’s a great cover of “Wig Wam Bam” by a girl band in Palo Alto.They turned it to ‘I want to cream my jeans.’ I thought that’s lovely. That’s okay. I wholeheartedly support girl sexuality. And lots of bands have covered ‘Set Me Free.’ We still play that through.”
He and the new band are going to start writing new music.
“ I’ve been busy trying to re-establish the band.We’re going to move on,” he said.
Priest is excited about playing Lethbridge.
“I don’t think we’ve ever played there before. But it doesn’t matter. We‘re going to blow your mind. Were going to entertain you. Come to the show. You’re going to have fun. You won’t believe it when you hear it,” Priest promised.
Canadian country star Chad Brownlee opened up Whoop Up Days , Aug. 20 with Trevor Panczac and Rough Stock opening. Canadian classic rockers Honeymoon Suite, known for a string of ’80s hits including “Burning in Love,” “Stay in the Light” and “ Wave Babies,” to name a few, play Aug. 21 at 8 p.m.
Vancouver based classic rockers Nick Gilder and Sweeney Todd Group will rock Exhibition Park, Aug., 22 with hits like “Hot Child In The City” and “Roxy Roller.”
Things will rock with local metal and hard rock band Rex and Glass Tiger on Aug. 23. Glass Tiger had several hits in the ’80s including “Thin Red Line,” and “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone” and ”Someday.“
The Sweet will tear up Exhibition Park with Metallica tribute group Damage Inc. on Aug. 24.
Admission is free with gate admission.
