Just for fun. And we had a lot of fun this year. Great answers. GREAT ANSWERS!

Thank you all. See you in 2017.

So for re-reading purposes … “our” 5 most popular  Q&A’s of 2016.

 

5. The Loved

I also have this quote I picked up somewhere, sometime…I put it on a note that hangs on my wall: “Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” Both of these lines mean something, form a bit of the base of how my songwriting should work.

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4. Terry Malts

We’ve always had a deeper affinity for UK music than for American music. There’s a romance and charisma to it that Americans can’t naturally reproduce. It’s got style.

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3. Ed Ryan

My favorite lyric writers in any genre tend to go deep and a little dark. Like most songwriters there’s a fair amount of romantic relationship stuff but I like to go beyond just boy/girl stuff as much as I can. Davies, Townshend and Hiatt are such great storytellers while staying emotionally true…they are my gold standard.

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2. The Top Boost

We are massively influenced by 1960’s pop music. It naturally comes out that way while composing. What we went for was just what we thought sounded right. To build each song properly we put together a sound collage filled with our favorite instruments.

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1. Nick Piunti

The song is actually about a relationship that ran its course, but using the analogy of a “one hit wonder” band that couldn’t follow it up. The relationship couldn’t survive past the infatuation, love at first site stage. Actually a true story of sorts.

Re-read here

An album of rich melodies, lush harmonies and reverb laden guitar driven pop. It stands on the cross roads of Americana-English late 70s guitar pop with a dash of Australiana from the same era.

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Wade Jackson.

The story or the melody, what comes the most natural to you? 

The melody definitely comes first for me. I find inspiration from chord structures and melodies to create a story. There are rare times that it all comes together at the same time. Wouldn’t it be great if it was always that easy?

Shooting Star is my favorite song on WADE. Really like the guitar. Build and build till It was perfect? 

Shooting Star seems to be one of the most popular tracks from the record. It was the most played track on radio here in Australia. I really wanted to go for an ethereal sounding outro and I had some great ideas on the original demo. It wasn’t until Liam Judson (co-producer) brought in the Roland Juno-6 keyboard and said let’s layer it up with the guitars that it really came to life. It ended up sounding reminiscent of The Church for me, which is a great thing. I still love that outro, I revisited the record a few weeks back.

How did you record W.A.D.E.?

Liam Judson recorded W.A.D.E. and I performed all instruments. We started at Ripple studio in Sydney City and recorded the drums, from there we spent 4 days tracking bass and guitars at a friend’s Mum’s place in Lawson in the Blue Mountains, that’s where the album really took shape. It was really cold up there and we had a fire going the whole time. It was a perfect environment for us to work in. Some friends came up and made a short video which was really cool. We took some time out after that as I hadn’t finished writing lyrics and had some serious writers block. I was really trying to force lyrics and they were terrible, definitely not from the heart. So over the next year we added more guitars, keys and eventually finished vocals at my place in Tamarama, Sydney. It was a lengthy process but well worth it. I’m glad we took the time to get it right otherwise it may have not turned out like it did. Incidentally, I am re-releasing Whiskey Alpha Delta Echo on Vinyl with a joint label release from You Are The Cosmos in Spain/Europe and my new label Grow Yourself Up here in Sydney. I’m really excited about this as I always intended for this record to be on vinyl.

Did you do things differently for the new record? 

Yes, for my upcoming record “Crown & Cathedral” it was a completely different process. For one is was all written on piano except one song and I didn’t try to write complete tracks, just ideas. Eventually I had amassed a heap of stuff and started matching it all up and putting it together. I wrote almost all the lyrics just before I would track vocals. I had melodies and an idea of what the subject was and luckily it happened really fast. I recorded the entire record and Liam mixed it. 

The music industry has changed a lot (or so they say). What did it bring you? And what not? 

It brought to me the fact that I could no longer afford to go to “recording studios” and record albums so therefore I had to learn how to do it myself which is a little sad because I love the whole romanticism of a beautiful working studio. A lot of what I learned was from watching Liam work and have realised that I actually work better in a comfortable completely controlled environment such as my house or his work space. In saying that I would love to do an album with a full band someday and return to the “recording studio”. The only thing that hasn’t changed for me is the fact that I’m as passionate as ever about creating and playing music. It’s remains completely the same. It’s become a financial ghost for everyone but we still keep plugging away

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on? 

OK, well if I’m trying to court someone then it is a different ball game, but I’d like to know that she likes similar stuff to me but that’s not too important. So here we go
Michael Jackson – Rock With You

Glen Campbell – Galveston 

Fela Kuti & The Africa 70 – Let’s Start

Steely Dan – Black Cow

Scott Walker – It’s Raining Today

If you could pick two bands (any) to tour the world with. Who? 

Todd Rundgren and Blur

What’s up for the next couple of months? 

I’ve just released the first single “She Burn” from my new album that will be released in late February 2017. So lot’s of promotion and hard work until then. I’m also about to record a project with Liam Judson which is something we’ve wanted to do together for a long time. So it’s going to be very busy, which is a good thing right? I’m also awaiting the vinyl release of my new album and W.A.D.E. I’m super excited like a kid at Xmas for that.

Will you still be promoting the record? 

Yes I will. I haven’t played live for quite a while but I am planning to do so to launch my new album. I’m hoping to get over to Europe and Japan later in 2017, let’s see how the reaction is over there. I’ll also be hitting up all my favourite blogs, I think they are such an integral part of the industry nowadays.

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We’ve always had a deeper affinity for UK music than for American music. There’s a romance and charisma to it that Americans can’t naturally reproduce. It’s got style.

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Corey Cunningham of Terry Malts about Lost At The Party.

Lost At The Party has been described as Californian Power Pop but, at the same time, it sounds like Liverpool in the mid 80s. Does that make sense?

Definitely. The “California Power Pop” is a pretty lazy tag. I think it comes from rock writers who don’t have very deep record collections. We’ve always had a deeper affinity for UK music than for American music. There’s a romance and charisma to it that Americans can’t naturally reproduce. It’s got style.

How did the album come together? Why the new approach?

Within a week of finishing the basic recording of our second album I had moved to Los Angeles and started a new life. Our bassist/singer Phil moved down for about 9 months at one point, too. The ensuring two years of touring, writing, and demoing brought out that desire for change. As much as we put our hearts into the second record, it seemed like we were treading water.

Also our old band, Magic Bullets, was the kind of group that would really usr the studio as an instrument by implementing overdubbing and production techniques. I’ve really missed layering guitars in particular since we had been making music as Terry Malts. I was hoping we could reconcile the sound of the two bands by finding a sonic midway point between them.

Once we had the songs together, I approached Monte Vallier who had mixed the last two albums and also recorded the final Magic Bullets EP. I’ve been a fan of his ability to manipulate sounds for a long time. He has an incredible ear for tones and a sweet nature. If you listen to his work, particularly with the band Weekend, you can really notice the detail he adds to a recording. He has a lot of unconventional techniques and I’d describe him as the closest thing to George Martin that this generation has.

I brought notes for every song and we sent him tracks by other artists (some of which you can find on our Party Platters mix on Spotify. 

From there we recorded the basic tracks and started overdubbing different guitar tones, keyboards, and sound effects. Over the course of the next few months Monte mixed the tracks. Once we had a final mix he bounced the mixes down to a cassette tape, played the tape back through a boombox, and mic’d the boombox with a close mic and a room mic in his kitchen. It gives the recording a really dense, warm feel.

How will you promote Lost At The Party?

Is touring the most important part? Or is Facebook as important?


The first thing we did was create a 1-800 number for people to call and hear a little skit promoting the album that I created with our friend Sean O’Shea. It makes fun of these corny American commercials advertising compilation CDs that were really popular in the 90s.

Since then we’ve been touring in patches. It seems to make the most sense because it’s hard for everyone to get time off from their day jobs. We’ll be touring the US early next year and Europe over the summer.

I think touring is way more important than Facebook. In fact, Facebook is more of an obstacle these days because of their algorithm that only allows your posts to pop up in certain fan’s feeds if you’re “trending”. The only way around their algorithm is by paying them to leave a sponsored post in people’s feeds. 

This was something I had serious hang-ups with and avoided for as long as we could. Unfortunately, this is the reality of being in a band now. You’re forced to participate in the marketing of your art, which feels completely wrong and puts you in a compromising position that you have to live with.

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

The Necessaries – “More Real”, 
Durutti Column – “Bordeaux Sequence”, 
Virginia Astley – “Some Small Hope”, 
Amina Claudine Myers – “Going Home”, 
The Mamas & The Papas – “Snow Queen Of Texas”

If you could pick two bands (any) to tour the world with. Who?

I would definitely put Henry’s Dress on there. Even though they’re no longer a band, I would say they have been the most influential on us. We played our first show after seeing their reunion show.

And I think I can speak for the others when I say touring with Neil Young would also be a dream come true. It’s been such a strange and horrible year for American politics and I’ve found myself drifting back to the two artists that seem to have brought me the most comfort in my life over the years: Neil Young and The Smiths. 

What about The Netherlands?

We loved The Netherlands! Most of our shows on the last European tour were there and we played big festivals and little village bars. It was pretty special and the people were so engaged and caring. It’s the complete opposite of playing in America where nobody cares unless you’re already incredibly successful. Hopefully we’ll be back soon so we can hang out with our friends Bas and Marco.

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Complete mayhem at Sweet Sweet Music’s HQ. But, hey for the love of music, it was worth fighting for. This is our Top 13 of 2016.

01. Ed Ryan – Roadmap

02. Berwanger – Exorcism Rock

03. Bryan Estepa & The Tempe Two – Every Little Thing

04. Nada Surf – You Know Who You Are

05. Public Access TV – Never Enough

06. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms – Basement Punks

07. Nick Piunti – Trust Your Instincts

08. Family Fold – Lustre Go

09. The Forty Nineteens – Rebooted

10. La Panther Happens – For The Night Crawlers

11. The Legal Matters – Conrad

12. Sweden – Oh, Dusty

13. The Well Wishers – Comes and Goes

The band Sweden is from Norway. Of course. Fredrik Gretland explains why. 

Their new album, Oh, Dusty, is filled with 10 power pop, Indie Rock gems.

What was the biggest fun during the making of the last album?

I always enjoy the recording process. This time we went to a studio on a remote island in the west of Norway. We recorded everything but vocals there in one week. The studio, ocean sound recordings is so amazing so just being there is fun. Then we went to Stockholm to record the vocals with Pär Wiksten, (the singer in The Wannadies). And that was super fun. One day we went out to get lunch an Pärs local hang out, we ended up trying all the new aquavits and weren’t able to record anything else that day, but it was great fun!

How often do you have to explain about the band name?

Haha, every time! But it’s ok, I guess we asked for it. When we grew up in the nineties, the music scene was a lot better in Sweden than in Norway, and growing up close to the Swedish border we were heavily influenced by Swedish bands. So it is our little homage to them.

How will you promote Oh, Dusty?

We have had two singles play-listed on Norwegian radio and we have played club shows and festivals over here.

What about the outro of For Everest (Forever rest)?

Yeah, our little noise rock moment. Well that song has sort of a duality in it. Between the verses and the choruses. We thought it would be cool to accentuate that by freaking out on the last half. Let that mellow-ish chorus turn into chaos.

The music industry has changed a lot (or so they say). What did it bring you? And what not?  

We have been in bands forever and none of us have made a lot of money on record sales. It has always been touring the has made some revenue. I guess the biggest change is that we see that the record industry itself has a lot less money to spend.
And there are a lot more bands/artists now, which kind of turns the industry people into the rock stars.

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

Oooh, that’s hard. I will make a much better mix tape when she tells me there won’t be a third date. I tend to gravitate toward the melancholy stuff, but here goes:

Descendents – Silly Girl

Janne Kask – Summer is Here 

Sleeper – Statuesque

Nada Surf – Always Love

Ryan Adams – Oh My Sweet Carolina

What’s  coming up for the next couple of months?

We still have a few shows left this year, and we continue touring next year. We are trying to get a few shows together in Germany, and we would love to visit The Netherlands too. If anyone want us to come and play get in touch!

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Sweet Sweet Music talked to James Gilling about Midnight Daydream, the new release by his band Lilliput.

File under: west coast, power pop, mellow, beautiful!

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What was the biggest fun during the making of the last album?

David Bowie passed away halfway during recording, and the bar next to the studio had a full on Bowie listening party. We listened to the whole of Blackstar and the room burst into applause. Was an amazing thing to be part of. It affected the overall recording too.

The music industry has changed a lot (or so they say). What did it bring you? And what not?  

To be honest, the music industry hasn’t done much for us. We’ve funded everything ourselves, recording, sourced merchandise, printing, vinyl pressing and artwork ourselves. If anything we’ve learned to operate without a lot of help. We can control everything we do.

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

Low Flyin Bird – Cass McCooms
Sooth Lady Wine – Matt Corby
Jóga – Björk
Breathe – The Cinematic Orchestra / Fontella Bass
As Time Goes By – Dooley Wilson

What’s up for the next couple of months? 

We’re rehearsing the new album and playing around with it a little at the minute as well as writing some new stuff. Working toward our annual christmas show also. There’s a couple little projects in the works also!

How will you promote Midnight Dreamer?

The next few months we’ll be promoting the album. It’s available to stream online currently, so keep an eye out for the physical copies!

You have a Autumn/mellow/melodic/harmony …. beautiful sound. How would you describe it?

Thanks! I don’t know about beautiful, but we’ve been listening to a lot of west coast singer songwriter stuff recently, which is a lot more laid back. I think you’ve described it better than I ever could!

A huge HUGE album! 

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Josh Berwanger.

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The bio says you recorded Exorcism Rock in 7 days. So it is possible to create a million dollar sound in a week?

Thanks for the kind words. We really worked our butts off in those 7 days. We would get to the studio around 11am and go until we were all zombies which sometimes meant 1-2am. Then we’d all go back to my place and unwind by watching Apocalypse Now or playing Tecmo Bowl and partying pretty hard. Then wake up and do the same. 

All killers no fillers. You must have had a zillion songs to chose from or … ?  

I had about 20 songs that I teally felt great about, some of them were just a little more out there. We recorded 11 songs, one didn’t make it on the album.

How will you promote Exorcism Rock?

We will tour on it, made 3 videos, college radio.

The music industry has changed a lot (or so they say). What did it bring you? And what not? 

I look at this as what more can we bring to ourselves. I don’t care about the music industry and it doesn’t care about me. I really just focus on making great music and working hard, so if at the end of the day I tour, only sell a few albums and am broke I at least know I did what I set out to do, make music I love and work hard. If people buy it and come to shows that’s just icing on the cake.

It should bring you packed Arenas as far as I am concerned!

Thank you, could you set that up please 😀

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

1. Ned Doheny “Get It Up For Love”

2. ABBA “Take A Chance On Me”

3. Little Walter “You’re So Fine”

4. Bobby Fuller Four “Only When I Dream”

5. Don Covay “You’re Good For Me”

If you could pick two bands (any) to tour the world with. Who?

Wilco

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

You just finished touring. What kind of tour was it? Type of venues? Is touring still a good way to promote your music or make some money? 

We toured the midwest and east coast. I would say it was a pretty bad time to be touring. We had a few great shows but we also had some bad shows when we were competing with the World Series and the election. Small club venues (cap 150-350). I have no idea what the best way to promote music is these days. I assume every little thing you do helps. 

Half the songs on Endless Love are snappy punk numbers… That’s what I grew up playing and I consider it my roots.

What was the biggest fun during the making of the album?

The most fun thing about recording this album was just taking my time with it. Working from my studio at my home I was able to relax and hone these songs over the course of almost two years. I’m a little superstitious about showing my work before it’s completed. I’ve also kept very busy the last couple years with other projects in the role as producer and as a musician. So when the album was finally done I showed it to my peers, bandmates, etc and they were like “wow, when did this happen?” I think that laid-back approach really came across in the final product and I’m very happy with it. 

Were the late 70s the best? Or just a huge inspiration? 

I love all eras of music and all sorts of styles. I do find the production style of the late 70’s particularly provocative. There’s a gratifying mixture of cutting edge and nostalgia that was popping up around that time. My two favorite producers are Prince and David Bowie (its a sad coincidence they both died this year). I take a lot of cues from their vocal arrangements along with the songwriting styles from the likes of T Rex and the Stones who were most active in that same era. There’s something about that time in music that just feels like home.

You cover a lot of different styles. I like that a lot. Did that happen or did you chose to do that?

Throughout my career I’ve often been complemented on jumping between genres… but it’s something I struggle with as well. Someone may like one of my songs but be repelled by another in a different style. Half the songs on Endless Love are snappy punk numbers… That’s what I grew up playing and I consider it my roots. At this point my challenge artistically is to use my favorite elements from many of the genres I like and put them together into something new, cohesive, and stimulating. Endless Love is a collection of songs that were written over the course of many years. So this album was an exercise in trying to collect all these pieces from disparate times and influences and place them in the same sonic universe. (For a foray into tons of genre jumping and criss cross, check out my collaborative project Ego, which released 13 albums in 2015.) 

The music industry has changed a lot (or so they say). What did it bring you? And what not?  

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s a lot of hard work. Beyond just writing, recording, rehearsing, performing, etc, promotion for an artist or an album is a full time job if done correctly. Many of these roles are now directly in the hands of the artists themselves. It’s empowering but also a lot of responsibility, time, and pressure. A long time ago I realized I’ll never be a platinum-selling arena-packer. My goal is to be as good as I can be at what I do. I am an artist and an entertainer and take pleasure in creating work that balances my vision with something that’s enjoyable for the audience at hand. In today’s music industry climate it’s unlikely for anyone to land a multi-billion dollar record deal. But as long as I’m capable of writing and recording music and getting by modestly I’m very happy.

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

Hmm…

Try Me- James Brown

There was a Time/Raw Ramp- T Rex

Wanna Be Your Lover- Prince

Let me try– MC5

Very First Lie- Material Issue

What’s up for the next couple of months?

I’m on tour playing guitar with hard rock band MAMA from Chicago through November, then getting to work on a new album through December and January. Expect a tour in the spring!

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Beautiful melodies. BEAUTIFUL MELODIES. Beautiful vocal harmonies. BEAUTIFUL VOCAL HARMONIES. Like The Beatles, like Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Andy, Chris and Keith.

Short Term Memory is my favorite. Is it a political song or is it a description of what you feel if you walk down memory lane?

 

Andy: Its mainly about how forgettable things can be these days. A lot of music and film are very dumbed down to be as simple as it possible can. Then I was thinking about his great it would’ve been to be around in the 60s and 70s. So many great bands back then. I do think there is an insane amount of great music today, it’s just not what you hear on the radio. So I guess, in a way, it’s an anti-pop culture song.
 

She is talking more birds less bees. That’s a wonderful line. Do they make you happy if they pop up? Or don’t they pop up? More labour of love?

Chris: Well, we certainly wouldn’t be anywhere without the birds and bees. They do indeed make us happy when they appear. The idea behind this song had more to do with the fear of the unknown in regards to the furthering a relationship knowing well that true concerns lie in waiting.

 
The harmony vocals are great. How did you record them?
 

Andy – We approach the harmonies as an instrument itself. The lead vocal always get laid down first. Then we discuss the areas we feel that background vocals will fit best. Then we try a few things one voice at a time. It’s almost like a puzzle that we are putting together.

 

Will Conrad become what Eddie is for Iron Maiden?

 

Chris- we love that! Conrad has really taken off – we love him and he really seems to be connecting with people everywhere. We may need to consider creating a 50ft Conrad to stand behind us on the stage while we perform. Grand idea!
 

How will you promote Conrad?

Keith: We have the amazing “Omnivore Recordings” with us on this one, so we will do anything we can to help them bring “Conrad” to the masses! We also have our first full band live shows planned, so maybe we’ll be bringing that show to your town!
 

What about all these great reviews? Surprised or were you confident you had created something special?

Keith: we were pretty sure that we created something special, but it’s always a relief when it turns out other people agree with you. It was a lot of months between us finishing this one and it coming out, so it’s a welcome release to let the world meet “Conrad”!

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New York all over. Sweet Sweet Music talked to Brijitte West about From Ny with Love. Americana Punky Rock & Roll.

You have a way with words, these storytelling songs sounds like they come very natural to you. (That’s a compliment). Do they?

Hey thanks for the compliment! I do love to tell stories, I think the most engaging songs are the ones where the listener can follow a storyline and imagine a character. Once I think of an idea for a song it usually comes really easy. It sometimes feel like the song was already written somewhere in the universe and I am just the vessel to receive it. 

From NY with Love … it has that end of 70s NY sound. Was that where you were after?

Well if you look at my history it’s the sort of sound that I am known for. I don’t usually go after anything. I think it is just what I do naturally. The backing band plays that sort of style naturally as well. I am hoping with my next record I can do something different. 

I first read about your music in the Classic Rock magazine. That’s a big magazine. Are these type of reviews important?

Yes,  they are important and I am really  that a giant like Classic Rock will review a timey release like mine! 

How will you promote From NY with Love?

We dont have a huge budget so we will do as many shows as we can.

I never type your first name correctly at once 🙂 what about that?

yes I have a unique spelling!

How did you record NY with Love?

We recorded it at a studio near London called The Brook. We recorded all the drum tracks in one day! The whole album was recorded in about four days. We had to be quick because of financial restraints. I hope it doesnt sound like a rush job!!!

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