The decade of the 70's saw a huge explosion of various bands - it was a perfect time for an undeniable British invasion of hard rock and heavy metal. Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, just to name a few... However, on the "other side" of the British music scene there was a lot going on as well. Let's not forget the days of "British glam explosion" from which many great bands came. Acts such as Sweet, Slade, T.Rex, David Bowie, and even Queen have been through a period of glitter make-up and outrageous stage outfits, to later develop their style and prove the musical competency. From all mentioned above however, only the Sweet proved they might be gone for a while, but never for good... It's takes only to put the new live CD Live in America into your player and turn up to 10 to find out that an original Sweet bassist Steve Priest and his newly reformed band has definately not rested on their laurels! Busy with touring America and planning his future with reformed Sweet, Steve Priest has been this kind to reply a few questions about his past with original Sweet line-up, glam'n'glitter days, changes of a music scene and his youthful inspirations. Of course - we've asked the legend himself about the future plans as well.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Hi Steve! Thanks for the chance to talk with you. Let's begin quite not traditionally - year 2008 brought you the 40th anniversary of your debut in music business. How does it make you feel, as looking back on all those decades of glory and also, of the major changes - happening in a music industry as well as in the Sweet itself? Do you refer to the bygone years, 70's especially, with sentiment, or is there any kind of resentment for, let's say, your early bubblegum glam days many artists feel now ashamed about?

STEVE PRIEST: Never have been ashamed for anything we have done. Some of us had wives and kids and needed a living. However history perceives us - at last we are part of it.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: You were the third to join the band, playing in some local bands before meeting Brian Connolly and Mick Tucker then yet from Wainwright's Gentlemen around 1968. Let's talk a bit about how you've met the guys, from where the idea of forming a band Sweetshop by then - began...

STEVE PRIEST: I didn't join a band as it was not a band then. I had met Mick and Brian at a gig in Ealing a few days before when I was in The Army. Mick was fired that night from Wainright's Gentelmen and Brian resigned the day after. Brian then called me at work and asked me if I wanted to start a four piece band and I agreed.
Actually I didn't join Sweetshop as it didn't exist yet. I joined with Mick, Brian and Frank [Torpey] to form a band name yet unknown. After a few rehearsals we realized we had a real band and searched for a name and between us came up with the Sweetshop. We had to change the name as somebody released single with that name so we changed it to The Sweet.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: What about the first period of Sweet's career - changes of guitarists meeting releasing the first singles, bubblegum pop songs like Lollipop Man or All You'll Ever Get From Me, and finally - after Andy Scott's joining the band - a new contract with RCA and co-working with then yet unknown songwriting team, consisting of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman? It's said that the music from that period is a major The Archies/The Hollies influence, do you agree with it? Also, putting together pop and hard rock had alot in common with a birth of hair metal about a decade later.

STEVE PRIEST: If it's about Funny Funny Chinn And Chapman obviously wanted a hit as they were a new entity. Funny Funny was obviously a rip of Sugar Sugar but I saw it as paying the rent. Andy was not on Funny Funny at all just the three who sang on it. Our original idea when we formed the band was to have a strong hard backing sound with nice songs and harmonies We kept this up throughout the life of the band.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Speaking of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman's songwriting team, how do you recall working with them? From what I've read, the whole band wasn't really glad with an early 'bubblegum' image that was being cast on them. That's from where the self-penned, harder and heavier B-sides of your singles come. And besides - is that true that Chinn and Chapman hindered at the time the band's chance for respectability by bringing in session musicians to play on the records instead of the band's members?

STEVE PRIEST: Chinn had no idea what he was doing when he got into the business. Chapman was a songwriter from Australia and needed a break. The both needed Phil Wainman who had been in the business for many years as a brilliant drummer and great producer. They used session players because they thought it was quicker and save studio time. Chapman became well aware that was stupid when he hung around and listened to us do the B sides.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: I was reading that a lot of your live shows around that time consisted mostly of B-sides and album tracks. Is that true?

STEVE PRIEST: Yes, most of the show was pure rock... While Co-Co was still in the charts we opened our show with Done Me Wrong Alright which was the B side. It left the audience opened mouth and amazed.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: The first half of the 70's is a period when the group's popularity started to grow, and the band's singles were reaching the tops of the charts one by one. Around this time, you've promoted your music by performances on Top of the Pops and such. In one performance of Block Buster! on Top of the Pops, you appeared in quite much controversial outfit - wearing a German uniform and displaying a swastika armband. What was the idea behind this appearance - simply, just a matter of association the performance with the wailing sound of air raid sirens, alluding to the blockbuster bombs dropped in World War II the song features? Still some people find it as a try to get - let's say - controversial.

STEVE PRIEST: That particular Top of The Pops was an aniversary one of something like the 500th one. The actual uniform was SS but the helmet from WW1. I came across as a gay storm trouper [laughs]. I always wanted to shock audiences but not offend. I have noticed that one of Britiains Princes did it in later years also.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Speaking of Block Buster!, its riff of the song is markedly similar to David Bowie's The Jean Genie, or vice versa. Was it just pure coincidence?

STEVE PRIEST: Remarkably so. We shared the number one and two spots with it, we being number one in Britain for 6 weeks. It is also a complete rip off of Bo Diddley's I'm A Man.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: The release of your first self-penned Sweet Fanny Adams album was also the moment of dropping the glam rock image in favour of more conventional rock apperance and proving the musical competency. What are your thoughts about those major changes now, what were they then?

STEVE PRIEST: We still had a certain glam image on Sweet Fanny Adams but were heading for a change which came when we released later singles and started producing ourselves.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Also the time of releasing Sweet Fanny Adams is when the troubles in Sweet started. It's the time when Brian Connolly got injured in a fight - when his singing abilities became seriously limited. It was you who had to finish vocals on the album. Brian's injury also kept the band from fulfilling the role of The Who's support in June 1974... Was it the first moment when you thought this line-up's future might not be as glorious as it was planned to be?

STEVE PRIEST: Well the troubles as you put it was related to Brian getting his throat kicked in by a couple of gangsters for reason a or reasons never to be found out. Both Chinn and Chapman were in other parts of the world and so we finished the album without Brian although he had sung some tracks. I sang No you don't and other tracks. Many fans thought the whole Brian incident was just to get out of playing with The Who, which would have in fact put us on the map indelibly

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Another Sweet album, Desolation Boulevard, includes a song Turn It Down.I've read it was banned by some radio stations because of certain lyrical content, I mean - "God-awful sound" and "For God's sakes, turn it down". What was your reaction for that? Have you ever thought this song would be deemed "unsuitable for family listening"?

STEVE PRIEST: It was the BBC who would not allow it to be played. It was a huge hit elswhere. It was political bullshit.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: On Desolation Boulevard the cover of The Who's My Generation was also included. What was the reason for that - was it just paying a tribute to the band whom you claimed to be the one of your major influences?

STEVE PRIEST: Yes it was a thank you to them.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Finally, Sweet broke away from Chinn/Chapman and started to focus on writing their own material, what resulted in new, harder and heavier style your music gained. How do you recall that decision today? What was the band's situation?

STEVE PRIEST: Turn it Down was not released, The Sixteens was released and became a minor hit in Britain. I Want To Be Comitted which is so much like Ozzies Crazy Train it is unbelievable was also banned by the BBC. Ozie's was not banned of course as we are now out of that dark age. By now we hadn't had a hit for ages and I decided we should redo one of our own. Others will say it was their idea but that is untrue. I also insisited we do only one song as if we gave the record company a choice they would tun around like a beheaded chicken not being able to decide. The result was a re made Fox On The Run. It sold three and a half million and is still selling.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: In next years you were getting heavier and heavier. Albums such as Give Us a Wink! and Off the Record were undoubtedly Sweet's heaviest studio albums. Indeed, U.S. Top 20 chart entry Action, later covered by Def Leppard, was the group's hardest rocking hit single. Anyway, late 1977 saw another change in style - after a split from RCA and getting a deal with a new label Polydor, your next album Level Headed found Sweet experimenting by combining rock and classical sounds, an approach similar to UK band Electric Light Orchestra. What was the reason for all those changes, trying to fit into the unstable music scene or simply a confusion of musical direction in which the band had to go?

STEVE PRIEST: Give Us A Wink is my favorite album although listening so many years after, Cut Above... is also amazing. Most people still think ELO do Love Is Like Oxygen so one wonders who stole from whom. As we did it first I think that is obvous. I am not saying we weren't influenced by the same music including The Hollies and Yardbirds etc, One has to remember tha while we were doing Live For Today on cut above the rest which is forerunner to punk and even forerunner to Give us a Wink and Johnny Roten was still an apple. The success of albums like Fleetwood Mac made our so called management push us into a more gentle machine gun hand and Level Headed was aptly named.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: You and Andy Scott have happened to sing lead on various album tracks in the past, but since Level Headed it wasn't happening only occasionally anymore - on the album, Brian was relegated to singing lead on only half of the tracks.California Nights featuring you on vocals came out as a single, Brian's alcoholism started to make huge troubles to the band... How do refer to those tough times in a band's history now, predicting Brian's departure? Do you regret anything, or maybe see some decisions wrong?

STEVE PRIEST: Brian was becoming ill and it was not just the booze. He never recovered from the kicking he had to his throat and a certain member of the band wanted him replaced and was becoing very hard on him. He had lost his self esteem and confidence. I wished I could have helped but I was going through a dreadful time myself with cocaine and alcohol and an awful marriage. When Cut Above The Rest was written Brian was in an awful state. He tried singing some songs that took weeks and he decided to go his own way. He was not fired however.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: When Sweet officially ended?

STEVE PRIEST: 1981.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Is that true that - then yet from Rainbow fame only - Ronnie James Dio was approached in January 1979 to join Sweet? Such rumours are coming around according to some Andy Scott's statements.

STEVE PRIEST: No that is not at all true. It was Andy's idea but never follwed through. I am a personal friend of Wendy Dio who still manages Ronnie now and I asked her if he had ever ben approached and she denied it.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: In 1979, without Brian on the board and playing as a trio, you've released a Waters Edge album. What do you think about that material as an integrity? What about an infamous Sixties Man song and a video you always claimed to hate and why do you refer to that with such resentment?

STEVE PRIEST: Waters Edge was a great album but our English manager Walker had clients he had to place songs for and we were an open market it seems. I sang Sixties Man but Walker made sure the camera was on Mick so that made me feel stupid.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Identity Crisis was the last album to feature you, Andy Scott and Mick Tucker together. Later, it came a moment to call the whole thing quits. What do you think of that album, can it be deemed as a summary of your works in a band?

STEVE PRIEST: I hated recording the album. That is all I am saying. I was living in New York when this album was recorded. I had given up my house and family because it was a nightmare. So while Andy and Mick still lived in England in their original houses I had to live in a retired persons home in Chelsea we nick named Chelsea Barracks.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: In the 80's and the 90's, there were many attempts to revive the band in different line-ups which didn?t take. Brian had "his" version of Sweet, so had Andy. You, however, didn't participate in any of them.

STEVE PRIEST: Yes. I had a band called The Allies in New York but was very difficult to get off the ground. I also had a daughter, Danielle who I wanted to see grow up.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: The legacy of Sweet is undeniable - it's one of the most often covered rock bands in a history. Counting the bands that recorded their versions of your songs could take hours - it's enough to name Saxon, Vince Neil, Ace Frehley, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, AC/DC, The Ark, Krokus, Metallica, Def Leppard, Scorpions (in German versions) among the others...What do you think of those versions, of course, of those you've already heard? And generally, if we're about that - what do you think of covering someone's songs instead of presenting your own material?

STEVE PRIEST: I look upon it like a compliment that others cover our songs. But as for covering others, I wil leave that to Van Halen who seemed to enjoy it with Lee Roth.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: If we talk of The Sweet that we all know well, I mean - the original line-up, you're the one of two surviving members beside Andy Scott. Now,Andy leads his own band under the same name as you, and plays quite much the same stuff. Sometimes it gets quite confusing anyway... What are your thoughts about Andy's version of the band, are you allright with him leading so-called U.K. Sweet?

STEVE PRIEST: I have never heard them so I cannot say if they are good or not.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: What about future plans connected with Sweet? I've heard that you're about to record a live DVD and a studio album in the closest future. Can you share with us any concrete informations about that - any details?

STEVE PRIEST: I can't say until it is all written and recorded. It will not be just what you presume Sweet will release. It is going to have many different musical genres.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Now let's concentrate more on Steve Priest himself. What were your beginnings with music, what prompted you to become a musician, or - concretely - a bass player ? Is that true that you made your first bass guitar on your own?

STEVE PRIEST: I saw Jet Harris play a fender Precision on TV and decided that was me. And yes, I build my first guitar with a help of my dad.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: What were your youthful inspirations? Please name a few groups that has largely influenced your musical preferences and a style of playing.

STEVE PRIEST: The Shadows. Tornadoes Santo and Johnnie Johnny Kid and The Pirates. Later on The stones, Yardbirds, Stevie Marriot, Cream, and blues music including Willie Dixon, Big Bill Brunzy, Mudddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley and countless others from Motown to Stax.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: In 2006, you released Priest's Precious Poems, a CD comprised of material from various projects in which you had been involved. What those projects are? Tell us a bit about it.

STEVE PRIEST: Mainly it's the stuff I wrote with Marco Delmar and David Arkenstone.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Is there anything you'd like to add for an end of an interview? Maybe a word or two for Hard Rock Service site readers, or for Sweet fans in Poland?

STEVE PRIEST: It is such a shame the original band could never tour your wonderful country but now the walls have fallen and politics overcome i know I can say on behalf of the band we would love to come and tour. There are so many historic places I would love to visit there and put on some great shows for you too.

HARD ROCK SERVICE: Thank you once again for the interview, it was a huge privledge and a great adventure for me as a Sweet fan. Let's hope we'll soon gonna see the new Sweet line-up rocking at the concerts somewhere in Europe. Thank you and all the best in the future!

STEVE PRIEST: I thank you and all the Polish people reading this. I am honored you have let me into Poland.

Official the Sweet website: www.thesweetband.com

Twisted
13.11.2009

(All pictures are taken from the artist's official website and are used with his permission.)

Polish version / wersja polska