I first saw Sweet Seduction playing at the finals of the UK Unsigned Rock event, held in Birmingham on May 26th. The classic riffs, gritty vocals, and energetic performance impressed me enough to make me mither for an interview. Drummer Randii was kind enough to indulge me…
1) How are things in the Sweet Seduction HQ?
Fine, we’ve just recorded 12 tracks of which 4 or 5 we’ll put out as an EP and the others will be locked away as they’re re-recordings of existing EP & Album tracks we’ve released in the past. We may tease people on MySpace with the new production and the alternate beginnings to some tunes or maybe stick a live recording of a Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC) on there if not on the EP as a VCD or something. Other than that still slaving away getting back to our old gig ethic, we’ve had a couple of chilled, well for us anyways, months gig wise with recording etc.
2) You recently took part in the UK Unsigned Rock event and won a slot at the Bulldog Bash. What did you think of the whole experience and the other bands involved?
It was good, we were quietly confident as we played last year and seemed to be one of the bands that got mentioned in reviews despite being on the Unsigned stage and most press concentrating on the main stage… That and the fact it was local and in 06 the scene for us in Birmingham has picked up ten fold. As far as other bands go, our mates and fellow Rock n Rollers Headrush are playing also, but UK Unsigned in general was quite a mix because the same regionals were for Bloodstock as well so we had a lot heavier stuff goin’ down like Dead Weight, who are awesome at what they do. I believe they’re on Bloodstock, I’m trying to talk them into the Bulldog too as its a lot heavier this year.
3) You played the Bulldog Bash last year, tell us about that..
It Rained!! Right fucking before we went on stage, but y’know we managed to attract people over to brave the rain and stay at the open air stage rather than run to the Main Stage which is in a marquee… So can’t complain too much, just a bit of bad luck I guess. I gather the 2nd stage will be moved near the main stage this year to gain the unsigned bands more exposure and passing punters, it was a bit out the way last year and you had to hope people were curious or the riffs would travel and pull people in from the stalls… Let’s just hope it’s sunny this year! But yeah, what’s not to like about the Bulldog? Bands, Beer, Bitches, Being Tattooed, Bikes and other stuff beginning with B… And its the 20th anniversary this year so will hopefully be the biggest yet!
4) You were previously know as the Wild Roses, why did you change your name?
We needed to, and I think we’ve progressed because of it, every reviewer saw the easy way out… a classic rock influenced band must want to be Guns n Roses, especially with a name like that right? And its pissed us off, we did actually play shows where people turned up and expected us to be a GnR tribute and we were like “yer can stick Sweet Child o Mine up yer ass, were not playing it!” So yeah we have that GnR influence but we also are influenced from 70s, 80s, 90s and even 00s stuff. Sweet Seduction does hint a bit towards Glam/Cock Rock but that’s where the heart lies as a whole I guess, we can all agree that every member listens to Skid Row where as only a select few do the Backyard Babies or say Beautiful Creatures. To be fair the band started off as an out and out cock rock band until Savage and me joined and brought a lot of modern Sleaze influences… so the Wild Roses may have been right at the time, the difference now being we’ve changed a hell of a lot and people used the whole GnR comparison as a put down even after that. Now the GnR thing is just someone trying to pigeon hole the band as they do all bands, and maybe said person doesn’t have a wider knowledge of the Sleaze/Classic Rock genres. The only bad reviews we tend to get these days are from narrow minded idiots who have something against Classic Rock before even putting the CD on, and at the end of the day we get more AC/DC comparisons since changing the name and its hardly a put down being compared to the two biggest Rock bands to walk the planet!?
5) What’s the best gig you’ve played and why?
Well there’s two answers to this… Both complete opposites… The one where we headline and have full control of the audience, the sort where every lyric is sung back to you. Then there’s also no better feeling, especially being an unsigned band aiming to gain fans, when you support and are appreciated by an audience that aren’t there for you. We’ve played with a whole host of signed/touring bands… We’ve played with the Sweet (well, Andy Scott the remaining member and session musos making up the rest of the band) a couple of times now and both of them were to 4/500+ people and we went down pretty well as I guess you’d expect from an audience of people who are fans of a band who’ve influenced bands that made a big impression on us such as Motley Crue… And of course we all now love the Sweet too because of it, they rock hard live and have heavier stuff than us! I remember the first time round, we were called up to play on the morning of the show and being quite shocked as the only song I knew of the Sweet’s at the time was Blockbuster and it didn’t scream rock n roll… well I was wrong! But yeah, as said above next to that it would have to be headlining the Flapper a few months back where we had the crowd singing back to us louder then the PA, that’s a massive high also.
6) Which track do you most enjoy performing?
Well most of them but we’ve all got favourite tracks and some not so, but that’s what becomes of five different people with different opinions, you have to agree to meet in the middle. For me it would have to be Crazy City Blues & Down in the City… Partly because they’re newer and we’ve not played them for the past two years, and partly because I think we’ve improved as a band and this is the result. Also I reckon we’d get lynched if we didn’t play Good Time Girl because people know it from MySpace and it’s nice going to a new city and seeing people singing along. Other than that, for much the same reasons, One Hell of A Night. And because it’s an anthem and you’ll get the gist of it and can be singing along by the second chorus even if you’ve not heard it ever before. Only problem is we hate practicing it because we play it every set without fail, although live it’s a different story.
7) Tell us a little-known fact about Sweet Seduction
Errrrr, someone related to Sony told us to go for Eurovision 07… They should have given us a contract instead!? I don’t think it’s really the done thing unless you’re established. The UK wouldn’t accept a rock band, fans would only moan they’re selling out. Although its ok to vote for a Finnish band most haven’t heard of, I mean people knew of Lordi but they’re gonna make big business over here because of that now, and fair play to them, I voted! Rock fans are really fucked up in their ethics. Although if the offer were to come along… ha ha.
8) Whats the bands motto?
…..One hell, one hell of a night….
9) Are pyrotechnics the way to go?
Fuck yeah!!
10) What can we expect to see from Sweet Seduction in the rest of 2006?
The usual hard work ethic. This is what we do in life, we’ll just keep building on what we’ve laid down already. With the amount of bands getting attention and signed out there, that couldn’t go toe to toe with us half cut, we can only assume we’re unlucky and expect to get snapped up some time soon.
Check out Sweet Seduction’s MySpace for gig dates: www.myspace.com/sweetseductionmusic
