Sweet Nasty

With elements of pop, rock and alternative country/Americana – plus some killer saxophone work courtesy of Anton Teschner, this 12-track release is a delight. - The Daily News

Although they may consider themselves “basically a rock band,” the influences behind the five-piece Prescott group Sweet Nasty come across in their performances—everything from alt- country and funk to jazz, classical and Americana. - Flagstaff Live

Two years removed from the release of its well-received debut EP offering, the raw and eclectic "Bread, Wine and Circus," Prescott-based rock band Sweet Nasty is on the cusp of issuing a full-length sophomore album with twice the number of songs and a higher-quality production.

On Aug. 3, all 12 songs off the new CD, "Life on Fire," will be available for fee-based downloading from the group's website, www.sweetnastyband.com. The band has scheduled a CD release party during a live gig at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Annie's Attic above Coyote Joe's, 214 S. Montezuma St., where patrons can buy a copy.

This fall, the album will be available for purchase nationwide. CDs will subsequently go on sale at the Barnes and Noble bookstore at Gateway Mall and Hastings at 940 Willow Creek Road.

The five-member group features Anthony Fusco on lead vocals and lap steel guitar; Johnny Low on vocals and rhythm guitar; Lorin McLain on bass and vocals; Anton Teschner on saxophone, lead guitar and vocals; and Mike Kreidel on drums.

Although it is considered a rock outfit, Sweet Nasty incorporates funk and blues into its repertoire of original music.

Sweet Nasty, which formed just after Halloween in October 2007, started recording its second album this past December - embarking on a project that lasted off and on for nine months. However, the bulk of the tracks were knocked out over the past 12 weeks.

Fusco has been taking classes at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he studies intra-cultural communications, while the others all hold down day jobs.

"It's hard to get five guys together at any

given time, but I guess that's the beauty of the recording process - you don't all have to get to-

gether at once," Kreidel said Wednesday night from Victory Music Center in Prescott Valley.

"You come in and do individual tracks and do what you can during the weeks that you can."

For "Life on Fire," Fusco said that once the drums were recorded, he and Low completed their guitar parts and built off of

those. "Everything works out in its own perfect time and in its own perfect place," Fusco added.

As on "Bread, Wine and Circus," the band's music remains eclectically diverse.

"You're rarely going to find two songs where

you go, 'Oh, wow! That sounds just like that song,'" Low said. "There's such a wide range of musical influences."

To mix it up even more on "Life on Fire," guest musician Jill Wood from Jerome sang backing vocals on five of the 12 tracks, including a duet, and Tres Ikner of the local band Dutch Holly played keyboards on a number of tunes. Fusco said Wood and Ikner's presence "brought a warmness to the whole album."

Fusco and Low develop the initial ideas for the tracks before the group rehearses. Oftentimes, Fusco fiddles with an acoustic guitar on a bar stool to get his creative juices flowing.

Sweet Nasty is already beginning work on its next album. The group will play the initial versions of the songs slated for the third CD after jamming them for audiences at gigs to gauge fans' reactions.

"All of these songs (on 'Life on Fire') were pretty much developed in live shows before we recorded them," Low said. "And, obviously, once you start recording them and putting them together track by track, they take on a whole other kind of life because you're paying attention to detail."

Kreidel, who recorded, engineered and produced the album, said the group has played hundreds of gigs since the first record came out.

Sweet Nasty grooves its live shows primarily at Prescott bars, but it occasionally ventures out to venues in Flagstaff and Phoenix.

In the coming years, the band hopes to branch out across Arizona and gain a broader following before eventually heading across state lines to play.

In the meantime, Sweet Nasty is committed to playing its own unique brand of music that keeps audiences guessing with its broad array of sounds.

When asked how they would characterize their influences, Fusco quipped, "Everything from Chopin to Tupac."

Now that's a twist.

For a complete list of

Sweet Nasty's upcoming gigs, log on to www.sweetnastyband.com.

The band plays its next show at Annie's Attic from

9:30 p.m.-1 a.m. this Saturday. - The Daily Courier

Last weekend members of Prescott's favorite latin-tinged, sca-olicious band Sweet Nasty pooled their gig money to make two original music videos.

Working with LA-based Iron Duke Productions, they shot the first in the woods with the fire-playing Troupe Salamandra. According to peachy fire-vamp Jana Davis, 18 members of her troupe were on hand to breathe, twirl and dance fire. They barred no pyrotechnic holds.

“There was a lot of fire,” Davis said. “We ended up having to get more fuel.”

The next day, the band took advantage of a lazy Sunday at Lyzzard's Lounge to shoot a more straightforward video of the band playing on stage.

“It was a straight rock video,” said sax-player Anton Teschner, adding it was a welcome change of pace. “We were all pretty tired by the end of the weekend.”

The videos will be available in a few months. In the meantime, enjoy a very ReadItNews photo tour of the video's backend.

Visit the band online at www.sweetnastyband.com.

Photos courtesy of Erica Ryberg, Jason Grossman and Jana Davis - readitnews.com

It's a sweltering 4:30 pm and Sweet Nasty is setting up at Coyote Joe's. There's a round of beers perched on the beer keg table, and Anton Teschner, the guy who plays both flamenco guitar and saxophone for the band, is eating a pizza. They're not playing until twilight and it'll be a hell of a show. But for the time being, the heat's slowing them down and they're happy enough to sit and chat.

Every man in the band has a musical career stretching back 10 years or more, and they wear their history on their faces or, in the case of rhythm guitarist and Seattle refugee Johnny Low, inked on their arms.

“Among all of us, we've probably played every genre of mainstream music,” said bassist Jimmy Stiles. That includes rap-metal, country and blues, to name a scant few.

What they've pulled together for their latest project is unapologetically fun to listen and move to. The band plays Latin-tinged sets when Teschner picks up the flamenco guitar; it spins more eclectically with Teschner on the sax. Danceable grunge ska might come close to their sound, but doesn't capture it. It's utterly enjoyable, which is what every member of the five-man band (six if you count Teschner twice) is going for.

“You can never go wrong with melody and groove,” said Stiles. “We all agreed on that.”

That they would meet in Prescott's microscopic and nurturing music scene was a foregone conclusion; the synergistic chemistry among the five members was not. Teschner started the band with guitarist Anthony Fusco, and once they got a rhythm section in place they were off to the races. According to Fusco, the band got together after Halloween and was gigging two weeks after their first practice.

“Our second practice was on AZTV at 9 in the morning,” said Fusco.

Lifting a brew, bassist Stiles half-jokingly put on the hard sell.

"Download [the performance] on MySpace and friend us,” he said (for the record, their MySpace page is available here).

{tabs=Mike Kreidel }

The force behind the Sweet Nasty Fast Track (or 8-Track)

Musicians aren't typically known for their assiduous approach to left-brained entrepreneurial output, but Sweet Nasty drummer Mike Kreidel appears to be the exception. This spring, he produced the band's first album in his Prescott Valley music space, Studio 79.

According to Kreidel's web site, he departed a life of full-time gigging in 2006 to start a web design business. He couldn't leave music behind for long though, and found himself back behind the skins in late 2007 with Sweet Nasty. The juncture of Kreidel's musical, technical and production chops were a lucky stroke for the band; after barely 9 months of playing, Sweet Nasty rolled a sharp 6-song LP of originals, Bread, Wine and Circus.

Kreidel's more laid-back bandmates regard him with a mixture of awe and gratitude – and maybe a touch of confusion. “He's not really a drummer – he's more like a machine,” bandmate Anthony Fusco said. “He did have some help from the Oompa Loompas, but his therapist says everything's gonna be OK.”



The urge to plug his band is as irresistible to them as the urge to grow as quickly as possible; their ambition is as infectious as their grooves. And so far, Stiles and his bandmates are smokin'. In about the same time it takes to grow a fetus, the men have built a catalog of 19 original songs, cut a 6-song album, Bread, Wine and Circus and begun planning gigs in LA. Their rapid ascent, they say, comes from being a band of grownups.

And none of them are drug addicts, they tell me proudly. Then they clarify. No drug addicts, but the band does have two functioning alcoholics and four schizophrenics.

A joke.

Seriously though, Stiles said, "There's no baggage, nothing weighting us down.”

“We just bought $4000 worth of baggage,” one of them volunteers, referring to the mother-lode of new equipment that's propped up on CoJo's pine stage.

“It's stepping stones,” said Fusco.

“We figure we have limitless potential, so why f--- around?” said Stiles. And, he said, they sound great on substandard equipment, so imagine the potential.

For more info and performance dates, visit Sweet Nasty's MySpace page.

{Online Editor's Note: This version has changed from the original version with the addition of the sidebar, shortened title, and removal of dated elements.}



Author: Erica Ryberg. - Read It News

In a secluded area just outside of Prescott, more than a dozen fire dancers swing and groove
to “Mojo Devils Claw” (a song with more hooks than a tackle box). The sun has just
set and the filming of a new Sweet Nasty video is in full swing. Among the pinion pines
sits tons of musical gear, lighting, generators and assorted pyrotechnics. The video crew
and the band are creating the visual equivalent of a fireworks show cum peyote meeting.
What else would you expect from this collection of musicians which includes
the always artistic and visual songwriter Anthony Fusco. When I first met Anthony
5 years ago he handed me a CD that sounded like a soundtrack to a major motion
picture. I am still spinning it. Singer songwriter Johnny Low adds rocker authenticity
to the eclectic quintet. Drummer Mike Kreidel’s resume as a producer is only
surpassed by the fact that he holds a federal pyrotechnics license. Multi-instrumentalist
Anton Teschner adds dimension to the band’s sound. The aggressive and always
rockin’ Jimmy Stiles rounds out this formidable five-some from Prescott, Arizona.
Fresh off the release of the band’s EP “Bread, Wine and Circus,” Sweet Nasty
were in the middle of shooting their second video in as many days when I had a chance
to sit down with them.
I consider you a band of our time, but in our culture there always seems to be an
attempt to categorize everything. So what would you say to someone who has never
heard Sweet Nasty before....how would you describe your sound?
AF: This is why we love the music that we play and the music that we make,
because it is from us. Some of our fans have coined us as “Funky Americana”
so maybe part of what we are doing is adding a new category to the lexicon.
Well...you guys definitely rock, you have a rock edge.
AF: We have so many different influences and so many different options.
What albums are you listening to right now?
JL: I’m listening to a lot of different stuff right now, Old 97’s, Calexico, Iron & Wine. I
also listen to KEXP.org radio out of Seattle on a daily basis.
AF: I continually have Super Unknown in my iPod and the Bronx is a new band that I
like right now.
There is a line that you can draw from Anthony to Johnny in that your song writing
styles are very visual, where does that come from?
AF: In the context of writing a song... you are painting a picture and every song
encompasses a visual aspect, and I want to take the listener to that place or that time or a
feeling and make it as real as possible.
JL: I’m not sure if that is something that I do purposely. When I write, I start out thinking
verse / chorus; you know... the structure... like the Beatles, but then when I get deeper
into the process, that is where the visual aspects come into play.
Do you fit into the myspace generation, and how do you feel that you relate to
the whole “cyber-world” that has become so important to getting your music out
there?
JS: Our shows draw people from across the spectrum. What appeals to everyone is the energy.
We are a high energy band and we have that indie band excitement and creativity. We are very
accessible and we have created our own scene and I am sure the internet has helped us do that.
AF: There is an illusion that many bands create using the internet by creating web sites
and recordings that exist in cyberspace and nowhere else, a virtual ego trip...it’s like ego
crack for them...we have booked bands on the strength of their myspace page to open for
us... and they really couldn’t play at all, so that is a disadvantage. The advantage is that
we have fans in Sweden....so we are reaching a worldwide audience that can be checking
in on us all the time.
What are you doing, being a band from Prescott, to garner national attention? Are
you focused on that, or just interested in creating your art and letting your audience
find you?
MK: The most important thing is to gain a local following first, and while you are
building your local following you can branch out. Our goal is to reach as many
people as we can by making good records, videos, web sites and through our
high energy shows. We take an artistic approach to everything we do. As long as
we continue to create good art and be true to our vision, our audience will find us.
Sweet Nasty has been invited to record at Studio Litho, which is owned by Pearl Jam’s
Stone Gossard. The band is currently writing material in anticipation of recording in
Seattle in May. The two new videos will be available on their website in 6 to 8 weeks.
www.sweetnastyband.com - poprocketpress.com

Sweet Nasty have been
developing a devoted fan
base at recent shows, in
particular indulging their
jam-band proclivities
at local venues such as
Coyote Joe’s. Bread,
Wine and Circus keeps
the songs surprisingly
brief and tight, employing
some exemplary guitar
solos with reasonable
restraint instead of overthe-
top flash. Combining
americana elements with a
bit of indie rock ethos and
a polished pop finish, this
is good-time sing-along
rock and roll. Closing
with some desert-styled
guitar playing and great
harmonies, “The Road
To Hell” finishes on an
ultra-catchy note. Catch
these guys live, in their
element, as they work up
a groove, and grab this
disc after enjoying the
show. - poprocketpress.com