SWEETTALKER

Move over Maylene, because Nashville’s own Sweettalker is about to redefine southern rock. Embracing the essence of Music City, Sweettalker goes back to the roots of their sound, creating aggressive rock riffs mixed with a hard-headed and relentless emotion. Highly entertaining and energetic, Sweettalker will stir a swell in your soul and leave you wanting more. Members David Brown, Ryan Pattengale and Hayden Pattengale deliver their brand new single, “Jenny.” Tough and filled with dirty south riffs, Sweettalker is anything but sweet. You can check out the stream for Jenny Below, as well as our Q&A with singer David Brown.

What would you like to see your group accomplish within the next three years?
We want to get out on the road as much as possible and go everywhere we can. I’ve never been outside of the United States, so I’m hoping that within the next three years we play overseas.

Talk to us about your writing process and environment, what are some of the factors and influences behind your instrumental and lyrical content?
The writing process starts over a pot of coffee at the kitchen table. Ryan or I will come to the table with a riff or some lyrics that we’d be jamming on our own earlier that week. We’ll write it out, pull it apart, argue and fight, and then just begin to figure out what we want to do with the song. From the there it goes through a series of band rehearsals and tracking sessions. So the writing process for each song is a constantly working process up until we send the song off to be mastered.

If you could collaborate with any artist or group, living or dead, who would it be?
If we could work with any artist we wanted, I’d have to say Elton John, Muddy Waters, or Tom Petty. Each of them influenced the culture of music. They wrote songs that made an impact. You could learn a lot from writing a song with these guys.

Tell us about your day-to-day lives, what is the role of music either as a full time job or the time it shares with your other obligations in life?
We all have our jobs that we work when we’re home. Fortunately, our jobs are completely flexible with our touring schedule. Outside of work, we’re constantly busy writing or doing music-related business. If we have the day off, we write in the morning so we’re fresh and then spend the other half of the day doing everything else. It’s like having two full-time jobs when you’re home and then going on vacation every once and a while.

What gear do you use?
We play through a couple different amps and guitars. We play through a couple Les Pauls, a 335, JCM 800s and a Fender Bassman from time to time. We’ve tracked most of our songs on the Gibson 335 through the JCM 800, Fender Jazz Bass through an Ampeg SVT Classic, and a vintage Gretsch kit.

what artists/bands you’re listening to at this moment in time?
Currently, I’m listening to Muddy Waters’ Electric Mud. It’s the source of inspiration for a lot of my favorite artists, and it quickly became one of my favorite albums when I originally listened to it. - Nick Yacovazzi: Highlight Magazine

Don’t let their name fool you—Nashville, Tennessee’s Sweettalker pack a punch you won’t soon forget. Bold, commanding, and vehemently bad-ass, the trio’s sound is all at once reckless and radio-ready, bursting with dirty southern rock riffs as satisfying as the Music City’s finest shot of whiskey.

Today, we have the privilege of bringing you the outfit’s brand new music video for “Jenny,” a raucous, red-hot, barnstormer packed with enough energy to power a small country. Check it out below, where you’ll also find a quick Q&A with vocalist David Brown and guitarist Ryan Pattengale.

If you’re a fan of the band’s latest, keep in touch with them on Instagram and Twitter.

What can you tell me about the writing of your latest single, “Jenny”?

Ryan: Well, most of it being highly sensitive and classified information, almost nothing. [laughs]

David: [laughs] We’d say “Jenny” is exactly what we wanted our first song to be. It’s little bits of everything that we like.

This song is a wild ride from start to finish. Would you say it’s representative of your guys’ overall sound?

David: We’re a rock n’ roll band and “Jenny” is pretty aggressive, but we also have quite a few “softer” songs. There are songs that are similar to “Jenny” and some that aren’t.

Ryan: I’d say if our ‘overall sound’ is a drawer of undies, “Jenny” is the that pair that you put on when you’re feelin’ saucy. Real damn saucy.

I think one of the coolest things about this track is how it effortlessly blends a couple of different genres—there’s some country twang to it, but at the end of the day, it’s definitely a rock song. Who are some of your guys’ biggest influences, and how do those influences affect your songwriting?

David: I’m always changing what I’m listening to. It’s never really a consistent rotation of the same artists for me. Lately, I’ve been catching up on a bunch of The Beatles’ tunes since they’re on Spotify now. I don’t think any one artist has solely affected our songwriting. It’s more of a mixture of what we feel is appropriate for the part and what we think is cool.

Ryan: Again, classified. But if a gun was to my head, I listen to Carman (“Satan Bite the Dust” Carman) and Metallica every day but not always in that order.

As of right now, “Jenny” appears to be a standalone single. Are you guys working on new material? Any touring on the horizon?

David: Always. We haven’t announced any of our new plans yet, but we will soon. We’ll be on the road a lot this year.

Ryan: Lots of new tunes this year. Touring is already happening some, and will pick up as the year goes on. - Kyle Florence: Under The Gun

guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?

(David) We’re great! Insanely busy, but it’s been fun, so I have no complaints, haha.

(Ryan) Hey!

Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Jenny”?

(David) We’re so relieved to have finally released Jenny. We’ve been working really hard on this song as well as several others. Jenny was the first to come out, and we were excited to just get it out there.

Did any event in particular inspired you to write this song?

(David) Yes and no. The song outwardly talks about a bad relationship, but also lends itself to be about something else entirely different.

How was the film experience?

(David) It was the best. Cappa, Clayton and Joel (Behold The Brave) are the best people ever and we love them dearly. All of our favorite people in Nashville came and partied hard for the shoot. It was incredible. Stephen Levy is an awesome director and easy to work with. We gearing up to shoot another pretty soon. We can’t wait, hah.

(Ryan) Yeah it’s interesting to look at the finished product and see all the planning and time we spent flash by in 3 minutes, haha. We definitely learned a bunch about the process on this one, and of course it’s spawned all kinds of new ideas so we’re pumped to just do it again.

The single comes off your new EP – any tentative title in mind?

(David) We’ve talked about that. It’s still in discussion. We haven’t released any news about an EP/LP yet.

How was the recording and writing process?

(Ryan) It’s the grandest and most consistent test of my patience and tenacity but it’s probably my favorite part of it all. There’s something about finally hearing a song you wrote played back at a badass studio. Makes a man proud.

(David) It’s never a process you walk away from. We’re always writing new stuff and rewriting songs we’ve already written. We’re in the studio at least once a month. We do most of our stuff at Glow In The Dark in Atlanta, but we’ve done some stuff here in Nashville at Oceanway as well. Matt McClellan is involved in a lot of the process. He gets just as fired up as we do about making the best of every song. He’s our go-to guy.

What was it like to work with CAPPA and how did that relationship develop?

(Ryan) We’ve always supported and loved what CAPPA is doing and just wanted to be a part of it in our own way. She’s a dear friend and one of the hardest working artists I know here in town. She deserves all the success in the world and we’re super excited to have her in our corner//song//video. Go listen to CAPPA!

(David) I’ve known Carla ever since I moved to Nashville years ago. She’s so talented and so sweet; we couldn’t imagine asking anyone else to be the female lead. I’ve actually been in a couple of her videos and it’s always so fun, so it was a no-brainer. Carla also sang those creepy vocal parts after the bridge drops out. It just worked out perfectly.

How has Nashville have influence your sound?

(David) Nashville has one of the most eclectic music scenes I’ve seen. There’s so much talent here. The artists and musicians have set the colloquial bar high. Nashville inspires authenticity more than anything. We’ve worked with Nashville producers before, and they have their methods that are keen to this city, and they’ve helped shaped us a lot. We’ll always be grateful. I’d say it’s mostly the attitude of people we’ve met here that have influenced our sound. Nashville to me is all for being exactly who you are and making no apologies.

(Ryan) Living here has absolutely changed my perspective, but not the way one might imagine just knowing what most know of Nashville. It has a strange effect on things after a while, living here. I’ve found it to be on the upside, a challenge to become a better player and songwriter; and on the downside, desensitizing. Not to sound negative, I LOVE Nashville, just not for the reasons I thought I might.

Does the new single mean we can expect a new material – how’s that coming along?

(David) Of course! The songs are there, we’re just getting the ducks in a row.

(Ryan) Yeah, we’re heading back down to Atl this month to finish up some new tracks.

Any tentative release date or title in mind?

(Ryan) SOON! We can’t wait to show y’all more jams!

(David) We have ideas, but nothing specific nailed down quite yet. We’ll be posting news on all of that very soon.

Any plans to hit the road?

(David) Definitely. We’ve played out some this year already, and we’ve got new dates we’re about to announce.

What else is happening next in Sweettalker’s world?

(David) I promised I wouldn’t spill the beans, so I can’t really say! We’re really excited, though.

(Ryan) *thumbs up* - RJ Frometa: VENTS Magazine