The Sweet Revenge

The Sweet Revenge

BEST SERVED COLD: A local pop-punk act with a promising future, the Sweet Revenge is a newly formed rock band that's dashing out of the gates with reckless abandon. Their music emanates youthful enthusiasm, with a Billy-Joe-esque vocalist and tight guitar riffage. Catchy hooks, vocal harmonies, and raucous interludes evoke an in-your-face attitude represented visually by mo-hawk hairdos. Though you've probably never heard of them, for three bucks, you're not going to be disappointed. And who knows, you may be witnessing the Next Big Thing before they're watered down by record execs and MTV.

Review by Garrett Wheeler - The Metro Newspaper

Can you please tell us your name and what you do in the band?
My name is Erick I am the drummer. Guitars are Chris vocals, Clint and bass is James


How long have you been established as a band?
Haha Well if you look on our myspace that would be April 20th 2006(4:20...ridiculous I know) I think that was around the time we got together. Something like that.


How did you guys come to be?
Kind of a weird story. In 2005 I had left a band that was doing really well and decided to just drop music altogether for a while. It was on bad terms. Chris and James were in another band together and they broke up and were still working on music together. They wanted me to be their drummer and told me they were doing some good rock music. I couldn't fight the urge so I said fuck it I'm in. I went to their practice studio and joined. We were looking for a singer. After meeting many many characters to say the least, we found Clint. Funny thing we all worked together at one point for Sony testing video games so we were all friends before the band which I think gives us the dynamic we needed to make this band succeed.


Can you tell us some of your influences (personally and as a band)?
Well personally being the drummer I'm influenced by stuff from Johnny Cash, Helmet, The Clash, Jawbreaker, JT(guilty as charged), a lot of hip hop, metal favorites, Mike Portnoy, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Underoath, Lost Prophets, Atreyu, Head Automatica, Minor Threat, Killswitch Engage, Avenged Sevenfold. The band's main influences are way too varied. I guess our main ones are Alkaline Trio, Jawbreaker, Murder City Devils, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a whole slew of other stuff. Better yet, check out our music and form your own opinion. We like that better which is why we don't have a list on myspace of who we sound like.


Can you please tell us a little about you music? Is it possible to put your sound in any category or genre?
We are a very high energy rock band. A lot of people will say that we are a punk band and that's fine. We just love playing loud good rockin shit that gets people going. We love the fast beats and love to keep it going the whole way through. Basically we go in the studio with some parts and just throw it together the way we would like to hear it. We're not shooting for stardom or for the best band ever award. We just want to play punk rock like we feel it's meant to be played.


When you first started your band what would you say was the point you wanted to get across with your music. Are you still wanting to send that same message out or does it differ now?
Well we wanted to send out the message that we have in our bio. It states "The Sweet Revenge draw upon experience ranging from mundane to the monumental, they pour their aggression, energy and overall discontent with life in general into one cathartic punk/powerpop release after another. Every hook, harmony, chorus and breakdown forms a powerful reaction to social and personal frustrations and the righteous determination to strike back. If you can't connect with their sound or message you obviously haven't been paying attention." We are sticking with that message tried and true.


How has your local scene taken to your music? What do you think is their initial reaction to hearing your music?
I gotta say the scene around here, especially the type of music we would fall under is kind of dead. We've been in this scene for a combined 30 years now. I've seen it all and we thank the scene for still being around. I guess what we want to do is bring back the feeling it had in the early 90's when there were a ton of great bands of all genre types coming out of this area. There still are a lot of bands that are awesome around here but I'm going to be completely honest and say there are a LOT of shitty bands too. I might get tagged for that but I'm not going to BS and beat around any bush. I hate bush. Trim that shit is what I gotta say.


For those of us who havent gotten the chance to check you out live, what should we except at one of your shows?
Hah! We are extremely rowdy. We love running around. We run all wireless because we want to be involved with the crowd as much as possible. We don't stop until our time is up for that show. Afterwards we're a lot more calm but we love going out into the crowd and meeting everybody and self promote as much as possible. We're an extremely nice bunch of guys. Sometimes...hah. Just Kidding. I highly suggest watching us live. That's where we truly shine.


What's next for you guys? Any touring?
Our EP comes out in March. It was mixed by Alex Newport(At The Drive-In, Me First and The Gimmie Gimmies, Sepultura, Brazil, Two Gallants, Piebald). We also have a music video that will be out in Feb. We will be releasing it on our as an enhanced cd on our EP. Dan Fraga directed it. He was the storyboard artist for music videos for, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, and movies like The Transporter 2, The Fantastic Four and Hulk sequels. We will be touring the West Coast mostly for the next half of the year. Check out our myspace for our tour dates. We also have a super secret model coming in to model our merchandise for us. We can't expose who it will be just yet but once the paperwork is signed February we will be releasing the first set of photos for it. We are really excited. We all love her work.


If you could compose a dream tour what 4 bands (2 unsigned and 2 signed) would you want on the bill with you?
Alkaline Trio, Jawbreaker(RIP), Best Pals, Serene Lakes.


Out of curiosity, if you could have your pick of any label to be on, which would it be and why?
Hmmm that is a great question. I'm not sure. I guess the first label that would stand out to me is Epitaph. They seem to treat their bands well. We just want to find any label that will help us get our music to the masses and treat us like a band. Basically let us keep writing our own music and be owners of our own band, our own look. Of course we can always use the help in any form.


Any last thoughts? Anything you want to say to your fans?
Well for the small amount of fans we have THANK YOU SO DAMN MUCH!!! Without you we would be nowhere. Thanks to Lupita for being our Number 1 fan. Thanks to our families, mothers, wives and girlfriends for supporting us 100% We love you. Check us out at www.myspace.com/thesweetrevengesf




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Digital label Death to False Hope Records has sent us an update.

* The label has added two new bands to its rapidly growing roster: San Francisco's The Sweet Revenge and Ohio's Mixtapes.
* The label will also be teaming up with Intervention Records to host digital copies of their 7" releases, with upcoming releases from Young Generals, Memoirs and Landmines, T.R.Y. and Kevin Seconds planned.


Read more: http://www.punknews.org/article/37026#ixzz0fH8Nzqw8
- Punknews.org