The Sweettooth

What sets us apart from other bands is that we don't try to do anything. We get together and play, and whatever comes from it comes from it. It's an organic aproach to writing music that, we feel, best reflects reflects who we are, where we are and what we are up to at any given moment.
Each band member has different influenes. Dave was influenced by Punk, 90's grunge, and later on, Classic Rock such as Led Zeppelin, Cake, and The Beatles. Before Sato arrived in America, his greatest infleunces were Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and other guitarist who could really wail. After living here for a while he became more influened by Blues artists such as BB King, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson and country artists such as Willie Watson, Duane Allman, and the like. Matt immediately took to playing hip hop and R and B. Initially, his greatest influences would be James Jamerson, Bernard Odom, Bootsy Collins, Dr. Dre, Biggie Smalls basslines, and Stevie Wonder. Later he would be influenced by 60's and 70's clasic rock bass players such as John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, and Paul McCartney. However, he says no one influenced him more than Les Claypool. John's biggest infleunces on drums would be Carter Beauford, Keith Moon and John Gibson. He started playing at a young age and really has developed a uniqe John Gibson sound. It's best described as a mix between hip hop and classic rock. Although it's a bit of an overgeneralization, we feel the band can best be described as a mix between The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles, The Mars Volta and Cake.
It started out with Dave coming over after school for jam sessions with Matt and John's house when they were kids. After doing that for a few years, Matt and Dave went away to school.
While at school, Matt befreinded a shy and quiet Japanese foreign exchange student named Sato who lived on his floor. Not realizing that he played guitar, Matt invited Sato home for Thansgiving. We had a jam session and realized that Sato was an incredible guitarist. All our became friends and never looked back. Where Sato was musically and technically years ahead of anyone in the band, he still hadn't developled his own style. On the other hand, Dave, Matt and John had developed their own style, but were lacking in technical and musical skill. In a beautiful "East meets West" fusion both sides played off each other and immeditely got better. Sato was able to appreciate the western comcept of "soul," and the American members were able to appreciate the eastern concept of "technical skill acquired through hard work." For the rest of the time Sato was studying abroad, we played bars, gigs, parties, etc. We played together as much as possible while Dave and Sato matured into songwriters.
Eventually, Sato left. But it proved to be temporary. He acquired a 3 month tourist visa in the summer of 2007. We moved into a house together, played as many shows as possible, and wrote about 15 songs. The shows we played that summer showed us that we had the potential to make original music that people liked.
Unfortunately, Sato left in 2007, and the band has been a three piece ever since. Due to Sato's abscence, Dave took to writing music and has since become the lead songwriter (therefore he is referred to as the "Point Guard). Without Satos's soloing capabilities and ability to "create shots on his own" (which is why he is our "small forward"), the band has looked towards writing fuller, more vocal driven songs. With Matt and John keeping the pocket down in the paint (and being a solid "power forward" and "center" respectively), the three of us, led by Dave, have written about 25 songs since Sato's departure that we feel comforatable playing out live.