THE SWEET — a five-member group which obtained the rights to use the name and perform in the U.S. and Canada under THE SWEET banner despite containing no members from the original SWEET lineup — has released a new single, “Insane” via Darkstar Records.
Last year while cutting THE SWEET‘s previous single, “Little Miracle”, the group jammed in the studio which exemplified a fresh new approach which utilized instant spontaneity in creating and producing “Insane”.
Bassist/producer Stevie Stewart commented: “‘Insane’ is a song that we are very proud of! We all poured our hearts into the creation of it. Everyone brought their ‘A’ game to ‘Insane’!”
Drummer/composer Richie Onori also added: “As we started to blast into the high-power groove, singer Patrick Alan Stone directed the band with his hands flailing about, you could see he heard in his head which eventually took shape in the final heavy metal rendition. The comic strip lyric video really illustrates the well-crafted storyline that Stone created. Guitarist Jimmy Burkard blistering solo section rivals hands down the who’s who of guitar heroes of yesteryear. Stevie Stewart‘s incredible vocal arrangements and overall production, in my own opinion.”
“I wanted to write a rocker that hits you in many ways,” added Burkard. “It’s tough, it makes you tap your feet, it makes you sing along. Aggressive but with catchy harmony vocals, killer guitar and swinging drums. It felt good to be in a rehearsal room and write organically as a band.”
“‘Insane’ flew into my head like a bat out of hell,” said Stone. “I went into the shower without it, came out and in my head it was done. I sent Jimmy a voice memo humming the song and he sent back the sick riff on guitar the way we hear it in the recording. We shared it with the band while recording ‘Little Miracle’ and got so into it, Richie hammered the drums down on the spot. Working the track with Stevie in post really brought that ‘SWEET sound”’ that only working with Steve Priest for almost two decades can bring. The lyric ‘Insane’ popped out during that recording session, as well. The hook was there. After watching the movies ‘X’ and ‘Maxxxine’, a character in my head came to life and I wrote the lyrics to this half imaginary, half true love, heroine. ‘Insane’ really takes SWEET back to its roots of dirty rock n’ roll, crazy chord changes and larger-than-life harmonies. This is THE SWEET we’ve been waiting for and this band is proving that the integrity of Brian, Mick, Andy and Stevie lives on in us.”
THE SWEET is now tracking a song that has been in the group archives which Steve Priest wrote and played bass and sang, “Sweet Dream”. SWEET‘s reformation started in 2007, and “Sweet Dream” was something Steve was proud of.
THE SWEET 2025 lineup:
Patrick Stone – Lead Vocals
Jimmy Burkard – Guitars Vocals
Stevie Stewart – Bass Vocals
Richie Onori – Drums Percussion
Dave Schulz – Keyboards Vocals
Three members of the original SWEET — Brian Connolly, Steve Priest and Mick Tucker — have since died while remaining bandmate Andy Scott is still alive and has formed his own version of the group, which tours the U.K. and Australia.
Andy Scott (guitars/vocals) is joined in his version of SWEET by Paul Manzi (lead vocals),Lee Small (bass guitar/vocals),Tom Cory (guitars/keys/vocals) and Adam Booth (drums/percussion).
Before he died, Priest had the right to use the SWEET name in the U.S. and Canada, whereas Scott toured a version of the group in the U.K. The pair were estranged for decades, but resumed contact in the 2010s.
The Scott-led version of SWEET released a new studio album, “Full Circle”, last September via Metalville Records. According to a press release, the LP will be SWEET‘s final studio album ever.
Last August, Andy was asked by Metal Express Radio‘s Bryce Van Patten about the existence of another touring and recording act called THE SWEET which contains no members from the original SWEET lineup. Andy said: “Steve [Priest, late SWEET bassist] was an original member. Brian [Connolly, late SWEET singer] was an original member… Well, it’s not something I would’ve liked, but when Mick [Tucker, original SWEET drummer] and I were together from the mid-’80s — ’84, ’85 — if Brian could have still sung, which being the singer that he was, we would’ve had him back in the band. But he couldn’t sing. And that’s what a singer needs to do. And to be frank, you just didn’t know what you were gonna get. Every time I met Brian in the ’80s and the ’90s, he looked different and he didn’t look well. And it’s a difficult thing. If he’d have looked like that and was still able to sing, it would’ve been different because everybody ages. But you can’t go back into a situation made you move away from that in the first stage. Steve did not want to rejoin Mick and I, I found out later. He turned around to me and he said, ‘I hated it by the end. So why would you think I would want to come back in and do it all again?’ And I went, ‘Well, I thought you were doing nothing, mate.’ That would have been a good enough starting point. Come back and be with your mates. But he didn’t. So we had Brian, Brian on his own going to Germany to do these oldie shows, as they were called. We had 10 lead singers and had one backing band and they’d all go up and do two or three of their hits and it was like a show for oldies. And then he found a band that would back him properly, and he was going on tour with Les Gray from MUD. But Les Graywas MUD, but Brian wasn’t SWEET. So he had to go on as THE NEW SWEET, and all of a sudden I’m thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going down this road, are we?'”
Andy continued: “In the ’90s, when [Brian] was really unwell, he said, ‘I don’t wanna be doing this anymore.’ He said, ‘I’d rather just get rid of them.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s your band. Get rid of them.’ And then I suggested to him, ‘If you do that, why don’t we try and work something out whereby you come and do some gigs with my band. And as a bit of a surprise — it won’t be a surprise after we’ve done it a couple of times — you come on stage for the last half an hour and you knock the audience out.’ I said, ‘You don’t have to be the main singer, but as long as you’re doing some of it, they would love it.’ And I’m afraid while we were doing this, he fell really ill and died. His latest musicians that were with him went off when he was really ill and couldn’t do any gigs, they were off doing gigs that were being booked. And I remember saying, ‘We have to stop that.’ And luckily his family dived in and they did manage to stop that. But it’s a very similar thing that’s happening with Steve‘s band. Now, Steve came back on the road, which really surprised me, in 2010, I think it was. And we only found out because somebody from the gig that he was gonna do contacted my agent in London and said, ‘We need a few more details.’ And he phoned me up and he said, ‘You’ll never believe this, but I’ve had a contract through from a band called SWEET doing a gig in America.’ And at the end of it, that was Steve‘s guitar player. He’d written his name in. And so I phoned Steve and Steve said, ‘Well, yeah, we are doing a gig.’ And I said, ‘Well, they’ve sent the contract to us.’ And it all went a bit quiet. And I said, ‘Look, if you were trying to do it on the quiet, you’ll never do it because the music business isn’t like that. Somebody hears something, they’ll tell somebody else.’ I said, ‘And I’m surprised that you didn’t call me so that if you wanted to do some gigs, come and do ’em with me.’ Anyway, it carried on. And I now realize that there was something else going on because it’s his ex-wife or his wife, should we say — I’m not sure whether their relationship was secure while he was alive, how good it was — but she’s given the rights or the okay for this backing band to carry on as THE SWEET. It’s a business thing. I’ve even heard that the drummer talks interviews as if he was the drummer on ‘The Ballroom Blitz’. So, it’s a Walter Mitty thing going on,” he said, referencing a fictional character in James Thurber‘s first short story “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty”.
Elaborating on how he feels about THE SWEET — consisting of singer Patrick Alan Stone, guitarist Jimmy Burkard, bassist Stevie Stewart, keyboardist Dave Schulz and drummer Richie Onori — going out and actively touring and recording in 2024, Andy said: “If they need money, and I can’t see why they would need money because they’ve earned as much as I have from all the recordings and everything, if that’s the reason for them to still do it, I’m not sure whether it is, because I can’t see that band earning the kind of money that they would need to be earning. They’re not on these big tours of casinos and stuff like that. They’re kind of scrabbling about. And why would anybody wanna book a band called SWEET that has nothing that ties them to the original band?”