With sugary melodies, insistent rhythms and a flashy look, British band Sweet was one of the major players in the glam rock movement of the early ’70s. Hits like “Ballroom Blitz,” “Fox on the Run” and “Little Willie” were exemplary of the group’s place in the poppier corner of a glam world that was dominated by David Bowie and T Rex, and tours with everyone from Journey to Iron Maiden were earned.
The classic lineup of Sweet called it a day in 1981, with various spinoff groups carrying on. “Ballroom Blitz,” if not the band’s name itself, would get an occasional boost thanks to covers by Krokus (1984), most famously Tia Carrere in the movie “Wayne’s World” (1992) and The Struts for the 2016 film “The Edge of Seventeen.”
A lineup of Sweet formed by original bassist Steve Priest is still touring and releasing new music since he died in 2020, with American drummer Richie Onori leading the way. The band will open for Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad fame at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe, Pa., on Friday, Dec. 12.
“The fans are going crazy,” Onori said of the reaction at the shows. “I mean, we know we’re not in the lineage of Sweet, right? But when we play, the proof’s in the pudding. You look up and we’re playing in Halifax, which was our last show, and the fans just go crazy. And the same with Ohio. It doesn’t matter where we are with those hits. And then we add our new stuff.”
He continued: “We’ve invested a lot of time into keeping this legacy alive, so it doesn’t matter what some haters say. It doesn’t really matter because we love it and we’re just keeping on and they keep on hiring us.”
Fronted by Scotsman Brian Connolly, who passed in 1997, Sweet was influential on Kiss, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue. Priest, the bassist, came out of retirement to from his version of Sweet after he performed with Onori at a Hurricane Katrina benefit on the Sunset Strip in 2005. The show featured members of INXS, Toto and Whitesnake, Slash and keyboard legend Keith Emerson, whom Onoroi was playing with at the time.
“I learned ‘Fox on the Run’ and ‘Ballroom Blitz,’ the hits,” Onori said of prepping for Priest’s segment of the show. “He came up to me after and he goes, ‘wow,’ and said that he was excited. And then a year went by and we got an email from Priest and he says, ‘What about putting Sweet back together? I want to do my version.'”
Guitarist Andy Scott, from the ’70s lineup, had asked Priest to join his version of the group, “but he didn’t care for that,” Onori said, who added that the bassist wanted to put together “a dangerous band.” “So he offered me and a few other members at the time a split in Blitz Touring Inc., which was a separate corporation, and it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. So now we’re coming into 20 years.”
Onori said early next year the band will release a song that Priest wrote, played on and sang. “It’s an anthem,” he said. It’s one of about a dozen new songs Sweet has recorded, he said.
The best way to promote the new stuff, Onori said, is to play it live.
“Live has always been the best way,” he said. “In the old days, any which way you look at it, you were waiting for a record deal. You were trying to get attention from a label, and then, there’s a good chance by the third record you’re going to have a hit like REO and Styx and all the different things that happened in those days. But now we live in a time where you can get totally ignored, and by playing live and capturing your audience you start building your live audience that way. We’ll play from 300 people to 15,000 or 20,000 over these years. We’ll be doing huge festivals and when you’re signing after the show autograph after autograph, I mean people want your drumsticks and all that. They will come back to see another show, and they’re excited about it. They’re excited to see an incredible show. We have, I think, one of the best shows out there, period.”
Mark Farner’s American Band with Sweet, Friday, Dec. 12, Penn’s Peak (325 Maury Road, Jim Thorpe, Pa. 18229). Tickets and info here.
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