ANDY SCOTT Blasts Other Version Of SWEET Band Which 'Has Nothing That Ties Them To The Original' Group

In a new interview with Metal Express Radio 's Bryce Van Patten, guitarist Andy Scott of the legendary rock band SWEET was asked about the existence of another touring and recording act called THE SWEET which contains no members from the original SWEET lineup. Andy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "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?"

The Scott-led version of SWEET will release its new studio album, "Full Circle", on September 20, 2024 via Metalville Records. According to a press release, the LP will be SWEET's final studio album ever.

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.