MICK SWEDA Says Latest BULLETBOYS Reunion 'Has Been Really Great': 'I Love Playing With These Guys'

In a new interview with The Heavy Metal Kitchen, BULLETBOYS guitarist Mick Sweda spoke about the latest reunion of the band's classic lineup, in which he is joined by members Marq Torien (vocals),Lonnie Vencent (bass) and Jimmy D'Anda (drums). Mick said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "We had some talks in December and ended up quickly playing a few gigs. And, yeah, we are bringing it, hopefully, to pretty much everywhere in America this summer."

As for the personal and musical chemistry between him and the other BULLETBOYS members, Mick said: "We picked up right where we left off. It's the kind of thing where we don't see each other for — oh, I don't know — a decade, five years, three years, whatever it is, and we get in a room together and it just all seems to coalesce and we're pretty much right back at square one with the humor and the antics and the fun. And it's been really great. I love playing with these guys."

He continued: "I haven't really been able to feel like I can express myself in most other situations. I just feel, feel like I own this material and can do with it as I please. And that is very freeing."

On the topic of the BULLETBOYS songwriting process, Sweda said: "Everybody is an entity unto himself, so it's very easy for us to get in a room and find something to begin with. Sometimes it's a rift that I have, sometimes it's something Marq's got. Lonnie is a very capable writer, and certainly Jimmy has his creative arm as well. So it's a collective of guys that are all creatives and strong in their own ways. So hopefully that coalesces into something even bigger."

After the interviewer noted that she "had a feeling" Mick would eventually return to the BULLETBOYS, the guitarist said: "Well, that's kind of funny, because that's exactly what Lonnie had in mind when he connected with Marq. He says, 'Yeah, man, the only reason I really got back is 'cause I knew I was gonna try to get everybody on board again.' And everybody's in a different place now. It's a lot more civil. Obviously, there has to be a lot of water under the bridge, but we're all in a place right now where nobody's really got the time for animosity or any of the stuff that has gone on before. So, God willing, everything will work out very well. We're looking forward to playing. And, obviously, those shows are what we're all real excited about doing."

Earlier this month, Sweda told Anthony Bryant of The Hair Metal Guru about his decision to return to the BULLETBOYS: "If anybody has ever heard me talk before, you probably know that I basically gave up my rights to the [BULLETBOYS] name back in 1993 when I left the band. And that was always part of what I wanted to realign. I wanted everybody to have their portion of the name back and sort of get the band on the right track and get everything sort of as it as it was back then. And that was never on the table. There was never an opportunity for that to happen in the past. And, of course, after I say something like 'never', which I know better than to do, that comes on the table, and now all of a sudden there are discussions and legalities are being worked out and things are coming to fruition that I never expected in the past. So, without going into all the gory details, that is ultimately what ended up happening. Something became available to everybody, for the betterment of the band, I think, and everybody agrees with that. Everybody seems to be in a much better place. The conversations were civil and productive. And I never expected that to happen. So, yeah, never say never — or to say, 'Hey, you didn't let me finish.'"

Elaborating on how the latest BULLETBOYS reunion materialized, Mick said: "Well, I think it all began with Lonnie. He'd been playing with Marq for a while. And I hadn't talked to any of the guys, so I got a call out of the blue from Lonnie, and he was just putting out feelers. And I have to admit, I didn't give him a very warm reception. I was not interested at that point and very cognizant of the situation having not been changed. And then I don't know how much longer, maybe a month later, Jimmy knocked on my door and said essentially the same thing, like, 'I'm playing now. Everything seems to be cool. We're going in the right direction.' And again, I was very reticent because the one component that I was looking for at that point was just being sort of dreamed of at that point. So a little after that, Marq called me and we had a very emotional conversation and he made it clear that he didn't wanna go on with anybody but me and the original band. And that ended up being a very productive conversation, surprisingly, and he said that he was amenable to anything that we put forth. And that created a pathway to a reunion that was never supposed to happen."

Mick went on to say that Marq's willingness to give the other members of the classic BULLETBOYS lineup their portion of the name back was the factor that ultimately convinced him to give another reunion a chance.

"Well, yeah, I did change my mind because, again, there was the missing component that suddenly appeared," he said. "And I thought that was enough for me to say, 'Okay. I like playing with you guys. I love it.' It's a lot of fun for me. I can't really play like that in any other scenario. So that's always a boost for me. So, yeah, it ended up working out. And we've played a few shows and everything's going swimmingly and it's been a lot of fun."

Asked why he is hopeful that this BULLETBOYS reunion will fare better than other BULLETBOYS reunions had fared in the past, Mick said: "Well, pretty much my unrequited faith in humanity, because I'm an optimist, although it's not always easy to see. But you I believe in people coming around, and that has been demonstrated to me. I hear what people are saying. Obviously, everybody takes a wait-and-see position, but at this point, everybody's walking the walk. And that was the important thing for me to see. I wasn't sure how that was gonna go. And believe me, I've confronted everybody on whatever I considered what the issues might be, and they were addressed and everybody was very mature and civil about it. And we just went out and had fun. And everybody knows what the reward is. It's like I probably told you before: one of the problems that I have always had is horriblizing the work that has to be done, horriblizing what you've gotta do, and not thinking about the reward, not thinking about what all that work will lead to. And I'm kind of switching around my attitude about that, and this is an example of it."

As for how he and the other members of the reunion BULLETBOYS plan to tackle any issues as they come up going forward, Mick said: "The last time we tried to write — not necessarily write together, but record together, it became a cluster bang. And nobody wants that. So, I have ideas that I wanna put forth in terms of what's gonna happen when. I mean, everybody's already talking about a record and a recording and all that. So, hopefully we can come to an agreement about how that's gonna go and facilitate it. And again, everybody seems to be willing to work together and play their part, and hopefully that will be a step towards getting along enough to create and have fun doing it."

Asked if there is a plan to put out new BULLETBOYS music with this lineup, Mick said: "Well, there's chatter about it. The plan hasn't really been fomented yet, but there's talk. It's mostly peripheral talk — it's not really us; we're not thinking about that. What we really wanna do is go out and get our show together and play some dates and get connected again as a band. That's really our goal at this point. And whatever comes further down the line, we'll be icing, I suppose."

Asked if there is any BULLETBOYS material left over from the past, like old demos, that he and the other members of the band could bring back and record for a possible new release, Mick said: "Yeah. And that's one of the ideas that I had. Rather than everybody coming in with their new riffs, I thought, and I think everybody's open to this, I thought going back and reviewing some of the things that got left off of records or we never had a chance to record for a record, I think going back and looking at some of those things might be a perfect combination of our sort of vintage and playing them with a new ear or a new take. So that could end up being very possible."

The original BULLETBOYS lineup returned to the live stage for the first time in more than four years on December 19, 2025 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois. The band also played on December 20 at The Vault in Saginaw, Michigan and on December 28 at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go on the famed Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California.

Prior to the St. Charles show, the original BULLETBOYS lineup of Torien, Vencent, D'Anda and Sweda last reunited back in mid-December 2019 and lasted for a couple of years before Sweda announced in January 2022 that both he and D'Anda were exiting the band. In December 2024, Vencent rejoined BULLETBOYS once again.

BULLETBOYS formed in 1988 at the very peak of the Los Angeles glam metal movement. As a collection of talented musicians, BULLETBOYS were able to quickly capture the attention of music fans around the world. Unlike other rockers of the day, the BULLETBOYS possessed more hard rock-blues fusion than pure hair metal. Thanks to comparisons to the likes of AEROSMITH and VAN HALEN, talent scouts came running and the band quickly received their first major label contract.

BULLETBOYS' self-titled debut was released in 1988 via Warner Bros. and peaked at number 34 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned two hit singles, a cover of the O'JAYS classic "For The Love Of Money" and "Smooth Up in Ya", both of which charted on the Mainstream Rock chart and saw regular airplay on MTV. BULLETBOYS went on to release two more albums, 1991's "Freakshow" and 1993's "Za-Za", before splitting up.