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The
SWEET ADDICTION
story began in 1986 after
singer Matt Wolff and guitarist Dave Airey had met at school and spent a couple of
years writing songs. Together with drummer Gavin Hardman they had all been in various
local Manchester bands, and started jamming.
The songs were good, but money was tight and Matt took up the offer of a job in
Brighton. Dave decided that without Matt's great voice there would be no show,
so after a couple of months he drove down to see him determined to get him back
into music.
Matt was already fed up and longing for Manchester. He sang well with Dave and
they hatched a plan to form a band that might just have a chance of getting
drunk for free.
Back in Manchester Matt & Dave started writing songs with Gav, who brought along
a friend to play bass - Russell 'Joe' Johnson.
The rehearsals were electric, and
SWEET ADDICTION were born.
The music was raw, powerful blues rock.
As part of their
first UK tour to promote 'Mayfair', the
Quireboys were playing Monroes, a glitzy
dive in Stockport - a local gig for the Sweets. Pitching themselves as support,
the band were convinced the Quireboys would like what they heard and put in a
good word with their label, Survival. They were right, and Quireboys frontman
Spike invited them down to London to play Gossips, a notorious
psychedelic bar left over from the 60's, and smack bang in the middle of Soho.
The gig was packed.
The rock press had started picking up on
SWEET ADDICTION and reviews were
positive.
SWEET ADDICTION went on the road, playing every gig they could get their hands
on. They slept in the van if they slept at all as they relentlessly toured
around the
country where the live shows became heaving rock 'n' roll parties.
They were rewarded with a week in Picnic Studios, Kent, to record a single for
Survival,
who had sold the Quireboys to EMI and were looking for another band. A&R man
Dave Rome Bought the band new gear and rented them a big run-down house in
Withington, South Manchester with a rehearsal space in the cellar. The house was
always full of friends, drunks, girls and weirdo's but rehearsals were non-stop.
The first single "ALL I WANTED TO DO" was recorded with Dogs D'Amour and AC/DC
Producer Mark Dearnley and engineered by
Tony Banks.
Dearnley was cool, and the band still maintain that these sessions were the only
time their live sound was really captured in the studio.
B-Sides were recorded live in Manchester and at Big Noise Studios, London.
A black and white video was shot in a West London warehouse.
They immediately set off on another tour, supporting
Balaam & the
Angels. By now the band had worked their set into a bunch of great rock 'n' roll
tunes. Audiences were bigger and press, TV and radio hacks bought them drinks at
The Marquee and the Astoria, with all night sessions at the St.Moritz in Soho.
By the time they got back to Manchester, everyone on the rock scene was talking
about SWEET ADDICTION.
Life was good.
Back in
the studio on the strength of a great tour, SWEET ADDICTION cut their second
single for Survival, 'CAUGHT ON A LINE'. Dave Rome was impressed with the way
things were going and booked Rockfield Studios in beautiful South Wales (a
legendary studio - Queen had recorded 'Bohemian Rhapsody' there).
The band were hyperactive after nearly a year of relentless touring and sessions
were erratic. Everyone was drinking heavily and chaos reigned. Then the great
Stevie Ray Vaughn died suddenly as the single was being recorded. The boys
sobered up and wrote and cut a blues tune for the B-side - 'I'm Doin' Fine' - as
a tribute. The A-side shaped up with harmonica and slide guitar, and Dave put
down a killer ballad, 'Hurt This Way'.
Back on the
road, they toured with labelmates
The Grip.
SWEET ADDICTION were flying, and were booked to appear at the 1991
Cumbria Rock
Festival, alongside Marillion, Blackfoot, The Almighty,
Atom Seed,
Cheap And
Nasty, FM, Jagged Edge, Loud, Lisa Dominique and
Dumpy's Rusty Nuts.
20,000 people came to rock, and
SWEET ADDICTION
didn't disappoint. Tommy
Vance interviewed the band
after a fantastic set, which was broadcast on
Radio One
and lead to a live session on the
Friday Rock Show.
A headline tour was booked, and venues like the Marquee and Rockworld in Manchester were sold out for double weekend shows. They played the London Hippodrome and guzzled champagne with Andy McCoy, guitarist with legendary glam rockers Hanoi Rocks. More TV followed. The video for 'CAUGHT ON A LINE' was getting rotation on MTV and Matt & Dave played a live acoustic set from The Marquee for ITV . Gigs went well, and the single grazed the top 100.
Survival had benn talking to BMG Records, the German heavywieght that had just bought RCA. BMG wanted in on the next single with an option to record an LP...
'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH' was recorded at Battery Studios in the heart of London with (Weird Al Yankovitz lookalike) Chris 'The Vibe' Tsangerides at the controls. The band went back to their roots with a blistering live version of The Who's 'The Seeker' on the flip.
SWEET ADDICTION toured again, playing to rocking crowds.
Survival A&R man Dave Rome started looking for a producer for the album. Stephan Galfas, who's work with Meatloaf, ELO and countless others the band had admired, flew over from the US to meet them. They worked well together and booked into Jacobs Studios, Surrey, to start recording 'All The Fools In Town...Are On Our Side'. Twelve songs - some live favourites, the rest new - were put down with keyboard player Lee Horsley joining our heroes on piano and Hammond organ.
To Be Continued...
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