A Band You Should Know: Sweetie
Photo: David Mahon
A couple of weeks ago I went to see Floodlights at one of their shows and managed to get there early enough to catch the opening act, a delicious all-female band called Sweetie.
I was pleasantly surprised for a number of reasons. One - I was driving but in the spirit of supporting local bars ordered a wine to watch the show. It ended up being a RSL pour and I proceeded to have to wait in my car for a whole hour longer after the show because I was too scared to drive home because I felt drunk from one glass. Two - I’d never heard of Sweetie, which compounded my shock when they were that good. And three, although this happened the week following when I interviewed the band and realised that one of the members, Rikki actually used to work for Monster Children. I was obviously just too blind (both wine induced and because I always forget my fucking glasses) to recognise her. Anyway, enough about me. Get to know Sweetie - because they are great and we think you’ll bloody love them.
Alright, give me the intro – where are we from and how did we link up?
Rikki: Well Lily and I are from WA, and we went to school together.
Lily: We moved to Sydney in quick succession, and we were living together during COVID, making noise in the living room. Janae is another friend of ours who is actually a drummer but wanted to learn base, so she joined on base. I met Lucy through Mega Fauna which is another band that I’m in and she was this cool new friend.
Photo: Jack Moran
How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard you yet?
R: We used to say devo, country punk but I feel like we came up with some better words the other day. Spooky, menacing, smart rock.
My best mate and I call each other Sweetie, so even without hearing you I liked your name – is there a story behind it or just a cute name?
Lily: It was so hard to find a band name. It’s so difficult, but it’s based on a Jane Campion film called ‘Sweetie’ which I really like. The concept of starting the band was writing songs about the worst and best things about you and celebrating the full gannet of your personality. The character in ‘Sweetie’ represents that duality. I think also the name is so sweet but we’re playing loud, punk music so the obvious feminism thing in there too.
I saw you open for Floodlights in Syd. Shoutout Floodies they’re the best band. Did they give you any hot tips or advice on how to navigate the whole music thing?
R: We had a couple of great chats with them and most of those chats happened after heaps and heaps of beers. Lots of chats about managers and how to navigate that relationship so that everyone feels like they have a role to play, and values are upheld but people are still getting paid. It didn’t sound like they had it fully figured out though (laughs).
Photo: Manning Chia
Interesting. I’ve heard it can get pretty tricky with the whole manager thing. On that - in light of the recent shutdown of Splendour – how are we feeling about the music industry right now in Australia?
L: I mean from where we are standing it feels pretty good. We’re in a really nice pocket of a female nonbinary community that really supports us. We’re a part of this label called Blossom Rot Records. It seems like there are heaps of new bands starting up. From a grassroots level, it feels like we’re thriving, but that’s not where money is made or where the industry grinds. I suppose it depends on where you are sitting. If you’re self motivated, self-managed and doing it for your community then it’s a great time. If you’re trying to make a salary it’s terrible.
R: Yeah if you don’t have a full-time job and it’s your career then it’s pretty scary, but we all have full-time jobs and we will keep those full-time jobs.
For sure. I mean I talk to a range of musicians from grass roots to people whose whole career is being a musician, and it’s becoming way more common for the artists that I interview to either have a full time job or at least something on the side, where as a couple of years ago I feel like more people were taking that chance to go all in a bit more. Now that’s just not really feasible. You mentioned the Sydney community, is that support felt across Australia or just your experience within Sydney?
L: I mean we’ve only played on the East Coast. We’ve played Melbourne second to Sydney and it feels the same down there. Brisbane is amazing too. Obviously we are Sydney based so we’re very entrenched here but there’s support from everywhere.
R: It’s so nice when we play outside our usual spots, everyone is so ready to jump at any opportunity to help out. They’re selling our merch out the front or helping set up our drum kit. Especially when you can’t afford to bring everything down.
Photo: Manning Chia
That’s nice to hear. Favourite venue you’ve played at so far and what would be the ultimate one?
L: Oxford Arts was really fun. We headlined there.
R: I really like The Factory. You feel like you’re a rockstar, and naturally no one has guitar leads long enough to make it across the stage.
L: Lost Paradise Festival was also cool. A dream venue would be a stadium? Just somewhere where you strum your guitar once and the sound is so loud that it reverberates around you. I want to feel powerful.
R: I want a drum rise that comes up and out of the stage so I’m at a different level.
L: And then I’ll come down from the roof on a winch.
R: Lucy will ride in on a horse.
(Laughs) What is the focus of Sweetie right now?
L: We’re writing an album. We just submitted a grant so just focusing on writing now for the next few months. The dream for us would be to play overseas. But even an album for us would be so huge. We started so DIY, teaching ourselves how to play so an album would be such an achievement for us.
Photo: Manning Chia