Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: What type of artist are you?
S: A working class DIY band with a love for all things grunge and pop!
PD: Tell us the brief history of yourself.
S: We started during the pandemic as nobody else was really doing anything so we knew we’d stand out, just based on stupidity alone. Two years later, we’ve had multiple sold out shows and supported some insanely talented bands like PINS, The Bug Club and Bull.
PD: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
S: Musically, we love bands such as Pixies, Weezer, Cocteu Twins and whatever else you’d find on a 90’s alternative playlist. Mix these classics in with a sprinkle of modern marvels like FIDLAR and Beabadoobee and you’ve got yourself sweethearts.
Non-musical influences tend to be DIY zines, multi medium artwork and whatever else looks sick really. The Andy Warhol banana is in the top 10 for sure. Tattoo worthy? Ask Niall.
PD: What are your dreams and goals?
S: To be a self sufficient band through constant touring and sales from our sick AF merch. And obviously not having to work proper jobs as we all currently do and have done for 10+ years.
PD: Who writes your songs, what are they about?
S: Niall tends to have an idea, usually just acoustic and vocals, which is sent to Josh to flesh out with all the other instrumentation before being brought to the band at rehearsals ready to polish off and add some of that sweethearts signature spice (currently not available due to demand).
PD: How do you promote your band and shows?
S: Usual social media things on insta, facebook and twitter. Although Mr SuckABurger is making it impossible to reach more than 10% of our audience (which we’ve worked fucking hard to gain) without paying. Greedy lizards!
We’ve put out some zines, posters and flyers which can still be found on university hall bedrooms to this day. We’re also confident enough in our music that we can tell people to listen to us and they won’t be disappointed. Be your own biggest fan 🫶
PD: What do you think about downloading music online?
S: It’s the modern way of consuming music and most media in general nowadays and we ain’t complaining. If you would have told us 25,000 people would have listened to a song written in a bedroom and recorded in a few hours, we would have never believed you but with online streaming that is a reality for us.
Plus, have you seen the price of physical releases? We can barely make our rent each month, nevermind throwing thousands into a bunch 12″ records we’d have to sell at a stupidly high price to make our money back and we ain’t about that.
We can’t afford most merch at shows nowadays (this is mostly down to venues taking an undeserved merch cut you greedy tory scum) which is why we try to keep our pricing low so if someone likes a tshirt, they can afford it without taking out a bank loan.
And honestly, for all we care, you can illegally download all our music off limewire but just make sure to tell others about it, come to a show and buy some of our super hip merch!
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
S: Probably the album Teens of Denial from Car Seat Headrest. I know you said song but that album is perfect start to finish! You might even get to hear a reference to it at our upcoming GRUNGEPOP SWEETHEART release shows in Liverpool (12/04, Jaracanda) and Hull (15/04, DIVE).
PD: What are some of your pet peeves?
S: When people don’t give each other the basic respect we all deserve.
Musically, why are albums now pushing closer to 50/60 minutes?
We just want a 30ish minute release with end-to-end bangers!
Saying that, some of our favourite albums are long but what’s been human without contradiction?
PD: What is your proudest moment in music?
S: Having people know the lyrics to our songs will never cease to amaze.
Like someone has taken enough time out of their lives to listen to our music enough to know the words, that’s something we’ll forever be thankful for and never truly understand. Thank you 🫶
PD: So what are you working on at the moment?
S: Music, music and more music.
The more music we release, the more excuses we have to play shows.
The more shows we play, the more merch we sell.
The more merch we sell, the more we can order.
And just that on a loop as it has been for the last two years.
PD: What music have you available online and where can we buy it from?
S: You can stream all our music online through the majority of the services and once we’ve restocked our merch (we keep selling out!), that will be available at our live shows first before any leftovers go up on bandcamp. Or if you really want a tshirt before they go online, drop us a DM and we can work something out. Although last time we offered this we sold out of tshirts before we’d played a show.
sweethearts links:
Band/Artist location – England UK
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp – ffmto – Twitter – Instagram – Apple –
Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – LinkTree – TikTok – Merch –
Check our page for Sweethearts
