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Flagpole Ma;
December 4, 1991
Sweet Defense
Matthew Sweet is heading back to Athens, a former
residence and origin of his musical wanderings. He's
touring the East coast in support of his new album, Girl
friend. and is anxious to get the record straight about his
rumoured “unsavory reputation’ once and for all. He was
once a member of Athens' bands Oh-OK, the first installa
tion ofHetch Hetchv. and Buzz of Delight.
Sweet left Lincoln, Nebraska on the suggestion of Mitch
Easter, a penpal who wrote to Sweet about the music scene
in Athens. Sweet's debut LP. Inside (Columbia), released in
1986 has quite a who's who list of musical connections.
Produced in New York City. Boston, London and LA, the
producers' list includes Stephen Hague, Scott Litt, Don
Dixon and Dave Allen. Three of the songs on the LP were
co-written by Pal Shazar (ex-Slow Children), Jules Shear
and Adele Bertei while performers on the album include
Aimee Mann (Til Tuesday), John McGeoch (ex-Magazine,
Banshees), Bangles members, one of Petty's Heartbreak-
ers, Valerie Simpson of Ashford and fame, Bernie Worrell,
Chris Stamey, Fred Maher, Anton Fier <vjhew> In fact,
Sweet toured with Fier3 bit in 1987‘s version of the Golden
Palominos and recorded “Something Becomes Nothing’
for the Palominos' Blast of Silence LP
More recently, Sweet aided Lloyd Cole in his latest release
then Cole returned the favor. Other guest musicians on
Girlfriend include Pic Menck (Velvet Crush) on drums and
Greg Leisz (k d. Lang's Reclines) on pedal and lap steel
guitars. Anyway, the guy has been around.
Flagpole: Have you read Roger Brown's book about the
Athens' music scene, Party Out of Bounds? You're men
tioned in one section, and the attitude towards you is less
than nice. You're quoted as saying that you calculated your
music career, and that some of your former bandmates
from Buzz of Delight andOh-OK are still angry with you over
your decision to go solo.
Matthew Sweet: (laughs) Well, I didn't read the book; I
read the thing about me. You can absolutely ask me about
it. You know, you can’t imagine what it feels like to have
someone write something like that about you in a book. But
I remember that guy, Roger Brown, he was like a member
of the Communist Party, he was like a radical Jth, Mr.
Heavy-serious, you know? It’s really ridiculous to think I was
"calculated* in any way. I wanted to do music; I certainly
wasn't going to turn down the idea of making a record
’cause I thought that was the coolest thing. But it wasn’ f
about trying to use Athens as a launching pad. David
Pierce, [drummer from Buzz of Delight], he’s been calling
me up, and we finally talked yesterday. He told me about
those quotes, he said: "I said all these good things, and I
told him [Brown], we had no bitterness, and thatyou’d been
really nice to me afterwards,’ and he [Brown] didn’t even
tape any of it.
FP: When did this all happen?
MS: Well, the Buzz of Delight was me writing songs and
playing all the instruments except the drums, and by the
time we were later into that group, even the drums were
programmed. So basically we were a group, but we weren't
like a group, it was more like a solo project. I was ap
proached by this record company that said, "You don’t
have to go to school anymore. We’ll give you money to get
an 8-track"—which I’d always dreamed all my life of having
— "and you can just write songs, and we think you should
think about being a solo artist." I never considered I would
be a solo artist under my own name. So I thought hard about
it for a few minutes, and I said, "Great; I want an 8-track I'll
give it a shot doing that." And when Buzz of Delight broke
up, David was real upset about it, but he moved on with his
life, did Tasty World and we stayed friends.
FP: What about this part of the book where Pierce is
described as being very bitter as you left town with an
“unsavory reputation?’
MS: Well, let me tell you about that also. You have to
understand the time in Athens. I was this kid. I came from
Nebraska out of nowhere. I could sorta play instruments,
which a lot of people in the early Athens scene... They were
art students who picked up instruments ’cause they wanted
to have bands. I wanna explain another quote outta there
I mean, I hope you don’t hear me as going too overboard
talking about this, but it's so great to talk to somebody who
knows about that, who doesn’t know me and be able to give
the other side of it, you know 7 There’s so many inaccura
cies about the way [the book] was written. -Like, for in
stance, I never had a Cadillac or drove into Athens in a
Cadillac in my life. I had a terrible, little, beat-up... it was a
Honda Civic that I inherited from my brother that was totally
trashed and barely ran. And I never had my father’s credit
cards or any of that stuff. That all comes from sour grapes
people.
FP: Sounds like you have it memorized.
MS: Well, I do, because if you’re wrongly accused of
something in a book, you remember what they said, ’cause
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Dougherty St. • 9-9 M-r • 9-6 Sal. • 2-6 Sun
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US. 29 North-8-4 M-F
Power
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Winterville.Ga *9-3 M-F
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* Calander of Events ^
December
4 - The Nick, Birmingham AL,
opening for Allgood
6 - GA Theater, Athens GA
11- Music Farm, Charelston SC
12 - Congress St. Station, Savannah GA
13 - New Millenium, Charlotte NC,
Opening for Allgood
16 - The Nick, Birmingham AL,
headlining
17 - The Point, Atlanta GA
19 - The Chameleon Club, Atlanta GA
27 - The Rose, Macon GA,
opening for Allgood
31 - Cotton Club, Atlanta GA,
opening for Algood
January
9 - The Rose, Macon GA, headlining
10 & 11- O’Malley's, Athens GA
29 - The Point, Atlanta GA
30 - The Nick, Birmingham AL
For info, call Alberto @ (404) 354-7972.
All .dates are subject to change.