SWEET FIX are the big winners of the last Band of the Week contest. They are fun, they are glam and they are seriously kicking ass. To be specific – SWEET FIX totally rock these retro-future guitars we love so much. The four NYC rocknrollas have already established themselves as the It-band of the moment with smashing live shows, destined to be a classic debut album Golden Age and a unique anti-star attitude. No matter if they aim for the groovy side of indie with “Showtime”, bring the 80’s back with “Make a Move” or blow up the amps with “FM Radio”, SWEET FIX simply nail it every time. After a long and festive Halloween week, the guitar player and founding member of SWEET FIX Ivan Anderson tells Flowers In A Gun what is his drink of choice, how did he dressed up for the party and why he doesn’t see himself as a savior of the art form.
SWEET FIX are Tommy Walker – vocals; Ivan Anderson – guitar; Jeff Manian – keyboards; Will Sapanaro – bass; Marco Santini – drums
What’s new for SWEET FIX? Are you currently working on new songs? When can we expect the follow up to Golden Age?
We work on new songs more or less constantly, so there are always 1 or 2 that are about to get debuted on stage . . . until we decide to work on them a little longer. We tend to get pretty obsessive about putting the finishing touches on songs. So there are several coming together right now. As for releases, we are currently in the early stages of planning a new recording project, but it’s too soon to say exactly what the details will be. We are all aware that whatever we put out next is going to have to raise the bar even higher than Golden Age did, so we want to do something beyond awesome.
My favorite track of yours is “Make a Move.” Do you plan to shoot a proper video for it?
We’re sticking with the one. The lip-sync video was a pretty serious undertaking (Marco, our drummer, edited it himself), and we all remain proud of it.
How was the show at Mercury Lounge that you played last week? Any accidents or funny stories that you want to confess?
The show was awesome: packed room, very responsive crowd. Everything the way you would want—except my amp broke during soundcheck, so I had to run home to grab my backup (yes, I should have just brought the backup in the first place). But it wasn’t really an issue. The actual show was a blast.
Where is the strangest place that you have played?
We just played at the NYC Marathon, which we loved. We were on the stage at mile 17, and there were just hordes of people running by, and then a bunch of people cheering them on. The vibe was pretty great. I recommend it.
Personally, I found your sound to be a unique mixture of vintage rock guitars and modern groovy rhythms—was it a concept or did it just happen that way?
It just happened. The only concepts we have are pretty loose: “awesome songs that sound like spaceships going really fast.” That could be a concept for like 2 rehearsals.
What were your favorite bands growing up? Who do you consider your biggest musical influences?
Some of us have pretty different taste, so this is me making up everyone’s answers:
Me: Bill Conti
Tommy: Gary Cherone
Jeff: Kraftwerk
Billy: 70s Kool and the Gang
Marco: 80s Kool and the Gang
How do you prepare for live shows? Do you have a special ritual?
Most of us have our little warm-ups that we do. I think Jeff is the only one who never warms up in any way, except when all of us do our cute vocal things together. Then, right before we go on, we have a team huddle, which has come to be pretty important. We do it for every single show, no matter what.
The video “Shit Rock Bands Say” was hilarious! You seem to take the whole rock star thing with a healthy dose of self-irony, is it true?
Thanks. To us, the funniest stuff is basically everything we put in that video. Some of the lines are word-for-word things we’ve heard people say on stage or at clubs or whatever. And the rest was only a slight exaggeration of stuff that was still real. So, yes, even though we’re serious about being a band that’s good, we’re not serious about being the saviors of the art form or something like that.
Do you receive gifts from fans?
Yeah, one guy shot his own music video for “Do You Want It?” just on his own. That was insane. He’s also a good friend, though.
Do You Want It? from Adam Lubitz on Vimeo.
Where is the most unexpected place that you’ve heard your music?
This past summer, Tommy’s mom said she pulled up to a red light, and the car in the next lane had all the windows down, and it was a bunch of teenage girls blasting “Showtime.” I really wish I could have been there for that.
What is the most ridiculous comment about SWEET FIX that you’ve read online?
Online people have mostly been not-ridiculous so far. But once I called a radio station while they were playing SWEET FIX, pretending to be a random person who just loved the music. I asked who the band was, and the DJ said, “SWEET FIX, yeah, they’re from London.” I don’t know where she got that, but it was sort of hilarious. And I couldn’t say anything to correct her, because I was pretending to be curious.
SWEET FIX is a great name! How did you come up with it? Do most people find it drug related, or is it just me for reasons unknown?
We don’t get a ton of questions about whether it’s drug related, so take that how you will. As for how we came up with it, Marco and I wanted to have the word “sweet” in the band name. We tried a million versions, all of which were bad. Then Marco suggested SWEET FIXATION and we shortened it to SWEET FIX.
What were the other ideas for name of the band?
For a while in college before I met Marco, I wanted to form a band named Uterus. Sometimes I still think that could be cool, but the moment passed.
Yeah, it will be great just to say “Now I’m part of Uterus”. What’s the story—how did you form the band?
I was looking for guys to play with in college and found Marco (drums). Then we brought in Billy (bass), who had gone to high school with me. Jeff (keyboards) was my freshman roommate. Tommy (vocals) we found on Craigslist.
How do you spend your time together, when you are not making music?
Usually it winds up that we all go eat somewhere and talk bullshit. That’s probably our number-one activity after rehearsal.
A little bit of trivia: what is your favorite drink?
My favorite drink is orange juice, which I get pretty enthusiastic about. My favorite kind is low-acid/low-pulp Tropicana. Whenever I have any other kind of orange juice, I am aware that it’s a little worse than low-acid/low-pulp Tropicana. Except fresh squeezed. I guess that’s actually the best kind of orange juice.
Where do you shop for stage costumes?
We don’t really shop for costumes, at least not anymore. For a while we were a little more glammy and fashion-forward, but we kinda phased that out. Now we just wear our real clothes. For me, I get most of my vintage concert T-shirts from eBay. That’s probably all I wear on stage anymore.
How were you dressed on Halloween?
Our keyboardist, Jeff, had this idea that we should all wear the same Robin costume—like we would all be Robin from Batman and Robin, but without Batman. So we did it. We were five Robins, all wearing the exact same cheapish costume from Party City or whatever. We wore the costumes on stage for our show at the Grand Victory. Part of it was also that we didn’t talk about it from the stage, and we never acted like Robin or anything like that. We just performed our normal set, all wearing the same Robin costume. I was happy with the way it turned out.
Did I forget to ask something that you wanted to say?
We’re returning to Mercury Lounge on Saturday, December 13. It’s our last show of the year, so we’re going to make it extra intense.
