CARRYING A LEGACY
A CONVERSATION WITH JIMMY BURKARD, PATRICK ALAN STONE & RICHIE ONORI OF THE SWEET
One of the most essential acts of glam rock was The Sweet (also known simply as Sweet). They were one of the biggest bands in the ‘70s with hits like “Fox On The Run”, “The Ballroom Blitz”, “Little Willy”, and “Love Is Like Oxygen” and their influence was enormous, inspiring bands like Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard. By the early ‘80s, the original The Sweet had disbanded. Eventually original member Steve Priest came out of a long retirement in 2008 and decided to form his version of the band. Priest continued to play with his band until he died in 2020. Priest’s version of The Sweet continues to carry his legacy. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with members Jimmy Burkard, Richie Onori, and Patrick Alan Stone.
Recently, The Sweet released the infectious and hard-rocking “Little Miracle”. All three are overwhelmed by the love the song has been getting from fans. Onori comments, “The fan reception has been amazing! We wanted to pick a song that would break the ice with the fanbase. So, we wanted something that would be kind of the perfect song that combines the old Sweet with the 21st-century Sweet. It’s been overwhelming to hear how many people love it and feel like we’re carrying the legacy right along with where we left off. So, we’re excited about it.”
Stone adds, “Yeah, it’s a cool song and very catchy. It’s an earworm. I showed it to my Mom, and she was like; ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t stop thinking about it.’”
Burkard remarks, “We’ve been playing it live, and you know, the people are clapping along and swaying to it, and I’m like, okay, it’s going over good. It’s a brand-new song they don’t know, but it’s hitting them.”
Carrying the legacy of a legendary band like The Sweet is difficult. However, when you have a deep passion and immense love and respect for the music, care about the legacy you are continuing, are incredibly talented musicians, and have energetic and electric live shows, it makes it much easier. Stone happily expresses what it is like to be part of The Sweet legacy, “It’s insane to be part of such a huge legacy. When we put [“Little Miracle”] out, that’s my first song with Sweet, so hearing my voice with that title on it right on Spotify and stuff like that was a little bit of a moment for me, for sure. We are up in Canada. I think we were up here a year or two ago, and the last time we were here, the crowd convinced me to do a stage dive on an 8-ft leap over the gap between the stage and the crowd and I landed like a pillow in like about 2500 people. But the live shows, once the music starts, all your insecurities and fears fly out the window because the music is so good. I just can’t help but get caught up in it. I feel that electricity and share it with the audience. It’s awesome!”
Onori has been with the band the longest out of the three. In reflecting on the fantastic experiences playing in The Sweet, he says, “It’s about the chemistry of a band. When it’s the right chemistry, just like the original, when they came together, it was like magic, and that’s how I feel this has been. But being with Steve Priest all those years with him, he put together a band and asked me to become his partner in the band, and it’s just been an incredible ride. We love playing the music and the experiences. So many funny things have happened on the road and playing. We’ve played so many shows with Sweet, and we love the music.”
Each member has their own story about falling in love with The Sweet’s music. Burkard has been a fan of them ever since he was a kid, stating, “I remember being a kid here hearing “Little Willy”, “The Ballroom Blitz”, “Fox On The Run”, and loving those tunes, singing along to those with my sisters and the other kids on the block. Then, in sixth grade, we had a talent show. I knew a few chords, but my buddies and I got together and did “Fox On The Run”. We mimed it. I couldn’t play the whole song at that time. That was my first experience on a stage, in the gym, with the lights, and the kids are there, and I’m like; ‘Wow! I really like this.’”
Like Burkard, Stone grew up listening to The Sweet and cites them as one of the bands that got him into music. He notes, “Desolation Boulevard was in a stack of my sister’s albums, which was my first experience with music. [Also], there was Highway to Hell, Supertramp, Boston, Tattoo You, and Queen, and all the bands I fell in love with. But yeah, “Fox On The Run” hits a certain chord in your soul, and it sticks there forever. When I first got the call from Mitch Perry, the previous guitar player, to audition for the first time, I remember studying the music, and I had a dream one night that was so vivid that I was actually in the band back in, you know, 1969, 1971. It was so weird. I was walking down a corridor; the cars were all from that era, and I had some bellbottoms on. It was just the trippiest dream, and I woke up like, ‘Woah, that was so real.’” Now, here we are today, years and years later, and actually touring with the band. It’s just mind-boggling.”
Onori didn’t have the same exposure to the band when he was younger. Once he met Steve Priest and started playing with him and dived more into their discography he was blown away by their talent. He mentions, “I was at the time working with Keith Emerson and a lot of different people, and so I knew the songs, but when I met Steve Priest, and we started playing together, it was like, ‘Oh, I know these songs,’ but as I got familiar with the band I went, ‘Oh my goodness gracious.’ I started hearing the deep cuts. Growing up on Deep Purple and [Jimi] Hendrix and all the different people I enjoyed playing that [kind of] music. [The Sweet] were funky, too. They played everything. That’s what’s so great about the original; it fits perfectly with me.”
Although Stone loves playing all the songs, one in particular stands out as he remarks, “It’s got to be “Fox On The Run” for me. When it hits the keyboard, and that song starts, you see the crowd; the eyes in the crowd open up super wide. There’s just this joy that overcomes the audience, and then they are all yours. You know everybody’s family. It’s always that song, and I can’t wait until we get to that. But don’t get me wrong, the whole thing is extraordinary. But it’s really cool when that song starts.” On the other hand, Burkard mentions “Action”, and “Set Me Free” as two of his favourite songs to play.
Burkard, Stone, and Onori have been in the music business for quite some time, and during that time, each of them has learned some valuable advice that has helped them along the way. Burkard lives by his credo: “Never stop learning and never give up. I do what I love. You got to love what you’re doing, and its a passion. It comes from deep inside.”
In a humorous story, Stone talks about the best advice he has been given. “We were about ready to take off for a tour. I was sitting for Steven Adler for Guns N’ Roses, and it was our last rehearsal. The tour bus was all packed up, and Whitesnake was next door. I finally had the balls enough to be like, ‘I’m one of these guys, man; I’m gonna walk in and tell David Coverdale what’s up.’ So I walk in like I own the place, I walk past all the security, and they all look at me like, ‘Huh, I guess he’s somebody,’ ’cause I was walking like I was somebody. Then I got up to David, and all I could utter out was like, ‘I’m going on the road on tour. Got any advice?’ And he goes, ‘kick fucking ass!!!’ So that’s the advice I’ve taken.”
Onori smiles, “Well, I asked Mitch Mitchell, and I said, listen, Mitch, Mitch was with Jimi Hendrix; I ‘want to tell you, Mitch, I would not have started playing drums if it wasn’t for you’, and he looked at me and said, ‘don’t blame me!!’ Now, without that joke, I would say people guiding me. I think it’s just a matter of it was my mother’s inspiration of me and how she worked me; if I’m going to do something, I better do it good. So, when you practice something for eight hours a day instead of going up the street and playing with your friends, and you’re dedicated to your craft, you get pretty good pretty quick. That’s where you start rising, and it was really my Mom. That was probably the best advice I ever had because she said ‘if you’re going to be an entertainer, you better be all in.’”
All three members have wanted to be musicians for as long as they can remember. From the moment he started playing guitar, Burkard knew he wanted to be a musician. When asked if he ever wanted to be something over than a musician, Stone chuckles, “Not me. Hell no. It was this or die. It’s funny. I got really lucky with or worked really hard at acting, too, for a little while. I had a few T.V. shows, some commercials, and stuff like that, but all the money I made—hundreds of thousands of dollars—went back into my music. It’s all about the music, no matter what.”
Onori chimes in, “Sometimes you have to do other things to provide, and that’s okay. Sometimes, if you have children or different things coming in, you learn to do other things that are music-related and anything that I did was music-related. But it’s a tough path being a full-time musician.”
Onori is a world-class drummer who has played alongside some of music’s greatest minds, such as Ronnie James Dio, Paul Rodgers, Richie Sambora, Slash, and Keith Emerson. Playing with legendary musicians has been a blast for Onori, as he says, “It was amazing. When I worked with Dio, he produced a session that I was at with Rick Derringer. I was mainly studio drumming with a lot of that. Playing live with Paul Rodgers, playing with Sambora, it’s just been an incredible experience. After you study your craft, you feel that no matter who you’re playing with, you know your craft, are confident in what you do, and known for what you do. I’m just glad my parents moved to L.A.. I grew up in the right melting pot.”
Stone loves working with others on music and believes that the creative process constantly changes from song to song and that your mood impacts that process. He highlights, “I love collaborating more than anything. I love to push the people that I’m working with to the ultimate limit of their capabilities, and I love to be treated the same way. I think the creative process is different every time. It’s really song-dependent because you never know who’s gonna come up with the idea first or why you have to do it. If you have to write a song for a movie, all of a sudden, you have this content that you have to write lyrics around. Other times, you’re heartbroken, and you want to write about it, and it definitely dictates how the melody and the song are going to sound. There is sorrow in it, maybe. Other times, you’re just feeling so damn good. Sometimes, I pop in the shower, and some rhythm starts coming to my head, and I’ll have to grab my voice memo while I’m soaking wet because it’s just so vivid. I have to spit it out vocally into the phone, and then later, I’ll listen back and throw words to it. It’s always different.”
Onori is very excited about the band’s future, noting, “For this band, we’re just exploring right now how we work together because this is new. The new chemistry with this band is just incredible. There’s something new we are going to be putting out after “Little Miracle” that is really a band composition, and I think the bottom line is that this is an amazing group.”
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