Life is Sweet

Sweet Seduction Interview - Randii and Paul with Nix

Long locks, pyrotechnic sleazy riffs, tattoos aplenty topped off with relentless touring seem to sum up Sweet Seduction. With a ‘classic’ sound, they seem to be one of the bands leading the pack at the moment. On the touring front, one cannot question their commitment to spreading the word. Very solid live, they boast a massive fan base that seems to be forever increasing through word of mouth and through landing some top class support slots. In recent times, they’ve supported the likes of Slunt, Vain, Dogs D’Amour and Tokyo Dragons as well as playing the mighty Bulldog Bash.

Randii Seduction (drums) and Paul Rollins (guitar) speak to Nix about how it all started, why they changed their name, what they've been upto for the past few months and what the future holds for Sweet Seduction.

N: How did all you guys get together?
Randii: I responded to an ad for a Tommy Lee style drummer after my old band went tits up, I then dragged in my old bassist in order to free up Rob as he was doing both Bass and Singing and he really needed to do one or the other which we all seemed to agree on.

Paul: Ive known Dani and Rob for years and they found this shit excuse for a drummer who found an even worse excuse for a bassist

N: What made you pick up an instrument in the first place?
Randii: Errr I duno I always liked Drums, I had a mate who could play at school and got into it that way. I’d be lying if I said a band influenced me to do so.

Paul: Watching Richie Sambora

N: Biggest influences?
Randii: Collectively there’s no way we’d agree on band, maybe on Skid Row and AC/DC. For me personally… no one, I like the showman ship side of drumming so in that respect Tommy Lee & Robin Guy but musically I never wanted to do anything other then be in a shit kicking Rock ‘n’ Roll band with some kinda x factor and adrenaline goin’ on with big melodies… If the drumming seems AC/DC like, I assure you it’s because I either suck or I can’t be arsed to be tech, besides you fuck up melodies by trying to be a musicians band.

Paul: Beer, drugs and noise

N: How would you describe your live show?
Randii: Pretty in yer face I guess. It’s far from perfection, we don’t rehearse moves, say the same lines in between songs and use the same crowd banter at every gig, none of that shit. We get on stage and play Rock ‘n’ Roll, every shows different because or every stage and venue is different. It’s easy to feed off a decent crowd but you don’t always get that or if the sound on stage sound is ‘uncomfortable’… stupid shit like that that can’t be controlled as an unsigned band. We’ve not got our own sound man and we haven’t got 1000 fans at every show hanging on our every word… so best we can do is just get up there have a good time and put on an explosive show with out giving a fuck either way, sacrificing some notes on the way of course.

Paul: Energy and showmanship

N:You used to be called The Wild Roses, why the name change?
Randii: Too many G’n’R comparisons, some people saw the name and thought we were a tribute to them and back then the comparisons were negative. Now we get far more AC/DC ones and the G’n’R ones are said much more positively.

Paul: Boring…

N: Tell us about your latest release?
Randii: You can buy it off www.littlemissgothic.co.uk It’s not where we’re at anymore, only two songs on their make the set regularly, I don’t think any of us are happy with it solely representing us… but then again we’ve never captured the live power we so often are told puts the EP to shame. It’s great if your open minded and appreciate the songs, just not the production we’re after or latest material.

Paul: Listen and you tell us about it.

N: What do you think of the state of rock music at the moment?
Randii: Errrr I’m rarely blown away by any band from any era, I’m hard to please and listen to any genre, rock or otherwise. I don’t mind stuff that’s around today, doesn’t mean I’ll buy it but I could say much about the Cock Rock & Hair Metal scene in the 80’s… as said before, with out melodies, x-factor and an adrenaline.. it’ll mostly just pass under my radar give or take the odd song here and there. The problem with any scene is it all gets samey and merges to one big blur.

Paul: Lately I’ve got into more the American side of metal music, Killswitch, All that remains etc. im liking it more brutal everyday.

N: How has MySpace helped you since you've started?
Randii: Give you daily contact with x amount of friends, you can land your songs, dates etc in the lap of people who’ve never heard you before, that kinda free promotion is priceless. In some cases you can make a fan of the band before they’ve seen you live, we’ve got people over the UK who aint seen us yet but support us all the same, before myspace that wasn’t really an option.

Paul: Reaches out to an audience that cant always make the shows

N: Best gig?
Randii: Oh god knows, any one where we’ve sold loads merch because it must mean people gave a shit and enjoyed them selves, we can’t ask for any more then that…. plus it puts diesel in the van.

Paul: The Sweet ones are good.

N: Worst gig?
Randii: Trashstock maybe, Paul’s guitar was half step outta tune. Another one Me and Dani played wasted, that was entertaining… I learned from that.

Paul: Personally the trashstock one, prob only real bad one ive had *wink*

N: Best support act slot?
Randii: Hmmm, the first Sweet show we went down better then the second I think. We’ve played with some decent established band but I just remember that one standing out.

Paul: The Sweet

N: Favourite song you play live?
Randii: Errm most, usually the newer stuff because we haven’t killed it by playing it every night… yet. There’s only one song we put in bigger sets that I don’t like but the others do.

Paul: "One hell of a night, easy

N: Any vices?
Randii: GTA Vice City

Paul: Dani moans too much

N: Who is the band joker?
Randii: Err Ian comes out with random jokes all the time, no ones really too fuckin’ idiotic unless pissed.
N: The ladies man? Rob
N: The serious one? That’ll be me, be fucked otherwise, someone gota keep shit on track.

Paul: Me

N:What advice would you give to a band starting out?
Randii: Gig yer bollox off! You need to get a rep before you can even consider much else. Don’t be a stuck up cunt and expect to get paid at every gig and only expect to play shows to 100 people just cus all yer mates come and see you locally… yer never above that in a new city, you have to do, we have to do it nearly 3 years down the line. You’ll have to do when yer signed aswell, so just drop any bullshit fantasy that comes with being in a band.

Paul: Learn to play before you gig.

N: Whats the plan for 2007?
Randii: World Domination, or atleast to get bigger and better (or at least bigger ha ha) and ever growing. A New CD.

Paul: Get rich, laid and famous

N: Anything else to add?
Randii: 2 + 2 = 5

Paul: Someone go the bar

For more on Sweet Seduction, go to their MySpace or their official website. Sweet Seduction currently have a long gig list spanning right until September 2007, be sure to check out when they're playing your town! Words and live shots by Nix, promo shot by www.dark-rooms.com

© Pure Rawk 2006