Formed off an impromptu jam session and fondness of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Sweet Things quickly developed an underground buzz with the release of two independently released singles backed by airplay on NYC’s FM rock station Q104.3 and Sirius XM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage. The rowdy rockers smeared the clubs of NYC with their rip-roaring live performance before taking the party on the road to venues across all the coasts of the U.S.
Upon their return to their beloved hometown of NYC, The Sweet Things headed into the studio with producer Matt Chiaravalle (Courtney Love, Debbie Harry) to record their full-length debut and enlisted the help of friends such as Alejandro Escovedo on guest vocals; the legendary horn section The Uptown Horns (Rolling Stones, James Brown); Brian Hurd of beloved blues bashers Daddy Long Legs on harmonica; Rob Clores (The Black Crowes) on keyboards; and boogie chanteuse Liza Colby on the gospel vocals. The results can be heard on their recently released album IN BORROWED SHOES, ON BORROWED TIME. Hitting like a straight kick to the teeth, the album is a healthy dose of no bullshit rock and roll done right the way it should be done: raw and real. With the album out now, The Sweet Things decided to give the songs a little more context by sharing the specific tune that influenced each.
Track 1 – “Liquor Lightning”
Inspiration – The Rolling Stones – “Rocks Off”
Dave Tierney: When we realized we were gonna be heading into to studio to record a full length album, one of the first questions that came up was “what’s gonna be the opening track?” We wanted something that would start things off with a bang and set the tone for the entire album. I was definitely inspired by Rocks Off, which is one of my all-time favorite album openers. I’m always looking for new ways to play a boogie and just fuckin boogie in general, so once the opening riff of the song came to me, the rest of it just flowed from there.
Track 2 – “Dead or Worse”
Inspiration – Jacobites – “God Save Us”
Sam Hariss: Dead Or Worse was pretty much done when I got my hooks in it. The music and lyrics had been written by Dave, all it lacked was a vocal melody. For some reason it was only Dave and I working that day and he threw me the ole hot potato to see if I could catch it. I had just begun to heavily fall for the music of Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth both separately as well as the mighty Jacobites. That was where my head was at.
Track 3 – “In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time”
Inspiration – The Black Crowes – “She Talks to Angels”
Dave Tierney: Sam came in to band practice one night with the music and song title for this one. He thought we should write a ballad and this ended up being our first one. Practice and post practice activities ended up going pretty late that night. I put down the lyrics the following morning while drinking an entire pot of coffee trying to recover, and we put the pieces together at our next practice.
Track 4 – “Almost Faded”
Inspiration – Faces – “Borstal Boys”
Dave Tierney: We kinda dressed this track up in the studio with lots horns and backup vocals, but when you get down to it this is just a straight ahead dirty rock tune. Honestly, there are lots of different inspirations that melted into this one, but the Faces getting down and dirty like they do on Borstal Boys is certainly one of the places where we learned how to do that shit ourselves.
Track 5 – “Dr. Crazy Girl”
Inspiration – Kiss – “Firehouse”
Lorne Behrman: I love the detached cool vibe, and economical songwriting of J.J. Cale—that was the intention with this one—but I’ve listened to a lot of Kiss. I wanted something that wasn’t just bashing so I was thinking groove; I guess like Kiss’s “Firehouse.” This is how I imagine it would be dating a therapist—after hours at the asylum, yikes/kinda hot!
Track 6 – “Drained”
Inspiration – Keith Richards – “Wicked as it Seems”
Sam Hariss: Drained was written after an afternoon spent watching live tapes of The X-Pensive Winos, especially them doing stuff of Keef’s Main Offender. I guess it’s probably a Wicked As It Seems and Eileen squeezed together. Just love that stuff and wanted to see if I could write one.
Track 7 – “Coke’n”
Inspiration – Izzy Stradlin – “Needles”
Dave Tierney: Well, this one is a cover of an Izzy Stradlin tune from a record he put out in 2002. His post- GNR solo stuff is just a huge influence on us and a lot of what we write, so for the inspiration on this track I’ll just choose another one of our favorite solo Izzy tracks.
Track 8 – “Through the Cracks of the City”
Inspiration – The Heartbreakers – “Born to Lose”
Dave Tierney: This one is about living in New York and everything that entails. It’s a big loud mess and everything is happening all the time. A lot of the great things about New York have gone away or been diluted, but she’s too big a beast to kill and you can still find it all when you’re out looking for it, especially real late at night. When this hook came to me it felt like something Johnny could have written which felt perfect given the subject matter.
Track 9 – “Fix to Kick”
Inspiration- The Waldos – “Flight”
Lorne Behrman: This is an “addicted to love tale.” Here, I was thinking of AC/DC rhythm guitarist Malcom Young, and that band’s first album. However, the song ended up sounding like my favorite Heartbreakers’ song “Flight.” I love the version the Waldos did on the album Rent Party.
Track 10 – “Feed My Dog”
Inspiration – Alejandro Escovedo – “I Was Drunk”
Sam Hariss: Feed My Dog, ahh, Fackin cluster fuck that one, innit? Theres a lot in there. Lyrically, I remember really thinking of Johnny Cash, all that kinda sad, mortality, Long Black Veil, Green Green Grass Of Home stuff. The second I decided to ask Alejandro Escovedo to join me and sing on it I guess the song became a product of his music too. Not just in that he was on it, I just fell in love with his catalogue while waiting for the session. Every time we played it I guess it took another step down that road.
