KOCK 107/ Sweatheart, Friday, Jan. 29, 10 p.m., Stalter’s Caf� (872 Providence Road). Cover: $5, 21 and over. Info: sweatheartsweats.com
Band comparisons are thrown around with reckless abandon, but this one is pretty good. Naeem Juwan, aka rapper Spank Rock, offers: “If Sparks, The Bangles and Blue Oyster Cult made a smoothie, it might smell a little like Sweatheart.”
Sweatheart, the Philadelphia band, is indeed a strange brew of classic rock, guy-and-girl vocals and party-ready dance grooves that’s difficult to classify.
“I would just call it a pop band,” said Sweatheart frontman Thom Lessner, who will lead the band to Stalter’s Caf� in Scranton on Friday Jan. 29 for a show with Scranton’s KOCK 107. “I think we’ve changed a little bit. We were kind of just three friends with a drum machine, kind of just singing fun, silly songs. It’s kind of grown into ‘man rock’-sounding, just big guitars and like catchy choruses, and it’s just kind of rock ’n’ roll and pop sounding.
“My girlfriend is the main singer, and I’m trying to win her over with this band,” he added. “And so far, so good.”
Joining Lessner and singer Rose Luardo in the band are Amanda Blank (vocals), Mike Sabolick (guitar), Max DiMezza (bass), Dave Pap (drums) and Mike Robinson (vocals, keyboards). Robinson, for the most part, doesn’t tour with the band, and Blank, also a buzzed-about rapper in her own right signed to Universal Music-distributed Downtown Records, misses some Sweatheart shows due to solo commitments.
Last month, the band released the EP “Tell Your Sister,” a follow up to the 2005 debut album “So Cherri.” Another full-length, “Get Bent,” is due in the spring via Free News Projects, a label that has put out work by Vampire Weekend, Man Man and Wolf Parade.
Lessner described the recently issued “Tell Your Sister” as “my dream record.”
“I’ve been wanting to put this album out my whole life,” he said. “I wish it was longer; it’s only six songs. I feel they’re all hits, six great songs, really well produced.”
The production was handled by people outside the band, a first for Sweatheart, with Jeff Zeigler, who has worked with Kurt Vile and War On Drugs, and Justin Grefe, a member of Philly electronica outfit Pink Skull taking the reins. Getting the perspectives of the producers paid dividends on the EP, Lessner said, although one of them was a hard sell early on.
“(Grefe), he kind of hated us,” Lessner said. “He was a good friend of mine but said it wasn’t really his thing. In recording us, we won him over. I feel like it’s exciting, fun music, but I’m sure, like every kind of music, it would annoy somebody.”
Since getting together in 2004, Sweatheart has played shows with Devo, Ween, Peter Bjorn and John, Santigold and Bad Brains. Performing in front of a wide range of fans, as well as Blank’s rising profile outside of the band, has helped Sweatheart develop an audience beyond a cult following. Blank’s occasional absence hasn’t been much of an issue either, Lessner explained.
“I would hope our shows are good enough for people to want to come to them anyway,” he surmised. “But some people are just excited to see Amanda, which is a good thing. She’s really supportive, and she wants to do both. She has helped us out in Sweatheart ways that are great.”
Lessner, who originally moved to Philadelphia from Columbus, Ohio, to pursue visual art, is also involved in projects outside the band. This includes designing artwork for the band Hot Leg, which is fronted by former The Darkness singer Justin Hawkins.
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