Sweet Water Interview

From The Glass Onion: A product of The Daily of the University of Washington November 20, 1992. Guest writer Casey P. Chinn

It’s been three months since the Mural Amphitheater show, but now they’re back. Tomorrow night, Sweet Water returns to the Jet City for an all-ages show at the Moore. The show will be their only one until either next April or May, but, I’ve been told, is filled with many surprises that are promised to delight all.

Sweet Water has been on tour for the last month in support of Saigon Kick, and their own Maxi single release, “Roads Life Goes.” The tour has spanned the continental United States, stopping at twenty cities.

Starting on Dec. 1, the band, Adam Czeisler (vocals), Cole Peterson (bass), Dudley Taft (lead guitar), Rich Credo (rhythm), and Paul Uhlir (drums) will begin recording their Atlantic debut in Seattle. “If everything goes according to plan, you should be able to pick it op in stores the end of March,” Cole said. But if it’s not out by then, added Adam, “It’s not because of us.”

Sweet Water originally emerged out of the shambled frame of SGM, two years ago. The band began when Cole and Paul started jamming in the wake of the breakup. After a while they brought in Rich, then Dudley, and finally Adam. Said Adam, “When we were first beginning, we were just five different people just barely hanging on and trying to make something together.”

They began slowly, playing first to about fifteen people,” but word of mouth began to take over, and soon their shows were packed with both locals and label representatives. Explained Cole, “We had a sold-out CD release party at the Off Ramp, and there was still no real interest from labels. We were selling out RKCNDY, bringing in 700 people a night, so the labels had to figure out something was going on.”

Their independent CD release, on New Rage Records, sold out all 2,500 copies that were made. “I don’t even have one,” Adam said. “We kept giving them away, and I kept thinking we’d make more, but after the 2,500, we stopped because we were signed and we figured why put out that one when we’re going to put out a real album?”

Having been an established act as SGM, it wasn’t hard for them to get shows with Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains. Not that it was at all a cake walk: “I think people in Seattle have totally backed us and allowed us to get ahead,” Cole said. “We got shut down by so many of the people who have power in Seattle. like The Rocket.”

Adam adds, “It’s because of our fans that we’re able to go around and be successful. After a while you can’t ignore that people are into the music. Still, when we first opened for Pearl Jam at RKCNDY, there was only 700 people there. When we opened up for Alice in Chains, as a favor, at the Paramount show last Christmas, I noticed that from that show on, our draw took a noticeable increase. That favor they did us, just merely exposing us to more people, was just amazing for us. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that for other bands, like the two bands opening for us at the Moore: Best Kissers already have stuff going, but Green Apple Quick Step is a new band, and we want to help them out. We definitely want to spread the wealth.”

G.O.: “How would you describe your type of music? I’ve often heard it described as southern having a flavor.”

Cole: “That’s because the first couple of songs we had was “Coming Down On You,” and “Can’t Say No.” “Coming Down On You” probably has our most southern flair. It has more Skynyrd, and “Can’t Say No” is pretty much straight ahead rock, but it’s got that “Simple Man” feel to it.”

Adam: “I think it depends on who you ask. Rich plays that Les Paul, and his style is long thick notes which could be called southern influenced, but that’s just one section of the band.”

Cole: “It’s funny because there’s a lot of new people at Atlantic who think we’re rock, and there’s a lot of old people there who think we’re alternative. It definitely depends on who you ask, but I think it’s straight rock, not southern fried.”

G.O.: “I read somewhere that you site Kiss as an influence ...”

Cole: “That was just me. When I was growing up I listened to a lot of Kiss. I dressed up as Gene Simmons for Halloween, and I had all their albums. I remember dancing around with a tennis racket to Kiss, pretending I was Ace Frehley. That wouldn’t be an influence for the band, just me.”

Adam: “I’m starting to realize that my biggest influence is Neil Young. “Harvest“ and “After the Gold Rush” are so good.”

G.O.: “Would you site any one album as really inspiring you to pick up an instrument?”

Cole: “In that interim, when we didn’t have a band or a name, I’d put on “Tuesday’s Gone” or “Simple Man” and it’d just blow me away and made me want to go practice.”

Adam: “I think when I was young it was “Axis: Bold as Love” by Jimi Hendrix. At the time, it wasn’t so much to play music, just in awe. But I think it’s still Neil Young. Every time I listen to that it just makes me want to work harder. You get that feeling …”

Cole: “The chills.”

G.O.: “I heard Paul signed his contract in his own blood ...”

Cole: “I think he’d been joking about it for so long that when it came time, he just decided he had to do it.”

G.O.: “What kind of a contract did they give you?”

Cole: “They gave us enough money to live on and record our first album. We get by every month without having to work. I tell people sometimes what we get by on in a month, and they say, “How do you. live on that?”

G.O.: “I’ve noticed at times you’ll extend the live versions of songs and break down into jams.”

Cole: “A lot of our songs have doors in them, where if the show’s going well, someone will call out a cue, and we’ll let Dudley go off for a while. It’s never something planned. During the show Rich looks over to me and Paul and says, ‘Let’s extend it.”

Adam: “Hopefully at the Moore ... I mean, we’ve never headlined an all- ages show to a huge crowd like at the Moore. Hopefully we’ll do a lot of that stuff. Go extra-long, jam, do some freaky stuff in the middle. We got all sorts of that stuff planned for that night.”

Cole: “Dudley really has some talent to showcase.”

Adam: “That’s the thing about Dudley, he’s so flexible. If we open it up he can go on and we can just hang out and kick back.”

With their Atlantic debut in the works, Sweet Water is feeling optimistic in the face of all their accomplishments. They recognize that they still have a long journey ahead of them, but they remain level-headed. “I just hope to get to a point where we can live comfortably,” said Cole.

“There isn’t much medium ground for being on a major label,” said Adam. “With a smaller label we’d have the security of being there for the long haul and not having to worry whether the album sells. With major labels the stakes are higher... By the nature of our still making music in five years means we have to get pretty big.”

Still, they remain undaunted, as Adam said, “We’re just going to see what happens. We’re going to do the best on our end, the rest really is not up to us.”

Sweet Water plays this Saturday at the Moore. Opening at 8 p.m., will be Green Apple Quick Step and the Best Kissers in the World.