Today we’d like to introduce you to Jimmy Sweet.
Jimmy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My musical career starts back in San Jose California. I was playing music from as far back as I can remember. My dad owned a music shop and I’d spend all my time there playing drums, guitar, piano and whatever I could get my hands on really. I was never or am still not technically a “musician”. I was into late 70’s British punk music and early 70’s British glam music. I just wanted to learn the instruments enough to be able to write music.
When I was about 19 years old, I was searching the internet about Marc Bolan from legendary 70’s glam rock band T.Rex (my favorite band) and came across a website about his son Rolan Bolan and found out he lived in Los Angeles. So I packed my bags and guitar and moved to LA the very next week.
I saw he was playing at the Whisky A Go Go and went to the show and snuck backstage. I gave him my number and said I’d like to start a band with him. His mother Gloria Jones (original singer of Tainted Love) was there and apparently wrote Rolan a letter telling him to call me.
Before I knew it, I was on my way to London with him and got a deal as a solo artist with MainMan management (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop). It all happened so fast and I was so young. I eventually moved back to California and within a couple of years, I was playing guitar and keyboards with Hot Hot Heat on tour and learned a lot about work ethic and realized I wanted to play music for the rest of my life. I absolutely love life on the road and seeing the world.
I started my own band releasing my first single in December of 2017. It was a melancholy version of the Buzzcocks song. You Say You Don’t Love Me featuring a string quartet and gospel choir. I was signed by Los Angeles based record label Punk Aristocrats just a few months later and have currently released six singles.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Things went really smooth for me for the longest time. I always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, but I’ve recently had a baby boy and it’s the most inspiring and most difficult thing to balance with a musical career.
It’s tough to think there’s someone more important than me in my life now hahaha.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
One distinctive thing that sets this band apart is that we have a string quartet and gospel choir live at every show. The band is up to about 12 members at this point.
It was a vision I never thought I’d never thought I’d achieve, but I met Kaitlin Wolfberg and she is a violinist and string arranger and she put together a string quartet and we have worked together from day one on this project.
Then the beautiful sisters Eboni and Amber are part of a church choir and they have been on board as well since the beginning.
I’m very lucky to have them and they are the main reason we are set apart from other bands I believe.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up with my dad. He was a typical bachelor. I didn’t have any rules except don’t get caught hahaha.
When I was 16, I asked him to build me a heart-shaped bed and he did. I had red satin sheets with Jimmy Sweet embroidered on my pillowcases.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/JimmySweetMusic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/JimmySweetMusic
- Twitter: @JimmySweetMusic
Image Credit:
Photos by Miles Santo, Claire Leahy, Simon Cardoza
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