SWEET PETE
NEW ALBUM OUT 4/30
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Say Hello Vinyl LP - $20
I Wanna Be A Piggy 7" Single - $8
SWEET BANANA TEE - $30
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WHO IS SWEET PETE?
Sweet Pete is a consummate rock & roll showman whose music calls to mind the frenetic pub rock boogie & clever songwriting of Nick Lowe, the less-is-more garage madness of The Trashmen, and the studied melodicism of Dave Edmunds, all tied by an undeniable knack for writing a hook you can hang your coat on. Just outside of Philadelphia along the banks of the Delaware River, Sweet Pete continues to hone his craft both on record and on the stage.After a decade leading CT garage rock quartet Jacques Le Coque, Sweet Pete kicked off his solo run with Say Hello in 2021, a record that paired it's pompadour power pop sensibility with a stylistically eclectic palate of riotous rock & roll. Recorded with Collin J. Rocker (OLD LADY) and Trevor Lake (Televisionaries), and featuring a guest spot from NYC's own rock & roll guru Jonathan Toubin, it quickly found its way onto the airwaves at WFMU, KEXP, and WPKN.2022 brought his I Wanna Be A Piggy 7", tipping a hat to The Coasters and NYC cult favorites The Piggies, while throwing a lavish homespun take on The Kinks' "Animal Farm" on the B-side. He's shared stages with Wreckless Eric, Greg Cartwright, The Out-Sect, Bloodshot Bill & Daddy Long Legs and is backed by his lethal live outfit - Tiger Ford Cabus, Raeli Rose, & Dan Thomas - of State College, PA's Ma'aM.Sweet Pete's 2nd full length album Three Ring pulls into town Spring of 2025 on Nudie Records. Stick around, the show's just getting started.
Sweet Pete channels the Rockpile Rock of Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe
Repeat When Necessary—Sweet Pete returns the power-pop and rock classicist mindset of Rockpile
Say Hello to Sweet Pete
With just two albums and a 7” under his belt, Sweet Pete is already earning cult status among young rock devotees and elder aficionados alike. With a rock classicist approach, playful and intelligent songwriting, and music that makes you move your feet, Sweet Pete is tapping the source that pub rock predecessors Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe of Rockpile helped set the template for.
Before Sweet Pete
Where Dave Edmunds started out with his band Love Sculpture and Nick Lowe began as frontman for Brinsley Schwarz, Sweet Pete got his beginnings as bandleader for 2010’s Connecticut garage rock outfit Jacques Le Coque. Lowe and Edmunds eventually retreated into solo careers prior to Rockpile, and when Jacques Le Coque disbanded following a 10 year anniversary, Pete followed suit, taking things into his own studio for what would become his venture into his first solo album.
Making of Say Hello and collaboration
With the writing on the wall for Sweet Pete’s prior band, Pete quickly took to recording what would be his first album Say Hello. With promising demos initially cobbled from a crude drum machine, Sweet Pete quickly found a quintessential backbeat with Rochester’s rock and roll journeyman Trevor Lake on drums. Trevor’s band Televisionaries recently toured with Los Straitjackets backing Nick Lowe, who music journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes “clearly is re-energized by his new collaborators”—similarly, Sweet Pete’s solo outing found inspiration in collaboration—where Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner shared guitar duties in Rockpile, Sweet Pete was also joined by Collin J. Rocker of Old Lady, providing pristine and tasteful guitar work that would sit with the best of Dave Edmunds, particularly some near sabre dance flourishes in penultimate Say Hello song “I Need A Job”.
Further collaboration on Say Hello
Looking at the liner notes of Sweet Pete’s first LP reveals a star studded list of rock and roll co-conspirators, including NYC Night Train DJ and party starter extraordinaire Jonathan Toubin, far-out established musician and producer Hunter Davidsohn, Connecticut funnyman and piano basher Dan Soto, & country chanteuse and occasional fiddle player Kailey Rocker. With the whole affair mixed by New York producer Ryan Howe at Mozart Street Studios, Sweet Pete captured a fraternal spirit as practiced by Rockpile and other essential rock & roll groups.
Still Life/Bad Banana Digital Single
Sweet Pete first announced his solo project in February of 2021 with the digital release of his song Still Life backed with Bad Banana. Still Life calls back to the early rock and roll elements of Dave Edmunds’ debut album Rockpile, a big guitar three chord Eddie Cochran style blues rocker. Bad Banana plays with cheeky humor reminiscent of The Cramps and B-52s. The single artwork boasts a reference to Rockpile labelmate Ian Dury’s Sweet Gene Vincent 7” single.
Say Hello Vinyl Release
With two songs out in the world, Sweet Pete soon connected with Bay Area label Nudie Records for the vinyl release of his debut record Say Hello, for a vinyl release in April of 2022.Sweet Pete’s addition to the label was a natural fit– alongside fellow Nudie artists Mad Max Elliot and Dead Luke, proprietors of fuzzed out rockabilly and textural psychedelia respectively, Sweet Pete’s kitchen sink rock and roll mentality blended seamlessly into the tasteful melting pot of artistry at hand on Nudie Records.
Say Hello Reception
Sweet Pete’s debut record was well received, garnering radio play from essential stations WFMU, WPKN, and KEXP. Music Blog CT Verses championed the album as “a fast energetic trip through the landscape of retro rock-n-roll” further stating it’s perfection for audiences seeking “that old-school warmth of rock’s earlier years”. Noted songsmith Ben Vaughn commended the tracks as “energetic and loud–in a good way!” and noted the particularly “awesome” guitar solo on Bad Banana, while DJ Suzy Hot Rod complimented the “delightful” release from a “sweet person and great musician”.
Mixtape & DJing
Nudie Records mixtape series saw a release curated from Sweet Pete, avoiding most commercial music in favor of the greatest hits of retro rocker and rockabilly unknowns, this tape showcased the influences and inspirations for Say Hello’s sound. Sweet Pete also found an avenue to share his appreciation and appetite for a smorgasbord of music old and new as a guest DJ on WFMU Rock N Soul Radio’s Drop-In program.
A New Get-Up for a Live Debut
With just two albums and a 7” under his belt, Sweet Pete is already earning cult status among young rock devotees and elder aficionados alike. With a rock classicist approach, playful and intelligent songwriting, and music that makes you move your feet, Sweet Pete is tapping the source that pub rock predecessors Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe of Rockpile helped set the template for.
I Wanna Be A Piggy 7”
With just two albums and a 7” under his belt, Sweet Pete is already earning cult status among young rock devotees and elder aficionados alike. With a rock classicist approach, playful and intelligent songwriting, and music that makes you move your feet, Sweet Pete is tapping the source that pub rock predecessors Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe of Rockpile helped set the template for.
Nudie Records, Stiff Records, and The Rock & Roll Collective
With Nudie Records roster expanding to include acts such as NJ honky tonk heroes Old Lady and PA country punk freaks Ma’am, Sweet Pete found audiences likening his newfound label to Rockpile’s Stiff Records. Stiff, home to Lowe, Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric and others boasted the primo rock, punk, and power-pop of it’s time, where Nudie Record's artist pool similarly captures the eclectic and inventive nature of that group. Similarly, where Stiff artists could often be found touring together or playing on each others albums, Sweet Pete, Old Lady and Ma’am have offered a wealth of playful crossover in recorded collaboration and big live events. Recently WFMU hosted a live broadcast from NJ roadhouse bar The Great Notch Inn one early Saturday night in December 2024 with Todd-o-phonic Todd and Clay Pigeon hosting performances from Nudie Records artists Sweet Pete and Old Lady, leaving the establishment packed to capacity with the audience filling the bar and further pouring out into the parking lot for a pair of barn-burning sets that Todd-o-phonic Todd promises “will live in radio infamy”.
Three Ring
Sweet Pete’s latest LP Three Ring expands on his appetite for playing with an expanding palette of sounds and inventive pop songwriting, much like his predecessors, accessing a broad array of playful genre bending while still tonally playing in the same early rock & roll sandbox of Rockpile and the like- tasteful fuzz and Americana at play in Carnival Queen and Marina Ballerina, scuzzy garage and surf in crowd chanting fan favorites Can Opener and Primate, and big glam movements in album closer Overnite Meteorite.
Songwriting on Three Ring
With a year of premier performances under his belt, Sweet Pete followed up his 2022 LP Say Hello with a 7” single, “I Wanna be A Piggy”. Drawing from the best of Dave Edmunds habits of painstakingly re creating oldies, Piggy was a playful nod to Coasters hit “I’m A Hog For You” while the b-side demonstrated a dedicatedly faithful cover of The Kinks’ “Animal Farm”.
Sweet Pete drawing on the Best of Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe
With Nudie Records roster expanding to include acts such as NJ honky tonk heroes Old Lady and PA country punk freaks Ma’am, Sweet Pete found audiences likening his newfound label to Rockpile’s Stiff Records. Stiff, home to Lowe, Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric and others boasted the primo rock, punk, and power-pop of it’s time, where Nudie Record's artist pool similarly captures the eclectic and inventive nature of that group. Similarly, where Stiff artists could often be found touring together or playing on each others albums, Sweet Pete, Old Lady and Ma’am have offered a wealth of playful crossover in recorded collaboration and big live events. Recently WFMU hosted a live broadcast from NJ roadhouse bar The Great Notch Inn one early Saturday night in December 2024 with Todd-o-phonic Todd and Clay Pigeon hosting performances from Nudie Records artists Sweet Pete and Old Lady, leaving the establishment packed to capacity with the audience filling the bar and further pouring out into the parking lot for a pair of barn-burning sets that Todd-o-phonic Todd promises “will live in radio infamy”.