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14 Phonebox Magazine | December 2025The line-up of glam rock legends The Sweet might have changed over the years, but the sound hasn%u2019t. And guitarist Andy Scott intends to keep it that way, as he tells Phonebox%u2019s Tom Johnston.You might know them as The Sweet. You perhaps call them simply %u2018Sweet%u2019 or, if you followed the popular glam rockers in later years, you might call them %u2018Andy Scott%u2019s Sweet%u2019. But whatever name you use, the sound will have been unforgettable.Blockbuster, Ballroom Blitz, Fox on the Run, Hellraiser, Teenage Rampage, Love Is Like Oxygen %u2013 the hits just kept coming for the supergroup as they found fame and fortune in the UK, Europe and the USA during the 1970s and early 80s.Today, only one member of that original group is still alive, and guitarist Andy Scott is determined to continue to bring the unique sound of The Sweet to their legions of supporters.And that will be evident on their latest UK tour where, billed as just %u2018Sweet%u2019 the band will be visiting Scotland and Northern Ireland before coming to England, stopping off in Northampton and Milton Keynes on their way.Andy, now 76, says he%u2019s looking forward to playing smaller venues where he can %u2018see the audience%u2019 and he has heard good things about Northampton%u2019s Roadmender and The Stables in Wavendon. %u201cIn the beginning of The Sweet we saw the whites of the audience%u2019s eyes,%u201d says Andy. %u201cBut then, as we grew, it got to a point where you couldn%u2019t any more. So that will be good at these venues.%u201d%u201cI%u2019m told that the Roadmender is a good old-style rock venue. I%u2019ve never played at The Stables but I%u2019ve heard a lot of good things about it. They have tried to get us to go and play at The Stables a few times. %u201cMy agent said it wasn%u2019t quite big enough but all of a sudden he called and asked me: %u2019do you want do the Stables?%u2019. We had two days off which we don%u2019t normally like if we are on a little run, so I said yes. It%u2019s a late addition but I%u2019m looking forward to it.%u201dMore than 50 years of touring and recording has left Andy with a wonderful memory of his life and career and he says he wouldn%u2019t change a thing. Even now, recovering from prostate cancer and making sure he has enough rest days, he still enjoys life on the road.%u201cIt%u2019s been a great life,%u201d he says. %u201cIt beats working %u2013 that%u2019s what I always said. I did work for a bank for about six months because my father realised I wasn%u2019t showing up at school but going to band rehearsals. He said I ought to at least get a job and the best paid one with the least hours was working in a bank.%u201cBut every Friday night I%u2019d get in the van and go off for a gig. And when I started to appear on TV in a talent show called %u2018Opportunity Knocks%u2019 which I was winning every week (in a band called The Silverstones), people would come into the bank and say %u2018I saw you last night, you were brilliant%u2019.Today fans often talk to Andy about their recollections of The Sweet and the early days and he%u2019s very happy about that %u2013 keeping those memories alive one of his goals.%u201cThat%u2019s really what it's about isn%u2019t it,%u201d he says. %u201cWithout the past you don%u2019t have a future. I take that on board and so do the band. They look through past Sweet albums and fi nd minor hits for us to do live. But we do all the well-known songs too, which is what people come to hear.%u201cMy goal has always been to sound like The Sweet, that%u2019s the whole point. So the songs must be performed as we used to do them with the right vocals and the right sound. %u201cPeople will turn up to hear The Sweet as they remember them, and I want to make sure that%u2019s what they get.%u201dSweet are at the Roadmender, Northampton on 11th December and The Stables, Wavendon on 13th December.THE SWEET LIFE\realised I wasn%u2019t showing up at school but going to band rehearsals. He said I ought to at least get a job and the best paid one with the least h o u r s w a s w o r k i n g i n a bank.\