Month: June 2024

the dt’s: Capturing the Magic of Live Performance with ‘Live at Lakehouse Studios’

Posted on by patrickdonders

‘the dt’s’ is a Power Pop band hailing from New Jersey. Fronted by David Cacciatore and Tom Losito, the group crafts straightforward, irresistibly catchy pop tunes that are perfect for live performances. Fittingly, their latest EP, Live at Lakehouse Studios, captures the energy of their live shows, as the title suggests.

You can find ‘Tina’ showcased on the Best Power Pop of 2024 Spotify Playlist.

How do you balance experimentation with commercial appeal in your music?

We love to experiment in the studio, whether that involves exploring new recording techniques or instrumentation that can add flair to a song. We appreciate songs that are concise and structured with plenty of hooks and melodies, but also those that leave the listener wanting more. Balancing experimentation with memorable melodies is a challenge that we enjoy tackling.

Lyrics are too often taken for granted. What is the line of text or are the lines of text that you hope listeners will remember? And why?

Some lines of text that we hope our listeners will remember are the last lines of our single, “Refresh”: “Don’t hit that refresh, ’cause I know I’ll regret seeing what you’ve been up to, seeing the things that you do.” Throughout the song, the narrator wants to “hit that refresh” to see what this person they used to know has been up to. However, in the end, the narrator realizes that this habit of checking up on this person is unhealthy and ultimately decides not to “hit that refresh.” It’s a song that comes full circle for the narrator, showing growth, which we love!

We also try not to overthink lyrics and prefer having a stream of consciousness for what we are feeling in the moment. We always find ourselves looking to rhyme or finding certain phonetics that make a chorus pop, as the melody is most important to us. We love clever lyricists and wordsmiths like Nick Lowe, Jason Isbell, and John Prine!

Playing music in front of a crowd. What’s all the fun about?

We love playing live and we try to leave everything on stage when we are in front of people, whether it is a big show or a small, intimate one. Many times, people mention to us that it looks like we are having the times of our lives on stage. And truthfully, we are! Putting on a show with crowd involvement, good vibes, and full-throttle energy is what we are all about and what we look forward to the most.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

We would love to tour with The Lemon Twigs, Silvertwin, The Brook and The Bluff, or Inhaler (yes, we know that is more than 2!). All of these bands are writing incredible songs and we feel our sound would mix very nicely with them. We’ve been admiring their work and content over the last few years!

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

One of our favorite compliments is when people mention that our voices blend nicely together or they love our harmonies. There was one time we were playing an acoustic duo show in South Orange, and a group of choir students from Seton Hall University complimented our vocals and asked if we sang professionally. Neither one of us went to school for music, and we both have limited formal training. So, to hear that from students who are being formally trained in their voices meant a lot to us. Harmonies are something we put a lot of emphasis on and put a lot of practice into, so when people compliment us on that, we are always grateful.

If you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record, who would you ask?

Tom: For me, I would have to pick Sir Paul McCartney and Don/Phil Everly.

Dave: Hozier, Noah Kahan, Jon Bon Jovi (Jersey!!).

What’s up for the next couple of months?

In the next couple of months, we have a ton of shows lined up both as a duo and with our full band. We have a great show lined up at the Crossroads in Garwood, NJ on July 18th. The bill will feature a ton of talented friends including Kelli Bruno, Gina Royale, and The Extensions!

We also have a new single coming out on July 5th! We recorded this song a while back with our good friend Joey Papa, and are anxious to finally release it. We think it can become a summer playlist staple! Additionally, we will be focusing on rehearsing some new songs with our band so we can prepare to head back into the studio. Similar to our latest EP, The dt’s Live at Lakehouse Studios, we are excited to get back to the studio to record our new songs and capture the energy of our band!

Mid-Year Melodies: Sweet Sweet Music’s Best Power Pop of 2024 Playlist

Posted on by patrickdonders

We’re nearly halfway through 2024, and it’s shaping up to be another fantastic year for Power Pop.

Did you know that the Sweet Sweet Music blog curates a “Best Power Pop of 2024” playlist on Spotify?

The playlist now features over 200 songs, with new additions every week.

Every Friday, the 10 hottest tracks of the week are highlighted at the top of the list.

If you enjoy it, feel free to follow the playlist. I’d love to see you join in.

Happy Power Popping!

Mark Ward’s ‘LET ‘ER RIP’: A Power Pop Gem Set to Shine

Posted on by patrickdonders

“LET ‘ER RIP,” the new album by Mark Ward, will be released on June 14. This record is packed with incredibly catchy, classic Power Pop songs. It shines, sounds fantastic, and has even garnered praise from Paul Collins.

Sweet Sweet Music blog sits down with Mark Ward.

Could you share the journey of bringing this record to life? How did all the pieces come together to create the final product?

Having recently relocated from Alaska to Washington State, I left my long-term band, Last Train, behind, along with my valued creative outlet. We had a pretty good run with four albums of edgy Alt-Americana rock and some international airplay. However, arriving in Washington during a pandemic, I found I was really on my own musically. As a guitar player, my songs are admittedly guitar-centric. With that, I can cover most instrumentation and vocals, but I was without a drummer, and my drummer friends in Alaska were busy with their lives. A buddy of mine and fellow collaborator, Chad Reynvaan, suggested I contact Dylan Mandel to play drums. Though he’s in Pennsylvania, we immediately hit it off and started tracking drums remotely. He’s a total pro and, frankly, I could not have finished this project without him.

Was there a particular moment or experience that struck you, signaling that you were onto something special with this project?

Over the years, my songwriting has taken on a much more serious tone, especially with everything that’s going on in the world today. But serious songs can take a toll on both the performer and the listener. While I think it’s important to speak your mind and give voice to a sense of reason, it is equally important to just have some fun. While there are a few serious songs on the record, in this election year, I decided to take a hard departure from that and just write some fun pop songs that don’t necessarily have to mean anything, because that’s also okay. I set out to finish a song I had written a guitar line for some 40 years ago with that sound in mind, and the song “I’ve Been Around” just fell onto the page. It was so refreshing that I decided to write another, and another, and pretty soon I had a pile of power pop songs, because why not? The trick then became how to sequence the album so it didn’t feel disjointed. I think it works, and the album at least leaves you with a sense of hope.

Success can take on different meanings as time goes on. When envisioning success for this new record, what does that picture look like now?

Great question. I’m not a full-time musician and can’t easily play out as I don’t have a band where I live anymore. I’m not really interested in touring as I have a pretty busy, fulfilling life that music is only a part of. In this day and age, there is really no money to be made in the music business unless you’re a mega pop star. So I guess success for me is having my music appreciated, respected, and enjoyed by people who want to hear music that is not force-fed to them by an algorithm. As we used to say in my previous band, if we can sell enough CDs to cover the cost of making the album, it’s a no net loss and therefore a success.

As an artist, the act of baring your emotions to the world is profound. Does this vulnerability come naturally to you, or is it a constant journey of finding comfort?

It comes naturally to me, I suppose. I have always felt lyrics deeply in others’ music and my own. In fact, when you are working on a meaningful song and a line pops into your head that immediately brings you to tears, you know it’s the right line. This happens to me often. The trouble is, it can often be difficult to perform a song like that live. If the lyrics mean something to you and you are feeling the lyrics too much, you can quite literally choke up, which makes it impossible to sing. It’s a fine line, not going too far over the edge.

How would you describe the evolution of your sound in this new album compared to your previous works? Were there intentional shifts in style or themes?

My previous efforts have been tailored to the bands I was in, being mostly Americana, Alt-Country, Cow-Punk, or because there’s a pretty distinct sound of music coming from Alaska, a genre I called “Alaskana.” But my writing has always tended on the more pop side of things. Since my college years, playing in a New Wave band and loving bands like Paul Collins, The Nerves, The Beat, The Heats, 20/20, The Knack, etc., I’ve always had a power pop bent to my writing. With this album, I just decided to go all in for the majority of the songs.

Albums often involve collaboration with various musicians and producers. Could you shed light on how these collaborations contributed to shaping the album’s identity?

My philosophy on making a record is that you just can’t (or shouldn’t) do everything yourself. You need other expertise, ears, and sometimes ideas to make a song worthy of listening to. Dylan Mandel’s drumming gave a cohesive sound to the record. Even though he used three different kits and multiple snares, his drumming is spot on for the sound I was after. I’ve collaborated with my Alaskan buddy Chad Reynvaan, who runs Wattage Studios in Anchorage, on a number of things over the years. He’s been a great resource to bounce things off of as well as add the occasional synthesizer or backup vocal, which he did on this record. The well-respected Anchorage musician and producer, James Glaves, added some tasty keyboard and piano to a couple of songs. The finale of the record includes a list of friends who lent their voices quite literally to the choir on the song “Hope.” The last line still gives me chills. At the recommendation of Paul Collins, I used Justin Perkins at Mystery Room Mastering for the finishing touch. He’s amazing, and I think his efforts provided the final polish the record needed.