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Local alternative band Sweet Weapons is going on tour this week through Arizona and California, having kicked things off in Albuquerque at the Gasworks Sunday night.
“It’s like a short little run,” said drummer Jake Lang. “It’s just a week of mostly California shows. We’re playing some cool places like Chain Reaction, which has been a legendary venue in southern California forever.”
Lang said he and guitarist Julian Sanchez formed Sweet Weapons in 2010, when the two got bored one day and started writing songs on a whim.
Guitarist/vocalist Adam Abeyta and bassist Donny Hare round out the squad. Abeyta said he and Lang knew each other before Sweet Weapons formed.
“We’ve been playing shows together for a long time in different bands,” he said.
Sweet Weapons often has trouble describing what genre its music falls under. Abeyta describes it as high-energy rock, with a little pop and punk. Sanchez, however, has a better term for the group’s style.
“I think it’s safe to say that we are an alternative band,” he said.
Sweet Weapons has released two albums, “All of My Best Friends Are Dogs” and “Have a Kick Ass Summer,” the former recorded after the band was signed by E scapist Records.
Lang said they have been on several tours in the last three years.
“Last fall we did a full U.S. tour by ourselves and that was really cool,” he said. “We got to play at some really cool places with really awesome bands.”
Lang and Abeyta said one of their best shows on that tour was at the Skate Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where more than 200 people attended.
“You have to try and stay stoked even if it’s your best night,” Abeyta said. “But even on your worst night, you have to be prepared to try and make it feel like your best night.”
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They recall with mixed feelings a show up in Salem, Oregon, where they played with three different bands whom Lang referred to as “heavy, hard, pissed off.”
“We played like two songs and they just shut the power off on us and waited for us to leave,” Lang said.
“It was probably the worst show we ever played,” Sanchez added, “but it was probably the funniest.”
Despite these troubles, Sweet Weapons say they are determined to move forward.
“Put out another record, I would say, is probably the next step we would take,” Abeyta said.
Sweet Weapons’ next stop on the tour will be at the Underground in Mesa, Ariz. today.
