Interview with the Band Sweet Crystal

Name Of Act: SWEET CRYSTAL
Latest Release: ‘WHATEVER IS NEEDED, WHATEVER IT TAKES’ (Single)
DIRECT SPOTIFY LINK: https://open.spotify.com/album/2mjF0LUQIZL31FqL4Agibo

1. What’s the name of the band?

Greetings from SWEET CRYSTAL, a 26 time Detroit Music Award winning band

2. Where are you from?

We are a 4-piece rock band from the Detroit, Michigan area – a city that has as long a musical history as we do ourselves.

3. What type of music do you play?

Basically, we are considered a Christian progressive rock band (think arena rock or as some magazines have labeled us – bombastic!). In the beginning, we opened up for such classic rock acts as Bob Seger, Foghat, Nazareth, Steppenwolf and many more before finding our true path into the Christian music field. With a catalog of seven releases to date (and the new one ‘8’ on it’s way), and with hundreds of hours of new ideas still in the pipeline, we feel there’s definitely a song or two that
will fit pretty much everyone’s taste of music.

4. Introduce yourselves to the readers and tell us what you do in the band?

Band Members:
MarQ Andrew Speck (Q) – lead vocals, everything with keys
Bill Blatter –vocals, everything with strings
Steve Wieser – everything hit with sticks
Martin Kuchar – vocals, everything bass

5. This is probably a common question but one that most want to know, what musical influencesdid you have growing up, and what are some now?

We started out totally influenced by the progressive rock English music scene of the 60’s and 70’s: bands like Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Atomic Rooster, Uriah Heep all left their musical marks on our writing and playing. We also listened to a lot of American bands like Kansas, Journey, Rush and Spock’s Beard to keep our creative juices flowing. It’s this background in
progressive rock that continues to influence and direct our writing and live performances.

6. Have you always been into music? Was it something that just came to you naturally?

Unlike most bands that have a lifecycle of about three to five years, this band of high school buddies (Q, Bill and Steve) has been playing together for going on 50 years (Interesting fact: 2024 will be Sweet Crystal’s Golden Jubilee Year meaning 50 years of the music and message we offer – pretty sweet accomplishment in our books). We got together right out of high school (and actually Bill and Steve played together during high school!). To this day we get together every week to rehearse,
record and just enjoy each other’s company. Does it get old after 5 decades together? Absolutely not! We just get better with age.

7. What can we expect from the band in the rest of 2024 and beyond?

This new single ‘Whatever Is Needed, Whatever It Takes’ continues where last year’s “7th Heaven” CD left off: it’s a song of hope and inspiration featuring our signature guitar sounds, synth melodies, straight ahead drumming with just a few hundred fans joining in in for good measure. It’s the first single from our upcoming release ‘8’ which is slated for later this year.

Our trademarked slogan ‘Reaching the World, One Song At A Time’ TM pretty much says it all about our music, message, mission and ministry. We are here to reach out to a world with songs of hope and inspiration; a musical light at the end of every dark tunnel you might be going through because chances are good – we’ve gone through those very same tunnels ourselves and definitely have found a way out.

8. For someone who wants to know more about the band, were can they find you at? And were can they find your music?

Best bet to catch us would be by signing up for our email newsletters on our website or over at our Reverbnation page (see links below). That will keep you in the know for all our appearances and new music as well as getting a look at our overall catalog.

9. Let’s answer some fun questions, what is your all-time favorite band?

Each member of the band definitely has their favorites:
MarQ Andrew Speck – Queensryche, Pink Floyd, ELP
Bill – UK, Umphrey’s McGee
Steve – Spock’s Beard, Neal Morse, Porcupine Tree
Martin Kuchar – Kansas, U2

10. If you could tour with any band and open or have them open for you, who would you choose?

Would love to tour in any capacity with the different projects of Neal Morse (Spock’s Beard; Transatlantic; Neal Morse Project; Flying Colors) because he is one of the most inspiring and creative artists on the scene at the moment – and we admire him and love his musical styling.

Thanks for chatting with me From the Green Room and look forward to chatting again in the
future.