EP Review: "Picky Eater" by Sweet Thorns
EP Art by Charlie Camigula and Savannah Romero
Sweet Thorns is a new indie/punk band from Chicago. They identify as “four queers born out of a desire to do something good for the community.” Their debut EP Picky Eater feels raw and real in a way that a lot of modern indie rock forgets to be. The songs sit somewhere between lofi punk and late night bedroom recordings, full of restless energy and emotional honesty. The EP was recorded at Experimental Sound Studios with Kate In, and mixed/mastered by Hayes McIntosh.
The opener, “Monsters,” hits the hardest. It captures the feeling of being seen as something wrong in a world that refuses to understand you. The way the vocals are calling out, and the guitars sound behind them makes it feel like someone trying to crawl out of their own skin. It is messy and vulnerable, but that is exactly what makes it powerful.
Photo by Charlie Camigula
“Status Quo” and the title track “Picky Eater” round out the EP with a sense of self reflection. “Status Quo” feels like a reflection of all of my honest thoughts and feelings regarding politics, and the current terrible political climate we are forced to live in. “Picky Eater” closes things out with a sense of coming to terms with who you are even when the world keeps trying to make you feel wrong for it. Both tracks carry that same mix of grit and warmth that makes this whole project feel alive.
Picky Eater might be short, but it leaves a mark. It is the kind of record that feels like a secret you are glad someone finally said out loud. Listen to it below, and follow the band on socials to see what more comes of Sweet Thorns.
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1-What was that first day like meeting up for the first time and writing together at Let's Rock! Chicago program? What is that program?
Elí Colón: I was so nervous! Before Sweet Thorns, I had barely played guitar in front of people, and had never played electric at all. I wasn't sure if I would be way behind everyone else there skill-wise. We didn't meet Stevie til later, but I remember thinking that Savannah and Hayes both seemed super cool and kind, and hoping that I was cool enough for them to like me too! And then our first drummer had to drop out, but as soon as Stevie came to practice with us we knew they were the one! Writing together was a lot easier than I was expecting. Our creativity meshed naturally. It's amazing to be able to present a partially-formed song to people and trust them to make it complete and amazing.
Stevie Gale: I joined later and I was just happy to get an opportunity to explore drumming. I was super excited to realize that my band mates were kind and queer and had similar music goals to mine.
Hayes McIntosh: Let's Rock! Chicago: Extended Play was an adult program run as a fundraiser for Girls Rock! Chicago to raise funding to give girls and gender-expansive youth access to music programming. We were given 7 weeks to learn a cover and to write two originals. I was very nervous, it was my first time trying to play with other people since picking up bass. It was a little awkward trying to figure out some common musical interests and just testing out some covers to try to find a direction we liked. We chose Good Girls (Don't Get Used) by a local fave, Beach Bunny, and then we spent some time thinking about concepts of things we might want to write about, and then Savannah brought lyrics in for what became Monsters and Elí brought in a decent amount of Status Quo. It was really cool watching how we all built on and contributed to what we brought to practices and how it all came together so quickly.
Savannah Romero: The first day for me was so nerve wracking. I remember walking to the color club for the first meeting of the program and I was close to just skipping out on it. I was the first one in the room anxiously waiting for people to come in wondering who I would be matched with. We were brought together literally by chance as we say in our band’s bio on things. When applying for the program you could mention anything you were looking for in bandmates, and all I said was “QUEER” and here we are. I was matched with Elí our guitarist and Hayes our bassist and at the time another person in the program who was originally matched to be our drummer then who eventually had to drop out the program. We were left drumerless for a little while and freaking out over what we would do with such short time left. GRC helped us by posting on their instagram that we were looking for a drummer and by our surprise we had people interested reach out! That’s how we met Stevie!
Photo by Charlie Camigula (website)
2- What is Picky Eater about?
Picky Eater is about rejecting conformity and embracing your weirdness, your passion, and your strongest emotions fearlessly and unapologetically. It is about being gay, trans, messy, angry, determined, and hopeful.
3- What are some musical (or non-musical) inspirations behind Picky Eater?
EC: My musical contributions to Picky Eater are mostly influenced by my Texan background--think of Marty Robbins and that kind of campy old country cowboy music. Everything I play has a bit of twang to it, even when I'm not trying to make it sound that way! My lyrical contributions owe a lot to my twin sister. She's an incredible poet and has taught me a lot through osmosis about how to make words sound good together.
SG: We took inspiration from our past experiences feeling shame around our identities and queerness, combined with current rage and frustration with the world around us.
HM: I followed Elí's lead a lot on this one. Some outside influences as I started to add depth to bass lines included The Cranberries, Garbage, and an unexpected one that I didn't realize made it in the mix until we were recording in the studio was uhhhhh Dua Lipa.
SR: I take a lot of inspiration from 80s music, alternative and spanish rock. I am heavily inspired by songs about love, metaphorical love songs and songs that make you want to cry. I take lots of inspiration from my own experiences with being latine and queer and how that has impacted my life. I love nothing more than performing/ singing my heart out for my family and getting to be the outlet of my dad’s singing dream. In other words, my loved ones are my biggest inspiration forever.
4- If each band member was a track on the EP, who would be which and why?
EC: I gotta say I would be Status Quo - it's the one I wrote, and I'm pretty much constantly angry about politics, so that checks out.
SG: I would be picky eater- rebellious, gory, sexy, and full of punk rage
HM: Status Quo. It doesn't take much to get me to talk about politics and I had a moment when we were talking about the song on Lumpen Radio recently, how much worse things have gotten since we first finished writing the song.
SR: If I had to choose one for myself I’d say Monsters. It was the first song I wrote in the band and one that allowed me to write about my personal experiences. The main topic is about a queer closeted relationship. However, I wrote it thinking primarily about how being closeted was like for me personally feeling like I had to hide away from all of my relationships with family, friends , etc for the sake of holding my cultural norms together. I also wrote it about my first experience of being out and how it was being with someone who was unsure of their sexuality and closeted. The song uses the metaphor of it being a highschool relationship with the phone call at the start being a promposal.
5- What do y'all have coming up in the future? Any shows or anything you'd like to plug?
We have a music video coming up soon! Stevie is in Ireland for a couple more months, so the rest of us have been writing stuff towards our first full-length in hopes that we'll have some new stuff to debut in our future shows. Keep an eye out for "It Came from Hallowzine," a horror comics anthology, in your local comics or zine store.