Forming in 2021, Sweet Talk the all singing southern boogie 6-piece came together over the depths of a covid lockdown, bonding over a love of late nights, American music and classic song writing that appeals to the group and their finely tuned ears.
Nested inside the deep songwriting partnership of David Turner and Soren Walker, the duo quickly turned into a gang, as Soren’s younger soul singing brother Tane began to add a layer of comforting grit to the interweaving licks.
Born in Christchurch New Zealand The Walker bothers relocated to Australia in the lates 80’s with their family touring the east coast in a humble Caravan looking for a new place to call home.
After a nomadic year the Walkers landed on Queensland’s Gold Coast, it was there that a high school meeting between Soren and David would set the journey for Sweet Talk decades later. Dave had returned to Australia after living in Singapore for several years. There mutual love of guitars and music saw the duo playing shows and eventually studying studio production at a tertiary level. (An area of study David still works in today).
Moving from sound to sound the boys consumed all genres but noticed the records of Little Feat, The Band, Doobie Brothers, Joe Walsh, The Eagles and The Allman Brothers all seeding their way into their collections.
Eventually migrating to Victoria (a place they all now call home). It was here, a wider network of musicians and friends opened up and a chance booking as guitarist in a Christmas show backing band connected Dave to Sweet Talks now spiritually gobsmacking rhythm section.
It was here the soul loving bass player James Vincent Harding and the Steely Dan obsessed Nic Symon joined the gang and added to the sound that can stand strong in the modern day, whilst also taking us back to simpler times, when road trip aircon was a luxury and seatbelts failed to matter.
The final version of the Sweet Talk gang took some time to cement and several players came and went. One that remained a constant came via Daves brother Jim, in coffee shop coworker Craig Mattingley on piano, electric piano and organ. Craig joined and added a pulse that the sound now can’t do without.
Wholly disciples of history’s all-time greatest southern, blues, country, gospel, soul, and rock bands; Sweet Talk started to take their sound to the masses around the country , supporting shows with Wagons, Andy Golledge and The Sheepdogs (CAN) paying their dues and winning over crowds with their rich tapestry of vintage influence they’ve turned into their own.
In 2022 Sweet Talk took to the studio for the first time to record what became the “I’d rather be listening to Sweet Talk’ EP. Made up of six tracks all recorded live and self-produced by the band over several days. Videos of these session were also captured and worked in the bands favor continuing to spread the word further than the streets of Melbourne.
The recording of ‘I’d rather be listening to Sweet Talk’ also coincided with festival appearances throughout the back half of 2022 with the band jumping in the van, playing there sounds around the country with appearances at Queenscliff, Tamworth, Port Fairy Folk Festival , Out On The Weekend, Blues On Broadbeach and the Gympie Muster along with a host of live rooms, pubs and BBQ’s across cities and states.
Subsequently as part of Australian music month ABC Country supported the band rotation addition for their track Summertime Speakeasy
In the winter of 2023 the band decided to go back into the studio and record a new collection of songs.
The first one to be released is Warm Love
“Warm Love is one of our favourite tunes to play live. It captures some of the hallmarks that people have come to know as the ‘Sweet Talk’ sound - tight syncopated grooves, Duelling lead guitarmonies, rich vocal harmonies and a hell of a vocal performance. Like most of our tunes we recorded it almost entirely live with just the vocals and solo breaks overdubbed.” said David Turner.
Like most Sweet Talk records so far the song was produced by David Turner and Soren Walker, however this time they wanted to enlist some outside help for the engineering and mixing so they could just focus on production and playing guitar.
They enlisted their old pal Alex Markwell (Delta Riggs) to engineer the band recordings, and when looking for a mixing engineer the band reached out to one of their favourites in Trina Shoemaker.
“We reached out and she was super enthusiastic as she’s mad for vocals and really loved Tane’s voice. It was fantastic to work with her as she heard things in a way we didn’t which just bought things to life.
With more songs in the pipeline and recently Nominated for Best Live Blues and Roots act in the 2023 National Live Music Awards. Sweet Talk are pleased to see they have won the respect of the music sector. Fuelled with this, they’ll head back out on the road and deliver their renowned high-energy live shows, continue to make fans and pushing there songs to those looking for the familiar and the future.
BB Adams interviews Tane from Sweet Talk
SWEET TALK are ….
Tane Walker: lead vocals
Soren Walker: guitar & vocals
David Turner: guitars & vocals
James Vincent Harding: bass & vocals
Nic Symons: drums, percussion & vocals