This Friday, March 13th, will see the release of Still There’s A Glow, the sophomore full-length from local icons Sweet Pill… In the years since the release of 2022 debut LP Where the Heart Is, Sweet Pill has toured alongside the likes of La Dispute and The Wonder Years, signed to Hopeless Records, earned the praise of A-listers like Hayley Williams and Doja Cat, and played Outbreak, Riot Fest, and all three dates of last year’s Warped Tour, along with a plethora of headlining runs… Still There’s A Glow represents the next chapter of Sweet Pill. Despite producing nearly an album’s worth of demos amidst the whirlwind of experiences propelling them into musical stardom, they eventually scrapped nearly all of those songs to move onto the music of their sophomore LP, which is their first release written with their current lineup and entirely as a band. On the day of the album’s release, Sweet Pill kick off more than a month of dates on their biggest North American headlining tour yet. And next Thursday, March 19th, they’ll be returning to Union Transfer for their hometown celebration of Still There’s A Glow. I recently got a chance to chat with Sweet Pill guitarists Jayce Williams and Sean McCall about all of this and more…
Izzy Cihak: You’re preparing to release Still There’s A Glow, but you’ve already dropped a handful of singles, and I know you’ve been playing a number of the songs live. Have you had any favorite early responses to the new music?
Sweet Pill: Usually I think this would be a hard question to answer but I can pinpoint the moment. My favorite crowd response to a live song was when we played a few new songs at Warped Tour DC last year – and it actually wasn’t even one of the four singles we released, but another song on the record titled “Shameless” that is still unreleased.
Izzy Cihak: Sophomore albums are historically considered tricky, but I know Sweet Pill went through a lot of changes in the past few years — in terms of lineup, songwriters, success… — and even scrapped almost an album’s worth of demos. How do you, personally, feel like Still There’s A Glow compares to Where the Heart Is?
Sweet Pill: In my opinion, Still There’s a Glow is way different from WTHI but still sounds like a Sweet Pill album, if that makes sense. We usually get lumped into the emo band category (which is 100% valid) but we also exist within many other genres. STAG is no different. We definitely push the limits for these boxes we are put in sonically and are excited to see where that takes us. We have been lucky to be able to tour with or support bands of all different sounds.
Izzy Cihak: You’ve released some really cool videos for singles, but you’ve also done a number of episodes of Sweet TV, which I totally love (especially “Mysterious Glow,” where the eyes on the blindfolds look alarmingly like a tattoo I got when I was 18…) What are the origins of Sweet TV?
Sweet Pill: Whoa that’s crazy!! We’d love to see your tattoo and pass it along to the folks who produced the music video, they’d love to see it too. The original idea for Sweet TV was pitched by our management, but we took the idea and ran with it. We really just needed something consistent and fun to keep people engaged with our album roll out, and we for sure had fun with it. We are most likely going to continue posting under Sweet TV down the line when we have more time. We actually just locked in a guest that I know a lot of folks will be stoked about. We want to share this outlet with our friends we’ve made from touring.
Izzy Cihak: Although this will be your first full-length for the label, you’ve been with Hopeless Records for a couple years now, releasing your last two EPs with them. How has it been working with them and being a part of that amazing roster?
Sweet Pill: Honestly, incredible. When we were shopping labels we decided to work with Hopeless because we genuinely felt that they wanted to work with us the most. We could feel their excitement about our music and that has still been the case through the two EP rollouts and now Still There’s a Glow.
Izzy Cihak: You have a ton of upcoming live dates, with a huge headlining tour here in the States and then some festivals and support slots overseas. Are there any shows or cities you’re especially excited about, in addition to your hometown return to Union Transfer?
Sweet Pill: We are all really stoked for the headline tour. We have a huge amount of love for Chicago; it’s always a great time whenever we’re there. We have a lot of friends from that area and the energy that city brings is always incredible. Thalia Hall is also such a special place to us; we played there for the first time opening for La Dispute in 2023, and the venue staff rocks. Plus, they give you a really nice pair of “Thalia Hall” socks! We’re stoked to be back there for our first time headlining.
Izzy Cihak: What can be expected of the live show this time around, in terms of setlist and production? Any chance we might get something extra special for the show at UT?
Sweet Pill: Setlist is a long one! We’re definitely not used to playing for an hour+, so I think we’re both nervous and excited to do it for a whole tour. In terms of production, we have something pretty special on stage for our new album, that we think will make for a pretty cool photo op! It’ll be a great time sharing a bunch of new songs, mixed in with our favorite old ones. We won’t give too much away, but Union Transfer is ALWAYS an extra special show for us!
Izzy Cihak: Considering that you’re local, I have to ask if you have any favorite memories of Union Transfer as an attendee/fan? I think that my favorite shows there are tied between Luscious Jackson’s reunion show and the two times Belle and Sebastian played there.
Sweet Pill: Honestly, that’s a tough one. We’ve all seen so many shows there, it’s kind of hard to choose! The first one that comes to mind for me was Foxing and Now, Now in 2019. I think it was a co-headline tour, but they both had some new records I was really excited to see. My most recent favorite was Balance and Composure with Freshwater and Webbed Wing. It was so sick to see Balance get back together in their home city.
Izzy Cihak: You’ll be on the road with Heart To Gold and Spaced, who are both so cool. The first time I saw Spaced was when they were supporting War on Women at KFN and I only caught the last five minutes of their set and I still kinda hate myself for it, haha. What are your thoughts on your tourmates? Are you excited to spend some time on the road with them?
Sweet Pill: I’m sure you’ll get another chance to see them (soon!) — Heart to Gold and Spaced are awesome, and we’re extremely stoked on their music, so naturally it’s easy to be excited about them being our future tourmates. We play these songs over and over again to make sure our live show is the best it can be, so it’s always refreshing to see another group of creatives do it as well in their space! We get to see their hard work pay off on the stage every night as well. It’s such a privilege to be able to do this in different cities every night, and meet so many other like-minded people, we can’t wait to share that experience with them.
Izzy Cihak: I was talking about the UT show on the latest episode of Philthy Radio, my show for Y-Not Radio, and I played “Cut,” which has kind of become your signature song and a major point of your live sets, so I’m curious if you have any particularly vivid memories of writing or recording that, or even of live performances? I saw you play that back in 2022 at The Church at Carly Cosgrove’s album release show, which I think is one of the first times you played it…
Sweet Pill: Yes, “Cut” has really taken off! For me, I remember kind of having a field day with the reverb and atmosphere changes that subtly happen throughout the song. There will be moments where a note is just cents off from us bending the neck or just changing the reverb time on a pedal, and I think it translated really well without being too overwhelming. We’re really stoked with “Cut” and all the love it’s gotten since WTHI came out. Funny enough, our producer, Matt Weber, kept pushing for “Cut” to be a single, which we ultimately didn’t end up doing! That song is the last one on the record, and it took a path of its own without even having the push of it being a single. That Church show was SUCH a special time, and truly a “bucket-list” show for us. We can’t wait to stomp around on that dirty carpet again!
*Get your tickets here.
