The Sweep

Cincinnati, Ohio Nic Powers - Guitar, Vocals, Songs Brendan Bogosian - Guitar, Vocals Joe Klug - Drums, Vocals, Keys Glen May - Bass Cincinnati group The Sweep has gone through some changers over the years, but front man and sole songwriter Nic Powers keeps it together like Connor Oberst does with Bright Eyes, Perhaps because he’s been doing it for so long. “The bassist Glen May and I have been playing together since we were 12 years old” he says. “We were in a band called Picture Show in the early 2000s. Our drummer quit, and he had a style that was impossible to duplicate. We tried out a handful of drummers, and it was clear that band would not be able to continue. The last guy we tried out (Brian Moeller) was very good in a very different way. Glen and I decided to proceed with him but the music would be so different we needed to change the name. We then became the Sweep.” The name, Nic says, came from a dream, much like one of our previous releases, Amycanbe. “In the dream I was in a band called The Sweep. Seemed like an ok name so I used it when this band formed.” But that wasn’t it for changes in The Sweep lineup. “We played as a three-piece for a few years and then met Bill Alletzhauser. Bill was formally in the Ass Pony’s a band from Cincinnati that had a lot of success in the nineties nationwide. He started helping us with a recording project. Being an extremely gifted guitar player, he ended up playing on some of the tracks. Bill also was a great songwriter and had a band he fronted called The Hiders. In the end it was just too hard for him to keep up with both bands. So Bill left, and Brian departed as well to join The Hiders.” That left Nic in a bit of a sticky situation, but he managed to make the best of it, and by “the best of it” we mean the album you currently hold in your hands. “I had no band at this point, but I had about 20 songs I wanted to record. I went into the studio alone to do a solo record and recorded basic tracks. Eventually my friend Joe Suer (great drummer here in Cincinnati) came in to put some drums on the tracks. The mood of the record was changed quite a bit by his playing (in a good way). My roommate Gabe Molnar is a songwriter and guitar player, and I asked him to come in and play on it. Glen May then came in and put bass on the tracks. Gabe’s girlfriend and bandmate in {another group called} Little Lights sings background on some of the tracks, as well as my friend Donna Rubin from a band called Fists of Love. After all this happened it did not sound like a solo record to me so I decided to keep The Sweep name. This was all two or so years ago and became the record you all have, Starlight City Moans.” Of course, that being two years ago, and all members being in multiple bands, the exact arrangement of players you hear on this record isn’t what it is now. “The lineup now is myself, Glen May on bass, Brendan Bogosian on guitar, and Joe Klug on drums.” And now you know. So what’s next for The Sweep (in whatever combination of musicians they may be)? Well, in between playing for other bands, collecting vinyl (Nic insists he has way too many records), and working their day jobs, they’ve managed to put together a whole other album. “We actually have a new record almost finished and hope to tour a little sometime this year,” Says Nic. “It’s the Band has ever sounded and we all get along very well.”