Sweet Apple’s Dave Sweetapple Remembers: April Wine

Sweet Apple is more than just a question of Cobra Verde’s John Petkovic and Tim Parnin having some teenage kicks with Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis and Witch’s Dave Sweetapple. It’s the answer to the heartache, grief and depression that led Petkovic to drive from Cleveland to Vermont, where he rediscovered the healing powers of rock ‘n’ roll with some help from his friends. Love & Desperation (Tee Pee) isn’t a fountain of youth, but it’ll do in a pinch: a combination of stomping ’70s arena-rock riffs, Petkovic’s well-honed T Rex swagger and Mascis’ hard-wired guitar leads servicing lurid tales of sex, drugs and vampires. The members of Sweet Apple will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with Petkovic.

Sweetapple: April Wine is the first band that I ever saw live, and they fucking ruled it. I was 13 and went to see them at St. John’s Memorial Stadium in Newfoundland, which is now giant supermarket. Back in ’78, it was a place where magic happened. First Glance hadn’t hit the shops yet, but they played tunes off that LP as well as all the hit jams off their first six albums. They were so loud, with Marshall full stacks blaring and deafening a generation of Newfie kids. That night changed my life forever. I feel like a total asshole now, though, because the following year, I bought a Clash record and turned my back on my heroic Canadian rockers. I stupidly sold all my April Wine albums and bought a copy of Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts. How dumb we are as kids.

Video after the jump.