Ryan Sweeney
In the early 1990s, regional rock bands like Nirvana started exploding in popularity. Eager to capitalize, the mainstream music biz siphoned up indie acts like so much wet spaghetti and threw them at a wall of major labels to see which would stick and which would slide down into obscurity. “Budget rock,” an idea crystallized in the Bay Area underground centered on high-energy acts like The Mummies and The Rip-Offs, gained traction as an antithesis: Make the benchmark of success artistic expression and stupid fun, and ignore chart positions, musical proficiency and even recording fidelity. The budget-rock ethos has long been a guiding principle for Ryan Sweeney, who’s been part of Nashville-area scenes for nearly a quarter-century as a drummer and live-music promoter, and later the head of indie label Sweet Time Records.
Circa 2017, Sweeney started channeling his skills and resources into a small but mighty promotion enterprise called Sweet Time Booking, which has been responsible for a wealth of great rock shows in our area and beyond, including a pair of phenomenal festivals called Sweet by Sweet Time. But being a parent and active musician with lots of demands on his time, Sweeney is putting Sweet Time Booking to rest after one final show, set for Saturday, Nov. 23, at Betty’s Grill. Slack Times, a jangly Birmingham trio that takes cues from New Zealand’s 1980s Flying Nun scene, will be supported by Sweeney’s newest project Gross Motor, a fierce denim-and-leather riff machine that debuted in September. To put Sweet Time Booking in perspective, Sweeney granted me an exit interview in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese while his son played with friends inside.
“I made a joke somewhat recently — I was like, ‘I’ve been doing this for 30 years,’” says Sweeney. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, wait, no, that’s real. I have been doing this for 30 years!’”
Around the time The Mummies were on the rise in California, Sweeney began his musical journey as a preteen in Danville, Va., where his older brother and friends — whose bandmates included future Nashville luminary Heath Haynes — booked and played gigs at cafes and pizza parlors. Sweeney started studying in Middle Tennessee State University’s recording industry program in 2000 while performing and booking around Murfreesboro and Nashville. Eventually, he found himself touring the world with bands like beloved riff rockers Hans Condor and power-pop weirdos Cheap Time, opening for the likes of Guitar Wolf and Mudhoney.
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He made friends across Europe who later needed to get gigs in Nashville so that trips to play events like Memphis’ Gonerfest made financial sense. Putting his skills and his local network into play repeatedly led to the start of Sweet Time Booking. During its run, he wrangled some of the best rock ’n’ roll acts from around the globe to play here, including Brooklyn psychedelic girl group Habibi, Derv Gordon of legendary U.K. rockers The Equals and Australian eccentrics Gee Tee — even Memphis garage heroes The Oblivians, who have always been reluctant to play Nashville.
“They were just like, ‘The Oblivians in Music City — for Ryan Sweeney, we will do it,’” says Sweeney. “And that blew my mind.”
For all the self-aggrandizing Nashville likes to do under the “Music City” banner, it doesn’t have a great reputation across all music scenes. In DIY punk circles, Nashville is seen more as a liability than a gold mine, with show turnouts consistently much lower than in other similar-size cities. And when we do show up to these gigs, excitement can be at a minimum — even for pub-rock royalty like Wreckless Eric playing a pitch-perfect room like The 5 Spot, as he did in 2019.
“When I booked that show, he was so excited about it,” Sweeney recalls. “And it was packed. He had a great time. But it was also another thing where during his set, at least half the room left. Like, ‘What are you guys doing?’”
Putting on a show is a ton of work even if you aren’t playing. As with many DIY promoters in Nashville, burnout began setting in for Sweeney when getting fickle fans to turn out consistently proved a challenge with diminishing returns.
“That’s kind of really where this stopped being so much fun and started being more of a stressor,” he tells me. “It was cool that I was getting offered better shows — and I don’t want to say ‘higher quality,’ but more experienced bands, bands with bigger names. But that inevitably means they need more.”
Letting Sweet Time Booking go gives Sweeney more capacity to stay involved in the nasty underbelly of local punk. He’s a member of poetic punk outfit The Sleeveens, whose self-titled LP is among the most lauded punk albums of 2024 and who’ll be embarking on their first European tour early next year. He also plays with buzzing garage punkers The Shitdels, who just released their second LP Where’s Your Head?, and Ramones-core outfit The Rip Taylors, who have a new record ready to go for 2025. As far as Sweet Time Records, upcoming projects include a new full-length from wild punks Wesley & the Boys and a 7-inch from hard-charging rockers Night Talkers. While it was time for booking to wind down, it isn’t an experience Sweeney regrets.
“I do appreciate the people that did show up and did promote and help out.”
