ANDY Scott’s wife should have known that The Sweet icon’s 70th birthday would become a ballroom blitz.

The lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the glam rock band turned 70 in June and went on a getaway to The Portmeirion Hotel.

But it quickly went from a trip with his other half to a block buster when the manager said Andy could use the hotel’s function room, Hercules Hall.

An impromptu gig and a bit of Sweet hell raising shortly followed.

TURNED INTO A BALLROOM BLITZ

Andy, whose band has enjoyed a spike in popularity recently due to classic tracks appearing in films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Suicide Squad, said: “I went back to one of my favourites places which is the Portmeirion Hotel in north Wales which is where they shot The Prisoner.

“There used to be a festival at Portmeirion called Number 6 which is now in a hiatus. So the manager told me: ‘We’ve been having some gigs in our hall within the hotel’.

“He told me the room held 150 people so I said: ‘What we’ve got to try and do is get 150 very conscientious Sweet fans up to north Wales’ – and that’s what we did. We got 150 people crammed into the Hercules Hall in the hotel grounds and it was the most amazing couple of days.

“We had a big fan meeting in the afternoon. I said to everyone it’s not going to be a normal gig where you’re herded in and herded out.

“It’s going to be a party. We had a really great time.”

THE SECRET TO STILL ROCKING AT 70

They say performing on stage makes you feel much younger but Andy admitted he has to take care of himself these days.

He added: “I need a bit of looking after. I can’t take on things that we used to like Berlin one day and St Petersburg the next.

“But I still enjoy it. You can’t do it if you don’t. I went through a stage in the late 90s where we had a few problems with one of the members in the band and I was thinking why am I doing this?

“There will always be problems in rock and roll. Some will be major, some won’t be, but you will never get total perfection.

“I’m trying to keep that in mind now and we’ve had a bit of change in the line-up (Peter Lincoln and Tony O’Hora left the band this year) but since then it’s almost got itself to the point where it’s too good to be true so – don’t say anything – we’ll see where it goes.”

Not that Andy even expected the band to still be going now – some 50 years later.

“Nobody did,” he said.

“Back in the 60s and 70s you thought if you got 10 years you were doing well. When I joined The Sweet, the Beatles were splitting up. At that point bands that had any kind of longevity, like the Stones and The Kinks, you could count with one or two hands.”

Andy is conscious to not let The Sweet to become a tribute to itself though – so the sparkly jackets and satin trousers will remain in the wardrobe.

He added: “Bands like Kiss and even Judas Priest to a degree still look and dress like they did in the 70s. The Sweet don’t do that.

“I don’t think fans want to see that snapshot. There are tribute bands that do that.

“I can see why Deep Purple don’t like the terminology of nostalgia. If you mention that to Ian Gillan you won’t get a nice answer. He still believes there has to be some relevance and I agree. If you’re not moving on, you’re always on the backfoot.”

WE'VE PLAYED IN WARRINGTON MANY TIMES

THE Sweet are bringing their Christmas show to Parr Hall tomorrow, Friday, but it is just the latest in a long string of visits to Warrington over the decades.

Lead guitarist Andy Scott said: “I used to play at the Parr Hall in the 60s with one or other of my bands from Wrexham.

“I think we ended up supporting Screaming Lord Sutch there. It’s so good to see that historic venues like that are still around.”

Andy has fonder memories still of a Warrington venue that is sadly no longer around.

He added: “One of the stalwarts on The Sweet calendar every couple of months was The Lion in Warrington.

“The guvnor used to let us sleep in his personal upstairs bar.

“Whenever we played there he would say: ‘There’s two sofas and here’s two mattresses. Now get your heads down’.

“He liked to have a pint with us afterwards as well.

“When Deep Purple had just reformed with Ian Gillan they did a gig at The Lion.

“We went along and I remember the guvnor standing at the back and saying: ‘I don’t know where they think they’re going but I’d much rather have you playing lads’.

“And we were stood there going: ‘I don’t know what he’s listening to but that’s not what we’re hearing’.”

Meanwhile, Andy is bringing Novatines, a band he has is working with in the studio to the Parr Hall gig.

He said: “They’re doing pretty good considering they’re in their early 20s.

“They remind of The Sweet a little bit – four individual characters who are pretty headstrong and they’ve certainly got a lot of their own ideas.

“The guitar player Tom is the one that makes it all click with his band and he’s helping out in my studio at the moment.

“We’ve been doing the mixing for the Novatines material.

“I like a lot of his ideas and he will be involved with the next set of Sweet recordings.”

The Sweet perform at the Parr Hall on Friday. Visit parrhall.culturewarrington.org