Dave Fitzsimon and his new project, sweetfactory. Dave was the frontman and songwriter for Wellington band PARKA, 1997-1999. PARKA was played across the b-net stations and several other rock stations in NZ and Australia, and had tracks on many NZ on Air Indie Hit Discs during this period.One of these tracks was 'some girls' a grunged up racy cover featuring 'Julia Deans'(fur patrol)which also ended up on a short film soundtrack. Another track 'you'll never know' is on the soundtrack of NZ feature film 'Hopeless'. Parka also recorded a self titlled album during this period. The Parka lineup included Maria Paterson(tadpole, mark de clive lowe &tim finn) and momoent(banshee reel & jacky tar). At the end of 1999 Dave moved to London to pursue his career. In late 1999 Island Records recorded four PARKA songs, which were in the following year picked up by Howard Marks'(Mr Nice) label Bothered Records. In 2001 they released a compilation album 'Under the Influence' featuring artists such as Elastica, Shaun Ryder, Stereophonics, super furry animals and PARKA. Dave also recorded a 3 track ep around this period. parka played all the well know indie venues of London such as The Dublin Castle, The Monach, The Water Rats, THe 100 club and dave even performed solo at the world famous jazz venue 'Ronnie Scotts'. In 2002 Dave suffered a serious hand injury and was forced to stop playing for two years. In 2004 Dave started writing again and in December recorded this album under a new name, sweetfactory. sweetfactory are made up of the london parka, tony and steve wilson(guitar and bass) and chris page(drums) formerly of brit rock band 'Orange'(chrysalis records) and the 'Kevin Mcdermott orchestra'. Robbie macintosh of the pretenders and paul mc cartney fame also contribute to the sweetfactory album. sweetfactory has interest from English labels already, and hopes to have the album out in time to tour the U.K this year.. Contact: davidfitzsimon@hotmail.com

PT030: Sweet Factory - Beautiful Sin (CD Album) 2005

1.Someone like you 2.Talk of the town 3.Milk it 4.Walls 5.Love your life 6.Pornstar 7.Too far gone 8.Alleyways 9.Ordinary day 10.Beautiful sin

US: $13.95

NZ: $20.00

REVIEW DRILL ISSUE 15 OCT 2005:Beautiful Sin: The Sweet Factory Having read a little about Dave Fitzsimon's musical history in Drill No.10 and hearing 'Someone Like You' from the sampler, I eagerly waited for Sweet Factory's 'Beautiful Sin' album to arrive, I was sure I was going to like it. And I was right. It made me feel like a little kid again, listening to my older brothers' albums in the mid 70s. Of course, 'Someone Like You' is a contemporary powerpop jewel, brimming with energy, melody, brightness and guitars. The feel softens slightly on 'Talk of the Town' where Dave's vocal conjures up sweet memories of Noddy Holder singing a Slade ballad, has an uncanny resemblance. The saucy 'Milk It' sounds as good as a caramel milkshake tastes, a blissful - just woken up but lying in on a Sunday morning kind of feel. I can imagine Liam Gallagher singing this song, it would fit nicely on an Oasis LP sans the attitude. The fourth charmer is 'Walls'. A world-class piano led ballad, superbly recorded. This time, Dave's youthful, husky and honest voice has him doing a great impression of the Eazybeats' front man, Stevie Wright. 'Love Your Life' comes across as a strange fusion of subtle Britpop and southern boogie, 'hell y'all it works ... don't it guv". If this track was on 'Revolver' it wouldn't be out of place. However, one aspect of it confuses me .... the distorted, low frequency percussive beat that hits sporadically on the third beat of most bars in the chorus? It's great enough without it. The most rocking track on this album is 'Pornstar' which displays glimpses of Jet, Free and AC/DC due to the chord riffs and guitar sounds. A great guitar solo is the icing on the cake of this cracker of a tune. If you think that I'm making too many references to other bands whose influences I can hear on this album then hear me out. What is happening here is that those little hints of influence are the mere catalysts for something that is far greater, which is the songs herein. Track 7 is 'Too Far Gone' which demonstrates to the likes of Aussie band Powderfinger that this is how there song 'Sunsets' should have turned out. Similar feel but Dave can sing! It builds to a great crescendo full of guitars and more guitars ... yeah! At this stage I was thinking "There's gotta be a naff song on 'ere somewhere, all albums have a dodgy song or two", but next up was 'Alleyways' and my judgement was wrong again. As with 'Walls', this is another world-class Britpop ballad. The melody in the chorus gave me goose bumps and lyrically, observations of mundane surroundings are romanced and glorified with a simplistic, poetic beauty. 'Ordinary Day' is as close to perfect as a ballad can get. The recording and performance are crystal clear, emotive and honest, building to a fittingly restrained crescendo. Track 10, the title track 'Beautiful Sin' is figurative, beautiful ... and it's a sin this album's come to an end. There's just a hint of organ to colour this song slightly and how could you go wrong with a chorus of "Love don't leave a light on, don't leave an open door ..... " 'Beautiful Sin' by Sweet Factory smacks of experience, style and precision. Lyrically mature but with youthful delivery, it's descriptive in its story telling and teaming in imagery. A brilliantly recorded and produced album, but far from over produced. It sounds like a major label release but because it isn't, then I like it even more. It wouldn't surprise me if it did become a major label release in the future. Rohan Belton Smashed Records Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia www.smashedrecords.com