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May 15, 2015 By Christopher Roberts Sweet Spirit

Austin’s Sweet Spirit are going out on tour with Spoon, opening for the beloved Austin veterans. In honor of that Sweet Spirit are releasing a collaborative 7-inch with Spoon frontman Britt Daniel via Nine Mile Records (you can buy it at their tour dates together). The B-side is a cover of Spoon’s “Paper Tiger,” originally found on their 2002 classic album Kill the Moonlight. It’s a much more raucous and energetic take on the song.

Spin premiered the cover and interviewed Sweet Spirit’s Sabrina Ellis, who had this to say about it: “‘Paper Tiger’ is a song that we’ve always wanted to cover. Andrew [Cashen, co-leader] was attracted to the beautiful melody. He kept talking about giving it the Amy Winehouse beat, Winehouse with the Dap Kings. We learned the song and began incorporating it into our set. One night we had an early show at Hotel Vegas. Britt Daniel happened to be in the audience and we asked him onstage to sing with us. That’s when we whipped out this coked up version of ‘Paper Tiger.’ I don’t know who was more surprised, Britt or the 30 people at the bar. We decided to make ‘Paper Tiger’ the B-side to our single, ‘Have Mercy.’ It begins the same way as the original, with a keyboard on heavy delay starting the riff. Then the drums come in and it turns into something wild. Andrew is the second voice. I don’t want people to be mistaken, we sound so alike. He wanted me to sing it, but I think it’s heartwrenching to hear both male vocals together. There’s a lyric, ‘We could go kick down some doors together…’ but we mistook that for ‘We could go kick ass in bars together!’ Britt liked the revision. It stayed. ‘Paper Tiger’ is a real crowd pleaser, especially when Britt and I are shaking it like Rod and Tina.”

Check out the cover below, followed by the Spoon original, the 7-inch’s A-side (“Have Mercy”), and the bands’ tour dates together.

Also check out our interview last year with Britt Daniel on Kill the Moonlight.

Sweet Spirit and Britt Daniel: “Paper Tiger” (Spoon Cover):

Spoon: “Paper Tiger”:

Sweet Spirit and Britt Daniel: “Have Mercy”:

Sweet Spirit and Spoon Tour Dates:

05/17 Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom*
05/18 Kansas City, MO @ Midland*
05/19 Fargo, ND @ Fargo Theatre*
05/21 Missoula, MT @ Wilma Theater*
05/24 Vancouver, BC @ Malkin Bowl*
05/23 Portland, OR @ Kelly’s Olympian
05/25 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory*
05/29 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater*
05/30 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern*
05/31 Los Angeles, CA @ The Teragram Ballroom*
06/01 San Diego, CA @ North Park Theatre*
06/02 San Diego, CA @ North Park Theatre*
06/06 Austin, TX @ ABGB
* - with Spoon

www.facebook.com/sweetspirittheband

www.spoontheband.com

(Via Stereogum and Spin)