Warrant drummer only wanted to rock

June 25, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

When an 8-year-old Steven Sweet first saw David Cassidy in concert at Blossom Music Center, he wasn’t thinking about becoming “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich.”

Instead, the wide-eyed kid, who would become the drummer of ’80s act Warrant, was wowed by the power and respect wielded by “The Partridge Family” teen idol.

“That was my first concert as a kid,” said Wadsworth native Sweet, calling from Los Angeles. “This was my first taste of like, ‘Wow, this is like bigger than anything to see all of these people gathered,’ especially Blossom being such a great venue.

“To see a show with this tiny little spec of a guy with a microphone and still being able to hear what he said and the peoples’ reaction, it really infused in me the desire to do that myself one day. As a small kid, you don’t plan ahead. You’re like, ‘I want to be a fireman or an astronaut.’ Well, I wanted to be David Cassidy.”

While still in high school, Sweet and his brother, David, were gigging around Northeast Ohio playing shows at night in Cleveland, Youngstown and Warren while still going to class the next morning.

The drummer said his parents were very lenient, as long as they made it to school. The problem would be sleeping through class, but whatever education Sweet was missing during the day, he was gaining at night.

After graduating high school, Sweet moved to Florida before eventually landing in Los Angeles playing in Sunset Strip band Plain Jane, which included singer Jani Lane. That group would become Warrant, which released its 1989 debut, “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich,” at the height of the hair-metal trend.

Warrant became a hit band with songs such as “Down Boys,” “Sometimes She Cries” and “Heaven.” The group’s sophomore 1990 sophomore effort, “Cherry Pie,” included the hit title track and rock-radio tunes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “I Saw Red.” By the time Warrant released its 1992 album “Dog Eat Dog,” tides had turned with grunge ending the Spandex-friendly era.

Still, during its run, Warrant sold a respectable 10 million albums worldwide.

Diehard fans today may be attending their Saturday show at the Steel Valley Supernationals in Salem.

As for Lane, he passed away in 2011. At the time, his relationship with Sweet was strained.

“We used to be great friends, and then we wound up not being so at the end of the day when we gave the last shot to bring the band back together with the full force of all five members,” said Sweet, who didn’t participate in a recent tribute show to Lane that took place in Akron. “It didn’t work out. People change as they age, and there wasn’t any sort of a click between us any longer.

“It was such a tragic thing to hear that he passed, but it wasn’t so unexpected knowing the type of person he was and that he became.”

For Sweet, a musician who has dedicated his life to rock ’n’ roll, it would make sense there are regrets when he thinks back to what could have been.

“There were certainly disappointments,” Sweet said. “In retrospect now, it was such a small blip of time for all of us. We had a great little run, and then as the musical climate changes, different bands stay and go. We were lucky enough to stay for a while, and I think the band, as it is today, has come back stronger than ever having been through all of that and having survived it.

“It definitely makes you appreciate what you have now, but there are certainly no regrets as to how it played out getting us to where we are. If anything, we’re certainly grateful for having had the experiences.”