2023-08-05 07:53:27
The indie-punk-rock-emo quintet formed at the end of the 80’s in Oakland (California) is one of my favorite bands ever. Their music plays a big part in it, but their status as cult losers too, surely. This new album will have been long overdue (for some at least) and it was the right opportunity to agree on an itw in video to present the new line-up, the setbacks of the recording and others, with Sean (guitar) and newcomers Chad (bass) and Colin (drums).
How does it feel to once more promote Samiam, interviews, 12 years following Trips, your last album?
Sean (guitar): It was a long time ago indeed, especially since we didn’t do a lot of press for Trips. I don’t know why but it didn’t generate much interest at the time. We toured a bit and did a few interviews, but three weeks before the release of Stowaway, we’ve already done a lot more promotion. Pure Noise Records, our new label, seems more involved and it’s really nice. I didn’t necessarily expect that, to be honest.
Three titles have been unveiled in recent months and you played some new songs during a European tour in October, what was the first feedback?
Chad (bass): People were a bit surprised at first because only “Lights out, little hustler” was released and we put in our set “Lake speed”, which is a much faster and punker track. It was quite funny to see them react but, overall, they seemed above all very happy to know that a new album was ready to be released.
Samiam has always had difficulty keeping the same line-up, especially at the bass/drums level. How did the two newcomers Chad and Colin arrive in the group?
Sean: Our previous bass player, Billy, was too drunk, as often, and mightn’t catch his plane to join us at the Festà Gainesville where we were to play in 2012. Chad who lives there and played with The Ship Thieves learned the set in 4 hours and tore everything apart. He sawed us off. We never fired anyone in the band, which we should have done if we had been more serious, but it wasn’t the first time Billy had dumped us and he eventually left us of his own free will. After. We therefore offered the place to Chad who very kindly accepted.
Chad: I’ve been in the band for 10-11 years now.
Colin (drums): 9 years for me! My friend Jason White (tour guitar of Green Day) had heard from Jason Beebout (vocalist of Samiam) that they were looking for a drummer and he advised him to call me. That’s how I landed directly for a first tour in Australia in 2014, without knowing the other members of the group. But I was a fan of Samiam so I mightn’t refuse!
You haven’t even released an album together yet but it’s finally the most stable line-up of the band…
Sean: For me, it’s even the best we’ve ever had! Chad and Colin are both excellent musicians as well as being great guys, Sergie has only improved on the guitar and plays much better than he did 20-25 years ago, Jason quit smoking and drinking too much before concerts…
On this subject, Sean, we can talk regarding Samiam’s last concert in France (July 2007 at Batofar in Paris) or is this memory too distant, vague, painful?
Sean: It was precisely at this time when Jason frequently lost his voice on tour, because he smoked too much, drank too much… We still had to perform the concerts, but with half-hearted singing, it was sometimes embarrassing. To top it off, he took throat stuff but drank even more, so as not to remember those humiliating moments on stage, and he smoked once more on top of it. The concert in Paris was one of those moments, adding bottles of red wine in full sun… It was particularly disastrous but really, since he stopped smoking, it never happened once more. If he hadn’t quit smoking, I don’t think the band would have continued.
Having seen you several times since in Spain, Germany and Florida, I confirm. We must return to France now!
Colin: I would like to because I love France. It’s a bit cliché but I had my honeymoon in Paris and with my wife, we went to the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower… tourist stuff. (laughs)
You have crossed the decades and musical currents by always offering the same mixture of punk, indie and emo without really experiencing commercial success. Have you been frustrated at times, have you considered another direction?
Sean: We kind of do what we want and we’ve always done it. Being there for all these years prevents us from following or not following a trend. We understood a long time ago that we wouldn’t be millionaires and that takes all the pressure away. We have our own style, I think, thanks to Jason’s very identifiable voice, so album following album, we just imitate Samiam. (laughs)
Colin: When we had to make the album, before the pandemic, we had 15-16 songs, built over the last few years and we worked on that. We didn’t say, “Let’s do a slower or faster track or something that really sounds like pure Samiam”.
The pandemic didn’t help but the process of recording the album was quite complex, no, juggling between several studios?
Chad: I tried to plan all this but it was not easy, especially since I live in Florida, Colin in New York and the others in California. We first met for 2-3 days in Oakland, California at the Green Day office, to rehearse and finish putting the songs in place. Like a real band, because until now we had been content to send each other bits of demos via the Internet. At the end of the three days, we recorded the end of the rehearsal with the finished pieces, in order to train everyone at home and come back a month later for a real studio recording session. Except that it was the end of February 2020 and the world stopped right following. For a year and a half, we then worked and further refined the songs, fiddling with this rehearsal recording on the computer. Colin then did his drums in karaoke mode, all alone, in a studio in New York. Then Sean and Sergie came to Gainesville, Florida to Ryan Phillips’ studio where we recorded guitars and bass. Then Sean and Jason recorded the vocals and choirs in California but the result was not conclusive so there was a second session in Gainesville which turned out to be the right one and the album might finally be mixed. Despite all these steps and all this time, when I listen to the record, I rediscover the somewhat magical moment when the songs were built and the freshness of the Oakland rehearsal room.
Colin: I completely agree, it doesn’t seem that worked. I was not there at the time but I have the impression that we find in Stowaway the spontaneity of Samiam’s first two albums, Samiam (1990) and Soar (1991), which had been recorded in a hurry , in a few days.
Sean: It’s true, except for the vocals, which has been done and redone for over a year and in several studios. Which is good because often Jason wasn’t always happy with his games. He regretted not having more time, especially because that’s what we did in the rush, at the end. As there was no particular expectation, our label told us to take the time we needed and it’s a luxury we had never had before so thank you Pure Noise.
Speaking of Gainesville, I was doubly surprised listening to the track “Lake speed”, which opens Stowaway. One, because it’s probably the most punk song you’ve ever composed and, two, because it’s not Jason who has the lead vocals.
Chad: With Chris Wollard (guitarist/singer of Hot Water Music and The Ship Thieves), we were coming back from a concert in Tampa and in the car, I was playing him the raw versions of our session in Oakland. He loved this piece, “Lake speed”, more incisive and he was there: “Stop! I gotta sing along to this song! “. In the end, he was even more involved because I had to leave town when Jason and Sean came to Gainesville to record their songs and he took care of chaperone them. He knows Ryan and Blackbird Studios well because several Hot Water Music albums were made there and that’s how he ended up on three Stowaway songs.
To finish with Gainesville and The Fest, what makes this city so special on the world map of punk-rock?
Chad: I moved recently but lived in Gainesville for 23 years and didn’t go there because it was a very student town. No, I went there because that’s where a lot of punk-rock bands come from. So, it’s not all year round this huge celebration and fellowship of people with Off with their heads or Jawbreaker t-shirts but there is something special. The scene is very close-knit and currently 90% of the bands rehearse in the same place because they were expelled from other places by promoters to build car parks or offices. There are also many musicians or former musicians who run bars or restaurants and who open their establishments outside service hours so that groups can rehearse there. Other people also open their houses or their garages… I don’t know if you find this kind of camaraderie elsewhere.
This is the first time that a Samiam album has been named following a song. What is the meaning of “Stowaway”?
Sean: When I wrote this song, for me it was a sort of sequel to “Tag along”, which is in the album Clumsy (1994). Anyway, that’s what I was thinking but there isn’t really any particular meaning. Sergie then thought it would make a good album title. This title (Editor’s note: “clandestine passenger” in French) might find more meaning followingwards, but as everything can resonate differently according to people, their experiences, regardless of the initial idea…
The album is coming out soon, I imagine you’re in a hurry to show it to people and defend it in concert. I’ve seen a lot of dates planned in the USA whereas in the past few years you’ve mostly toured abroad.
Colin: It’s going to be cool to be able to get together once more because we haven’t played together since Halloween, to find the California sun once more because here in New York it’s supposed to snow in March. I’m super excited, I do sports so I can be in shape and be sure.
Sean: Yes, we will notably play in Los Angeles for the first time in 15 years!
Well, the clock is ticking, let’s talk little, let’s talk well. Can we envisage a new Samiam album before 2030?
Colin: Hahaha! Sean sent us a new song the other day, it’s so good so yes, why not an EP soon.
Sean: For the moment, we are mainly focused on this album which comes out at the end of the month and the first feedback is rather positive so we are really happy. If that hadn’t been the case, we would surely have been disappointed and not necessarily motivated, but it’s true that there it can boost us. Who knows…
Finally, what was the last band you listened to today?
Colin: I don’t remember anymore, let me watch… Going to a go-go by Smokey Robinson And The Miracles. I like Motown classics.
Chad: Moin I just sent myself the debut album of The Damned, another kind of classic. (laughs)
Sean: I think the last record I listened to was Warm Drag, a band from Los Angeles with Osees drummer Paul Quattrone.
Thank you and see you soon in France, I hope.
Colin: Thank you very much! (Editor’s note: in French in the text)
Chad: Thank you and if you come back to the Fest this year, don’t hesitate to contact me!
Thanks to Samiam (for everything) and Denise from Kinda Agency (for the interview).
Photo 1 : Joshua Maranhas
Photo 2 : Austin Rhodes
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