Holiday Pomp and Circumstance

Happy Holidays!!!

Greetings and Happy Holidays from the Sammies! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got everything you wanted/deserved. I got a bike, Don got an interface so we can record a little better, Conrad got a hunting rifle, and Freedom got a dog. We plan on putting the dog on the bike, shooting at it, and recording what it sounds like; should be pretty wicked.

Since we last spoke we played a show in Charlotte with the Black Lips. It was a good time, and awesome to play with such a good band. I recommend their live album if you want to get down on some Black Lips; it was recorded in Tijuana and really captures their signature sound. They were all real nice dudes and we wish them the best in the coming year. They did an interview with Paste Magazine before the show, so look for that in an upcoming issue. Despite all of the wild stories I heard about the Black Lips, I must say, they were nothing but pros, and are a little wiser than they let on.

In other news; Don Yale finally graduated college! Next time you see him buy him a stiff drink, slap him on the back, and burp congratulations in his face so he can smell your sincerity. He graduated from UNCC with a major in Psychology and a minor in Health Fitness, and probably a better GPA than I got out of there with.

I went to Aruba and had a damn blast. I actually won money in the casinos, playing craps. Don’t play slots unless you just want to lose money and are OK with that. If you’re just trying to get drinks, play the penny or nickel slots, bet one line at a time, lose, and keep the waiter/waitress busy. Tip well in the beginning so they come back, then you can relax the tips as the night wears on. Craps advice; make simple bets to begin with, but make sure you stand beside someone who knows what they are doing, then take a page or two out of their book. Bet until you get a good roller, then once you have had a good run, fucking leave! If you are looking for a good vacation Aruba was very nice, better than Jamaica and the Bahamas I think. We stayed at the Renaissance Marina Hotel and would highly recommend that to anyone looking to stay on the island. The hotel owns its own private island and a boat drives into the hotel to pick up passengers every 15 minutes to take them there. Plus, staying in the city you have easy access to all things, unlike staying down the beach where it’s just you and a hotel.

Conrad went home to West Virginia for Christmas, and yes we have already heard all of the jokes, but feel free to comment with a joke if you have some new ones. Otherwise, he has just been shopping, which is what happens if you put off getting Christmas presents till the last minute.

Freedom of course went home to his house in Raleigh for the holidays, a nice break for him since he has been immersed in work for the past little while. If he wasn’t working on the Sammies light display he has been embedding systems for a company here in Charlotte. Got to make that money while you can, especially since we are taking it easy till we get the CD mixed/mastered/etc, he always was the smart Sammie.

Besides that, we have been pretty boring, just doing the holiday’s thing. We mix the CD in Athens first part of January so that’s where we are on that. Also, just added some January shows, the 19th in Charlotte @ The Visulite with Tereu Tereu, the 25th in Atlanta @ The Earl with The Whigs (CD release) and Wax Fang, and the 30th in Chapel Hill with The Whigs and Bull City, hope to see everyone out at one of those shows as they will be a little less frequent for a while.

As always, we love to hear from you, holler anytime!

Second album!!!

So far, untitled:

Hot damn, I think we are about done with the actual recording part of the second album, finally! I sang my ass off this past weekend and the others added some nice weird noises to put the cherry on top. This is another warning: THIS ALBUM WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST. Although it still has the same, unique Sammies element there are some differences for sure. First of all, along with our friends Ben Holst (see credits on first album) and Billy Bennett (also, see credits from first album), we were solely responsible for the production and sounds on this album. Hence the reason it took more than a week to record this time. We know what we like, but our lack of proper technical training can cause some delays in trying to obtain these sounds. It’s more of a trial by fire, which is great because we did some unconventional things that will differentiate us from the masses, but it does take more time. Imagine spending 4-6 hours building a house (it’s an analogy bear with me), the outside looks great, but the floor is caving in inside, so you tear it all down and start again; a bummer yes, but for the better in the end, because the house is a lot more sturdy. That’s what we have been doing in a nut shell. Hard to explain, that’s why we have pictures and videos I hope to post soon.

More to come shortly! Thanks to all our fans that have patiently waited. It has been two years since our first release, and we do have a video that might better explain what took so long. Posting it soon!

In other news, we have just been added to our best friends, The Whigs, CD release show in Atlanta on Jan. 25th! We are playing at the Earl along with Wax Fang, another great band that will rock your face off. It is a reunion of sort’s b/c we all played at Local 506 in Chapel Hill about half a year ago. Maybe we can finally see that awesome aquarium in Atlanta too!

Mo' Shows

Alley Cats n’ Athens

A little more activity since we last talked, we played some of our last gigs we had booked for the year. Before we started this blog the Sammies had been playing all summer, every week, for three to four months straight, and weren’t necessarily taking it easy before then either. Although I love to play, for a band our size, it keeps you from doing other work, writing new songs, taking care of band business, etc. You are always preparing for the next shows, gotta be ready. We refuse to venture out unprepared, and are quite hard on ourselves if we feel we play sub-par. So, we end up practicing all of the time, gearing up for shows. Now, we only have one more show booked

(w/ Black Lips!), and it’s in Charlotte, maybe 15 minutes from the house (Neighborhood Theater), door to door, piece of cake. We will book more shows for next year, but are kinda chilling right now. Everyone deserves some rest, I suggest everyone who reads this take a load off!

We finally have some dates in the studio so we can finish the 2nd album. We really appreciate Mitch Easter and all at Fidelitorium, like Morgan, for working us in. The second album has been a project, and because we were playing so often it made it hard to record. We would record for a day or two, have to take off that night, play a show somewhere, drive back, and get back into recording mode for the final day or so. We did that for a couple of weeks the past 2-3 months and still aren’t done. Personally I could spend another year going over and over the songs, but we just can’t, no point, you could do it forever. Whatever, I have my fingers crossed we will finish this time, and I’m not going to worry about it anyway. I could talk for days about recording, and even just this album, but I will save it for another time.

Alright, so we played a weekday show last Wednesday at Alley Cats; a relatively new club in uptown Charlotte. I must say the place is nice, and our old friend who used to run the Steeple is in charge, so it’s good to see him again, and doing well. We played with our boys

Chocha Loca, check em out, it is music made for Guitar Hero! Plus, our old friend Jason plays in the band; he also just fixed my guitar. Be-he-he-he-ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The night was good, Carolina and Davidson were playing basketball right next door at the Bobcats Arena, so uptown was lively for a weekday. Freedom’s amp started acting up near the end, but luckily I play through two amps, so I afforded him one to finish the set. It was a good warm up for our show Friday night in Athens.

The Sammies and Athens have always been lovers. We met a young band from there, called

the Whigs, when we were first starting out ourselves, so we would go down there, play shows with them, and just hang out. We even played at their house several times till early in the morning, along with another then young band, MGMT. The Pizza Hut house saw some good times for sure. The freaking floor caved in at one party! So, for as long as we have been a band, we have played in Athens regularly and always enjoy a trip down there.



We played at Tasty World last Friday night, where we have played often. Murphy and crew are always super nice to us. Also playing with the Sammies that night was

Minor Kings and Up With the Joneses. UWJ were a pleasant surprise, just like De Novo Dahl was last time we played Tasty World. They had energy and some good songs. Minor Kings also played well, and the definite highlight was Alex climbing the “I” beam by the stage to the top and then swinging across the crowd. It makes me wish I didn’t play guitar sometimes. We had some friends come out, such as the Pendletons, great to see them, and they just got a nice write up in Rolling Stone, congrats! Our friend Butch let us crash at his house, much obliged, much obliged! And as always, there was a small contingent of people with NC ties that came out to support us, thanks to all of you! The night ended at Butch’s house, where we acted like complete pansies and passed out, but not before checking out aquarium city! Butch breeds these rare African fish, and man, it’s some operation, pretty freaking cool actually.

Hold it down, eat lots of turkey, and slap someone in your family because you love them!!!

No news is good news

Nov. 8th/Black Lips/Reigning Sound

Not much to report this week on the Sammies front; still no song list for the album, need to narrow it down a little more, and still no title. Great strides have been made though, so stay tuned.

Speaking of staying tuned, Old Mister Johnson, my Gibson SG, is getting revamped this week by our good friend Jason Racino and Cotter Guitar. She was a little worn around the edges from a fair amount of playing, and in turn, a fair amount of abuse. Guitars are meant to be played, not babied! How would you like it if someone put you on a shelf just to look at? Wouldn’t feel too good, and may be a bit weird.

Like I said, not much going on this week; we’re getting some practice in, working on some lights that should trip everyone out, and trying to get the album ready to come out, wild I may add. The big news, at least in my book, is the December 7th show in Charlotte. Another awesome band has just been added, Reigning Sound! I tried to see them at SXSW this last time but the show was packed before I could get in, and that was still rather early. So, needless to say I am pumped to see not only Black Lips but now Reigning Sound too. I would pay $12 to see just one of those bands, now you get the trifecta for $12, @ Neighborhood Theater!

Go Bobcats, and take the Panthers with you!

Halloween!!!

Nov 1st/CarnEVIL/Halloween

Back again, fully recovered from NYC, just in time for Halloween celebrations! For kids Halloween has always been a fond memory, then you reach that weird stage where you are too old to trick or treat and you wind up being mischievous instead (still fun), and now, for the Sammies, we are in the semi-adult stage. That requires dressing up, either in something quite perverted and naughty, or something rather scary.



No longer do we roam the streets on bicycles, we take taxis to the bar. The bar in this occasion was Amos’s Southend for the annual CarnEVIL party held on 10/27/07(respond back if you know the band that has a song by the same name)!

Usually held at a warehouse or some rented facility this year it was at the newly revamped Amos’s and man, it was packed! No costume, no entry, which was cool. It’s neat to walk around with everyone decked out, and like I said, some of the costumes were down right funny. Dudes were walking around in ass-less chaps, girls in a slutty version of whatever you can think of, it was wild. Our good friends in Stone Figs played, make sure you check them out (www.myspace.com/stonefigs). I think they have some songs you can download for free on their myspace page, link above. Great, fun band! Anyway, there were other bands, another local called Drat played, and then there was a burlesque show, which I find entertaining although not very titillating.



Saw lots of friends, and it was fun to attend a party we didn’t have to play; kinda felt weird really.

Otherwise, myself and Don sat at the house on Halloween, handing out candy, trying to scare the kids. It’s fun to see all of the outfits, and sad to see the teenagers who come by, not dressed up, but still saying "trick or treat." We’ve got old Easter candy set aside for those bastards:)

Brief news: we started taking pics, possibly for the new album, with our friend Mike Hammer (www.mikehammerphotography.com). They are coming along nicely. Hammer-time did our Performer Magazine shoot and we have been friends ever since. Also, December 7th show just added in Charlotte with Black Lips @ Neighborhood Theater! That is going to be a damn good time. First one to respond and leave a comment on this post gets on the guest list; just leave your name, email, and a nice comment.

Happy Halloween!!!

The Sammies / NYC / CMJ 2007

NOTE: AUDIO TAKES ABOUT 15 SEC TO START, JUST PRESS PLAY AND ENJOY THE READ

The Sammies/NYC/CMJ 2007

It’s 7:45pm, on 10/17, the Enid (photog) and Josiah (navigator) just got dropped off at the “House of the Rising Sam” to catch a ride to NYC for CMJ. We’re packed, instruments, clean clothes, other personals, dunk-a-roo’s, check; so we hit the road. I think we have allowed enough time to get to NYC by 9am so we can be prompt for our KEXP performance, plus if you are late for a radio show you just miss it, and that would suck. The plan is for the Sammies to drive to around Manassas then the other two can take over so we can sleep and be ready to wake NYC and Seattle up with our early morning performance. I catch some zzz’s on a palate I made on top of the amps, the others are also finding places to bed down, the best you can in a crowded van.

We got into the city with plenty of time to spare, so we park the van, and walk down the street to a diner to get some breakfast. In very uncharacteristic NYC fashion we have already met two strangers who have been more than helpful in telling us where to park, how to pay a ticket if you get one, and where not to smoke reefer, informative I must say. We get back to the Gibson Showroom where KEXP is broadcasting and sound check.

The Gibson showroom is actually in the same building as the old Hit Factory. Supposedly the last place John Lennon was before he was murdered, not to mention the studio where many of our favorite albums were recorded back in the day. Throw in the fact that Gibson has every guitar and amp known to man and we are happy campers!

Ohhh yes the show room- lets make Gibson angels!

Click here to download our KEXP performance!

It is great to be back in the city, and beyond awesome to be playing live for KEXP! I must say, everyone associated with KEXP are class acts. You couldn’t be around nicer people, and they have been so kind to the Sammies since day one. KEXP, THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING, AND ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK IS APPRECIATED MORE THAN YOU KNOW. It is colder than a well digger’s ass in there so I grab a jacket, and get the countdown to going live. Once that hit it was over before we knew it, and was so much fun. I could do that everyday! After messing around with all of the Gibson equipment a little longer we had to part ways with the nicest people in the world and go pick up our CMJ badges, and Freedom’s Uncle Carl.

Enid and Josiah get out, ready to make their mark on the city for the day/night, and we get Carl and head to his house in the Hamptons. We had never been to the Hamptons, so we kind of were curious to see what that was about, plus we figured it would be a safe place to park the van for the night. NYC is fun, but not so much fun when you have an oversized vehicle full of equipment you can’t afford to replace. A bit of a drive but who cares, we’re used to it. We get there, grab a bite to eat, and have all intentions of getting some sleep since we drove all night. We hit a snag though, Carl has a tennis court, seems like a great time to build team spirit with a little competition. I took it easy on everyone though. The rest of the day consists of showers, relaxing, some great Indian food, a drink or several at Rowdy Hall, and then bed.

It’s now Friday, 10/19. We get a brief tour of the Hamptons larger houses by the beach. Drove past Spielburg’s palace and were tempted to ring him to talk about how our album cover was shot on the same farm he shot The Color Purple, but the large hedges and security deterred us. After getting a look at why we try and work so hard we depart the Hamptons and head back to the city. Now I will briefly tell you about how we went 10 miles in two hours due to the road flooding. I have not been that mad in a while and will leave it at that so I don’t get worked up again. Just unfortunate I guess.

All thoughts of stopping by H&M are out the window as we barely have time to eat at Acme right above where we are to play the MoRisen showcase at the Ace of Clubs. Our fellow southern friends from GA, Dead Confederate, are to open the night, and boy did they. Those guys came up to NYC and kicked some serious ass this year and we couldn’t be happier for them, so here’s to a great band, and genuinely great people, ya’ll keep up the hard work!

Donnie and Jason from Dead confederate.

Go download their performance on KEXP from their myspace page, well worth it. Elevator Action, and The Houstons follow, both bands taking names as they played, and then it was our turn.

We played a fair amount of new songs, slated to be on the upcoming album, and I think they went over well. I hope to post a list of songs on the new album in the coming weeks; maybe we’ll even leak one. It was great to see all of our friends who came out; you know who you are, and our new friends we met this time around, we hope to see you again before too long. Ace of Clubs has always been nice to us and the sound that night was amazing! Babyshaker finished off the night, and created a new Olympic event called “guitarist toss into drums.”

We could have stayed in the city, dropped what little money we had on a room, and partied with the best of them, but we’ve done that before, so we headed south, back to NC. With thoughts of stopping for sleep at some point I awake to Enid still driving! She made it from NYC to the NC line in the dead of the night! That’s how you drive! Another NYC trip done, and successful I might add.

We all need some serious sleep now but can’t wait to get back up to NYC before long, maybe Boston too, fuck it, the whole NE. We will in due time, now let’s finish the album.

PS: To our new friends from across the Atlantic, the Foxes, thanks for showing up, we hope you have been having a great time in the States, keep kicking ass while you’re here, and stay in touch with the Sammies!

Click here for the interview and review by Miriam Lamey and see photos taken in the studio by Doron Gild!

http://depts.washington.edu/kexp/blog/?p=3671