This combo belongs to my personal TopTen bands from the U.S. and I can say I have all their early stuff and more. I remember a sunny day in our WG of the glorious days in the Münchener Straße 28. My former roommate had the first two records of Samiam and he wants them no longer so he gave both to me and after listening I was delighted. They have very personal lyrics and the music is short and abrasive, so my interest awakes and I joined them live in 1999 and much later in the Batschkapp (maybe 2000 or 2002?). But after 'Clumsy' I lost my interest because the platters sounds somehow the same, I miss the rough-edged tone you know. So after the Gig Samiam stands no longer on my agenda. But I had nice moments with them. So here's a bit info: Samiam from Berkeley/California was formed in late 1988 after the breakup of the Gilman club mainstay Isocracy. They released records through New Red Archives and Hopeless Records in the US and Burning Heart Records in Europe. In the mid-'90s, the band had two releases on major labels, 'Clumsy' on Atlantic Records in 1994 and 'You Are Freaking Me Out' on Ignition/Tommy Boy in 1997. In late 2000, the band quietly ceased after supporting the 'Astray' album. Despite what was initially to be a breakup, they continued to tour abroad yearly with occasional shows in San Francisco & Los Angeles. This led to the recording of the band's 7th album, 'Whatever's Got You Down' in 2006. The Songs were originally released in the U.S. as "Don't Break Me 12'' and the German BlackBox label chose three cuts for their 7inch record, which is today a rare item. The special thing here is: all songs are acoustic recordings... Yeah! unplugged if you want. Imagine 'Home Sweet Home' or 'Sky Flying By' in these versions.. outstanding!!
I love SAMIAM!!!!!
ReplyDelete