EMQ’s With Samtar
EMQ’s With Samtar
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQ’s interview, this time with USA one man Metal project, Samtar. Huge thanks to Sam for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Sam, or Samtar. I’m a solo act, and I’ve been honing my sound for over a decade. I’m primarily a vocalist and guitar player. But I also play keys, drums, and the bass guitar. Just before the pandemic hit, I had stumbled across (I know this sounds crazy) basically a vision of how I wanted my sound to finally be. It came to me as almost a revelation of “oh, right that’s how I want things to sound.” I put together that sound I had in mind, and with that, I had the founding piece of the Samtar project, “Plotting Against Reality.” Soon after I had a song called “Trudging About,” which did quite well across social media, and that inspired me to continue my journey. My sound has evolved and changed a lot since then, but I’ve had a lot of people who have stuck with me through it all, and they’re part of the reason I continue with this project.
How did you come up with your band name?
It was actually a nickname given to me in high school, because one time at a party, I went to play piano, but didn’t actually know how to play – so I just played basically what would be power chords on a piano (translated in my mind from guitar). So, my friends regarded me as something like a caveman guitarist, “Samtar.” You have to imagine the caveman voice when saying it…
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
I’m from the US, near Madison Wisconsin. The Metal that I have liked here is Death Metal, and there’s a pretty good Power Metal band here. But I haven’t heard any good Rock here, and most of the scene is dominated by lookalike Indie bands and mid-west Emo stuff – it’s pretty god awful.
What is your latest release?
“Shadow of the King’s Charade” will be my 5th full length studio album coming out on January 13th.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica, Mike Patton of FNM and Mr. Bungle, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
Daron Malakian of System of a Down and my brother who is an artist (plein air painter).
What first got you into music?
Hard to say. Everyone likes music, but not everyone is compelled to play it. It’s just sort of always been there for me. Always been an outlet when I was bored or didn’t know what to do with my feelings or thoughts. It’s been a long journey of getting more and more into creating music for me.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Kalandra.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
No clue, honestly. LOL.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Not fair, can’t choose one. Hendrix, Trevor Strnad, Kurt Cobain, Bradley Nowell. All people taken too soon. There’s more obviously but… yeah can’t really choose one.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I enjoy creating all the time. I love creating worlds that I imagine with sounds. The feeling of finding that perfect melody, hearing things come together as harmonies, it’s all just so euphoric. Also, the catharsis of vocalizing emotions and the things I’m passionate about is very liberating, and just so necessary for me to feel like a whole.
I absolutely, with a burning passion, hate hate hate promotion, social media, and I hate the idea of having an “aesthetic” to sell. The idea of having an image to match the sound – sure, that can be fun – but, so much of it is done today as a marketing tactic. These are all such necessary things to make it in today’s world too, so I have no idea how I can really overcome that – as I feel like it’s very disgusting and does art a disservice.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Hmmm… I don’t know. As much as I mentioned those things previously that I despise, I’m not sure how I would change them.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Mr. Bungle’s self titled album.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Vinyl is cool, but I won’t lie – I don’t really care. It can be a degraded MP3 coming out of a 12-dollar Bluetooth speaker, and I’ll still enjoy it if it’s good music.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Not really a gigging musician hah.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Cooking. Used to be a chef/kitchen manager. Actually, really enjoy working in a kitchen.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Famous people or just like… people? Cause I’d honestly just like to hang out with family and friends more than famous people. I’ve never been SUPER enamoured by personalities – more so the things they craft.
What’s next for the band?
Developing an acoustic act so I can play some live shows. Also been considering getting together some local musicians to play the full band sound of Samtar.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Regrettably tiktok and instagram.
https://instagram.com/samtarofficial
https://tiktok.com/@samtarofficial
https://facebook.com/samtar2
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
Cob, or crumpet (I used google).
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I really appreciate websites and blogs like this that are willing to take the time to cover smaller artists such as myself. Thank you, guys, very much.
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
