SamiamHopeless Records

Whatever?s Got You Down, the latest release from Bay Area punk stalwarts Samiam, is a dozen songs of back-to-basics, bare bones punk rock. Their fifth release, the band (singer Jason Beebout, guitarists Sean Kennerly and Sergie Loobkoff, bassist Jeremy Bergo - a fan who contacted the band?s website to fill the vacant slot - and drummer Johnny Cruz) shelved previous notions of having radio hit songs on records past and instead opted for a straight-ahead approach. ?Dirty? is how Loobkoff likes to describe Whatever?s Got You Down. Adding, ?The production is more organic from my perspective (on Whatever?s Got You Down). In the last six years, so many really commercial, quasi-punk bands have put out records that are sickeningly clean. There are a lot of boy bands out there and I think we wanted consciously (to) separate ourselves from that as far as we could. We won?t be as popular as those bands, and that?s fine.? Taking that honest, DIY approach resulted in a strong record void of filler and saccharine laced bubblegum punk rock. Raised in the same scene that spawned Green Day and Jawbreaker, Samiam purposely kept things raw and simple. Working with producer Chris Moore (TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) the on-again-off-again band built upon their distinctive blend of melodic phrases atop a hardcore foundation and crafted a record loaded with anthems that both new and long-time fans will easily embrace. Whatever?s Got You Down was released on September 26, 2006 via Hopeless Records.

Links

• www.gosamgo.com www.myspace.com/samiam