Sam Roberts Band has a new album out October 16 called All of Us. They’ve already released three singles, ‘Ascension’, ‘Youth’, and ‘I Like the Way You Talk About the Future’ (which has become my latest ear worm!). Sam took some time out of his busy interview schedule to chat with nightMair Creative on the phone about his new record, and how it seems to be exactly what people need right now – about drive in concerts and Jedi training … we had a few much needed laughs together and it felt good to connect on a human level again, and on a musical level too. Enjoy!
nightMair Creative: You have a new album out soon! (Your drummer) Josh Trager has said on social media that the new Sam Roberts Band album is eerily relevant in today’s time of Covid despite being written prior to 2020…
Sam Roberts: “Just before Covid hit we were in a studio in Northern Quebec to finish off the record. We knew that we were going to be finished not, because we were facing a lockdown, but it was just time. We’d been working on the record for a few years. We just wanted to sort of go to a place we could be together and finish up the songs but, also to just celebrate the journey, the process. And it was in that time when we were sitting there listening to all these songs that we’d been working on, not just last year but going back to early 2018, late 2017, that all of a sudden had taken on this new significance, if not new meaning.
And I think we were all a little bit… taken aback by how much it did sort of speak to this new reality that was about to set in, and walking into the unknown.. We’re still in the unknown now because it changes so quick, but definitely feeling you’re on the edge of this… uncertain future, and that we had all these songs that sort of were … … its not about that but it was about how to cope with it. What you can find in your own life to help you find a way through that kind of uncertainty. So in a sense yes its strange, it’s a coincidence I suppose, but I think these songs like any songs are supposed to be able to speak to people at any point. It just feels right now everything is under a magnifying glass in terms of how dramatic and challenging they are, but they’ll be challenges in 2028 too, and 2035 and I hope these songs will rise to the occasion at those times too.
nMC: I’ve listened to it twice so far and I think the album is one of the best you guys have ever done.
Sam: Thank you! You can never say you’re happy with it, you never say you’re satisfied with it, but I think we all feel very strongly about it and we’re all very emotionally connected to this record in a way that its taken even us off guard, or maybe caught us off guard (chuckles)
nMC: Did you have any misgivings about releasing this album during Covid?
Sam: ah yeah.. I mean it’s not ideal to play… (starts laughing) Why couldn’t we have finished in the summer of 2019 you know (still laughing), wouldn’t that have been perfect; we could have just waltzed into a nice fall tour, we would have finished everything up late February (still laughing), and would be working on the next one at this point.
But it doesn’t work out that way.. a record is only ready when its ready. I think we really…. maybe what you’re feeling when you listen to this record, is the same thing that we were looking for; this one has to just feel… right. It has to be the record that we need to make right now, at this time, for ourselves, and for the people who are going to hear it. I mean the timing ‘s terrible (we both laugh), but although maybe the timing isn’t terrible. Maybe the timing is exactly when its supposed to be heard, when people need it the most. I think we have to put aside our own sort of inconveniences at this point and say no, this is the music we feel can do something for people when they need it.
nMC: And we need it.
Sam: We do! I mean man do we ever need it. It’s therapeutic for us too, to make it, and go through the whole catharsis of songwriting and recording and all of that, that’s one side of it, but there’s also this… (struggles for words) I don’t know if you feel it but there’s this feeling of helplessness in a sense of you don’t know how you can contribute anything when the situation is as dire and puzzling as it is now. So here’s something we have to give, here’s something we can offer. It’s not going to help everybody, it’s not going to make the virus go away quicker but it will certainly… its music, and therefore it can be a sort of powerful antidote to any crisis that you might be facing.
nMC: music has an amazing power, and I think due to lack of concerts people are really missing their fix.
Sam: Yes I’m one of them on both sides of the fence too Donna! I miss watching bands, and that feeing of community and just letting go of yourself while you’re watching people play music. You forget about the boundaries – the lines between you and other people are sort of broken down and these amazing things happen when you’re at a concert. And the same thing happens when you’re on stage; knowing you’re part of forming that experience for people, creating that environment where that experience is possible for people. I won’t say that you forget it sometimes – we try not to. We try hard to be appreciative all the time, every time you get on stage, but when you have it taken away from you, you …. I don’t think we ever take it for granted but you feel its always going to be there for you, and then its gone. Its like you’ve had a limb removed.
nMC: Speaking of which, I just watched SRB do a live stream to a parking lot of fans in cars – how did you guys find that experience? Was it strange playing to cars instead of faces in the crowd?
Sam: (laughs) you know it was strange for 5 minutes and after that you’re just in that mode of playing music, you forget about any of the sort of, oddities that are in front of you. We’ve played some pretty weird concerts over the years Donna,(laughing) pretty weird places, and you kind of realize its part of your Jedi training all along; that you’ve been preparing for this moment for years and years and years. So no we just play, like “ok tonight guys, its cars. There’s people in those cars, lets not forget that” and they’re here because they need this, and then its also that feeling on stage where its just you and the guys in that place, trying to get to that place together. This was no different that way, it was just like, man we’re paying together,’ and it was wonderful, and I could do that every night with as many cars as they could fit in the lot.
nMC: The typical you release an album and you tour… things are so different, have you thought about alternatives to touring or how to get the album heard?
Sam: We’ve talked about drive in shows but that’s fairly limited to size and geography, we just can’t travel across the country doing that. You’re right, its strange – there is a certain routine or process when putting out a record… even though its changed over the last 10 years, there’s always been a constant – the tour. The opportunity to hand-deliver the music to every town. And that brings it aIl together. You know you’re going to be in Calgary, in Kelowna, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, etc, to go and give that music to the people personally and there’s no replacing that. So for alI the other things we might concoct as 2020 strategies for record release – that’s the one giant question mark. How do you replace the tour? None of us have an answer for that, so we’re going to go day by day and hope that this ends soon enough so we can get out there and play this record. I want to play this record when its new. A record is only new for a month, by the time you’ve toured a record for a month, it changes – goes from being something unpredictable and wild, to something dependable. And I want to pay every record we ever make in that wild unpredictable state.
nMC: It must be frustrating to not be able to plan ahead at what you’re going to be doing with this record.
Sam: Yeah I mean it is… but at the same time as hearing myself saying that, I’m just like you can’t get bogged down in this, I’ll acknowledge that its frustrating but I’m not going to say that’s the overwhelming feeling I have right now in this moment, on the eve of putting out music; I’m just so glad to have had another chance to make a record, to say something, to write songs, to do something that I thiny of being the most meaningful thing in my life (my kids and all that not withstanding), So its overwhelmingly still a positive and great moment for me at this point. Like it is every time we put out a record. And you can enjoy it for a little bit and we we’ll talk about it, and then we move on. And you go back to do, what you ought to be doing… which is in my case, writing more music (laughs). The next record will be released in a completely different set of circumstances… any maybe this whole thing will be a bitter but distant memory… there’s no time to just sit around and wait, with your hands on your knees, holding your breath waiting for everything to make sense again. If I can’t go and perform this record then I have to move ahead..
nMC: “Keep moving, don’t stop” (We’re All in this Together lyric)
Sam: “(laughs) Keep dancing!”
Sam Roberts Band new album All of Us is out October 16. It’s one of their best ever. Be sure to snag it. In meantime, you can find their three new songs on Spotify or the usual places you get your tunes. Here’s the video for I Like the Way You Talk About the Future, directed by Jordan Allen, What Gifs, and look for our album review next week.
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