He dresses loud and sings even louder. His voice is an emotional rollercoaster. He is SAMMO, a.k.a S.A.M., a.k.a Sam Mastandrea and he strives to marry Little Richard’s unmitigated primal joy with the perennial heartbreak of Hank Williams’ falsetto. As a musician /poet/comedian who lives to entertain people, when it comes to getting an audience off, he subscribes to the Malcolm X School of Entertainment by Any Means Necessary. One fan described him as “like a one-man Led Zeppelin but without the Dungeons & Dragons lyrics and instead of touring in a private jet, Jimmy Page drives a little yellow bus and parks in the handicapped spaces.” At the end of the day, SAMMO is a true Renaissance man, with a warped but engaging stage presence, a Byron-esque turn of a lyric, and a voice that is charismatic. From the stages of New York and coming soon to stage near you in support of his new Cd “Vagabondage”, I had the op to rope this ball of energy in for a few and see what makes SAMMO tick.
AAM-Kim Thore: Word on the street is that as a musician, singer, performer and writer you consider yourself to be the bastard love child of Emily Dickinson and Frank Zappa. Any claims to Frank’s estate? And for the uninitiated, what does this mean for your overall style?
Sammo: As far as Zappa’s estate goes, I can only lay claim to Frank’s schnoz. Generally speaking, this would mean I’ve genetically inherited my Mom’s mad skillz with a poem and on a good day I might exhibit a modicum of Dad’s weirdo musical brilliance.
AAM: Besides being a singer and songwriter, you also play numerous instruments including guitar, banjo, bass, sax, trumpet, harmonica, keyboards and anything else you can squeeze a sound out of. Including a washboard with a bell and a Maxwell House coffee can. Tell us what it is like to be a one man orchestra?
Sammo: Equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. It requires the proper diet and training. Band meetings are easier this way but they can often be confused with schizophrenia to people in line behind me at the Korean bodega.
AAM: You began your career at age fifteen, singing in rock bands, most notably for Blues to Venus who released their independent CD in 1998 and Roulette which was one of those “so close to stardom” bands in NY - What artistically pushed you to switch musical directions and become more blues/Americana? Does the eyeliner confuse audiences?
Sammo: Years ago, when I played in loud rock bands, I was the guy listening to Americana via Delta Blues, Classic Country and 60’s/70’s R&B; sometimes much to the chagrin of my bandmates. In effect, I’m just returning to “the gasoline alley where I started from” to quote Rod Stewart. (I know… I just lost any street cred I might’ve gained w/ skillz spelled with a z, damn!) For the record, my music isn’t traditional Americana / Roots music. I’m trying to take what I’ve absorbed and mutate it so it’s uniquely mine. The eyeliner is part of my cultural patrimony. I’m not breaking any new ground in doing this. Elvis, Little Richard, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Prince and President Richard Nixon all did it.
AAM: What inspires you to write? Tell us about your most favorite lyrics.
Sammo: Usually it’s a lack of something… I put a lot of thought into lyric writing and I’m really proud of the songs on the Vagabondage album. Some of my favorite imagery is on “Revolver Girl”. The lyrics to “If Lovin’ Me Was Easy” serve as a Surgeon General’s warning that should be on my forehead.
AAM: How do you prepare for a show and how do you want your live performances to be remembered?
Sammo: I usually kill a puppy right before I go onstage… (Attn: PETA - That is just a JOKE!!) Performance = exorcism. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll shout expletives like Linda Blair and wonder where I got my bad-ass shoes.
AAM: You’ve been involved in NY theatre- tell us about that.
Sammo: After I quit my last band, I began writing a novel and found that I enjoyed the freedom of not having to squeeze my thoughts into rhymed verse. That led me to writing and performing one-man shows which combined many talents and pleasures into one vehicle. I’d like to think of my one-man shows as “Musical Theater for People Who Hate Musical Theater.” It involved a story, songs in character and awesome props. I still combine elements of those shows in my current live performances.
AAM: We’ve heard that you’re currently in the throes of a love affair with your National Steel guitars. Is it mutual? What kind of sound are you wanting to leave people with?
Sammo: Mmmnn… I always assumed it was a consensual affair. Now, thanks to you, I’ll have to drag all my geetars to couple’s therapy! The sound I’d like to leave people with would be Aaahh, Oooooh, but mostly YEAAAAAH! Regardless of which instrument I play, I simply want people to experience and share my worldview via music.
AAM: Tell us about “Vagabondage”, your soon to be released cd. What was your creative process putting this collection together?
Sammo: The songs on Vagabondage do lots of stylistic travelling while all being chained to a common thread. My creative process involved trying to manifest the following: Imagine Jimmy Page playing w/ the Carter Family. This new band gets into a time machine and travels to Minneapolis to visit Prince’s studio. While they’re there, Tom Waits comes in to bum loose change for the cigarette machine in the lobby of Paisley Park. I’d like to think I came close…
AAM: Hyperdriven Americana? Tell us more.
Sammo: You can only make Hyperdriven Americana by doing my (legal) drug of choice – Bluecollar Speedballs. Buy one 12 oz beer (non-imported) and a 12oz coffee. (Coffee must be cheap and served in a blue/white cup that has Greek dudes on it. Cup must also have the text “It’s Our Pleasure to Serve You” on it because… it is!) Double fist both beverages and drink quickly – then write or play some music while pondering Bukka White’s “Fixin’ to Die.” Trust me, it works.
AAM: After 20 years in the music business what or who is inspiring you today?
Sammo: Chris Whitley, who passed away a few years ago is a major inspiration. The following also inspire me: Tom Waits, Beat poets, graffiti in bathrooms, getting away from Noo Yawk, eavesdropped cell phone conversations, words, words, words, the lure of the unknown, the sound of a steel guitar in my tiny bathroom, the rise and decline of all things amorous and the need to communicate more betterly.
AAM: You are a published poet as well. Is music for you poetry set to sound?
Sammo: No, I personally think my poems are better unencumbered which is why I’d write a poem instead of a song. I’ve been an absentee poet these days since I’ve began the Vagabondage project.
AAM: What music is inspiring you these days?
Sammo:I need to enter a 12 step program to get me to stop listening to Led Zeppelin. I actually genuflected in front of my Jimmy Page poster when I needed help w/ a guitar solo on “Eraser Days & Wite-Out Nights.” Yes, I am a fifteen year old dingus.
AAM: Your bio states that you are an Existentialist who feels that life is just “time stalking a baby” what do you think Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche think about this?
Sammo: In their current states of decomposition they probably aren’t thinking too much about some skinny neurotic musician from Brooklyn.
AAM: If you could have only one song from yourself that would be put in your sonic scrapbook what would it be?
Sammo: Uggh! This is like Sophie’s Choice for a songwriter! It’s probably going to be a song called “Lighten Up Francis” that I really love but it didn’t seem to fit the vibe of Vagabondage. Here’s the middle eight – “Maybe you’ll get eighty-one summers, nine hundred and five full moons, maybe you’ll find twelve or thirteen lovers to fall in love w/ you So let’s sing like drunken sparrows, ‘til our voices rust before this party’s over and we are all just memories and dust”
AAM: So last thoughts…tell our readers what’s next?
Sammo: I want to get out, play my ass off and beta test the songs on “Vagabondage” before a live audience. At the moment I’m trying to stay focused on completing Vagabondage but I have a batch of reaaaallly cool songs in my head now that I need to finish writing and record. They’re Adrenaline Cocktail Sack & Soul songs. If you take this orange juice can w/ the string attached and hold it to your ear and then I hold this end to my ear you can hear a bit of what they sound like…
Thanks SAMMO… For more on SAMMO and his new CD check him out on www.myspace.com/livesammo
