Poor Samiam. The Berkeley band has been playing the role of punk
rock bridesmaid for far too long. Green Day, Blink-182, the Offspring,
No Doubt, hell, even a younger Creed—long before they became the
vile Christian rock beast they were at their godly apex—all
played the role of opening band for Samiam. Yet while their peers where
rolling around in large piles of cash, Samiam spent their peak years in
the ’90s being suffocated by a horrible Atlantic Records contract.
This is especially tragic seeing how it came on the heels of the
release of 1994’s Clumsy, one of the few examples of a punk band
going corporate without checking their soul at the door. While their
single for “Capsized” climbed the charts, the band’s sound fell between
the pop culture cracks. Too rock to be punk, too punk to be rock, and
emo enough to scare most anyone else away.
This realization isn’t lost on the band’s soft-spoken, and very
sincere guitarist, Sergie Loobkoff. “We were complete failures in the
music industry. Really, we were just not that great of a band.” How’s
that for honesty? He continues, “I don’t want to sound like some
self-effacing moron, but we were just doing what we were doing and we
were very fortunate to have thousands of people who really like our
songs. So while this band is basically a failure in the punk scene, and
defiantly a failure in mainstream music, you can’t ignore everything
we’ve done and what we’ve gotten out of it.”
What they’ve gotten out of it has been impressive—festival
tours with their longtime pals in Green Day, a legacy that portrayed
the band as one of the few acts that could tour alongside the likes of
shoegazers Swervedriver and the political mall-punk of Bad Religion,
and a ravenous fanbase throughout Europe. With a lineup that is
scattered throughout the country, domestic Samiam shows are a rarity
(their last Portland show was in 2000), but Loobkoff takes offense at
the title “weekend punk band.”
“I wouldn’t call us that. Instead of being a typical winding-down
band that plays weekends, we’ve, like, toured Europe eight times since
2000.” He continues, “Are we a wound-down-do-it-for-fun band? The
answer is ‘yes.’ But are we a weekend band? No. Because what other
weekend band plays Berlin?”
For a band that always seemed to teeter restlessly between two
separate worlds—punk and rock, DIY and major label, stadium and
dive bar—Samiam seems content with never quite capturing the
brass ring, and are just thankful for their devoted following. Says
Loobkoff, “I would say in a lot of ways we’re successful, we’ve gone
places, done things, met people, and have had such great experiences.
It’s all how you look at it.”
Samiam perform at the Ash St. Saloon (225 SW Ash) on Saturday,
February 2.