Sam Obernik - Interview

06 June 2003

Sam Obernik
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Contactmusic.com spoke to Sam Obernik

How is your day going?

Yeah its alright actually, but its quite sunny outside and I’m stuck indoors!

How long have you been making music for?

I have been making music for along time, which is a good thing because I have learnt a lot, I’m 27 now and I first started when I was 15 or 16.

What are your general influences in your music?

People and life situations and major factors, I grew up on a steady diet of Hollywood and that has been a huge inspiration. Other than that I love good pop and I have a huge amount of admiration for writers of pop because it is a very difficult thing to do. It can be very hard to write a song and try to be honest in a song and let that go out as well. Some of my album is extremely frank & upfront but other aspects of it are more fantastical, but all of it is me.

Sam Obernik @ www.contactmusic.com

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’ve just bought the new Goldfrapp album, I think Alison Goldfrapp is great I also bought the new Chili Peppers album I just think they are great guys.

Have you got any live dates coming up?

Yes I do have some live dates in the summer but I’m not entirely sure what the specific dates are .

Have you got a favorite gig you have played?

Most recently I did radio one out in Ibiza last summer, that was just such a great experience we were on the beach and it was so much fun it was crazy. The crowed was such fun and they were all totally up for it and there were loads of people from London who I know who were there so that is the one that definitely sticks in my mind.

If you were going to collaborate with somebody dead or alive who would it be?

Dead it would be Nina Simone but alive would have to be Antony from the Chili Peppers

How do you go about writing songs?

I don’t use any kind of formula , personally I am quite strict with my writing, I work 9 to 5 and I have a studio next door to Tim Deluxe so I do have quite a few distractions during the day, I go in to the studio at 9 and I don’t come out until the evening, I have to get into a head space that says work, I lock the door and go in some days I’ll just play and play and play the piano other days I’ll write words. If I’m stressed I find it very hard to focus on writing.

What kind of reaction have you had to your album so far?

So far it has been great, This time of the year isn’t very good for making your debut because of all the huge summer hits that come out around now, there is just so much going on. The reaction has been really confident but unfortunately so much in the music business is beyond your own control, people do expect lots from a first single and I think it get very over emphasized, it used to all be about growing and that’s what I intend to do spend time developing because I am an album artist really.

What songs are you most proud of?

Well my next single which is called ‘Single’ that’s a really powerful song it’s one for the girls yea but I’m alright with that another song called Miss America I recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in Abbey Road so I was really happy with that and I thought it was quite a triumph for a first album.

At your Ideal after show party who would you invite?

I think I would go for something really silly like all my favorite football players, I would fill the room with testosterone and be done with it!

On Contactmusic.com we have an area dedicated to unsigned musicians, what advise would you give them starting out in the music business?

Always be confident, do listen to advise, never stop plugging and just believe!


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