Samantha Fish – An Xperience Interview

Samantha Fish – An Xperience Interview – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: You are coming to Albany on June 24th. We’re really looking forward to it. Albany has a music scene sized disproportionately to the population. We love music. What can we expect when we come to see you onstage? Sensitive intimacy? Explosive badassery? Both?

SF: All of the above. I like to mix it up. The band is incredibly dynamic. It’s guitar-heavy, but I feel like there’s balance between the songwriting and different influences that make for an entertaining, engaging show. The new album is rock n roll but rooted in the blues in a refreshing way. Think hill country influence with rock n roll hooks, and we built from there.

RRX: The new album is called “Paper Doll.” This album was a chance for you to really find your power in a studio setting, which is hard for blues, being how much it revolves around emotion and the intimacy and back-and-forth of the audience. What did you learn recording this album that you may have struggled with before?

SF: I think with every album, I am simultaneously becoming more comfortable knowing my abilities and strengths, but also pushing myself to grow. I don’t have to sound perfect, because “perfect” is stiff. Good music has an organic air to it. So I’ve become more comfortable leaving the edges, in turn, leaving the soul on the record.

RRX: Last year, you opened for the Rolling Stones for their final U.S. tour. A situation like that is so emotional, not just for the fans, but for the band, and basically all involved. It’s arguably the end of an era, and with you at the opening, the beginning of a new era. Not to put so much on your shoulders, but is there a new era, and if so, is it a revolution or an evolution?

SF: It absolutely was an emotional show for us. Opening for them feels a little like a mountaintop. How do you follow it? We’re talking about the greatest rock n roll band in the world! It was a beautiful experience that I’m grateful for. Revolution vs evolution … it’s a bit of both, right? There’s no road map for where we’re going in music. Technology changing how we create and distribute, social media being the way we reach others, the world being a volatile place to do it all … we are constantly evolving to figure it out. I know that I’m going on the road to play on stages. I’m going to record songs that mean something to me with the intention of reaching people. And I’m going to connect with people in real life. It seems like we’re getting away from that in today’s world. So maybe that’s the revolution piece of it. Connectivity. My job is to bring people together. The evolution is doing it while working in an ever-changing world. All my friends in music are highly adaptable; you have to be.

RRX: You were nominated for a Grammy for “Death Wish Blues,” a collaboration with Jesse Dayton. And you’ve won a ton of awards aside from that, yet I hear nothing that tells me that you’re resting on laurels. Quite the opposite; you keep bringing it. How do you stay hungry when people are lining up to feed you accolades?

SF: It’s nice to receive accolades; the Grammy nomination was a big one. We worked really hard on “Death Wish,” and we felt like it was a special record. It’s nice when your hard work and creativity are recognized. It doesn’t change much for when you are heading back into a studio to create something new. There might be a bit of a bar that you try to reach. But creativity doesn’t really work like that. In fact, I think it can poison the process. You don’t want to go in with the wrong mindset. I stay hungry because I know my best work is ahead of me, and not behind me. I appreciate the love, and hope to rise to the occasion with everything I do, but I’d be doing this with or without those reassurances.

RRX: A huge source of your power is in your playing, but also in what you’re singing about. You’re not afraid to dip into the deeper aspects of your life, relationships in particular, romantic, family, friends … You draw from these relationships for an authentic sound, but do you ever worry about how your work might change these relationships? How do you balance?

SF: It’s funny you bring that up, it’s the Songwriter’s burden. You have to take inspiration from what you know. I’ve had family, friends, acquaintances come out of the woodwork over the years, assuming a song was written about them. A lot of songwriting is storytelling. I might be saying something really deep and personal, but I think the nuance is in telling a universal truth. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good diss track, but it’s supposed to tell someone else’s story, too. That is what makes a song great.  So I might dip into hard truths about my life, but I always try to make it relatable. It also helps to have co-writers, so when you get busted on a lyric, you can say it was your co-writer who wrote that line 😉

RRX: You’re described as a “music obsessive.” Your inspirations roster is impressive, counting among its ranks Prince, Leonard Cohen, and Black Sabbath. If we could split your music from your lyrics and look at both of them, who would you say would be indispensable, “stranded-on-a-desert-island-must-have” for the music you play, and for your lyrics, if they’re different people?

SF: The Stones have always been an important band to me musically that I’ve come to over the years. The catalog is so diverse. I also have a deep love for North Mississippi, hill country music. I’d have to sneak Junior Kimbrough into my stash. Lyrically, I love the writers that paint pictures. Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, etc. Not saying I write like them, just that I admire that attention to detail and level of storytelling.

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