An Interview with Indie Musician Samuel Slater

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with the exceptionally talented indie musician Samuel Slater. With his breakout hit "Boys Don't Cry" garnering over 100,000 streams, Sam has solidified his place in the music scene as a rising star. In this exclusive interview, we'll explore the intricate layers of Samuel's songwriting process, his eclectic range of influences spanning from Jamie T to Nick Drake, and how he weaves these inspirations into his own distinctive sound.

When discussing Sam's songwriting process, he stated,"My songwriting process differs but usually every song starts on my acoustic guitar and then I will reimagine it later in Logic. I find that the best stuff kind of comes all at once and if I am lucky enough to get into that flow state I can write really quickly; for better or worse I don’t really change lyrics too much once they’ve hit my notebook. I also have a notes page on my phone called LYRIC IDEAS where I will dump anything that I think of when I am out and about, some of them get plucked from there and make it into songs, most of them exist only there, though.

I don’t consciously think too much about themes when I am writing, music and songwriting has always been a therapy for me so they are mostly all about where I am at that point in my life. ‘Vacate’ was written in the harshest part of COVID quarantine, ‘So Far, Gone’ was written following a heartbreak. I wish I could come at songs more conceptually sometimes but they’re always pretty grounded in my real life. I find that inspiration always strikes when I am listening to music I love, or even songs I’m hearing for the first time - the way a guitar or kick drum sounds can make me drop everything and run to my room to start working on something new. "

We spoke about the artists that have had the biggest impact on his music and how they have affected his own sound. Sam explained, "I am influenced by so many different corners of music that it actually is quite funny how often I will start making stuff only to realize I’ve just written a really crappy Pavement knock-off or something like that.

Honestly each song I’ve released has a different sort of influence. ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was harkening to my days of obsessively listening to Jamie T whereas something like ‘Teenage Ecstasy’ has traces of midwest emo bands like American Football on it. My most recent single ‘Thrift Store Romeo’ was my self-proclaimed “Beck from wish.com" track. My underlying influences have always been Nick Drake, Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Alex G, Frank Ocean, The Beatles and my all time hero is Tyler, The Creator - I’m not sure you can hear any of that in my songs though. Music has always been a major influence on everything I do, I want to shout-out my earliest rock and roll hero which was Mr Jack Black. Between Tenacious D and School of Rock, he was the inspiration."

On his approach to live performances, Sam shared, "It depends on the venue and set-list as to what sort of show I go with, at the moment it’s either a full acoustic or half acoustic / half electric guitar with loop pedal set-up.I played my last show fully acoustic and had a great time, I think it really lends itself to my upcoming material, which comprises most of the set-list. I’ve only played a handful of shows but am lucky to have some really cool ones under my belt! A highlight for me was playing in an empty brewery in Bermondsey with a crowd of about 40 people - we lit it up with tube lights and the acoustics were obviously awesome. My friend filmed and edited a good portion of the set, which is available on youtube. I also played a show just before Christmas with Liana Flores, which was insanely fun and we performed a duet of To Binge by Gorillaz."

Sam also shared with me some of the biggest challenges he has faced as a musician and how he has overcome them. "I enjoy writing and performing music a whole lot, the thing I struggle with more often than not is recording," he confessed. "Everything is done in my bedroom with a mic, a DI box and my laptop and sometimes realizing the vision I have for a song proves to be really tricky. I am fortunate enough to know some really cool people across the pond that I can send tracks to and get their feedback on, I also work with an engineer to give everything a decent mix and master. The thing I think a lot of unsigned artists struggle with now is exposure and reaching a bigger audience, the way everything is so intertwined with social media is pretty scary and I do yearn for things to be more the way they used to be, it feels like live music was always the thing. I will probably be more active on social media in the future as that is a smart way to cultivate an audience, I just wish artists didn’t have to do it all themselves as it seems like a super exhausting new part of the process of releasing something!"

Sam also teased some new projects on the horizon. "New music is for sure on the way, working on recording it at the moment! I think that will mostly come in the form of singles but I do have a concept album in my mind too - I’d love to release a record in the next 2 years. I write all the time so I have a backlog of about 3 years of songs I am pining to release, it’s just a case of finding the time and money to make that happen and execute them in the best way I can! I’ll also be more active on the gig circuit in London so if anyone wants to catch me live they can find out about upcoming shows on my instagram! I am also very keen to direct more music vids for my stuff so when songs come out perhaps that will follow!"

Follow Sam here!