eWire: What's the status on a new Samiam record release in the U.S? Sergie: Well, we're still trying to finalize a deal with this label, which I probably shouldn't mention since we don't know if it's going to end up panning out, but it should. They say it could be out in October, which would be cool for us since we're going to be getting back from Europe in October. It'd be nice to be back and have it out here. It's already out in Europe, isn't it? Yeah, it's been out for a month; it's on a Swedish label called Burning Heart. We just got back from touring about 3 weeks ago, playing big ol' festivals in Sweden and stuff. What band has gone through more drummers: Samiam or Spinal Tap? (laughs) I think for more entertaining drama, definitely Spinal Tap. But there's a healthy share a bullshit Samiam's gone through in terms of that. For everything good that's happened to Samiam -- which is a lot of stuff -- there's been an ample supply of bummers and stuff. But there's bands who've had to withstand a lot more than us, so I can't complain. Reading your account of the band on the Samiam Web site, I got the impression that signing with Atlantic was not a good experience. Is this the general consensus of the band? No, I think actually it was a good experience. It was a bad experience after we got dropped, then it was total hell. The time we were on Atlantic was totally fun, and we did a lot of cool shit. It's like breaking up with a girlfriend who doesn't want you to go out with anyone else anymore (laughter). Not without compensation. It's like they've invested a lot in you and they don't want anyone else to have any of it, and they don't care if that makes you unhappy.

That sucks. Before we got dropped, a lot of people said "We didn't see your record in the record stores, and we didn't see your video on MTV, Atlantic really screwed you" and all that stuff, it's just we weren't successful. But that wasn't Atlantic's fault; they tried pretty hard. They could've tried harder in some areas, but they did pretty good, especially for a band like Samiam -- how big do you think Samiam could get? Not really that big. We did do a lot things I never thought we'd do, like play on TV shows and play big tours. I walked away from it and bought a house and stuff, so it's cool. Aaron Rubin eWire: What band has gone through more drummers: Samiam or Spinal Tap? Aaron: I think it's probably too close to call. We tend to wear 'em out pretty fast! Reading Sergie's account of the band on the Samiam Web site, I got the impression that signing with Atlantic was not a good experience. Is this the general consensus of the band? Was there anything good about being on Atlantic? There were definitely good things. We're not so punk rock that we didn't appreciate having a good recording budget and tour support, and all the things that a major label provides. The bad part is that when they put out that much money, they expect a return on their investment. When we didn't sell a million records, they decided they didn't want us anymore. But we're not naive. We knew what we were getting into, and although the final outcome was disappointing, we really didn't expect anything else. In hindsight, would you have signed with Atlantic (or any other major label)? Do you think your experience with a major label is representative of other label-band relationships, or does it depend on each label and band on an individual basis? Basically, a major label is great if you're really successful. Only a major label has the resources to really take advantage of a successful record as far as promotion, radio, etc. But if you're only moderately successful, like Samiam, they lose interest pretty fast. Indies tend to care more about the music and are therefore less concerned with huge record sales. For us, an indie might be better, but we don't regret taking a shot at the big time. It didn't work out in the long run, but it was a fun ride while it lasted. How important is radio and MTV airplay to Samiam? Did you enjoy making videos, or was it just a necessary evil? I think videos are mostly pretty stupid, but the couple that we made were fun. And I'd be lying if I told you we didn't want to be played on the radio or MTV. Nonetheless, the main goal of Samiam is to make good records, play good shows, and play for the people who have supported us from the beginning. It's much more gratifying to play for a person who really likes the band, and has all the records than it is to play for someone who just heard the single on the radio.      We're not into punk rock politics or being PC, we just want to make good music and have a good time. If being on the radio or MTV means that we don't have to play empty shows and work day jobs, then we want to be on the radio or MTV. But being famous rock stars is definitely not our goal. Radio and MTV are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. What are some of the best places you've played (both within the U.S. and other countries)? There are a lot of places we really like. Sweden is a lot of fun. Bochum in Germany. Green Bay, Wisconsin. St Petersburg, Florida. Dallas, Texas. Lyon, France. Those are just a few that occur to me right now. Samiam is a weird band. We can travel all over, and in one city we'll draw thirty people, then we'll drive a few hours to another city and draw 800 people. I don't know how it works. I guess that one of the advantages to getting on the radio is that people all over hear of you, so you don't have to play those thirty person shows. Do you speak any other languages? How does this affect things when touring other countries? I took French in high school and college, but I'm far from fluent. I've picked up a little German from being on tour. But usually we'll have a tour manager or someone who can translate for us. Boring, unoriginal question: What are some of your favorite bands to have toured/played with in the past? Chokebore, Toadies, China Drum, Millencolin, Goops, Sensefield, to name just a few. What's your tour vehicle of choice? A tour bus is really comfortable, but the best vehicle we ever had was a converted airport shuttle bus. Do you have plans to go back to law school? I'm thinking about going back when Samiam is over. I figure I've gotta do something to make a decent living. The marginal, Bohemian lifestyle starts to seem less romantic the older I get. Is Samiam your job, or do you have another job? For a while I managed to avoid working, but right now I have a job as the circulation manager of the SF Bay Guardian, a weekly alternative newspaper. Do you still have fun recording and touring, or is it more like work? It gets boring sometimes, but we still have a really good time in general. If we didn't have fun we wouldn't do it, 'cause it's not like we make that much money. What was the first song you learned how to play? "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. Who in the band has the largest record collection? Who's got the worst collection? I think I probably have the largest collection. I used to be a DJ at the UC Berkely radio station, and I went through a record collector phase. I don't buy so many records these days though. Mac or PC? PC for me, but I like Macs. Macs are better for stuff like music or graphics, but I got a PC just 'cause it seems that a lot of the software I want just isn't available for Macs. Who does the goSAMgo Web site? Sergie and I designed it together, but I administer it. And finally: where's the "Armpit of America"? There are a lot of Armpits, but I think Barstow, CA might be one of the most offensive. Not bad. So in hindsight, would you have signed with Atlantic or any other major label? Yeah. I mean, it's like saying would you just stay on a record label with two people working there, keep on putting out records and selling to the same 20,000 people, or try to do something different? But the whole time we were on Atlantic we didn't get that much flak for it just because people who really do care about, uh, whatever you want to call it -- "band politics" -- already wrote us off as sellouts years and years before. So it's not like we broke anyone's expectations. In fact, this Burning Heart label is a big indie -- worldwide, it's almost as big as Fat Wreck Chords, but not in America, obviously. And since we got our Web site up we get tons of email from people saying "You guys fucking sold out for being on Burning Heart Records." It's usually from younger kids who have a pretty narrow-minded view of what bands should be and they don't have a great grasp on how the world works. Well, things definitely change from when you're 16 to when you're 24, and you're got to pay bills, rent, car payments... Yeah. It's all about perspectives and stuff, and that's why I never condemn anyone. I'm just like "Okay dude, whatever you say." I'm not pushing my beliefs on you, please do not push your beliefs on me, because I'm not listening. How important is radio and MTV airplay to Samiam? And did you enjoy making videos, or was it just a necessary evil? Well, um, making our first video was really fun, actually. The second one wasn't so fun because the thrill was gone, and it's pretty boring standing around waiting for stuff. But I always wanted to try to do one. But the simple fact that Samiam is not the best looking band (laughter) or the most entertaining people makes it a little bit more painful than if we were Poison or something. I also play in another band I joined when Samiam was in limbo called knapsack. I did a video with them, even though I really wasn't on the song, and it's just embarrassing when I look at it now. It's just silly. I've never seen a video that I've said "Wow, that's a really neat little piece of art" or anything; I always thought they were dumb. There are some videos that are pretty good, but to me it's just an uninteresting medium. I'll jump ahead to this question since your brought it up: Are you still playing with knapsack? Yeah. How does that affect Samiam? Are there any conflicts between the two bands? No, not really. Samiam is a band that practices just before we go on tour or before we make a record. We're not a band that play locally; like in the last four years we've played Berlin four times and are about to play a fifth time next month, and we've probably played that many times in Bay area in that time. Part of that was scheduling problems with the band, but also we've played for five or six years and got to this certain point where we could draw three or four hundred people or something, and we busted our ass playing everywhere we could play and never really developed any excitement around where we live. Whereas we could do 1000 people in Green Bay, but if we played in San Francisco there could be 150 people or so. Maybe you just have to move to Green Bay. Well no, 'cause if we moved to Green Bay after a couple months of playing they'd probably go "Oh, Samiam -- who cares?" (laughter) That's true; you'll be drawing 150 in Green Bay and 1000 in San Francisco. (laughing) I don't know about the latter part, but definitely the first part. Um, so anyway...I lost my train of thought. I was asking about conflicts with knapsack. Oh! So there's not that much of a conflict; knapsack actually practices and plays a lot more often. But it's a smaller-scale thing; I don't think knapsack's ever played with more than 200 people seeing them. It's kind of an unknown band. Going from playing big festivals with Samiam to small clubs with knapsack -- which do you prefer? Well, when there's a lot of people and it's really super-good -- you know, people flipping out -- that's totally fun. Like we played a couple shows with Green Day that were totally, just crazy fun. But we've played plenty of shows with thousands of people who were just "ho-hum" or whatever, and that's not particularly fun. But the same can happen playing a 75-person show with knapsack who couldn't give a flying fuck about knapsack, and that's not fun, either.      I think in general -- except for LA and San Francisco, where knapsack does have a small following -- we'd play and no matter how many people are in the audience, whether 50 or 500, there's usually only around 50 people who like knapsack. But it's a lot like Samiam: Samiam's not that popular, but the people who do like it are pretty into it. knapsack's the same thing, but maybe a fifth -- or tenth, or whatever -- the size.      You can play a show at a really small place with 25 people and everything goes well and it sounds good and you love it, and that's fun. But, for example, we played a big show with Bad Religion, and I don't know if we sucked or what, but we went over like lead weight. It was Samiam, Bad Religion and the Swingin' Utters at the Palace -- this place in LA -- and people just HATED us. It was weird. And having to be on stage for 45 minutes when people just aren't digging you is not fun at all. I've yet to experience being booed off stage, thankfully, but when there's no love or whatever, it sucks. What are some of the best places you've played both within the U.S. & other countries? Um, I'd say the best cities for Samiam are probably New York City, Tampa Bay, I already mentioned Green Bay...I dunno, there's a bunch of them. In a lot of cities, and in Europe, we have places where we're met a lot of people and we have tons of friends now, and it's fun to go back and see all the people you met the year before. Do you speak any other languages? How does this affect things when touring other countries? I speak Spanish pretty shittily, and Aaron speaks French pretty shittily, so occasionally if we get lost and our tour manager doesn't speak Spanish, I can get us to the club or order food and stuff. But beyond that, it's not like I can go around and set everyone up with girlfriends with my suave Spanish talk (laughter). But it doesn't really matter, in Europe at least, since almost everyone speaks English. Here's a boring, unoriginal question: What are some of your favorite bands to have toured/played with in the past? Well, we toured with Texas is the Reason last year in Europe, that was awesome; I had never heard them before. We toured with the Toadies, who were a totally great band, and really nice. They opened up for us the whole tour before they got huge -- it's kinda funny, 'cause now they're huge and we're Samiam (laughter). But they were nice. We toured with Snuff on our first tour of America. Last year we did some Warped dates on the East coast, and we did a tour with China Drum out to the Warped Tour, then toured back; they're totally great guys. Have you heard them before? No I haven't. They're really great. Last year we toured with Unwritten Law who were really super nice guys. We've never really toured with any assholes....actually, one band who were kind of assholes just came to mind, but I can't say who that is 'cause that's not really cool. For the most part, even with bands we got stuck with who we didn't like too much -- or at least I didn't like them too much -- more times than not the people were awesome. That's cool. What's your tour vehicle of choice? Well, in Europe we had a big ol' bus, that was definitely way more comfortable to deal with...of course if we just went on tour like we do in America, it would be pretty fucking embarrassing pulling up to some small club in that thing (laughter). We had this airport shuttle bus, which we sold when Samiam was in limbo, that was converted to have beds and VCR and stuff, and that was pretty damn comfortable (laughter). When we do go on tour, I don't know what we're going to do; probably have to rent something. Playing with knapsack and going back to being in van, though, which I haven't done in years, is kind of a drag.

Kind of tough to go back after being in a tour bus. Yeah. Some people might hear that and think "rock stars" or something, but until you've driven across the country over and over again, and you have these long drives where you can't even lie down, you have sit up all day -- night after night, day after day -- you don't understand a simple luxury like having a bunk and being able to lie down makes a world of difference. Is Samiam your job, or do you have another job? It's not my job. I have my own company that does graphics and I freelance for other people. But when Samiam was on Atlantic and making quite a bit of money, I still worked then. I could've lived off it, but I'm not interested; when I'm home from tour I want to do something, I don't want to just sit around. Do you still have fun recording and touring, or is it more like work? No, definitely it's all fun. We toured a LOT for our Atlantic record, and at times it felt endless, and it put a big strain on my relationship with my ex-girlfriend and stuff and fucked that up. Because of that, at times I'm sure it felt more like work. But I wouldn't be doing it if it was a job because I make enough money doing what I do at home. What was the first song you learned how to play? (thinks) I'm not sure exactly. I think one of the first songs I figured out from a record was probably a Descendents song. When I first started playing guitar what I'd do was stay in my room and try to learn all my favorite records; at the time it was Descendents, the second Soul Asylum record, the first Doughboys record had come out, Sonic Youth. Next question: Mac or PC? Personally, Macs 'cause I do graphics. Good answer. Who does the Samiam Web site? Me and Aaron, the bass player. All the HTML is done on his PC, but all the graphics is my end of it. Do you just do it for fun? Before we got on Burning Heart we've always been lazy about it. There's a ton of little Samiam Web sites done by people and they're always incomplete, and we figured if people are going [to these sites] and not know if the band or some kid did it, we might as well have one that's as complete as possible. Last question: where's the "Armpit of America"? Oh, I don't want to say that; there are so many Armpits of America (laughter). Anywhere you go that's an oasis of intelligence and cultural awareness, you can go 20 minutes outside of that city and you'll be in the biggest armpit (laughter).

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