New Interview With sami.the.great : "If you want to talk about euphemisms, I'm your gal."

Readers, we know you're going to be hungover as shit on the Tuesday after Memorial Day, but we encourage you to head to the Record Bar in KC anyway and check out the buzzy Brooklyn singer/songwriter sami.the.great .  Her soothing indie-pop sounds will cure your hangover quickly...and then you can get hammered all over again.  Check out the event page on the Record Bar site here .

Much like us, sami.the.great enjoys unusual punctuation and swearing, and she was kind enough to chat with us about such things, and also about drugs, the Brooklyn scene, and the possibility of onstage nudity (very high).  Check out her website here, give her a "like" on FB here, and enjoy the interview below!

 


Richard:    I love bands with interesting punctuation!  One of Lawrence’s hottest acts right now is called Y[our] Fri[end].   Tell us about the origin of the name sami.the.great and why it’s punctuated the way it is. 

sami.the.great:  Well, I came up with "the great" because my last name is Akbari and it means "the greatest". I thought that "sami.the.greatest" might be too obnoxious so I cut it down! As for the punctuation, there's not really any reasoning behind it. I just liked it, ha!

Chip:   Daytrotter’s typically elaborate description describes your songs as being “over the moon about that tender touch and the pretty batting of eyes, of entendres and innuendos.”  As our readers know, I fucking LOVE entendres and innuendoes! So how would you personally describe the “sami.the.great” sound and do you have any favorite entendres and/or innuendoes?

sami.the.great:  It's hard to top Daytrotter's lovely description, but I'll try: I think my music (at least this past album) is a harmonious blend of sounds/vibes from the 50's and 60's with more modern sounds/vibes... whatever the fuck modern sounds and vibes are, because nowadays a lot of music is super-saturated with sounds from the past! But great, nonetheless. I'm normally a more forward girl myself, and kind of skip the entendres and innuendos, but if you want to talk about euphemisms, I'm your gal!

Richard:  The video for “Hear Me Now” is super-trippy.  Would you recommend weed or shrooms or something else to our druggie readers while checking it out?

sami.the.great: I would love that! Let's keep it natural though, and stick to the weed and shrooms. 

Chip:   So of course we have to ask you about Brooklyn hipster culture.  I’ve never been there, but I get the sense it must be nearly unbearable at times!  Do you fit in well there?

sami.the.great:  Haha. After almost 8 years of living in BK, I'm actually moving to LA. But I have definitely lived there long enough to be well versed in hipster-dom. Honestly, for the most part it's not too bad (at least in my eyes) but there have been moments where I was at an event at an art gallery or something and I kind of can't even handle how ridiculous people make themselves look while seemingly pretending like they don't give a fuck. It's kind of amazing. I try to say away from that extreme side of things. It makes me uncomfortable. And old.

Richard:  How’s the tour going so far?  Can you share an amusing tour story with us.

sami.the.great:  It's been pretty fun! It's alway great to meet new, interesting people along the way. Hmm. Not sure I have a super amusing story! One story that I think you guys might enjoy (judging from these questions) is that I was in Austin during SXSW and went to a show of this band that I border on groupie for, Bonaparte, and I'll take pics at their shows sometimes and send them and the lead guy of the group, Tobias, will post them. So I was taking pictures at this show, and Tobias came up to me and took my phone out of my hand, shoved the mic down my shirt, and started singing into my boobs, basically, while playing guitar. And it was amazing. 

Chip:  Singing into someone's boobs is totally amazing!  I noticed that your FB interests are listed as “playing music/talking dirty” and your Twitter account trumpets your “voice of an angel/mouth of a sailor.”  So leave our horny, vulgarian readership with something dirty that convinces them they absolutely MUST attend your show

sami.the.great:  I perform naked for at least half the time at all my shows.