Initially starting out as a Psychedelic Doom quartet; reconfiguring and transforming to become a trio, Germany psych blues rock act Samara Blues Experiment have thus journeyed into the land of Progressive Riffs and Psychedelic tones. After 4 successful albums over the decade, their latest “One with the Universe” proves clearly that Samsara Blues Experiment hold a huge prominence within the psych sound that has expanded the consciousness of our expectations in not only Psych and Prog genre, but within the world of music. The band are bringing that power to Australia & New Zealand for the very first time including Perth as part of this year’s Armageddoom 5 festival so we grabbed a few words from guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters to find out a bit more about the band and what they plan to bring to the shows.
Samsara Blues Experiment may not be a household name when it comes to rock acts but the best stuff is always underground anyway and that’s where many fans, myself included, discovered the German trio roughly around the time they put out their first record “Long Distance Trip” back in 2010. As far as psych blues rock is concerned, these guys are at the top of the game and one of the more underrated bands that you can easily become hooked to. Their latest album “One With The Universe” which we reviewed last year is a continuation of their ever expanding sound, incorporating more 60’s influenced rock with hints of blues and wide landscape rock all around and now that some time has passed since it’s release, the band seem pretty happy with the result.
“I still like the album best of all our releases“, says Christian Peters, guitarist and vocalist for Samsara Blues Experiment. “We all do, I think. Some of the songs are permanently included in our live set, others aren’t because they didn’t work so well in a live environment.”
In regards to what they wanted to achieve with the album, Christian says there isn’t really a set mind to what they specifically want but more on just whatever comes out. “I wouldn’t say we think very complicated like “what do we really want to achieve” or something. We are just happy if the songs that pop out of our heads have been recorded the best possible way. The album itself speaks a lot about “waking up”, finding your sense in life, but also about this ever-present “relationship”-thing that you find in several songs on all our albums. Some people find it cheesy to do that love song-stuff, but then love is what really makes the world go round, right?“
On how it compares to previous releases which includes 3 studio albums and various live recordings, demos and EP’s, the guitarist is pretty enthusiastic about the new songs. “The sound is a hundred times better in our opinion. Hans [Eiselt] did a great job on bass too, you can hear that instantly. The songs roll better, like everything seems more “natural” to me compared to just the album before (Waiting For The Flood).“ Christian continues when asked which ones stand out the most for him, a decision that never comes easy for many musicians. “I like all of it, honestly. Particularly proud of the title track “One With The Universe” though. Show me some other bands who do similar stuff!”
The songwriting process can be daunting for some, a time that can also be filled with excitement and of course there are many different formulas and processes for every band who carve their own way into the creative spaces needed to write songs. Samsara are a band who also keep busy in the creative process but that process has changed a little over the years. “We always write“, says Christian but concedes, “Well we try. In 2016 after the break up from Richard, our ex-bassplayer, we tried with just jamming for quite a while, but not much came out that we could use as songs. So now again it’s mostly kind of more “traditional” songwriting I guess. As long as we enjoy what we do, songwriting will be an important part of the whole process. You can’t just always play the same tunes.”
When asked how it feels as an artist to wait for the songs they live with for some time to get released and whether there is a sense of excitement or a little panic, Christian comments that with the ever growing fanbase over the years, those feelings, much like the creative process, has evolved and changed too. “Until now there was mostly just excitement, but I have to admit with a growing number of fans who particularly seem to like us for the psychedelic stuff, there’s is a bit of anxiety too. Our newest material is not very jammy nor very psychedelic (I guess), but I gotta do what I am here for, and I am not here to please any of our fans in the first place, sorry. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be grateful for where we stand, but there probably won’t be another “Long Distance Trip”-album with 20 minutes of repeating just one guitar riff. ”
Samsara Blues Experiment’s music has certainly changed over the years as Christian has pointed out but one aspect that hasn’t changed is the organic, lively feel of the songs. On whether the live aspect is ever something that the band think about in the studio, it seems it can but it’s not something they focus on too much. “In the beginning our bass player Hans was like “But we have to record them like we play live.” and I was always kind of “Hm, but you know an album production is different, there have to be overdubs etc”. So I myself was always aware that some of the things we did in the studio would be hard to reproduce live unless we’d have a fourth person to support us, but that still seems out of question. So like I said before, in a live situation we only play the songs that really work well for us, and we always sort of test songs in concerts anyway. Right now we also already play new songs from a possible fifth album.“
Speaking of the live shows, the band are heading to Australia for the very first time in their career which is something we at The Rockpit are pretty excited about. No doubt for the band too but for many of us who have yet to experience the band live, what can we expect?
“Basically, a good old fashioned rock show in the widest sense“, says Christian. “No gimmicks, just music. We play a selection from all our albums. We play loud. That’s about it“. When asked about the improvisation aspect and whether that’s something they incorporate in their live shows, surprisingly it’s not a big element on stage. “It’s only a bit of improvisation in parts that are determined to be THE improvisational-part. Most of what we play is structured, think of Rush in that regard.”
Being it will be their first time in Australia, there’s sure to be a list of things they would like to check out during their time in the country but of course time is not always on a touring band’s side. “As far as I know, we only have one day off and that will be my birthday”, the frontman replies. “I will be very sober, do nothing particular but staring at the Ocean I guess [laughs]. Or maybe do something else, who knows. I bet our Australian booking agent already has a plan for that day, he is very organized. Also sleep is not overrated when you are touring!“
The band have been hitting the road across the globe since last year in support of their new album and from what Christian tells us, things have been going pretty good. “We played a bunch of nice festivals, and a few club shows. Sometimes I think we should play more, but somehow that’s not possible. Well, anyway most of our gigs are nice “events”. I guess you won’t be disappointed.“
As far as setlists are concerned, the fact that many of their albums have only a short amount of songs (albeit lengthy tracks) means an easier job in picking out what to play but ultimately it comes down to simply what works live as Christian points out. “We only play songs we are comfortable with. And of course from those we play only the songs we think will work well in a concert. It’s not really difficult, as you know we don’t have so many songs [laughs].”
Taking things back to the beginning of Samsara Blues Experiment which is a little over 10 years now, we get into a little of their influences and how it all started for the band. Some of it is not that surprising to hear given the nature of their music but there is some pretty interesting stuff to hear from Christian’s own musical influences. “I came up with the idea in 2007 and did a few jams with friends back in middle of nowhere Germany“, explains Christian. “Then I moved to Berlin and had to reorganize things, so from 2008 we played in this constellation with Richard [Behrens] on bass for the first five years. I found the others mostly by help of the miracles of the interwebs. Not a very romantic story.”
The band’s main influences draw from such acts Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Kyuss but Christian also points out some other interesting bands. “Add Ananda Shankar, and a lot of weird music from all corners of the world and you get the picture“. More interestingly though and what may surprise many fans was how Metallica became a source of inspiration for the guitarist himself. “For me personally that would have been Metallica’s black album when I discovered it in the mid 90s. I started to pick up a guitar and began to fancy how it would be if I played with them in our backyard garden [laughs]. That is so long ago, oh my god!”
This seemed like a good point to throw in our regular brain buster – If you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any album in history, what album would it be?
“Hm, I really don’t have these kind of fancies anymore” answers Christian. “I am a big Doors fan still, but I am not as much interested that I would crash into their studio sessions to see how they are really like. Not so important for me, really. I would have enjoyed very much meeting them in person, but that seems hardly possible… though hey John Densmore watch out, I have a few questions [laughs].”
On the current crop of bands popping up in the new generation, the Samsara axeman says there are a lot of great bands out there too but much like his own band, are generally found in the more underground scene or signed to small independant labels. “There’s quite a few very cool bands, but you have to search for them (little hint: they are not on big labels). Most of the bands that are on festival bills with us are not my cup. I don’t like sludge at all. I love melody. I also like songs, not the endless noodling of a guitar player.“
After the band became a little more established themselves, challenges were laid out in front of them and luckily they have been able to overcome them to get where they are now. Christian says lineup changes was definitely a key problem at one point. “Biggest challenge was the break up from Richard, already starting in December 2013. I remember six months of just discussions. Very tiring. Actually when you play in a band there’s always discussions at some point. I mean, watch that movie Metallica made where they have a psychotherapist analyze their conversations, it really is a bit like this“.
On a more positive note, there’s been some great moments for the band too which involves the touring side of life for the band. “Favorite moments,… so many. It makes up for all the discussions! Best memory forever may be the two US-tours. Especially the first one because we were just so innocent and all was like a big playground for us boys. The second “tour” (actually just two festival gigs and two weeks of “band vacation” where we would drive all across California) in 2015 was more important for the three of us who remained to form a sort of “brotherhood”. From our characters we are different in many ways, but this band really ties us together, which is rare I guess. With all the many bands out there, but very few exist for eleven or ten years, right?”
So with that being said, can music still change the world? “Haha what?! You can change the world!, Christian excitedly exclaims. “Everybody can, if he or she starts looking at him/herself and ask a few questions, like what am I really doing here? Am I and my ego really that important after all, or is there something bigger behind the scenes that appear to be “the reality”? Sleep one or two nights in a forest, it may help.“
So that leaves only one question then – what is the meaning of life?
“We all may find that out for ourselves. Just remember, life is happening RIGHT NOW“.
TOUR DATES
Fri Sept 7th – Amplifier Capitol, Perth – Armageddoom 5
Sat Sept 8th – Crowbar, Brisbane
Sun Sept 9th – Leadbelly Newtown, Sydney
Mon Sept 10th – Whammy Bar Auckland
Tues Sept 11th – Valhalla, Wellington
Thurs Sept 13th – Bendigo Hotel, Melbourne
Fri Sept 14th – The Barwon Club Hotel, Geelong
Sat Sept 15th – Bendigo Hotel, Melbourne
Sun Sept 16th – Crown and Anchor Adelaide
Tickets on sale NOW through Eventbrite
and through the venues.
Proudly Presented By:
YOUR MATE Bookings, Fuzz Factory Touring and Young Henrys.
*Promotional Support:
Rocknrollbrat & Third Eye Music NZ
