Samiam (pronounced "sam-I-am") is an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California, active since 1988.

History

Samiam was formed in late 1988 after the breakup of the Gilman club mainstay Isocracy. Their first show was in January 1989 with

Christ on Parade Christ on Parade was an American, mid-late-1980s San Francisco East Bay political hardcore punk band, formed in 1985 by ex-members of Teenage Warning and peace punks Treason. Their debut, "Sounds of Nature" was issued on Pusmort Records. The ...

. They released records through New Red Archives and

Hopeless Records Hopeless Records is an American independent record label in Van Nuys, California. History Hopeless Records was founded in 1993 by Louis Posen. The label's artists are generally considered to fall under the genres of punk rock, pop punk, post-ha ...

in the US and

Burning Heart Records Burning Heart Records is an independent record label formed in 1993 in Fagersta, Sweden, and currently based in Örebro. It has a close affiliation with Californian label Epitaph Records, who own the rights to distribute Burning Heart's output i ...

in Europe. In the mid-'90s, the band had two releases on major labels,

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1994 and Ignition/Tommy Boy in 1997. This path achieved modest mainstream success; a video for "Capsized" gained considerable airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, they performed on '' The Jon Stewart Show'' in 1994 and the single "She Found You" garnered considerable radio play in 1998. Over the years, Samiam has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America and Japan, and performed with bands like

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilitie ...

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, The Offspring,

NOFX NOFX () is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every ...

, No Doubt,

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, Sense Field, Blink-182, Deftones,

311 311 may refer to: * 311 (number), a natural number * AD 311, a year of the Julian calendar, in the fourth century AD * 311 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 311 (band), an American band ** ''311'' (album), band 311's self-titled album ...

, Millencolin, and Fishbone. In early 2001, the band went on hiatus after supporting the '' Astray'' album. Despite what was initially to be a breakup, they continued to tour abroad yearly (Europe and South America) with occasional shows in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This led to the recording of the band's seventh album '' Whatever's Got You Down'', which was released in 2006. Samiam toured Europe three more times in 2006 and 2007 and played various US dates in 2008. Samiam toured Australia in September 2009, together with the band A Death in the Family. This was followed by an appearance at The Fest in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

in November 2009 and shows in Santiago, Chile; San Miguel, Argentina; and São Paulo, Brazil in December 2009. October 2010 brought them together again with A Death in the Family for a European and East Coast tour. Samiam released ''Trips'', their first album in five years, on September 6, 2011. Semi annual tours have followed ever since in Europe, Australia and South America. In 2015, while in Chicago for an appearance at Riot Fest, a four-song demo was recorded but never finished. In December 2019, Samiam announced on their Facebook page that they are working on their first studio album in years.

Musical style

Their musical style has been described as punk rock, pop-punk, and emo.

Members

Current members * Jason Beebout (vocals) * Sergie Loobkoff (guitar) * Colin Brooks (drums) * Sean Kennerly (guitar/bass) * Chad Darby (bass) Past members * Ryan Sullivan (guitar, 1988–1989) * Johnny Cruz (drums) * James Brogan (guitar, 1988–2000) * Martin Brohm (bass, 1988–1993) * Aaron Rubin (bass, 1993–1997) * Jeremy Bergo (bass, 2006) * Mark Mortinsen (drums, 1988–1990/1993) * Dave Ayer (drums, 1990–1993) * Tré Cool (drums, 1999) * Scott McPherson (drums, 1999) * Victor Indrizzo (drums, 1993–1995) * Davey Latter (drums, 1999) * Michael Petrak (drums, 1995–1999) * Charlie Walker (drums) * Billy Bouchard (bass)

Discography

Albums

EPs and compilations

References

External links

Official Facebook pageVideos
on YouTube.com

{{Authority control Punk rock groups from California Pop punk groups from California Emo musical groups from California Burning Heart Records artists Musical groups from Berkeley, California Musical groups established in 1988 Hopeless Records artists Pure Noise Records artists