Samiam (pronounced "sam-I-am") is an American punk rock band from

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, active since 1988.

History

Samiam was formed in late 1988 after the breakup of the Gilman club mainstay

Isocracy An isocracy is a form of government where all citizens have equal political power. The term derives from Greek ἴσος meaning "equal" and κρατεῖν meaning "to have power", or "to rule". An Isocracy is based on a legal right of isonomi ...

. 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 New Red Archives is an independent record label based in California's San Francisco Bay Area, mainly home to punk rock bands. Started in 1987, the label began by releasing punk and hardcore punk records on coloured vinyl. Starting in summer 1990 a ...

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 ''The Jon Stewart Show'' is a late night talk show that was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. The program premiered on MTV in 1993 as a 30-minute daily offering and became one of the network’s more popular shows. Through a series of events that ...

'' 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 ...

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

The Offspring The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guita ...

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 No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, they ...

Toadies Toadies are an American rock band formed in 1989 in Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song " Possum Kingdom". The band's classic lineup consisted of Vaden Todd Lewis (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Lisa Umbarger (bass guitar), Darrel Herb ...

Sense Field Sense Field was an American post-hardcore band from Southern California, formed in 1990. Originally consisting of vocalist Jon Bunch, guitarist Chris Evenson, guitarist Rodney Sellars, bassist John Stockberger, and drummer Scott McPherson, the ba ...

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their ...

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...

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 Millencolin is a Swedish punk rock band that was formed on 12 October 1992 by Nikola Šarčević, Mathias Färm, and Erik Ohlsson in Örebro, Sweden. In early 1993, drummer Fredrik Larzon joined the band. The name Millencolin is derived from t ...

, and

Fishbone Fishbone is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1979, that plays a fusion of ska, punk, funk, metal, reggae, and soul. AllMusic has described the group as "one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late ' ...

. 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 ''Whatever's Got You Down'' is the seventh album from the American band Samiam. It was released in 2006 on Hopeless Records Hopeless Records is an American independent record label in Van Nuys, California. History Hopeless Records was founded ...

'', 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 Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile; San Miguel, Argentina; and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, 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 Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

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 Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

, and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

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 Frank Edwin Wright III (born December 9, 1972), better known by his stage name Tré Cool, is a German-born American musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the band's former drumme ...

(drums, 1999) * Scott McPherson (drums, 1999) *

Victor Indrizzo Victor Indrizzo (born September 23, 1967) is an American session musician, primarily known for playing the drums, as well as a songwriter and producer. Indrizzo was born in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He has toured, recorded and worked wi ...

(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