Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sam Slick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Sam, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
In the past few years I’ve at times felt my creativity has slowed a little; some people were making the most of the early days of the pandemic and writing or recording whole albums, whereas I wrote only 3 songs in the first year of the pandemic. I didn’t have any ideas that made me drop everything to develop, and the time I usually need to finish songs just wasn’t there.
What helped me through this period where writing wasn’t coming together was a combination of focusing on the other parts of being an artist and learning some songs to cover. My band had come together for our first shows since before the pandemic, and we were learning a set together. We started playing as much as we could, solidifying our sound and improving show to show. I also heard a few songs that I thought we would sound great covering, so I brought versions to the band and they added amazing parts. We had a little more variety to our shows and everybody loves hearing something familiar in a set of original songs.
I still had not been finding enough time to finish a song, but I always had little ideas I would write out or cut little demos of. Eventually, the band had learned enough of the back catalogue that we were ready for new songs. My band really livened up one I had written a couple of years prior, so the excitement of bringing this song to life motivated me to work on other ideas and finish some more songs.
Overall, my advice would be to keep working in whatever sized increments of creativity come to you. You can always come back and finish them – I had one song that I wrote fragments to in 2020, 2021, and 2022 before it was finished! It is ok to prioritize other parts of art, presentation or commerce for instance, and come back to the creative part when things better align.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Hello world, my name is Sam Slick and I am a singer and songwriter living in Los Angeles. I’ve been making music since moving here in 2017 with many talented musicians; my current band includes Jake Adamson on lead guitar and harmonies, Julian Curelop on bass guitar and harmonies, Daniel Goldblatt on drums, and Hannes Kling on keys. We make folk rock music – our songs have nods to the traditions of past greats with classic songwriting, big vocal harmonies, and a powerful live band, while integrating modern lyrics and avoiding the trappings of lazy tribute.
We have self released 2 albums on vinyl and several digital singles, with our next single planned for release in mid April right before our tour. This tour will be 9 shows in 10 nights across the southwest, from our home base at the Silverlake Lounge in LA on April 18th to the Bluebonnet Bar in Norman, OK for the Norman Music Fest on April 27th. Our band has really come together in the past few years with a ton of shows around Southern California, and we can’t wait to show what we do to new crowds in new towns!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three skills I have worked on and would recommend other artists focus on would be find your distinct style, connect to your community, and hone your strengths.
By finding your distinct style, I mean create an identity in your art. There are plenty of singers who sing well, can hit any note in their range, can replicate a cover almost perfectly. Those are all skills that I respect. What would set a singer apart and make them memorable to listeners is doing something unique. Maybe you write lyrics about a different topic than other people are writing about. Maybe you have a not quite perfect voice and can make music that accentuates the best parts of it. Maybe you don’t cover a song people would expect and instead interpret a song in your style, like a folk rock band covering ABBA’s SOS. People remember you for painting something unique, not for painting by numbers.
I cannot overstate how important community connections are to artistic growth. Finding other artists who make something you like and enjoy is at least going to give you friendship, but might lead to opportunities to share your art with more people. For musicians, go to other acts’ shows as much as you can. Support artists you enjoy! Joining or forming a community is going to inspire you in your art, could lead to collaboration, and will help you find an audience for what you create.
It helps to be able to take an honest look at yourself as an artist and decide what you’re good at and what you aren’t so good at. I’m not a great guitarist – getting better takes a lot of time and focus – but I can sing alright. I decided to work on improving the thing I am slightly better at, singing, instead of guitar playing, because you need one specialty to stand out. Nobody is looking to listen to a pretty good singer and pretty good guitarist. But you can get attention as a good singer and ok guitarist. Focus on your strengths first, and round out the rest of your skills when you can.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am always looking to collaborate with visual artists. I would love to hire artists for show flyers and album art, photographers, or videographers, so reach out if you work in a visual medium and think our styles would mesh.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/samslick
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrsamslick
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mrsamslick
Image Credits
Jacob Adamson, Shawna Schiro, Chris Perez, Julianna Caduto
