We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sam Joole a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sam, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding purpose for me is very much an ongoing thing! I often loose it and have to remind it and refnd it ! I was luckily cursed from a very early age with an unshakable, un negotiable need to sing and play music. When I look back it seems to have been there from very early on, age 10 or so, and never left me. Whilst I noticed with others around me that they would go in and out of various possible passions, interests and vocations, mine seemed concrete from then and no matter what happened that basic interest never changed.
Whilst that basic drive has always been there, a reason behind it has not always been so clear. In earlier times it was trying to achieve “fame” or “success” or “money” but in more recent times its more about progressing in the endless crafts of creativity and how that tends to hold the mind together and create presence and wellbeing.
One thing that has always helped me is the notion that it seems in modern life we have to stand for something, work for something, represent something or sell or pedal something. In the words of Bob Dylan , it may be the devil, it may be the lord but you gonna have to serve somebody. And most things I feel are in some way distorted or corrupt and if you trace back the lines you will end up somewhere finding out that you are serving someone else rotten agenda.
What I’ve always liked about music, arts and my own personal creative decisions is they are just made up out of my head, and I can switch them up and change direction and meaning at any time. And so in a way I trust this the most, and I feel good selling it. I feel like its a pure form of energy and inspiration that I offer people and it begins and ends with the source of where it came from and where the listener/consumer wants it to be, and so it is basically bereft of any form of corruption or outside influence and that has always made me feel a strong sense of purpose that what Im putting out into the world and what Im living off is honest and true.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Im a Singer, Songwriter by trade. Since I left school, I paid the bills by playing music in pubs, clubs, ships, resorts and in the studio. I always wrote my own music and always played dozens of other peoples songs. Ive always done both these modes.
I always tried different genres and different formats. I would form bands, for ensembles, borrow and steal sounds, samples, bits of other songs and also endeavour to write stuff completely alien to my ears.
Its always seemed to me that variety is the spice of life and of music and that has always been really fun for me.
Over the years I have developed a range of different formats that I feel are signatory to me.
A basic acoustic folk rock style with a surf rock edge to it. Also a strong body of work that focuses on Electronica, Electronic music and the hybridising of “Electroniclly triggered” and “Human played” music. A gap that is rapidly narrowing in todays world.
Ive also spent a lot of time with ambient music, meditation music and abstract forms of music and helped develop live music for Yoga, Meditation and Sleep as well as meditation courses and other spiritual practises.
I guess in there’s often a backdrop of Jazz and Classics and Folk in what I do. But also I’ve been through some stages as a Rocker, a Punk, a Goth and a Hard Rocker, both in my music and in my personality so sometimes these things come up in my work too.
I also like to push outwards from just “music” and have spent a great deal of time incorporating imagery, video, cartoon, play, stories and light and art installations into what I do. Over the years I have attempted all sorts of crossings between music and other artforms and practises, not so much in a structured way but more as experiments and collaborations.
On the daily, I work as a solo musician and sit in on a host of bands and projects on my local music scene in Australia. I often tour the country and either play my own music or focus on a particular Artist or sound for a while, or both. Also I sometimes do this as an electronic “Dj” Style act but using live sounds and ideas or recordings in the mix.
Ive produced and conceived a bunch of tribute shows and shows that detail famous artists such as INXS, The Doors, The Cure as well as the 50`s Rockabilly movement and the MerseySide brit-pop explosion.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
In music I guess there are 1) Skills that you can learn and hone and cultivate and practise and 2) a more subconscious area that is about getting out of your own way, letting go, being free to experiment and make weird noise that feels a bit embarrassing etc. I guess these two areas also interlope at some point.
The hard skills one can cultivate are quite pragmatic.
1. Vocal Ability ( regardless of natural ability this is integral )
2. Instrumental Ability ( again I think, regardless of which instrument you are a natural on or aim to be on, one needs a fairly comprehensive understanding of all instruments and orchestrations)
3. Theory
4. Aural Training
My advice would be to unwaveringly study these things and always work on them and to also understand these are never-ending practises and a point of mastery is essentially never reached without another point above that somehow appearing.
My second piece of advice is to also regulary forget these principles and just let go and do whatever comes to you.
somewhere in the the balance between these two contrasting schools of thought comes an original and powerful style.
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?
Im always looking for industry motivated people world wide. Who want to release my music, tour me and organise exciting and amazing experiences around the world that we can do and share together. Im looking for other Artists. Producers, Dj`s or Musicians to remix, re imagine or re harmonise my songs and amazing behind the scenes producers, engineers, agents or promoters to get involved and widen the circle of what Im doing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samjoole.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/samjoole
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sjoole
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/samjooleTV
- Other: Sam Joole on Spotify !
