Sam King, who was born and partially raised in Lake Tahoe and spent his formative years in a small town in Northern Nevada, spent countless hours lip-syncing and dissecting his favorite songs online as a child. A few months after graduating from high school, he dove headfirst into the various realms of producing, songwriting, and guitar playing, yearning to match the sonic prowess of artists like Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles (what musician wouldn’t want to sound like those guys? ), and so forth. He quickly realized that might not be in his plans, so he began forging his own path with songs like “PostUp” & “WHEELIE” from 2021. (accompanied by 2 music videos that the singer-songwriter directed and edited himself). SamKing is best characterized by these two songs: fun, edgy, and dreamy indie/bedroom pop. Velcro and “Glowing Buoy” are more upbeat and catchy indie songs, while “Melancholic” (sort of an outlier from the previous 4 songs mentioned) explores much darker themes and psychedelic production. He also released 3 additional singles that year. Sam also made the time to launch a YouTube channel dedicated to his music, showcasing his beat-making abilities (ranging from trap and hip-hop to drum n’ bass styles), and even taking some in-depth detours into the process of how he composes his music.
The first single from my upcoming EP, “close 2 you,” featuring him, is scheduled for release in the middle of August. The EP will be released one month after the single, along with a professionally shot and edited music video. The song expresses how much he values his relationships with his closest friends and family and how protecting his own “tribe” is the only thing that matters in the world; just because we all share a human experience doesn’t mean that we are all related. The song asks, “What wouldn’t you do for your loved ones?” and is very protective. Check out his latest single and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?
SAMKING: I’ve spent pretty much my entire life in a small town outside of Reno, NV. It’s not too far away from Lake Tahoe either, so when Summer rolled around my friends and I would hit up the beach all the time. Not much of a music scene there, though, especially for the kind of music I play (lot of enthusiasm for country over there), so musical opportunities outside of school were hard to come by. It’s a great place to live though, and I could see myself moving back once I’m ready to settle down. In terms of how I got started with music, I basically just started recreating songs a few months after I graduated high school. As I was growing up, I had always fantasized about being a professional musician, but was never motivated enough to really do anything about it. I played trumpet in the middle school band, and took guitar lessons around that same time period, but neither of those things really stuck back then. It wasn’t until I was faced with the existential dread of ‘now that high school’s over, what do I want to do with my life?’ that I finally decided to devote myself to music. Once that little motivator got me going, I started out like most: watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials, make a LOT of garbage music; rinse and repeat until I gradually started making stuff that I was happier with. I’ve been doing this for 4 years now, and only within the last year or so have I started to truly be proud of what I’m creating.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
SAMKING: I’ve taken about 3 recording classes at some colleges around the area, but other than that I’m completely self-taught. Whenever I find something that interests me, I like to envelop myself in it and go all in. Self-teaching allowed me to do that, while also learning stuff as I needed it, and the recording classes helped to fill in some gaps that I glossed over (at least in terms of recording & mixing). I’m at a point now where I feel like I have all the skills needed to do what I need to do, and it’s just a matter of putting those 10,000 hours in. Of course, there’s always more to learn, and I’m always learning more about myself, my workflow, different recording techniques, new and exciting ways to write lyrics, and other stuff every time I sit down to create. It’s an ongoing process until the day you die!
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘SAMKING’?
SAMKING: Growing up, I listened to a ton of Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Skrillex, Zedd, Foo Fighters, and some others (Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns is still one of my favorite albums of all time). I also played Guitar Hero with my family a lot, so naturally I would listen to a lot of the songs from those games. I was really into heavier genres back then, which is ironic because I was such a shy and timid kid (still kind of am). I’ve also always had an attraction to hip-hop (Aminé, BROCKHAMPTON, Tyler The Creator, and Mac Miller are some artists I’ve enjoyed within the last few years). I wouldn’t say any of those inspirations have had a heavy hand in the music I’ve released, but I have plenty of unreleased songs (that I’ve made purely for fun/practice) that have those kinds of flavors. Now, I’m a much heavier pop/indie-pop listener, and really enjoy artists like Dominic Fike, Yeek, The Neighbourhood, Wallows, Ariana Grande; Last Dinosaurs, and I feel like those inspirations are heard much more clearly in my released music (John Mayer & Jimi Hendrix also inspire a lot of my guitar playing). Funny enough, the name ‘SamKing’ did not come as easy as one might think. At first, I wanted to go with kind of a moniker as my stage name, like ‘Caroga,’ or ‘Lassen’ (both names of places that have lots of sentimental value to me that I thought sounded cool). However, my girlfriend (Mari) highly disapproved and steered me in the direction to just go with my legal name. I still wanted a bit of flare to it though, so I decided to remove the space between my first and last name but keep the capitalization on ‘King’ for added edginess. Mari would tell you that she was the one that suggested that idea, but I recall the idea coming from my brain. Oh well… I suppose we’ll be arguing about that one for a long time.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
SAMKING: Is it bad for me to say that I don’t really think about how my music might resonate with other people when I’m making it? I make music that resonates with me, and just hope that it resonates with other people as well. I’ll try and give you an answer though: I guess I want people to really connect with the melodies and spacey textures that I implement into my music. I would also hope that my lyrics leave an impression on people, especially with a song like “close 2 you” that is very driven by the words. Overall, I’d like my music to make people feel the same way that I feel when I listen to my favorite music, which is such an obscure sensation that I can’t really put into words, but that’s what I’m going for. I think I have a very indie pop/bedroom pop sound, and after hearing lots of people liken my sound to that of dream pop/shoegaze I’d say there’s some of that, too (lots of reverb and dreamy sounds, upbeat tempos; very guitar-driven). I still feel like I’m trying to find a sound that 100% represents me, though. I’m not all the way there, yet.
SAMKING:
Good question! Well, I still feel like I’m kind of in the emulation stage right now, as so many of my songs are directly inspired by specific artists. However, I don’t think that’s something that ever ends – I think as an artist you’re always emulating what inspires you and trying to put your own spin on it (but that’s just speculation on my part because I haven’t been doing this for very long in the grand scheme of things). Discovering the sounds that you hear with songs like “close 2 you,” as well as everything else on my EP poolside, has been a very gradual process. I already kind of said it earlier, but making loads of awful music before my skills really started to refine was a huge part of it. Throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck was pretty much the entire process for me. Listening to music and dissecting it was/is also a ginormous part of the process for me. Being aware of structure, sound choice, how certain parts interact with each other harmonically, and mixing in other songs is so helpful. Then I go and take some of those techniques and try to recreate them in my own productions. After years of doing all that stuff, it all just started to come together and I just kept shaving down my workflow to what works for my musical tastes. You learn a lot about yourself on a personal level while going through this journey – it’s really a beautiful thing (albeit quite grueling when you’re up until 5:00 in the morning trying to work out a harmony). There’s always room for improvement, though!
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?
SAMKING:
Definitely the ladder. For me personally, I just don’t see any sense in going out of my way to deliberately make a statement with my music because it would be forced. I just want to make something that aligns with what currently inspires me, political or not. I think music can work very well as a social/political vehicle, but I think it’s only done well when it’s truly genuine, and not too in your face. My main concern with my music though is to push myself to a point where I’m happy with what I’m making, and to entertain while doing it.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
SAMKING:
I was just talking about this with my mom the other day. I feel like I only get back what I give after a certain amount of time has passed from me finishing a song. Like, a week after a finish a song I’m typically super critical of it, but looking back on a song, let’s say, a year after making it I’m very impressed and satisfied with the fact that I created it. That happened with all of the songs that I released in 2021, and only now am I starting to see those songs in a new light and be happy with them. The creative process is a very unforgiving thing, or maybe that’s just me.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
SAMKING:
It almost always starts with either a voice memo or note on my phone (or my little song idea book that I carry around sometimes). I’ll jot the idea down, and more often than not it usually just sits around for a few months, all the while slowly marinating in my head. By the time I finally sit down to record stuff, I have a very solid vision of what I want the song to sound like. I’ll record a demo, where my primary focus is structure and production, with vocals usually coming last (I’ll do some scat vocals because I probably won’t have a full set of lyrics written by this time). Once the demo is done, I decide if it’s something I like or not. If it’s not, it gets locked away in the vault, but if I do like it, I’ll refine the demo, write some lyrics, re-record whatever needs to be re-recorded, and call it a day. This entire process can take anywhere from 1 day to 1 month for me (not counting mixing and mastering), so it’s totally a ‘go with the flow’ type thing. The song-making process is not linear though: sometimes I might bypass the voice memo stage and demo stage and just sit down to record with no pre-conceived vision and just wing it (this is exactly how my songs “last minute” and “PostUp” were created). The process can vary from song to song, but probably about 80% of the time my songs are born out of a jotted down note.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
SAMKING:
For my music career, definitely getting people to listen to the music. It’s a struggle to get people in the door. I remember a time when I thought putting my music on Spotify would make me a big deal… NOPE! I think it’s like 50,000 songs get uploaded to Spotify everyday or something like that… it’s wild. Getting an audience is hard work, and has by far been the most difficult part of this process. Also having to juggle music with all the other stuff in my life (school, work, relationships) has been very difficult, but I feel like I’m slowly learning how to work with everything.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
SAMKING: On the contrary to my last answer, putting my music on Spotify and all the other streaming services has been a huge accomplishment haha. Just finishing music in general is something to be proud of. This new music video that Cole Funk and I made for “close 2 you” has also been a very exciting achievement, and I’m so proud of the way that everything turned out. Be sure to check it out!
KEEP IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | SPOTIFY | BANDCAMP | TIKTOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
Photo credits: Mari Murillo; Bill King; Dylan Kyhl