Overhand Sam & Bad Weapon is comprised on Dennis Mariano on the drums, Benton Sillick on the bass guitar, and Overhand Sam on guitar and vocals. The band is creating a very charming garage pop psychedelia of 21st century.

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

I’ve been making music for a long time now. I began playing guitar upside down, which is where I got the nickname “Overhand Sam” from. I learned how to play guitar while my arm was broken in a cast, which is why I fret the fingerboard from above. The local blues bands in my home town got a kick out of it, and I joined lots projects from an early age. Now, I’ve heard “why do you play guitar like that?” more times than I can count.

I’ve got a background in making psychedelic pop music, playing guitar and producing music for Maybird, which is a band on Dangermouse’s 30th Century Records. Through that project, I’ve had the pleasure of playing on stage and touring with some other great bands, like Portugal. The Man, Sam Cohen, and The Babe Rainbow. I enjoy making records from home, having the time to make whatever sounds I can think of, using a mix of tape and digital stuff. Aside from music, I love making visual art, which I think has added to the psychedelic-aesthetic – mainly centered around this character I came up with, a bear-eared, gilled, 3 eyed, crab clawed guy named “Long Legs”.

Overhand Sam & Bad Weapon by Mike Turzanski

“It’s a minimal, power trio thing – and we all like the band CAN.”

When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music? What brought that about for you?

In high school I would play mostly covers with friends, and we would set up a tape recorder somewhere in the room – it was always fun. My solo “Overhand Sam” stuff started to develop when Josh, the lead singer of Maybird, moved to NYC and I was still in Rochester NY. It took ahold of me pretty quickly. I began developing this spacey vision with Long Legs and my own creative narrative, which started to take shape in its own way. My bandmates “Bad Weapon” are really great friends, Benton Sillick on bass, and Dennis Mariano on drums. It’s a minimal, power trio thing – and we all like the band CAN. Sometimes the tunes, even though they’re poppy on the record, go off on these Kraut escapades, and they’re always inspiring and different. I kind of can’t imagine doing anything other than making music.

How do you usually approach music making?

It’s always a different process, but nowadays I try to write songs on one instrument, arranged as far as it makes sense. I typically start on guitar, and then bring it to the band and fill the rest in. The last record I did, I actually produced the whole thing alone, having been inspired by Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. After touring with The Babe Rainbow, I really remembered how much I appreciated a good live band. I try to just write and produce as honest music as I can without overthinking, which is something I’m pretty good at.

Can you share some further details how your latest Overhand Sam 7″ was recorded?

That 7″ has the songs, “Fear Itself” and “Pebbles” on it (“Pebbles” has yet to be released any other way than those 7″ records).

Both songs were recorded at my home studio, mostly digitally but with some analog mixing. I had prepared both songs pretty much in full and had Benton and Dennis come over and record their parts together. We did maybe 4-5 takes to really focus on drum fills. The funniest thing was probably the bridge section in “Pebbles” – I couldn’t figure out what to do. We must have gone through 10 different bridges before coming up with what made the cut. That’s sort of the beauty of recording digitally, as long as you don’t abuse it – Option paralysis is a real thing. I mixed it, and I sent “Fear Itself” to the masterminds at Lullabye Factory, where Christoph Walter bounced it down to an Ampex 2″ tape to master.

How would you describe your sound?

It’s retro-pop, with synths and guitar solos, and lots of drum fills, for all intents and purposes. I like twists and turns, and weird sounds too, but I am a sucker for harpsichord and blown out drums. It’s generally guitar-centric, because I am a byproduct of Hendrix and Jeff Beck. Sonically, I prefer the genuine soul you get out of lo-fi demos, when the intent isn’t yet for an audience, so I try my best to keep myself in that mode from the start to finish of a song, and hope to capture it for an audience.

What are some bands/musicians that have a big influence on you?

Sam Cohen and his guitar playing and production sense. The Babe Rainbow and their energy and live show. Locate S1 and Christina’s thoughtful density of song writing. Ariel Pink and everything he’s pushed the limits on. Unknown Mortal Orchestra and how they’ve managed to create something so new while making it sound so classic. Doug Tuttle for being so kind, creative, and caring about the craft of song. Jacco Gardner for his futuristic but timeless sonic palettes and musicality. There are more, and obviously all the classics, like Gainsbourg and The Kinks – I try my best to sort of mix all of it up, and not think about it at the same time.

Overhand Sam & Bad Weapon by Teagan West

What are some future plans?

Given this pandemic situation, all of my gigs for the season were cancelled, unfortunately. I’m trying to use this time to focus on writing some more, and making some more paintings. When we come out of this global crisis, I would love to go back to Europe and maybe do some solo shows, or book a tour for the trio. I’m content being at home right now, but it will be amazing to get back on the road. For now spending time writing, recording and painting.

Do you often play live?

We tour as often as we can, and we enjoy doing it. It can sometimes be hard to do logistically in the states, but we’ve been relatively steadfast at touring around the North East. Usually between Burlington Vermont, where we have some very close friends in the psych band ‘The Dead Shakers‘, Rochester, and in NYC.

<a href="http://ohsam.bandcamp.com/album/longer-legs">Longer Legs by Overhand Sam</a>

Is there anywhere people can purchase your work from you at?

I try to keep up my website with things that I have to sell, www.OverhandSam.com. Other than that, I post a lot of work, both music and paintings, over on my Instagram page.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

I really love the last record from Kit Sebastian, Mantra Moderne, which is basically a perfect record for anyone – it’s completely unique – one of the best of 2019. My friend Shane just showed me Dungen Live, and holy shit is that a great record, by such a great live band. I’m 5 years late, but man do I love John Dwyer’s Damaged Bug records, and I’ve been a little obsessive over Cold Hot Plumbs – It kind of reminds me of a lot of what I love about bands like Cream and CAN combined into a psycho baby. The new Locate S,1 record, Personalia is a great record, especially for fans of Of Montreal, or anyone looking for a modern record that breaks pop rules.

Thank you. Last word is yours.

Klemen, I really appreciate what you do for the music world. You’re a great reminder that there are true music fans out there that care about the craft. It’s easy to forget that music is for people other than myself at times. You’ve created a great collection, and shown me a lot of music from your page. We gotta do all we can and show people how cool it is to own records and find new music. I want to hear your set up once I make it to Slovenia.

– Klemen Breznikar

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