Jacinta Rossetto, Glass Editor, sat down with Samuel Rety, lead singer from band Samichoux, who will be competing in Battle of the Bands Round One on July 23rd at the Botanic Bar. The band members include Samuel Rety (guitar and vocals), Patrick McClement (drums), Harper Kodicek (keys and backing vocals), and Jack Lestone (bass). The two chatted about childhood nicknames, blacksmithing, The Police, and, of course, Battle of the Bands.
Jacinta: First of all, can you tell us a bit about how you became a band?
Samuel: So, Samichoux, as a name, has always been my sort of childhood nickname. I’ve used it as artist name, but for the QUT music showcase last year, I needed a band to play my songs. So, I got the best guys I knew, the ones I could trust. So now I’ve got my brilliant brother in arms on drums.
J: What’s been the most rewarding experience you’ve had at QUT as a music artist?
S: It’s probably what everyone’s gonna say, but the connections and the friendships seem stronger than what we’ve learned, in a sense. We all have that token uncle or Auntie that’s like, “What are you going to do with your music degree?” And, well, now I know a good 50, 60 people who are also trying to come through this industry with me, and I think our cohort is really tight and we all trust each other to a pretty strong degree. Our collective really has become a strong, young force. We’re moving through the world.
J: Can you share any memorable collaborations with other QUT students or faculty?
S: Yeah, there’s a couple that come to mind. One, maybe not so much a full collaboration as such, but the first time I played with Patrick, my drummer in the band, we had to do this thing in a class where we were trying to recreate a song as best we could with the tools we had. And we did a take, I was playing bass, and he was playing drums, and we did a take of the song. And then we looked at each other at the end and said, “Could you hear me? No, I couldn’t hear you either.” But we got all the same hits, everything was locked in. We didn’t even speak about it. It was just one of those music hivemind instrumentalist moments that were super satisfying.
J: You guys were just perfectly in sync.
S: Yeah, we’re just like that.
J: Now I’ve got some creative questions for you. Can you describe your creative process when producing your most popular song?
S: ‘My New Getaway’ is half personal experience. In terms of the creative process, for me, personally, I need to be able to visualise a scene or a little storyline to be able to really come up with something that I think is good and cohesive. And that seems to be consistent throughout everything I’ve done so far; I need a strong vision for it to really form properly. And this time, I had a bit of a loneliness spell at the end of the uni semester, expanded it out into this character, and then the song kind of came to life after that.
J: Who would you say are your biggest influences in music and how they shaped your sound?
S: First is Tatsuro Yamashita from Japan. Very unknown guy in the West, but he’s definitely he’s a legend. He’s got a super fiery voice. He’s just got some of the best grooves ever. I would say that he seems to use the tools that everyone uses better than everyone else. The next one, I’ll include it as one answer: Sting and The Police. I think everyone that knows me now is getting sick of me playing Police songs. And the last one is Stevie Wonder. Especially his melodies and vocals are a huge inspiration.
J: Okay, now I’ve got some fun questions. If you could perform at any venue or festival in the world, where would it be and why?
S: I don’t know about festivals but as a venue, Blue Note Tokyo would be really cool. It’s got a cool vibe. Super cool performances have happened there and it’s not too big. But it’s bigger than the New York one, which is very, very intimate place.
J: What’s the most unusual sound or sample that you’ve incorporated into a track?
S: See, I would say a lot of the sounds in my songs are pretty typical at the moment. There are not too many weird sounds at the moment. In ‘My New Getaway’, we doubled the solo with a vocal, like we sang the solo behind it. And some of the vocal tracks that are included are really buried. They’re really hard to hear, but some of them are pretty funny. If you heard them, you’d laugh. They’re not that complimentary.
J: If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
S: I’d probably be working in some restaurant. Or when I was younger, I really wanted to be a blacksmith. So, I’ve got a bunch of metallurgy knowledge leftover from wanting to be a blacksmith, but I had none of the skills. So maybe I’d be a blacksmith.
J: What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened during one of your gigs?
S: I keep stuffing up this line and this song called ‘Lost or Found’. There’s this real strident lead guitar line, and I’m not that confident of a lead player. So, I keep stuffing it up. Also, on the first gig, the QUT showcase, we had a count in for both of the songs that we played, and we stuffed both of them up. That was pretty funny. We weren’t too embarrassed about it though. The show must go on.
J: Who is your dream collaboration for a track or an album?
S: You know, of the ones that come to mind, probably Tom Misch. He would be the best collab, I love him.
The Glass Magazine X QUT Guild Battle of the Bands has returned for Semester 2! Last year was such an absolute blast that we are pitting the bands of QUT against each other once again. You don’t want to miss this amazing event, so make sure you register on QPay to get all the details. We’ll see your there!
