Interview Sergie Loobkoff

POPPUNK: Ok, so your new album "Astray" has been out for several months now. How's the response you've been getting?

SERGIE: Well, the songs are well received when we play them live. I think that that is a good sign that people like them. There are a lot of people that say they like the record, I'm pretty happy. Then again, it isn't like we are selling millions of them, so the people that are buying it this early are probably already big samiam fans....I don't think samiam fans would be at all disappointed by it. The trick for us would be to get new fans from the record ...which is, of course, very difficult.

PP: What are your touring plans for this new record?

SERGIE: We already did a 6 week us tour in August-October, then we are leaving for Canada and U.S. in November. If everything works out as planned, Japan is happening at the end of January, followed by Europe and we are trying to go to Australia in April/March. Then we would most likely do one more us tour before working on a new record. But all that planning and stuff could go haywire with us, booking tours on shoe-string budgets is hard.

PP: What exactly happened with your last release, and Ignition Records? Are there any plans to re-release that record?

SERGIE: Basically, Ignition released the record in the U.S. and Canada, it sold pretty well by our modest standards and then the record company went out of business. It is a real hassle, because the guy that owned the label and Tommy Boy (the distribution) owns the rights to that record. There are no plans to get that record to re-release, but if you want to purchase it, you can from Burning Heart, which is the label it is on everywhere else in the world. www.burningheart.com

PP: Outside of the band, do any of you guys work or go to school?

SERGIE: Yeah, I do graphic design and Jason is a bartender. Sean and I graduated from UC Berkeley...that’s were we met over 10 years ago.

PP: How and when did Samiam start?

SERGIE: It started in November of 1988. I, Sergie, asked Jason and our old bassist, Marty to start a band and it worked out. James joined several months later. It was just a typical thing where we all knew each other's previous bands and we had similar goals and tastes.

PP: Is the name Dr. Seuss related as everyone guesses, or is there some other deep-rooted meaning behind the name?

SERGIE: Samiam is just the name we all settled with. We figured that maybe it wouldn't necessarily have an immediate Dr. Seuss connection, that people would go, "oh yeah, green eggs and ham." But we were wrong. We found that, in the beginning, there were several bands in the country called sam i am. They all eventually broke up but we would always be bummed when we would get mail or something saying that someone went to see us and it wasn't us. A name is just a name.

PP: What is the worst possible thing that has happened to the band since it’s spawning?

SERGIE: The worst thing was having to kick out our drummer (at the time) when we were recording Clumsy (our 4th record). He was having problems and it was affecting his ability to do the record and it was a big mess. I was outside the studio with him and it just sucked, we were both crying and stuff. Then tons of rumors came out like Atlantic made us do it, or they sent in a studio guy to do it. All this crap. Our friendship with Mark sucked for a number of years because of the other rumors that attacked him.

PP: What is your take on all of the crap that’s been going on in the media, about the never-ending Napster debate?

SERGIE: Napster isn't a good thing for guys in smaller bands. We had a lot of people downloading our record before it came out...and I don't thing most of them went and bought it. For huge bands like Offspring or Limp Bizkit, they support it because it isn't gouging their small record buying base...so I can't say I'm for it. But then again, I don't pay attention to this argument much. I guess some people say that it is good advertisement for small bands. I can't say I know that that isn't true.

PP: By the way you guys have busted your asses throughout the years, releasing one great album after another, why do you think you aren't as well known as bands like Face To Face and Blink 182?

SERGIE: Well, first off we are not like Face to Face and Blink 182. Those bands embrace youth culture and play music that celebrates blissfulness and being happy and carefree. I think their audience is largely made up of really young kids that want to go have a fun time at their shows and stuff. Samiam is much more serious and sometimes depressing. It appeals to a much smaller record buying crowd. Not to say that Face to Face or Blink 182 are dumb bands or anything like that. On the contrary, they are smart to realize what sells. We have never catered to what is popular or what might sell, we just do what we do...and it isn't anywhere as popular or sellable. Plus we aren't trying to portray ourselves as cute guys...Blink 182 are like cover boys on teen people and sassy or whatever....that sells I would say.

PP: Any dirty laundry with past and present band members you'd like to share with us? Any secrets, or scandals, or disturbing incidences?

SERGIE: Only to my closest friends...

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