For a group of friends who say they never really intended to be a band, Charlotte, North Carolina indie rockers The Sammies have built quite a buzz for themselves in recent years.
The band’s first paying gig was in 2004, and in 2006, its self-titled debut album made waves in the college circuit and landed in the top 5 of CMJ's music charts four times. You may have even heard songs from it on NBC shows such as Friday Night Lights and Las Vegas, and mainstream films, including Employee of the Month.
The Sammies’ appetizing — via the face-shaped sandwich of an album cover — sophomore effort Sandwich continues upon the band’s penchant for infectious, hook-laden material spread across multiple genres that characterized its self-titled debut.
On this latest release, two brothers and two pals who nickname themselves Frank Backgammon (vocals/guitar) and Donnie Yale (drums/vocals), along with Conrad Vacation (bass/vocals) and Bobby Freedom (keys/guitar/vocals) mix familiar classic rock, post-punk, southern and indie rock influences into a fresh set of sounds over the course of thirteen mostly enjoyable tracks.
While The Sammies’ self-titled debut had quite a few punchy, high-energy rockers (in the vein of AC-DC, The Stooges, and Devo) and charming indie rock (a la Sea Ray), this new release delivers a lot of liveliness but distributes it in new and different areas, in addition to the classic rock realm.
Early tracks like the provocative “Sleep In My Clothes” and especially track two, “Rufford,” with its tremolo-like electronics and casually cool vocals sounds like David Bowie-meets-Echo & the Bunnymen. The sunny and glorious arpeggiated chords on “Pinecone” make for a lovely pop rock tune (with a heavy bass) that got many a repeats on my CD player.
Felt-esque ‘80s jangle pop characterizes “Golden Sun,” a song which “depicts a cloudy point-of-view that clears with maturity,” according to Backgammon. The brooding, slightly psychedelic pop of “Billy Mitchell” also feels like a long-lost gem from the ‘80s post-punk era.
The fun, turn-back-the-clock pop rock of “In The Basement,” which hints at latter day acts like Jet, will make you put your dancing shoes on. But the dancing soon gives way to the most head-banging moment of the album, the classic rock worshipping (a la Johnny Winter) “Treat Her Like A Queen.”
Producers Billy Bennett and Ben Holst (Drive-By Truckers), as well as The Sammies themselves seemed to purposely add supremely polished production on some tracks, and held back for a rawer, garage rockin’ sound on others. Hence track eight, the Strokes-sounding danceable rocker “Glisten,” one of a few tracks where the kids let out a few spontaneous “whoos!” before kicking into high gear.
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