I felt like it could be powerful and delicate and all the things in between. I was alone, so there was a lot of reflection, a lot of looking back at the past," he recalls. Once I hit my mid-20s, I felt like I could write about it all in a way that wasnt completely dull. It's got a gold scratch plate, and it came with a packet of strings from 1959 from New Brunswick. I wrote the horns on Long Way Off, a very Steely Dan-like horn section. Id self sabotage to almost gain control of the situation, because thats not the person hurting you, youre leaving them, and it makes you feel like youre in control of the situation. When Sam was 17 years old, his mother had to end her career due to fibromyalgia. In "Dead Boys," Fender vulnerably grieves fallen mates, victims of the male suicide epidemic in Northern England. It's all in the new album, but 27-year-old Sam had this to say to 17-year-old Sam: "Art is the purest remedy for all internal conflict and you're taking a career in it. The new Jazzmasters yet to make its studio debut, but there are other ones, plus Strats and Teles, on the record. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. So, I find the chords on piano sometimes and then I'll find interesting variants of the chords on the guitar to make it sound pretty." Lyrically it centres on a moment when Fender saw his father kiss his grandmothers forehead after she died: It was love in all its agony, every bit of me hurting for you/Cos one day thatll be your forehead Im kissing/And Ill still look exactly like you. Ive bought my first ever daft guitar, he says with a cheeky grin. Im on a path of self-discovery and trying to heal a lot of that. Indeed, Fender's lyrics stop you in your tracks. Hitting the stage: Sam took to the stage at London's The O2 arena to perform his hugely popular hit Seventeen Going Under. This record, Im like, I dont know what Im talking about, but I fucking hate those bastards over there whove got the hedge fundswhose taxes Im paying, who come after my mum, who come after the disabled, who come after all of these people, plunging them into poverty and plunging kids out onto the streets. Sam Fender has announced he is to take a short break from touring to look after his mental health. Sam has alluded in previous interviews to a health condition that hes not yet ready to fully disclose, and tells NME that he spent three months shielding at the We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases. Get You Down came as a chord progression. "I like a Jazzmaster through a Fender Twin. The left wing have abandoned the working classes, and with a lot of the left I dont want to sound like Piers Morgan when I say this I feel like there is too much nitpicking and stupid fights, especially online. 'The family is growing! Yet theyre getting away with that tax-dodging. I was old enough to understand what was going on, but I wasnt old enough to be able to do anything about it. He laughs, and casually hits a D on his new, well-earned Jazzmaster. Its insane: the whole town recognises me, everyone wants selfies. And then learnin' about the reason why I was the way I was; the reason why I was reacting to things in certain ways; the reason why my relationships weren't goin' well; the reason why I wasn't being the most savory character or not being my own ally. Press Esc to cancel. I just cranked it, had everything blaring, and got my whammy bar going to get the feedback. Statement-making: Olivia Rodrigo joined the Peckham celebrations in a statement-making, spiderweb-inspired black dress, Having blast: Ellie Rowsell beamed from ear to ear as she stepped into the venue wearing knee-high white socks, Wild night out: The Saturdays Mollie King could barely stop smiling as she enjoyed a night out in south London. A lot of my lyrics used to come from pub craic. 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Inside Matt Hancock's 41-hour battle to save his career when photo of 'a snog and heavy petting' with aide Will Vladimir Putin's empress pay the ultimate price for his war on the West? Thats insanity. By Naman Ramachandran. But right now, here he is, in a caf in his home town of North Shields, taking refuge at a corner table, and speaking with all the coiled intensity of one whose life has undergone a radical transformation and is still trying to make sense of it. Im an ear player and cant read music at all. It's absolutely stunning. But its also about how much I love him, how I saw him as a son. Sam Fender has made serious waves in the music industry since his debut single 'Play God' in back 2017 - and now, his second album is taking the world by storm, with huge tracks such as 'Seventeen Going Under' and 'Spit of You'. Here is what you need to know. Though his new album is bursting with layers upon layers of instruments, he undoubtedly has an ingrained sense of how to be impactful with just a guitar and his voice, which came from years of performing solo without a backing band. And they thought, Im going to vote for that. Organisers divided opinion and some were left outraged by the decision to switch to gender-neutral gongs for the first time in its history, in calls led by non-binary singer Sam Smith. WebHealth. Im glad the 21st century is now backing me up on that. It was like a guitar feedback compass! That means I can do this as well [laughs]. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart. The performances are now available to watch on demand. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, There was a lot of riots there back in the '90s. In 2018, he was included to the BBCs Sound of 2018 list. His first book, Big Big Train - Between The Lines, is out now through Kingmaker Publishing. He is young, white, wields a guitar, and possesses a pair of cheekbones the actor Eddie Redmayne could open letters with. Shes not a liar and shes not a benefit cheat. Small Clone just sounds like a chorus. A quarter of the kids in working families in my region are in poverty. Its a fighting song. Because I didnt have things to point at and write about during lockdown I started looking inwards, thinking: theres enough stuff from my own life. "It just built and built and built and became this huge orchestral track. The title track from Seventeen Going Under and the anthemic, angry Paradigms are in C#, an unusual key for a guitar band. I didnt look after myself; I wasnt one of these people starting up a fitness regime on TikTok. A Polydor Records Release; 2021 Sam Fender, under exclusive licence to Universal Music Operations Limited. The 'Poundshop Kardashians' star revealed on the red carpet that the bakery chain provided him with a stack load of the savoury snacks to wash down after his boozy celebrations. Earlier this year, he won the Critics Choice Award at the Brits, and in September his debut album went straight in at number one. Im finally at a place where I can understand it, and the things that I hated about myself are what I should be celebrating the fact that Im an empathetic little softie is probably the best thing about me. With his pin-up good looks, you might think his label would lean on him to tone down the angst and social realism, and make something similarly poppy/pappy/sexy. The right are sitting back and laughing, sweeping up every election. Because you have such fear of losing them. Four years ago I was on benefits I need to keep my head. Think of all the ballads that were huge hits in the 80s Suzanne Vegas Luka, or Tracy Chapmans Fast Car. It's beautiful and I think there's more to be looked down that avenue. Taking a slow-burn route of building a following for six years before releasing a full-length likely contributed to that album instantly having wings, debuting at No. So, it appears time has done the songwriter well. This is a woman whos worked for 40 years of her life as a nurse. I cant go anywhere round here, he says. You sound really beaten down on some of these new songs. You cant do that. Its completely autobiographical. I was bullied in school because I had long hair and I was sensitive. It's a banger that cuts right to the struggle of Last to Make It Home My brother was a musician; drums was his first instrument. Theres plenty of loudmouthed Geordie drug dealers, the most unsubtle drug dealers on the planet, and Id get plenty of bits from that. On Mary, Fender sings: You were online and the sociopathic part of me hit the Like/In the hopes Id coax you out of my derelict fantasy.. Some of the songs were written when I was 19. I knocked one of my best mates out. Its an invisible muscle you dont see thats getting trained, he reckons. 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This is about depression and rising out of it. And Bramwell, he was technically a nobody, because nobody had heard of him, but now hes produced my album, and its sold well, so He laughs. The worst thing about it was I could see the way I was acting, and I knew why, but I couldnt stop it. Fibromyalgia is a condition where one's pain is widespread. It was practically on fire for the whole of 1991. It's like a subconscious thing. In spring 2020, Sam Fender had nowhere to go. Fender's manager, Owain Davies, first heard him play guitar there in 2013 in the corner of the pub. I used to do that all the time in my early twenties. A lot of these kids these days, they dont write their own songs. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. BA1 1UA. I had to shield, so for the first three months I was on my own. Well have these conversations about toxic masculinity and my dad goes: I didnt teach you anything like that, did I? When his father saw he was both obsessed and talented, he got his some guitar lessons, and Fender took off: I was flying by the time I was 13, learning all the hard-rock stufflike Led Zeppelin and Guns N Roses. Im sat there crying cos Ive hurt my finger, and Im crying even more because Im watching my dad kicking the house down. He requested his followers to buy and listen to his newest album Seventeen Going Under. It upsets me that were in a place where the media have so much control over these blokes who have grafted all their life in a system that would benefit them if someone like Corbyn was in. "I think it's such a refreshing rehash of sounds we already knowit's such a refreshing rehash of '80s music. Seventeen Going Under Ive been a loser hundreds of times. What's the least exercise we can get away with? I think it's quite a unanimous feeling in a lot of places at the moment. TIDBIT: Seventeen Going Under was recorded at Wor House (Sam Fender's studio) in North Shields, England, and Grouse Lodge in Ireland. When you cant go out, you eventually look in, and Fenders songwriting began to dig through memories of his childhood, analyzing his internal wiring and reflecting on behaviors and insecurities that troubled him. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). A lot of these stories were originally about you but they belong to everyone, as everyone has their own, and they will be screamed back at youfrom clubs and dive bars, even arenas. I didnt feel safe in a loving relationship. I've always had loads of free guitars because I've always been sponsored by them. When conversation turns to a special guitar he just bought, Fender lights up. She becomes just some girl on Instagram. And Ive not taken anything in yet., Hypersonic Missiles is out now. Bosses claimed the move was in a bid 'to be as inclusive and as relevant as possible' and allowed people to enter who do not identify as a man or woman. I was full of self-loathing with massive impostor syndrome, and then started hating myself even more because I was like: Why am I so miserable when Ive got this amazing stuff happening?. You get that sort of 'Champagne Supernova' endin'," Fender says. One early song, Poundshop Kardashians, took to task those who seek shallow fame via reality TV shows such as Geordie Shore, while a later one, Dead Boys, focused on high suicide rates among young males in the North of England. OUT NOW!! Does Sam Fender have cancer? The song was written by Fender, who also produced the song along with Rich Costey and Bramwell Bronte. People are proud of me, so thats nice. But its hard to raise a kid, especially when theres divorce and money issues. YouTube Shorts also sponsored the 2022 Artist of the Year award, which went to Adele. They completely sucked, but youve got to start somewhere. HOW CAN I GET THAT MEATY FLAVOUR IN MY VEGETARIAN CHILLI? Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. These are from the title track of Seventeen Going Under: After hooking up with Davies, Fender doubled down on gigging and writing, gaining fans and traction, and eventually won the 2018 BRIT Critics' Choice Award before releasing his first album, Hypersonic Missiles, in late 2019. Hehad Greggs sausage rolls on his party bus waiting for him after the BRIT Awards and took to the stage at London's The O2 arena to perform his hugely popular hit Seventeen Going Under. "Me and my dad had a five-year period where we didn't get on very well," Fender shares. Sam Fender looked a little worse for wear when he made his way into his BRIT Awards afterparty at Four Quarters in Peckham on Tuesday night. They ripped apart every safety net for people in that position. This is about political polarity and how the working classes feel, or how I felt, abandoned by a lot of the left wing. My dad put boxing gloves on me to teach me how to punch. It became a part of my musical makeup, subconsciously, not that you hear any of the Steely Dan influence on my first record, but on the new one theres a trumpet solo on Mantra, which I wrote. Adele won the first ever genderless Artist Of The Year gong after the male and female categories were scrapped. When I was 17, my mother was being hounded by the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions]. Copyright 2023 His pout is like that of a Top Man model, and he wears his heart on his sleeve, as much in real life as in song. YouTube Shorts was the Official Digital Music Partner, with the official livestream of the BRITs on YouTube. I think it has a sound. That stays with you, and if you dont sort it out, its like a tumour. It was a big night for Sam, who won the Rock/Alternative act award. 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In it, he tells young Sam not to be so serious. "I was doing therapy at the same time to try and get my head screwed on, and I ended up dissecting my whole childhood in therapy. I think the reason Im getting any recognition is because people are missing that. Then I realised that if Im going to fail, then I may as well fail on my own terms, with songs I really believed in.. Sam Fender is preparing to tour his number one debut album Hypersonic Missiles (Photo: Chalk Press) By Nick Duerden November 7, 2019 8:27 pm (Updated July at Hole 44 in Berlin, Germany, on November 4, 2021. I think Im a vulnerable narcissist at worst. Tonight, these streets are heaving with young hearts on the chase, he sings on Youre Not the Only One. I had to figure out ways of taking the keys down for live, so I tuned [from his preferred Eb standard] to C#. I didnt want that for myself, and listening to Springsteen helped me find my own voice., He started to write songs in thrall to his musical hero, but reimagined them to fit his frame of reference. Oh dear:Sam Fender looked a little worse for wear when he made his way into his Brit Award afterparty at Four Quarters in Peckham on Tuesday night with singer Raye. Thats the exact sort of songwriting I love. It was the arrogance and incompetence of politicians thinking that they could sail through [Brexit]. Ive bought my first ever daft guitar, he says with a cheeky grin. However, the North Shields star said he was "super excited" for Australia in late November and "everything to come in 2023", including June's homecoming gigs at Newcastle United's St James' Park, for which tickets sold out within minutes. His thumb bounces between the 5th and 6th strings, while his other fingers create a harp-like effect on the melody. Bar her earrings, Raye has emulated the entire look! Im going through a phase of abstinence right now, he confides. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Apple Inc. You start to understand yourself, and that can lead you to disliking yourself even more. A lot of working-class people in England feel displaced by it all, and in my hometown as well. Published: 10:44 GMT, 9 February 2022 | Updated: 15:10 GMT, 9 February 2022. "It's a strange move, but once you start getting the muscle strength, it's a constant thing and it's quite hypnotic," he says. Im always belting.. More info Sam Fender has opened up on his mental health struggles after admitting the Covid-19 pandemic left him "pretty miserable". The chart-topper has been busy of late filming in both Druridge Bay and North Shields for his recent single Seventeen Going Under. Sam Fender seems to have no girlfriend as of 2021 on Instagram. My mum was a nurse who birthed practically half the babies in North Shields. I felt like now Im famous and in a rock band Ive got to play the part but I just realised that I was paying attention to arseholes. He is most known for his work with Polydor Records, which included the hits Leave Fast and Dead Boys.. Wed love to stay in touch, sign up for The Pick team to contact you with great news, content and offers. My dad taught me that trick.. We I had moments where I was so low that I thought about it. This record is about growing up, and the issues you carry through to adulthood. It was when he started bleeding from his mouth. The title song documents a dark time when Fender's mother was battling health issues and couldn't make ends meet. The Leveller You dont realise these things affect you until youre older and you dont know why youre walking around with a pit in your stomach or why you push partners away. so me and the boys are thinking about doing a stint out there for six months, and try and write a third record. But in order to get the Tories out, youve got to start representing the working class people of this country. Therapy gave me the tools to articulate what was going on in my life as a kid and to understand how that has affected me and why I am the way I am in certain situations. Throughout much of Hypersonic Missiles, you get the sense of a young man with a tight v stamped permanently on his brow. 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"I've neglected myself for over a year now and haven't dealt with things that have deeply affected me. And so, this reckoning unfolds throughout 11 tracks. He told the Daily Star: 'If you don't win, you have a party anyway and then if you do win, you have an even bigger party.'. Nobody sticks their neck out for the north-east. I dont care about where people are from Ive met people from much posher backgrounds who are fantastic, but its just that when I walk into a situation where everybody is from a better standing than me, I get insecure, my imposter syndrome kicks in and I would find it easier to attach myself to the wrongun in the room. Its in the perspective of somebody whos actually thinking that they might take their own life.