Samuel Ervin Beam

“I love to sell records, but that's not what I'm into.”

“You have high school photos and stuff, but to have a recording of your voice and your work from 20 years ago, it's a kick in the head to hear how you've changed and what you were interested in at the time and how it's either changed or stayed the same.”

“I have a hard time saying I'm going to make a whole record of just rock-out songs, because that gets boring, you know? And my voice doesn't scream very well.”

“It's nice to play new songs, but it's nerve-wracking.”

“I'm pretty easy going. I can be anyway. I definitely have my moments. You can ask my kids. But I try to be nice.”

“I like writing in an illustrative, descriptive way. I prefer describing to rather than explaining. One, I rarely have anything to say. It's much more interesting for me to discover some meaning that you didn't know that you could create.”

“I don't sit and write records from start to finish. I write all the time, and when it's time to record you just look and see what songs you've got that could work together as a group thematically.”

“I've always liked string sections. I'm a sucker for melody, so it's fun to have strings add more layer of melody in the arrangement.”

“I don't watch that much TV.”

“Oh yeah, I love Peter Gabriel's stuff. I mean, I even have the Genesis records. He's incredible.”

“As a listener, I like shorter records, because you can really absorb the songs.”

“Saxophones are awesome.”

“I like to make things. When you make something, you work it and you work it until it's done, and then you say 'Look, here's what I made.'”

“It's a funny thing having a recording be part of your career. It means you can go back and revisit yourself, in a way most people don't.”

“I was raised in the suburbs. I wasn't on a plantation or anything.”

“I'm not religious. But I grew up religious in the Bible Belt.”

“Whenever you're ready to go and have studio time, that's when we start to record.”

“I was just writing songs in my spare time, and recording because it's fun to do, and Sub Pop called me and said they wanted to put some stuff out. I had to weigh whether I wanted to put the time into it because it's a commitment. But, in the end, it seemed too good to pass up.”

“I make music and hope people enjoy it - but when they do it's always a surprise. A nice surprise, but not one that I expect to always be there.”

“Anytime you go back and listen to old material, there's always the threat of being surprised.”