Portsmouth singer Samuel Pack's been building a Diamond Heart with DJ Forbid

He’s recorded and released his debut EP, Reflection, topped the Express FM local artists’ chart three times, appeared online in the high-profile Pride at Home event, and been working on lots more new music.

And tomorrow he releases a new single, Diamond Heart, which he wrote and produced with Manchester DJ, Forbid.

When The News caught up with Samuel on the phone, the singer-songwriter was in London, taking a break from shooting a video for Diamond Heart.

As someone who’s been a performer, largely of covers, since his mid-teens, Samuel had also been quietly working away on his own material.

‘My friends have spent years saying: “Put it out, put it out”. I’ve always intended to, and I’ve signed record deals in the past, but it’s never been quite the right direction for me.

‘And then lockdown hit, and I sat in my room and produced this EP of four tracks. Even though I’ve got this huge back catalogue, I thought, right, let’s start afresh. So I did this, put it out, and it’s started getting a lot of traction – getting played on the radio, and I’ve been working with more producers and DJs and building more contacts.

‘Things seem to be bubbling up at the moment.

‘Everyone’s been saying 2020’s the worst year, but I’ve been kind of thinking, it’s been the best for me,’ he laughs, ‘I feel a bit selfish!’

Samuel describes himself as having a ‘love affair with words,’ and has been writing his own songs since he was 13, and the EP was put together in his own home. But Diamond Heart marks the first time he’s worked with someone else on a track.

Samuel and Forbid followed each other on Instagram, and as Samuel says: ‘I saw this remix he did of a queer culture song that I really liked – I really liked this guy’s style.

‘We started messaging each other and I sent him this idea, but he came back and said: “I can’t work with that. But I have found something you might be able to do something with...” He sent me the track to Diamond Heart and I fell in love with it straight away.

‘We started writing together and it’s the first fully collaborative song I’ve done. We basically wrote the track over WhatsApp in four days. We sat up until about 4am each day working on it – we just couldn’t put it down. It was one of those things we needed to make perfect.

‘It’s definitely 100 per cent a 2020 way of working,’ he laughs. ‘He’d send me a melody line with a keyboard prompt, then I’d come back with my variation on that, he’d come back with lyrics and we’d toss ideas back and forward.’

The two didn’t actually meet until a recent photo shoot up in Manchester.

‘That was quite weird,’ admits Samuel, ‘but it was really fun.’

Another boost came over the August bank holiday weekend when he took part in the online Pride at Home festival, which Samuel says was ‘a bit of a dream.’

‘I’ve been to a few pride events, obviously, and I did perform at one in Portsmouth when I was quite young, but it was nothing big, just a quick feature.

‘For the Pride at Home thing, I was on the bill with quite a few LGBT artists who’ve got quite a big following. It was a really fun thing to do.

‘I turned my home into a set, we went to town with it, with party lights and balloons and flags.’

And the support Samuel has had from his hometown over the past few months has made him reevaluate his relationship with Portsmouth, too

‘I put out all these covers and gained a lot of traction from that when I was younger, and people in Portsmouth knew my name, but my voice wasn’t,’ he pauses looking for the right term, ‘as controlled back then – it’s been a process,’ he laughs, ‘and people said things which really stuck with me.

‘I took a step back and didn’t feel as if I was supported. I viewed Portsmouth as somewhere I needed to run away from, and that’s why I went to Greece.’

In 2018 Samuel went to Greece for nine months and performed in a Jersey Boys tribute.

‘Then when I started putting out Reflection, it’s completely changed my view of my home city.

‘I can’t believe the amount of support I’ve gained from the music scene and just everyday people.

‘I’ve been getting messages from people I’ve not seen in years saying they’ve heard my song on the radio, or when they’re in a shop in Commercial Road, all kinds of things.

‘It made me realise, hang on, people are really behind me, and I’ve had the wrong view for so long. Now I’m so grateful for that support.

‘It’s been quite overwhelming.’

The Gaiety Bar gig came about after Samuel performed recently at one of The Queens Hotel’s daytime concerts.

‘One of the organisers there, Nick Courtney suggested doing a gig at The Gaiety Bar.

‘I’ve teamed up with Brandon Lake, who is a DJ in Prysm, for it, and we’re working on a few bits material-wise as well.’

The Gaiety Bar, Southsea

Sunday, October 11, 4pm

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