Victorious Festival will mark live debut of Sam's new Gravyboat project

But he is about to make his live debut with his first ‘proper’ solo project, Gravyboat at Victorious Festival later this month.

He has also released a handful of tracks through Bandcamp with all money made from his music being split between the charities Tonic Music for Mental Health and Music Fusion.

The Gosport-based musician says: ‘I've done plenty of solo gigs over the years and I recorded some stuff and put it on Soundcloud about 10-15 years ago, but those songs likely ended up in bands like Foxer and whatnot. This is the first full-on thing that's my project.

‘Everything else has always been collaborative with other people, so this is pretty new to me.’

Like many musical projects of late, lockdown was the catalyst when Sam says he found he had ‘a lot of time on my hands.’ ‘I found myself writing quite quickly, which I've not normally done before. All of a sudden I just found the songs coming together.’

There is now an 11-track Gravyboat album in the works, which Sam hopes to have ready for an autumn release.

‘The album's a combination of brand new stuff written specifically in the past year/18 months and songs that have either been in my head for years, or some of which have been played in Foxer – it's an amalgamation of all that.’

The decision to help Tonic and Music Fusion was an easy one for Sam, having battled depression for many years.

‘I guess music's always been a bit of an escape from, or a weapon against it, really.

‘The early lockdowns did really force my hand in terms of trying to find something to do. I've always done music, but you can go a couple of days without picking up a guitar – chill out, watch TV, whatever.

‘With the lockdown, I literally was doing something for a couple of hours every day with a guitar or a bass, and it created a bit of momentum.

‘The mental health side has always been there since as long as I can remember. Music has always played a massive part in navigating that.

‘I'm fairly open about it, but it's not like I greet people with: "Hi, I'm Sam, you should know I've had depression.”

‘I try and remind myself and other people if I can that talking helps – it's so important to know that people aren't alone.’

One of his first releases under the Gravyboat name, It’s All In Your Head, tackles the subject head-on.

Adapted from an old Foxer song he had written called Chivalry, he totally rewrote the lyrics.

‘I really liked the music – that staccato riff, but I thought, these lyrics need to go, and the new ones came out really quickly.

‘I just emptied my head onto a bit of paper, and that was the case with quite a few of the songs.

‘I want to put it out there that it's okay to talk about stuff like this, but at the same time still not be too heavy to listen to – still have it be enjoyable to listen to and have a bit of a groove to it.’

He called upon his old Foxer bandmate, vocalist/guitarist Chris Peace to contribute lead guitar to the track.

‘For anything a bit out of my league I got people in for lead guitar, backing vocals, things like that.

‘He's got a real knack for interesting guitar parts.

‘What I wanted with the people involved was not to go: “Right, you do this, you do that”. It was: “Right, you're a better guitarist, you're a better drummer... crack on, do your stuff”.

‘It is my project, I'm technically in charge, but when you've got talent like that involved, it's their domain.’

Sam left Foxer in 2019 after several years with the band, and It’s All in Your Head marked the first time the two had worked together since.

‘Foxer kind of ran its course for me’, says Sam.

‘We had a difficult period – it came, it went. Peace's played on the album and the album's better for it. Now he's still doing Foxer and is a key part in Tom Wells’ Fast Trains project.

‘It's nice to not think of Foxer as an ex-girlfriend that you're jealous of – because there was a period of that!’

But Gravyboat is not the only project Sam is currently part of. He joined acclaimed doom-metal band Dead Witches on bass in early 2020, playing a short tour with them before lockdown hit.

‘The new line-up didn't really have time to get to know each other, and we could only really communicate on Whatsapp and things like that.

‘I'd like to say there's a future in this line-up. We put a song out recently that is going down really well with the heavier reviewers.’

And then there’s also Sabres, a two-piece with Sam on bass and fellow former Foxer member, drummer Dominic Taylor.

‘It started out as an idea: this will be a laugh, put something together, make a bit of noise.

‘It's very much a 50/50 thing. Dom's a great drummer and a great soundboard for ideas.

‘We've just been in (rehearsal studio) Casemates making noise, and realised it's lots of fun. We're playing our first show in September 23 at The Loft for (new club night) Neu Waves.

‘It's bringing the best out of both of us. Dom’s really pushing himself to fill the space, and it's sounding pretty big for just the two of us, which is really cool.

‘I'm hopeful that just stays fun, basically.’

Gravyboat will be performing at Victorious Festival on Sunday, August 29 at 5pm on the Radweb stage. Sam will be joined by Dom on drums and Will Munro on guitar.

And as Sam notes: ‘For Gravyboat’s live debut there are far worse places to start.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​..’

For tickets go to victoriousfestival.co.uk.

A message from the editor, Mark Waldron.

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