of Big Brother & the Holding Company
Big Brother & The Holding Company. Sam is 2nd from right.
Sam is best known for his work in Big Brother, the band that launched Janis Joplin to fame. Along with co-lead guitarist James Gurley, he helped define the San Francisco sound and make Big Brother's music some of the most dynamic of the era. Here is a great interview from the Summer of 2003...
For those new on the trail, give a brief timeline of the projects you've been involved in.
Sam Andrew, Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin), the Kozmic Blues Band: I was an Air Force child. My father played the guitar around the house when I was young. My mother's people were natural musicians and some of them were professional musicians in the San Antonio, Texas, area. At 16, I had my first band in Okinawa, Japan, and it was called The Cool Notes. We wrote most of our material which was unusual for the time. The instrumentation in the Cool Notes was sax, clarinet, two guitars, drums. Peter Albin and I put together Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1965. I went on to play with Janis Joplin in The Kozmic Blues Band.
What kinds of things do you carry with you from the psychedelic era?
A sense that life is always beginning, that there are new possibilities everywhere. All it takes is hard work. The inspiration is always there.
Have you had any "magical" instruments?
All of my instruments have been magical. A Gibson SG Guitar, pinstriped by the artist Mouse. A 1952 Telecaster. A Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone. A Chinese split reed "flute" (actually a kind of oboe) that I once had. All magic.
Where have you found inspiration over the years?
Inspiration is always present. For me, inspiration is the easy part. It's there like running water. All I have to do is pay attention to it.
Do you read a lot and what are some writings / books you've found inspirational?
I am an omnivorous reader and always have been. Writers who mean a lot to me are Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Samuel Pepys, Fanny Burney, George Bernard Shaw, Eudora Welty, Marcus Aurelius, Jane Austen, Aleister Crowley, P.G. Wodehouse, Voltaire, Andre Gide, Raymond Queneau, Cicero, and so many more. I read the New Yorker with great enjoyment. The people at that magazine have the same prejudices as I do, so, naturally, I think they are quite clever.
What is your concept of a good musical education?
Is the goal to be a professional musician? In that case, it is very important to study the business side of a music career. Contracts, negotiating, royalty payments, advances from record companies, these things bore me just to write them, but if you don't deal with these things, someone is going to deal with them for you, and charge you a lot of money for it. The most important part of a musical education is to train your ear. Ear training and listening to all kinds of music from all times are most important. Then there is harmony and counterpoint which can be beautiful studies if you do them correctly. Play with as many different kinds of people as you can. Play as many different styles of music as you can.
Perspective on having one short chapter in your life become a big part of a defining moment, musically and culturally, of an entire generation and many who followed?
A curse and a blessing. There is a famous quote from Robert Browning, something to the effect that, "To be alive then was a gift, but to be young was very heaven."
To what do you credit your survival?
Sheer luck and the fact that I always had something else going, some study or pursuit that gave me a little perspective. I would say it's because I had good genes, but Janis Joplin told me she wasn't going to die because she had good genes, so that reasoning may be a little faulty.
Any recent projects you'd like to talk about?
I am the music director for the play Love, Janis, and that causes me to meet a lot of very talented people all over the country, and, indeed, the world. Also, I'm an artist. I paint and sculpt and that is better than yoga to me.
What modern music moves you, and what's been in your CD player recently?
I listen to a very wide spectrum of music and I won't bore you by listing it all, but here is a slight taste. I love the great flamenco singers and players, Manitas de Plata and all of his tribe. Charlie Christian, Billie Holliday, Django Reinhardt, Lil Hardin and Louis Armstrong, Glenn Gould, Edith Piaf, Hank Williams, Spike Jones, the Goon Show, Louis Prima, people who play with passion, Anthony de Bonaventura playing Chopin, the Funk Brothers, the great Motown band. "Modern people?" I like Mariah Carey. I mean, she can really sing, whatever else you want to say about her. She is gifted way beyond the usual. Fiona Apple is very talented. Jewel. Beth Hart is scary, she's so good. Amanda Marshall has a lot of passion.
Any core nuggets of life philosophy you'd like to share?
Have a dream, have a place where you want to go in life. Then work very hard every day to inch closer to that goal. If you are determined you can do it. Work on your art, and make a lot of phone calls, a lot of connections.
What do you do for fun these days other than music?
Paint, draw, sculpt, write, do a pirate radio show, read in different languages.
What do you consider to be the defining Moment Of Sam on record?
I'm not sure there is one. Summertime from the Cheap Thrills album. All the songs I've written. Some of the saxophone playing I've done on tapes here at home.
Do you still feel inspired when you play? How would you describe it?
I feel inspired when I wander beyond the "books and the rules" and hear something beautiful. I like it when I don't quite understand what I'm doing but when it sounds good anyway.
Your perspectives on the business side of music making.
You have to deal with it. That's life. Work at it. Do a bit of business every day, no matter how small. That little bit will lead to more.
Was there a defining moment where you committed to music as your life's path?
Yes, and it was quite scary. No one would tell me whether I should devote a life to making music or not. I see why now. It's impossible to tell a young person what to do about this. You can't know if you made a wise choice in life until your life is over, and you probably won't even know then. The important thing is to commit and then to follow through. If you are a worthwhile person, and you keep your aims pure, you will do something worthwhile.
Talk a bit about the lower profile years of the '80s and '90s; some insight into what you were doing, projects in music, etc.
I married, and became a stockbroker and a financial planner much to my amazement. It was a good period, though, I learned a lot, and I wish I would have had this phase when I was 18. I learned how to take rejection, and how to deal with asking for money.
Topics of research and/or fascination for you.
I am interested in everything. I love to study languages and how they evolve. I study anatomy and think about how the body works. I have read a lot of history and philosophy and am reading Marcus Aurelius now. I read James Boswell and Samuel Pepys as a sort of life project. These are men who are courageous enough to dissect their strengths and weaknesses and face them fearlessly.
Lessons gleaned from stardom and advice for those headed up the ladder?
You already know this, but just stay yourself and have a rich inner life that is impervious to passing fads and trends. You're a good person. Don't get too crazy with momentary enthusiasms. Life goes on.
Talk a bit about if music is a spiritual thing to you, changes through the chapters of your life, thoughts on the Muse, the spirit in the music, creativity, etc.
Music goes into a little hole in your head. Music has been called the most immediate art. It goes straight to the brain. I always thought this was an important aspect of music. It is the most abstract art at its best and is nonverbal in its essence. Music expresses the proportions of the universe without even mentioning the fact. Music is higher mathematics made audible.
What does music mean to you?
Everything and nothing.
When do you feel the psychedelic era started and what caused it?
The psychedelic era started on 16 May 1962. Well, why not? It was started when someone looked at the Beatniks and said, "I'm not going to wear black anymore. I'm not going to be depressed and drink myself to death. I'm not going to look at my navel, I'm going to look at this beautiful world. And the world is going to be in color too, gorgeous color."
When do you feel the psychedelic era ended and what caused it?
I'm not sure it has ended, but if it did end, it ended quite early. 1967, I would say.
Were you ever on the bill with Blue Cheer and what was that like?
They were the kids coming up. I knew them and know them quite well. To me, they were the first metal group. They had a sense of humor.
Talk about your gear through the years. Guitars, amps, and fuzzboxes, etc. "Then" (c.1968-9), "Now" (current) and in-between, the various setups you've tried and your impressions of them.
I'm not a gear person, although I've had a lot of it. Early on we used Standel amplifiers and the first Fuzz Face. Gibson guitars. Coral Electric Sitars, Fender Twins, Telecasters. Now I use a Paul Reed Smith and a Tube Screamer. That's it. I take whatever tube amp they give me at the venue. As I say, I'm not a gear person.
Five essential albums. Any genre, any artist... works that you consider essential.
You know it is impossible to choose, especially when you love everything, but:
1. Glenn Gould J.S. Bach
2. Django Reinhardt
3. Ray Charles on Atlantic
4. Anthony de Bonaventura playing Frederic Chopin
5. Joel Hoekstra's latest CD.
Comedy, tragedy, fluff, muff and wonderful stuff.
Guitar players take note. This is a star being born.
Of your peers, whose work / playing did you enjoy?
Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield, Steve Miller, Jerry Miller, Terry Haggerty, Neil Schon.
Greatest multi-band bill you were ever on?
Tim Buckley, Albert King, Big Brother. That's just one picked almost at random. We played on so many great bills. I pick that one because it was the opening of Fillmore East in New York.
Life-changing musical moments?
Monterey Pop Festival.
Anything else you'd like to say?
It's a beautiful life and endlessly inspiring. Be kind and calm, even in the rough spots. (Gee, that sounds great. I wish I could follow that advice.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION on Sam Andrew, Big Brother & Janis Joplin,
visit the official Big Brother & The Holding Company website at
www.BBHC.com
Sam can be contacted directly at SamBBHC@aol.com