Samiam 'freaks out' at the State

PREVIEW
	Samiam Tonight at 8 p.m. State Theater

Opening for a big-time radio rock band might be a strange thing for a punk-rooted outfit like Samiam, but considering the past two years in the life of the band, it actually seems pretty normal.

First, the 10-year-old band no longer had a record deal. Then, the departure of its drummer led to the addition of M.P., which vocalist Jason Beebout said in a recent interview "took a while for us ... M.P.'s a really, really good drummer, but he didn't come from a punk background ... the whole feel of our band was new to him and it took him a while to get it, but now everything seems to be clicking."

The band recorded a new album in late 1996, but had no outlet to release it in the United States. The album, "You Are Freaking Me Out," was Samiam's fifth, and just recently saw the light of day approximately three weeks ago.

Fans wondered what had happened to the band. "We were wondering as much as everyone else was," Beebout said. "We had no idea what was going to happen, how we were going to get (the record) out, if we were going to find a record label."

"We thought about breaking up ... but Sergie kept talking to people and trying to make shit happen."

Soon he did, and Samiam was signed to Ignition Records. Shortly thereafter, longtime bassist Aaron Rubin left the band. Just when the band thought things could not get much worse, things seem to be looking up. "You Are Freaking Me Out" was released, and showcases a gigantic leap in the evolution of Samiam from its Gilman Street raw punk beginnings to its current status as a full-fledged rock band.

Stylistically and musically, "You Are Freaking Me Out" is the most diverse Samiam record to date. "Basically, Sergie changes his taste in music really often," Beebout said. "And it has a lot to do with his writing ... Our ability to work together and write has gotten a little better, and I think in the past we probably had ideas about what we wanted to sound like, but we really didn't know how to accomplish that."

Another noticeable change in the Samiam sound is Beebout's voice, which is stronger and more dynamic than ever. "I feel more comfortable with my voice," he said. "In the past, when I was in the studio, I'd get really scared listening to my voice on the headphones. It was really discomforting, you know. It was really hard to have any intensity in what I was doing ..."

The album begins with "Full On," the latest in a series of Samiam's trademark off-and-running album openers. When asked why the first song on a Samiam record is always so intense, Beebout said, "Whenever I hear a record, I don't like to have to skip around to find the good song. I feel if you put a really good song first - the first impression of a record is really important in whether I'm really gonna like it or not."

The rest of the album goes from fast to slow, pop to hardcore, and back again, which is quite uncharacteristic of Samiam's often supercharged past work. Listeners may wonder why the album is so musically diverse. "Curiosity, I guess," Beebout said. "I just wanted to see what we could do. Maybe we just felt a little brave ... a lot of those songs we don't play live for that very reason. A lot of 'em aren't exactly 'Samiam' songs."

What the audience will hear live, though, is a lot of the old stuff, with some of the newer, more uptempo numbers thrown in for fun. You might think Samiam might be a little uncomfortable, what with new personnel and a new record label, but Beebout said the group is more together than ever, and ready to take on Creed's larger venues and crowds. "I think even more so than we were years ago," Beebout said. "Because we've been through so much shit getting this record out. Now that we're actually playing it's really exciting ... We definitely are a tighter group now."

04-14-98