Clicking Around With Music: Samantha Crain

Name: Samantha Crain and The Midnight Shivers
Members: Samantha Crain: vocals and guitar; Jacob Edwards: drums; Andrew Tanz: bass and vocals; Stephen Sebastian: electric guitar

Hometown: Shawnee, OK
Label: Ramseur
Label type: Indie
Myspace visits: 130451
Myspace friends: 7051
The past year has been a busy one for Samantha Crain. Releasing "The Confiscation EP" in July, she’s managed to adhere to a rigorous touring schedule and already has her next full-length album, "Songs in the Night," in the bag. All the hard work seems to be paying off—besides being featured in Paste Magazine’s “Best of What’s Next,” Crain landed a spot on the Hotel Café Tour, playing with Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, and Rachael Yamagata. If you’re not yet acquainted with Samantha’s music, you’re missing out. Crain’s unique vocal presence casts a spell on the listener, and makes for some of the best folk/folk-rock/any-genre-of-music-period you will ever hear. Check out the video and ArtStar's exclusive interview.




Samantha Crain recently took some time out to chat with ArtStar on Gchat. What follows is the full transcript (more or less) of the interview:

Samantha Crain: hey michael
Michael Cavell: thanks for taking the time for this interview
SC: no problem

MC: cool, so you're in the middle of the hotel cafe tour right now?
SC: yep, we're in DC right now at the 9:30 club doing sound checks
i've got 4 more shows on the tour after tonight


MC: how's that experience been so far?
what's it like touring w/ the likes of Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, etc...
i imagine you've probably had some pretty memorable moments already?
SC: yeah we've had arm wrestling contests and we do tour bus gymnastics between the bunks
MC: ha, very nice!

MC: so normally (non-hotel cafe tour), you're traveling w/ the midnight shivers
how do you keep (what i'm going to call) the testosterone coalition in check?
SC: yep...they don't need to be kept in check, they are great, helpful, professional guys

MC: so it's not like you finish a show, and they're dragging you around to do "manly things"?
pizza eating contests, weight lifting contests...
SC: haha...no...but i'm not really a girly girl though so i'd probably be into all that anyways
MC: haha, okay

MC: so, speaking of being a small town girl--you're based in oklahoma, and Ramseur Records is here in North Carolina
how did you end up getting together w/ them?
SC: well, i contacted dolph ramseur, the head of ramseur records and the manager for the avett brothers, about opening a show for the avetts about a year ago...we never got to open the show but dolph liked my EP so much he wanted to re-release it on his label and start managing us


MC: so being on a small label like Rasmeur, does it have kind of family vibe to it?
are you tight w/ the paleface, bombadil...
SC: oh yeah definitely...we tour with the everybodyfields and bombadil and paleface a lot...we're all friends


MC: so w/ the Avett Brothers going to Columbia, is there any kind of pressure
"hey! we lost the Avetts! you guys need to step it up!"
SC: haha well i think the idea dolph has is for all the bands to start at the bottom and slowly work their way up to major label stuff, just like the avetts...so yeah all the bands are going in that direction at a pace that suits them

MC: speaking of moving up
you've been recording you're next album at Echo Mountain
SC: yeah we recorded it all in 5 days last month there
MC: oh, so it's done already?
SC: yeah...just in the final stages of getting it ready for release...yep april 28th
needs to be mastered and packaged and all that jazz


MC: what were those sessions like?
was there any rushing to get finished?
12 - 14 hour sessions?
SC: well we had a small window of time to record because we've been touring so much so we had 5 days to record and 5 days to mix...the days were usually 8 or 9 hours days...but we cut every song live in just a few takes so it wasn't real stressful or anything because we were prepared and just did everything like we would live
MC: wow, that's impressive
SC: well besides it being recorded mostly live, it’s more rock based than folk based...and now i'm working fully with my band on the song arrangements so everything is starting to sound more cohesive and "band-like"

MC: so a couple light questions to finish up with...
I'm a huge fan of "Flight of the Conchords", and the stalker character Mel cracks me up
SC: sure! haha no, all our fans are really cool and don't really pry, we hang out with people we meet at shows all the time...we've never had anyone like that


MC: what's your favorite on the road/touring/show story?
SC: hmmm...probably when i first started touring and i was opening for the band, berry....we were touring in the dead of winter in the northeast with not enough clothes or proper diet or anything and we were all just passing around germs in this van and i remember being in boston and all of us had the stomach flu within 24 hours of each other...all 6 of us just sick as dogs with fevers, and throwing up...it was horrible, but horribly funny now that we look back on it
MC: oh brutal!

MC: but as long as it's funny now... that's the important thing
the dow shot up 890 points today. why?
SC: because it's tuesday!



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