Sam Yekta

Being born and raised in the UK by Iranian parents, I never felt quite at home among my peers and this didnt change in the brief holidays or the recent 4 years i spent in the middle east. This is the feeling ive always tried to convey in my music.

I loved Brian Molkos (placebo) comment in an interview where he stated that he never felt at home in any country either.....It felt like I had some connection with one of my favourite artists.

I first taught myself guitar at the age of 11 on an electric guitar!!! something not many kids had back then

my first band went by the name of Elvira and we played a load of house parties and finally some shows in pubs around london which was a thrilling experience at the age of 14 - 16

Being the singer as no one else would do it, i eventually ended up writing all the songs for the band

finally the band split up as my influences changed and we drifted apart with me listening to More melodramatic rock influences and the others getting into break dancing and hip hop!!!

introducing a new goth friend to the band to sing along with a cross dressing 6 foot guitarist did not go down well with the new hip hop fans and so the band died pretty much overnight

I was left with lots of spare time and a tascam four track tape recorder.....which i went on to write over 50 tracks - mainly instrumental - on and then i shopped these around to many record labels...some expressed a little interest but nothing more

it was 2 years later that i heard one of these tracks....modified by having a piano play the second guitar part...on the soundtrack to "28 DAYS LATER"...my horror was confirmed that night in the cinema as the credits showed the track to be untitled but credited to XL recordings!!!! a company i had sent one of my four track tapes to!!!!!

after this, and a course at music school where i learnt to play bass properly - ie sight read!!! I learnt to copyright EVERYTHING i record. I spent 6 months after music school, being a bass playing slave to other bands which paid nicely though inconsistently ..but that didnt matter while i still lived at home

I wrote and recorded another 50+ tracks over the next 5 years and after being encouraged by many friends, i put together a live band, which i named "midnight radio", to play some of these tracks around london....after 8 shows....i recieved a tour offer and one track "second person" was played on radio...sending out demos didnt hail any results and so i packed up and resigned myself to the horrors of a nine to five in Dubai, UAE, leaving behind the UK along with dreams of rockstardom ...(is that even a word?) well, after a year in dubai, i moved to the hell that is Iran and there i strangely hooked up with a friend who ran a studio and produced iranian pop and hip hop acts....this amazing friend taught me the ways of the studio world via midi and sequencing and a side job in producing hip hop acts myself...which i did for a while.....I also, most importantly was given free access 24/7 to his studio...it was here that i spent most of 2006 and early 2007 recording my latest tracks, violated, rain and waiting for the next life. Rain was picked up by playmusic magazine in England and was included on their covermount CD in May.

Another offer of a tour came through...but me being in Dubai and having no band was a bit of an obstacle!

Trent Reznor of NIN is a huge inspirations and so it was a beautiful moment when i opened up the playmusic magazine review of my track to read

"NIN and Tori Amos. Strange bedfriends, but this Industrial Iranian rock manages it quite well. Unique stuff"

I have now been on Dubai 92FM four times - performing live as well as being interviewed by the great Zahra Soar

The band completed a 3 month residency at Wafi Rooftops which saw the crowds display an affinity to the more up-beat songs - all TWO of them! hahaha

The Loft Venue in Sheikh Zayed proved to be good fun and I have an interiew in Choc magazine - Jan 2008 issue - that arose from that show too

so check back for updates