25 year old Sam Saunders first picked up a guitar at the tender age of ten. He hasn't looked back since, releasing numerous demo tapes in his teens as well as an instrumental CD entitled My Pulse For Future in 2000. His debut proper as a singer/songwriter features Saunders on lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, keyboards, theremin, ukulele, harmonica and percussion. The self-titled CD was recorded in Saunders' modest home studio located in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. Saunders favors a live approach to his numerous overdubs, rarely "punching in" and using no digital editing whatsoever. A life long classic rock devotee, Saunders cites John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie as some of his main influences. Fans who've purchased his self-titled CD online have praised the layered, Beatles/Beach Boys style backing vocals, as well as the melodic, Harrisonesque slide guitar that populates many of the album's ten tracks. Highlights include "On My Blind Side", "Would You Let Your Daughter?", "We're Born Everyday" and the Clapton inspired, wah-wah drenched soloing on "I Just Might Let You Go". The ten song CD first saw the light of day in August of '05 but has received far greater distribution in the year since, inspiring Badge Records to launch an official re-release for January '07. It's now available through such fine digital retailers as iTunes , MusicNet, MusicIsHere, Napster and Rhapsody. Saunders can currently be seen wowing Chicago area audiences with The Sam Saunders Machine, a classic rock inspired power trio featuring Dara Sahebjami on bass and Richard Harper (formerly of Plastics Hi-Fi) on drums.
"Imagine a Lennon-Harrison partnership defining The Beatles’ sound and you get a pretty accurate handle on eight of the 10 cuts from Sam Saunders‘ eponymous CD. He’s very adept at “live†overdubbing (he plays all the instruments, save occasional drums and handclaps) in his home studio, and his lush multi-tracked background vocals complete the package. While the final two cuts stray from the formula, they’re proof he can play guitar, if not sing convincing blues."
-David C. Eldredge of Illinois Entertainer
"Sam Saunders, I believe, is definitely an artist worth listening to. In this forever-advancing world of new artists without the over-production. Sam Saunders is truly "cutting edge" in the name of classic rock n' roll. Not only does he play all the instruments, sing every one of his vocal parts, record in his very own home-studio with a minimal approach, but he indeed manages to do everything with such brilliance you'd be silly not to acknowledge or dare to underestimate this young songwriters many capabilities."
-Wilma Gillian of cdbaby.com
"a tube when the praying eye connects with the subject/object of its prayer- a harp springs into being when enough tubes are established to form a set of strings- those creatures living through their lives on the sidelines discuss whether the prayers know their skins are being used to produce beautiful music."
-poem by Thax Douglas inspired by the "Sam Saunders" LP
complete discography
Mellow Fit (three song EP) 1994
Keep Me Saying Hello (four song EP) 1995
No Such Thing As Have To (five song EP) 1996
Suburban Disease/Always Pace (two song single) 1997
Icon Index (12 song LP of four track cassette recordings) 1998
Personality Health No. 1 (6 song EP of four track cassette recordings) 1998
My Pulse For Future (14 song LP) 2000
Onto-Communication Rescue (10 song LP) unreleased
Sam Saunders (10 song LP) original release 2005/official re-release 2007
to be continued....
Click here for an exclusive solo acoustic performance and interview!
THE SAM SAUNDERS MACHINE LIVE JULY 4TH 2007
