Feature / One Question Interviews
Sam Russo

Words: Loren • November 20, 2014

Sam Russo
Sam Russo

Sam Russo

SPB: How do you primarily find new music?

Russo: I still find new music the way I always have -- on the road and through friends. When I'm on tour I write down dozens of bands people recommend me and I always listening to the radio in the US. I have a few friends who are really switched onto new music and I get them to make me CDs for the car, or I just let them DJ when they come over for drinks. I love the feeling of discovering something new, it makes you feel like a kid again.

If you're interested I have a story about discovering a musician for the first time. I was on tour with Bangers (great band) in Germany and had a night off in Berlin. It was raining and after dinner we had no idea where we were so we wandered around the rainy streets drinking beer and trying to shake the night-off blues. Anyway we decided we wanted to see some music so we asked around folks in the street for a good music bar and got directed through some alley's and a park and around some side streets to a little cafe/bar place and we huddled inside out of the rain and slopped our way up to the bar. It was candlelit, warm, and absolutely packed with very hip looking Berliners.

We ordered beers and set up by the stage to watch whatever was coming. That's when Aimee Argote took the stage. I'd never heard of her or her band Des Ark, but sitting watching her in the heart of Berlin, feeling wild and almost gone on a dead end road and then to be pulled back in by her breathy, broken voice and big deep eyes as she just hurt and sang, for that to come out of nowhere was wonderful. It was intimate and moving and melodic in a way I'd never heard. Totally unique. I was absolutely lost in it. I bought her record and packed my bag around it and even though the tour was another week long the first thing I did when I got home was listen to that record and it was like I was there again. I'll always remember that night and I'll always have the record to take me back there. So I've always got my ears peeled for new stuff when I'm out because you never know when something so inspiring will just appear on a stage and steal your heart.

Loren • November 20, 2014

Sam Russo
Sam Russo

Related features

Mike Huguenor

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 8, 2025

Mike Huguenor Tell us about the primary guitars you used making Surfing the Web with the Alien? Read more

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: The Year So Far (July 2025)

Music • July 6, 2025

We're halfway through the year: when did that happen?! Luckily for you, SPB is on hand to share the music we've enjoyed most in 2025 thus far. Read on to hear about the records that have made our top list for this year as it stands, and also some bonus … Read more

Shane Herrell: A Tribute

Music • July 6, 2025

Shane Herrell: Rest In Power(pop) (1980-2025) The Rocker I try to live my life with as few regrets as possible. Sadly I never got the chance to hear my friend Shane Herrell karaoke Thin Lizzy’s "The Rocker." As a singing bass player we don’t have enough heroes. It might just … Read more

Unseemlier

One Question Interviews • June 27, 2025

Mike Assatly (Unseemlier - guitar/vocals) SPB: Do you have a preferred model of van for touring? Assatly: Chevy G-20 Gladiator! It was my first van, I got it from my uncle with 115,000 on it. He got rid of it for a new van because it was "old" and would … Read more

Dollar Store

One Question Interviews • June 26, 2025

Dave Slaverave (Dollar Store - bass) SPB: This band hits a lot of styles, all kind of overlapping at the same time. How hard was it to find “your sound” when bringing these influences together? Slaverave: Not very hard at all actually. We're all old-ass adults who've soaked in a … Read more

Related news

Red Scare Across Canada

Posted in Tours on May 4, 2025

Have a Sam Russo holiday season

Posted in Records on November 16, 2023

Sam Russo joins Divided Heaven (for a song)

Posted in MP3s on January 15, 2023

Related reviews

Sam Russo

Back To The Party
Red Scare Industries (2020)

Anytime it’s just one person on the stage, the music being created is going to be intimate and personal. Sometimes it’s so personal that it doesn’t bridge the gap from the stage to the floor. Fortunately, Sam Russo isn’t one of those artists. When he sings, you know it’s about his own life experiences, but it sounds like it’s coming … Read more

More from this section

Mike Huguenor

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 8, 2025

Mike Huguenor Tell us about the primary guitars you used making Surfing the Web with the Alien? Read more

Unseemlier

One Question Interviews • June 27, 2025

Mike Assatly (Unseemlier - guitar/vocals) SPB: Do you have a preferred model of van for touring? Assatly: Chevy G-20 Gladiator! It was my first van, I got it from my uncle with 115,000 on it. He got rid of it for a new van because it was "old" and would … Read more

Dollar Store

One Question Interviews • June 26, 2025

Dave Slaverave (Dollar Store - bass) SPB: This band hits a lot of styles, all kind of overlapping at the same time. How hard was it to find “your sound” when bringing these influences together? Slaverave: Not very hard at all actually. We're all old-ass adults who've soaked in a … Read more