River City Session: Sydney and The SAMS

Music is essential. And that's why we're excited to share the next episode of River City Sessions. This month, we're sharing an original song titled Papi Chulo, by South Louisiana natives Sydney and The SAMS. Read more about the band, the song, and how it was recorded below.

Follow Sydney and The SAMS here!

Give us some background on yourself and the band. How long have you guys been making music?

We have been a band surprisingly for less than a year! I think we have a natural friendship and chemistry that makes people think that we've been together for years.

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Papi Chulo Such a great song! Can you tell us when you wrote it? What's the inspiration?

Papi Chulo was actually the first song I ever wrote! I (Sydney) recorded three years ago when I first started making music. When we got together as a band, we started incorporating some of my originals into our sets and this song became an instant hit with our fans.

Papi Chulo is about liking a guy and wanting to hang out and smoke. It was actually about a guy I liked at the time and all we did was hang out in the car and talk.

Does writing a melody come naturally to you?

It depends. The beat has to be catchy. I have to find the melody and it kinda has to come to me. If I don't feel it in a few minutes, I usually move on.

Where do your ideas for songs come from?

All my music comes from personal experiences. I feel like songwriting is therapy to me. The fact that it's relatable to listeners is just extra. It feels good to know my lyric is relatable and people have been in the same positions as me and felt like I've felt at some point. That's the point of music; to touch people in some way whether it be a happy emotion or a sad one.

Can you describe the first time you wrote a song?

I found this cool beat on YouTube and just started writing. It's always something I've wanted to do but never really tried to do. One day I was like, whatever, I'll try. I did a rough record on my phone and sent to NJ (my engineer) and told him If this sucks, tell me. If not, I wanna book a session. And it's been history ever since.

Do you prefer performing your own music or covers? What's the difference?

I enjoy both because even when we do covers, we always put our own little spin on it or rearrange it so it's more our own. We also do medleys with our originals to kinda bring the crowd back and make them interact with us. Ultimately it's about having a good time and making sure the crowd has an amazing, memorable time.

How has the Coronavirus affected your music?

We used to gig so much and it really put all our gigging and traveling at a complete halt. At first it was creatively discouraging but we decided to virtual concerts to continue to perform and connect with our fans in a different way. People really loved them and received it really well. Livestreaming is a way for us to reconnect and stay fresh. It also gave us time to finish our EP which will be released this July!

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Now that the coronavirus has thrown a wrench in everything, What do you miss most about performing live?

I miss having fun with the crowds mostly. Dancing and singing with them was the most fun part of it all. As a concertgoer, that was my most memorable time and now as an entertainer, I want every person in the room dancing and having an amazing time! I hope we do that every time.

Do you plan on doing any live streams?

We've done two live-stream virtual concerts. We'll be live streaming our EP release concert and party as well. So y'all join the fun!

WATCH the performance here.

Connect with Sydney and THE SAMS on Facebook Follow Syndey on Instagram!

LINK:	https://blog.presonus.com/index.php/2020/06/12/river-city-session-sydn...
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