By Lily Reavis ’21
Samantha Bowers, a groundbreaking 26-year-old vocal jazz-punk artist performing as “Sammy Rae,” considers every new fan another friend. Leading her band, the Friends, at Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on Friday, she told the sold-out crowd, “This is a room for you and this is a space for you, and I wrote a little song for the celebration.”
Introducing her band members one by one, she continued, “You’re among friends, everyone.”
Sammy Rae & the Friends came together as a band in 2018 with the release of their EP, “The Good Life.” Since then, the genre-bending jazz-rock-funk collective has toured the U.S. and amassed nearly 100,000 monthly Spotify listeners. All the while, Sammy Rae has taken care to relay the band’s supportive closeness to fans, or, as she would, “friends.”
“We’re just like real-life family and best buddies, which I hope is portrayed in our shows, and I think it has been,” Bowers said. “The thrill of our life is that we’re traveling the world and making memories with each other, and getting paid to do it.”
The Friends consists of eight musicians: two horn players, two background singers, a bassist, a drummer, a guitarist and Bowers herself on lead vocals. Seven of the eight live in Brooklyn — some sharing space as roommates — and all interact as a cohesive unit for get-togethers, dinners and rehearsals alike.
Growing up, Bowers always wanted to form a band; she never saw herself as a soloist.
“I love a band with a clear front or no clear front,” she said. “Something I love so much in a group … is when you look at a group and everybody knows everybody’s name. It’s not like, ‘Oh, there’s Paul and those guys.’ It’s like, ‘There’s Paul, John, George and Ringo.’”
She continued, “It’s not like, ‘There’s Sammy and those guys,’ it’s like, ‘There’s Sammy, C-bass [Chiriboga], James [Quinlan], Will [Leet], Myra [Moon], Kaya [Kulu], Max [Zooi] and Kellon [Anderson],” referring to each member of The Friends.
“Trust your gut, but try everything.”
The Friends have built a fanbase around themes of youth, independence and spontaneity. Catchy titles like “Denim Jacket” and “Kick It to Me’’ encourage audiences to practice truthfulness while simultaneously encouraging new friendships, full-body dance moves and self-determination.
Bowers, who writes all of the band’s songs, often draws on her personal experiences as a young musician for inspiration.
Growing up in small-town Connecticut, Bowers was inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Bruce Springsteen, among others, to break from the ordinary and produce music that differed in style.
“I went to an all-girls Catholic high school that was very regimented: lots of rules, a uniform — so there wasn’t much space for self-expression,” she said. “Then I got to college and, for the first time in years, I could wear whatever I wanted, I could listen to the music I wanted, do whatever I wanted with my hair.”
At 19, Bowers moved to New York City to pursue music at Manhattan College in the Bronx, attending countless open mics and joining musical scenes during her academic semesters.
“I am grateful, almost, for my ... limiting high school experience,” Bowers said. “Because I got to college and it was like, ‘I’m going to wear this,’ ‘No, I wear that,’ ‘I’m going to shave my head,’ ‘I’m going to grow it back out.’”
Two and a half years into New York City living, she began searching for a deeper connection to the city’s musical community. “I am grateful that I wasn’t in college for four years,” she said. “I think that gave me a leg-up in becoming a confident adult outside of the world of academia.”
Bowers advocates for self-discovery and care through her music. She hopes that her fans, particularly those who are at decision-making crossroads, are inspired to choose what is best for them individually, in all walks.
“Don’t be afraid to go home to your parents and say, ‘I wear all black,’ or, ‘I wear these crazy colors,’ or, ‘I’m cutting my hair off,’ or, ‘I’m queer,’ or, ‘I’m gonna go into geology and study rocks because that’s my passion,” she said, reflecting on the message she hopes the Friends give to their young fans.
“Talk It Up,” Sammy Rae’s third most popular song on Spotify, discusses these themes of self-determination and honesty. Following the story of Bowers’ close friend, trying to succeed as an actor during their first-years in New York City, the song encourages listeners to follow their own paths to success. Bowers emphasized that she hopes her fans aren’t afraid to break from the status quo in order to reach their goals.
“The whole point of ‘Talk It Up’ is ... don’t stop,” she said. “There’s a reason we all came to New York, or Boston or Philly. Don’t stop what you’re doing, it can happen any moment — you just have to do what you came here for.”
As much as she advocates for seeking out new experiences, Bowers also places value in practicing self-care. In a final piece of advice addressed to her fans, she said, “Take in all the experiences you can, but also when it’s time to go to sleep, take care of yourself and go home and go to bed.”
Since releasing “The Good Life,” Sammy Rae & the Friends have greatly risen in popularity. Just two years ago, the band had no budget for their EP, and did not know what to expect from the release.
“In the very beginning, there were maybe 200 — instead of 15,000 — people who cared about us,” Bowers said. She attributed some of their growth to Spotify’s individually-tailored “Discover Weekly” playlists, which showcased the band to new listeners after the EP’s release.
As a band, the Friends have formed an identity around the acceptance and celebration of themselves, their bandmates and their fans. It is incredibly important to Bowers that each fan feels needed and cared for by the Friends. For that reason, she makes sure to personally answer every direct message (DM) the band receives on social media, though she acknowledges that may not always be possible as the band grows.
“Sometimes, it takes me two hours, because I wake up and there’s 100 DMs,” she said. “A lot of it is like, ‘I love your music so much, thank you for making it, it makes me so happy.’”
“Every now and then we get a message that’s like, ‘I struggle deeply with social anxiety and depression, and listening to your music, I feel like I have space,’” she continued. “That’s a message that deserves a response.”
Bowers emphasized the importance of the Friends’ collective group identity. The eight band members, who all met through various musical communities in New York City, have dedicated themselves to the band at this point.
“I don’t want to relay at any point that I’m strong enough to carry or facilitate all this on my own. I’m not,” Bowers said. “I never wanted to be solo, I always wanted to front a project, a band identity.”
Bowers explained that, at the formation of the Friends, most members had ongoing solo projects, which sometimes took precedent. While some members are still working on individual musical pieces now, the Friends ultimately keeps them busy.
“It’s kind of just eight players from all over the country and our influences coming together,” Bowers said. “[We have] players from L.A. and Alabama and Virginia Beach and Connecticut, and now we just have this thing and it’s pretty much our ‘all the time.’”
She continued, “And we love each other.”
“We like you, Northampton. You’re so dear to us.”
Before Friday’s show, the band had only visited Western Massachusetts once. Bowers told the crowd at Iron Horse, “We’ve never before played the same room twice.” The Friends played at Iron Horse in September 2019, again drawing a sold-out crowd.
“We like you, Northampton. You’re so dear to us,” she told the crowd.
Throughout the show, Bowers and other Friends took care to applaud and support their band members. The setlist included 10 songs, two “check-in” sessions with the Friends and a solo by drummer C-bass. During his improvised performance, Bowers began scatting, and C-bass stopped the concert to tell the audience that he felt “so proud of [Bower’s] rhythmic sophistication” before the band continued playing.
Before performing their hit single, “Denim Jacket,” Bowers asked an individual audience member if she could wear their denim jacket for the song, explaining, “I accidentally left mine downstairs.” The fan happily handed over their coat, and Bowers tossed her sequin-clad cover-up aside to don the distressed jacket that was passed to her.
Friday was only day three of the band’s recently-launched first-ever national tour. Over the coming four months, the Friends are scheduled to open for “Ripe” on the West Coast and headline their own midwest show, along with playing several college gigs.
“The idea of being on the road for two weeks is a little disorienting, but we’re ready for it,” Bowers said. “I think [this] is our best tour so far.”
Recently, Sammy Rae & the Friends were signed to Nettwerk, a Canadian record company which Bowers describes as “very young-artist-friendly.”
She added, “They’re very kind to us and they don’t take any tour money, they don’t take any merch money, they’re very progressive and forward-thinking.”
Sammy Rae & the Friends plan to release ten new singles and two covers over the next few years under Nettwerk. “Essentially, in the next year to two years, we’ll be putting out two five-song EPs,” Bowers said. “So that’s kind of a record but cut in half.”
The Friends’ next release is a single titled, “Whatever We Feel,” which was performed at the band’s Iron Horse show and will be available online on March 27.
Even as the band grows in popularity, Bowers wants to continue to prioritize the fanbase that allows new releases, shows and tours.
“We don’t progress unless the friends on the internet and the friends in the real world are contributing their finances, their energy,” she said. “Leaving your house to come to a venue and see us and scream for us and encourage us, and give us a 10 dollar ticket, is what pushes this forward.”
She continued, “As far as I’m concerned, you guys are friends, too, you know? You’re part of this band, and you’re part of this project, because it doesn’t happen without you.”