For a variety of reasons, Samiam‘s trips this far up the Eastern seaboard for the last couple of decades are a bit of a Halley’s Comet situation. Thankfully, 2023 brought with it the release of Stowaway, the band’s first new album in a dozen years (editor’s note: we haven’t finished our year-end Best Of… list yet, but we can assure you that Stowaway is #1. Here’s our review from back in March.) which of course meant a new batch of tour dates that would reach the greater Boston area.
I say greater Boston area, because the ongoing lack of available small-cap club space in Boston proper meant Samiam playing yet another new venue outside the city limits – 2019’s local stop was at Crystal Ballroom in Somerville – the brand-spankin’-new Deep Cuts in Medford, of all places. It’s a super cool space that is not only a 240-capacity live music venue but it’s got a brewery and a pretty great sandwich counter and a small record store and a couple of pinball games; in short, it’s exactly the kind of place that this area needs more of, and the fact that it exists close enough to my house that I don’t even need to get on the highway is pretty almost perfect. Anyway, shoutout to Deep Cuts.
Cape Crush were the first band out of the proverbial chute on this evening. They are a comparatively new band but they’re comprised of a group of long-time area scene vets Ali Lipman (vox/guitar), James Christopher (lead guitar), Jake Letizia (bass) and Cody Rico (drums) so even though they really only started playing together last year as a unit, it just feels like they’ve been around for years. The four-piece blazed through a half hour set of their self-described “power emo” goodness (that featured Christopher playing lead guitar with a cast on his picking hand due to a recent hockey injury) that featured my personal favorite of their tracks, “Sandwich Wars.” Look for that on my year-end playlist soon!
Occupying the primary support role was none other than Boston and/or New Hampshire’s own Me In Capris depending on where you draw the line. Somehow, I hadn’t yet seen Me In Capris, a fact that I chalk up mostly to being a Big Dummy. What a super fun band. I guess you’d call them a power pop band, but that seems to not quite fit. Maybe if a band like The Replacements or The Hold Steady – especially Killer Parties-era Hold Steady – were as melody-driven and emo-adjacent as Smoking Popes? But also were very much from the greater Boston area? Does that make sense? It doesn’t, does it. I dunno – listen to “Cookout” and maybe it’ll make sense. Anyway, they’re super fun live and if you’ve skipped them because you’re also a Big Dummy – knock it off.
That of course brings us to Samiam’s long-awaited sushit-fueled return to the local stage. As has been the trend lately, the band ripped directly into “80 West” from their triumphant 2011 album Trips. The song might specifically refer to sights and sounds in the Bay Area, but the message about being away from an old familiar stomping grounds after a long time away is sentimentally pitch-perfect for such an occasion. “80 West” lead directly into the long-time crowd favorite “Sunshine” from 2000’s Astray, the first of what would become an evening full of good, old-fashioned singalongs.
Frontman Jason Beebout, possessor of one of yours truly’s favorite voices in the broad panacea that is rock music, expressed early in the show that he’d been feeling the effects of “some sort of RSV bullshit” but from here, he sounded no worse for the proverbial wear. It seems crazy to think that a band that’s halfway through its fourth decade as a unit – particularly given their status as a part-time band – could be as tight as ever, but it’s undoubtedly true. Sean Kennerly’s rhythms guitar duties and vocal harmonies add a little stability, allowing Sergie Loobkoff’s iconic, trademark swirling guitar leads to soar and divebomb with reckless abandon. I think a lot of the band’s cohesion can be chalked up to the comparatively new rhythm section of Chad Darby (bass) and Colin Brooks, the latter of whom plays with a level of tenacity and aplomb that make him probably my favorite drummer in the game.
I really, really wish that Samiam were more of a full-time touring band, because immediately once the show was over, I kept thinking that I wanted to see them again soon. Thankfully, I took a bunch of pictures so those will tide me – and all of us – over. Or maybe I’ll just go to Europe next year… Check out each band’s photo gallery below!
