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The Sammies are:
FRANK BACKGAMMON – Vocals and guitar
BOBBY FREEDOM – Lead Guitar and vocals
CONRAD VACATION – bass guitar
DONNIE YALE – Drums and vocals
The Sammies
Sandwich
“What makes us unique is that we never intended to be a band,” admits Frank Backgammon, guitarist and lead singer of The Sammies. “I’d play guitar when I was younger and people would cringe and ask me to stop. I thought I sucked.” It must have come as a pleasant surprise to Backgammon then, that the band’s 2006 debut for MoRisen Records earned critical praise and landed song placements in the major motion picture Employee of the Month as well as NBC’s “Friday Night Lights.” “When people started asking us to play, and actually came out to shows,” says Backgammon humbly, “I was shocked.”
Yet it’s their live shows that have helped the band develop a rabid fan base. “We could power small cities with all the energy that is gathered at our live shows,” says Backgammon. “They’re loud, spastic and at times, semi-possessed.”
It’s that attitude that The Sammies aim to capture on their sophomore effort for MoRisen, appropriately titled Sandwich. Recorded at Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium, Sandwich draws from the band’s multitude of influences including punk, indie, southern and classic rock. Easter has recorded albums for the likes of R.E.M., Pavement and Wilco and as Backgammon gushes, “We were just smitten to be around a place where the bands we adore worked!”
Co-founded by Frank and younger brother Donnie Yale (these are their rock pseudonyms), The Sammies grew up in rural Wadesboro, NC. When Donnie got a guitar for Christmas one year, it immediately became the brothers’ obsession. Unfortunately, they didn’t know how to tune it. Backgammon says, “We played that guitar out of tune for probably the next year, just cranking it up and sliding up and down the strings making horrible noises.” Thankfully just when the racket was bordering on unbearable, a friend came to the rescue and tuned it for them. As Frank honed his guitar skills, Donnie banged away on a drum set he received the next Christmas.
The brothers’ initial jam sessions took place when Frank was home for long weekends from school at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As the band began to gig around Wadesboro and Charlotte they picked up close friend and guitarist Bobby Freedom along the way. While touring locally, The Sammies caught the ear of Chuck Morrison, founder of MoRisen Records. Committed to cultivating local talent, Morrison quickly signed the band and soon had them in the studio recording their debut. Produced by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, The Breeders), the album reached the Top 5 on four of CMJ’s music charts and secured licensing deals for several major motion pictures.
With their second effort, The Sammies will be moving forward with a slightly different lineup adding bassist Conrad Vacation, another long time friend. If there was any doubt that Conrad would fit in, Backgammon received a promising omen in Macon, GA prior to the band’s first show with the new lineup. “We went by Dwayne Allman and Berry Oakley’s grave,” explains Backgammon, “No kidding, it started raining when we were at the gravesite, but stopped as soon as we walked away and didn’t rain again all day. I took that as a sign that things would be OK.”
And so here The Sammies are, a band that never intended to be a band. As Backgammon puts it simply, “You don’t have to be Clapton, you just have to be you and have fun. So what if you don’t hold your pick the right way or you can’t read music. Hendrix played the guitar upside down, and I think he was pretty good at it.”
