Amongst Friends, Again: A Night Out with Sammy Rae & The Friends

Arts

Mar 1

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Having gone so long without it, could we ever take live music for granted again? I should think not. There is something extra charged about concerts these days, the almost-transgressive thrill of being elbow-to-elbow with one’s fellow humans. That charge turned electric this weekend at Center Stage, with an ebullient show from Sammy Rae & The Friends, the seven-piece band headlined by their eponymous vocalist and keyboarder, Sammy Rae.

The band is a few weeks into their post-pandemic tour; they had just kicked off their first big tour when Covid sent everyone home to disparate corners of the country. They kept working anyways, Sammy (née Samantha Bowers, but doing big band business as Sammy Rae) told WUSSY ahead of the show. “We made the best out of a shitty situation – we missed each other, we missed our audience.” The band kept writing, and managed to record an EP amidst pandemic shutdowns; “Let’s Throw a Party,” a cheerful romp of an album blending jazz, funk, soul, and insouciant pop, debuted January 22, 2021.

Now, The Friends are back onstage, a place where they very clearly belong. “It’s the thing we all love to do,” Sammy told us. “That exchange of energy and love…being able to see your art, your existence affirmed every night is really special.”

That free exchange was on fulsome display at Saturday night’s show, with the audience’s palpable joy at being back in a crowd mingling with the radiant energy vibrating from the band onstage, all dressed for the Covid-comeback in various shiny, glittery fabrics. “Doesn’t it feel good to be amongst friends!?” Sammy Rae murmured Puckishly into their microphone, eliciting a chorus of affirmative cheers.

And, indeed, we were amongst a lot of friends: not just the thousand audience members, but the seven Friends themselves, who maneuver around each other so deftly – both sonically and physically – that it’s easy to forget just how unusual it is to see an indie band with this many people in it.

“I wanted it to be big,” Sammy explained: they grew up listening to big rock bands, especially Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and loved the idea of forming a collective of musicians “where everyone is as talented as the person next to them.” Of course, Sammy added with a chuckle, “You don’t think about the challenges in terms of tours and flights and hotels and stuff.”

The logistical concerns are thoroughly worth it, in my opinion: ever a fan of supergroups, I loved seeing seven musicians light up the stage in turn. Sammy brings all the lightning-rod charisma and crystal-clear vocals you could want in a band leader, but I’d just as soon throw my weight (or my denim jacket, as several audience members did for the eponymous song) behind any of these talented musicians: Will Leet, foxily nimble on guitar; Kellon Anderson crooning to every corner on the alto sax, and Max Zooi even sultrier on tenor sax; James Quinlan, tossing the traditional “cool quiet bassist in the back” mien for a strutting, joy-filled performance; keyboardist and vocalist Debbie Tjong, who whipped out a cherry-red keytar and caused an audible swoon in the crowd; and drummer C-Bass, clad in a shimmery gold button-up - only half buttoned – who grinned his way through every drum solo and promptly stole everyone’s heart. Even an audience member got her turn at winning over hearts and minds: Sammy pulled Razaria Denae Copeland onstage after noticing her signing the band’s lyrics in ASL and invited her to sign along to “Living Room Floor.” Razaria, a student who’d driven from Anderson, South Carolina to see the show, signed like she’d been performing with the band her whole life, beaming with joy while the rest of us openly wept. For an impromptu eighth band member, it was a pretty incredible showstopper.

Sammy Rae & The Friends also bring a touch of what can only be honestly described as toddler-music-hour vibes, with a string of theatrical accessories, a good deal of laying on the floor, and even a story-time moment where the band all sat on a blanket listening to Sammy croon. The childlike elements work just fine for a band this young and enthusiastic – they’re also an aesthetic nod to the kiddie concerts some of the band used to do as a side hustle, and where Sammy Rae met C-Bass and Will.

“We’d be at open mics watching really killing bands, and then see each other playing for kids and be like, ‘Weren’t you playing at Washington Square Park doing whatever for these babies?!’” Playing for infants helped pay the bills, Sammy explained, but it was also a great opportunity to learn each other’s styles. After a million times playing ‘I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,’ Sammy said, “You can play it straight or you can have fun with it. Like, I genuinely want to fuck up this solo for these kids and their nannies!”

Fuck it up, indeed. After years of listening to music alone it home, it was quite the treat to be amongst friends once again.

Missed Sammy Rae & The Friends in Atlanta? Catch the rest of their tour schedule here. And listen to the “Let’s Throw a Party” EP here.

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