Sam Fender is the friend we all wish we had in our lives, but at the same time the burgeoning rock hero of his generation. And the world is going nuts for it.
The 25-year-old artist grew up in a “blue-collar” patch of England which shaped him in his formative years. The artist writes songs that truly connect – delving deep into youth suicide rates, alcoholism, domestic violence, and the many challenges faced by today’s young people.
This week, Fender lifts the lid on the last seven years of his life: an immune system related health issue, a love of dogs, pastries and “aesthetically pleasing” Australian people. Seven years captured in an album dubbed Hypersonic Missiles.
Now, the Brit Award-winning singer bares all in his chat with Tone Deaf‘s Nathan Gunn.
The name Hypersonic Missiles stemmed from a train ride back at home in Newcastle, England.
“I was reading the paper on the Metro. One of the headlines was ‘Russia Creates New Missile Called The Hypersonic Missile’ or something. It’s just about this missile that travels at 2 kilometres a second and it can carry warheads. It’s impossible to be shut down by American satellite defence systems, which I found very exciting, and utterly terrifying at the same time.”
“Some Russian scientist leaked it to somebody in NATO, and it ended up going back to the American Government,” the artist explains.
“I presume that guy is now dead,” Fender chuckles.
“There’s a lot of Armageddon prophecies at the moment: climate change, and things like that. I thought ‘I’ll write a song about a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy-believing, McDonald’s-eating, fucking idiot’, loosely based on myself, who is terrified at the world ending, but is also in love, and wants to give everything he has to the people he loves, before his world ends,” Fender openly admits.
“I didn’t wanna write it about climate change, ‘cos let’s face it, nuclear missiles are a hell of a lot more sexy than climate change,” he confesses.
Sam Fender: ‘Hypersonic Missiles’:
Some songs were harder than others, emotionally, for Fender to write.
“‘Dead Boys’ was quite hard – because of the content, and what it meant to me. It’s about my friend who killed himself. That was tough.”
Violence, both at school, and in the broader community, were influences on the album.
“I grew up in a very blue-collar town, so I experience a lot of wonderful people, and beautiful things, and I had a nice start. But, naturally if you grow up in a place that’s normal, rough and ready, you will experience unsavoury things, which make you the person you are. There was violence – there was quite a lot of violence in my school, when I was growing up. There was quite a lot of violence in and around my neighbourhood, that I grew up in. ‘Two People’ is about domestic violence – I used to live next to a couple I could hear through the walls – I could hear an abusive relationship,” Fender explains.
This was tough for a young Fender, who felt there was nothing he could do.
“It was quite frightening, especially when you’re young, and it will have an impact on you growing up,” he tells.
“It’s something that you can’t do anything about – you have that thing when you’re a young kid, when I was 19 I was a string of piss. I was skinny and weak as fuck, so there was fuck all I could do about it. It was one of those things where you don’t ring the police in these towns, for that stuff. You’d end up just dragging yourself in the gutter.”
This meant Fender had to just let it go, and relinquish any hope of fixing the issue.
“You just let things go by. It’s equally frustrating as it is sad, which easily bleeds into music. That was the only way I could see myself attempting to seek justice in it. If I can write about it, and bring awareness to it, that’s the best thing I can do, I reckon,” tells Fender, who, last week performed ‘Will We Talk’ on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Sam Fender – ‘Dead Boys’:
Fender’s dad played quite the influential part in his development, both musically and personally. But, he wasn’t always around.
“I had a very lovely family, loving and caring parents at the start of my life. The first eight-ten years of my life were quite idyllic. We had a lot of musicians in and out. We had our problems, and things changed as I got older, but the start of it I was surrounded by music which was wonderful,” he explains.
“Music I attach to the happiest time of my life, which was when I was a child. It’s almost a way for me to be a child forever, I suppose,” explains Fender.
But, things weren’t always so great. His father wasn’t around for some time, leaving a void.
This void was, to a degree, filled by his god father.
“He’s almost been a surrogate father to me. In the latter years of my life, I saw him more than I ever saw my Dad. He gave me endless music, he’s a total music fan. He can’t string a song together, or write or play guitar, but he loves music,” Fender tells of his godfather.
“His house is a library of vinyls and CDs and posters. He’s one of those creepy guys that used to get the signatures of every band he could. He’d stay outside and wait in the fucking rain to get their signatures, because he’s such a fan of music. He got loads of crazy signatures of people you’d never expect. He’s got Jeff Buckley’s signature in his toilet. It’s ridiculous. A total legend. I was very lucky to have him.”
While the influence of his god father was significant, the influence of his high school friends was too.
“At school I was listening to Kendrick Lamar, like you get a real mix, a real spectrum. I listened to a lot of hip-hop at school with my friends, and I would listen to a lot of really old-school rock back home,” like long-time influence Bruce Springsteen, who Fender has to thank for parts of his sound.
But as any artist will tell you, it all comes down to writing good music, which Fender tells is the hardest part.
“The hardest part of music is making good music. There’s one or two songs on the album that are pretty decent. But I reckon, the second album will be good,” he laughs. “I’m only joking.”
“It covers a lot of ground, but I think as I move forward, I’ll try be more cohesive. I want it to be a bit more coherent as it moves forward. I won’t be making albums that are so varied in sound – it’ll be one flavour, as opposed to the first album, which is the dairy milk chocolate selection of Sam Fender. The next album will be a plain old Mars.”
Sam Fender – ‘The Borders’:
“Everyone where we’re from just eats pastries and stays inside the house and drinks cups of tea and smokes cigarettes,” which Fender compares to our “aesthetically pleasing” people.
“I’ve never seen such a high concentration of aesthetically pleasing people. Everybody’s very healthy. 80% of the people there were like a nine out of ten.”
“We die about the age of 50. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m 25 going on 40. I’m fucked. Smoking’s really bad. It fucks you up. I used to smoke like a mad bastard when I was 19. It fucked with my throat.”
Asked about whether alcohol was a staple in his life, he explains he does “like drinking”, but not too much.
“I like drinking, but I can’t drink much, cause if I drink, I lose my voice. And again, because of my condition I can’t really be a fuckhead anymore. I have other vices, like we all do,” Fender confesses.
Staying healthy comes down to (drinking) “water, eating vegetables, and going to bed. Simple as that. I like to run, when I’m back home. I haven’t (been running) on this tour, because I’m currently on an antibiotic that apparently you can snap your Achilles heel if you do too much to it.”
“I’m starting to feel a bit chubby, so I need to get moving,” Fender jokes.
With a debut album out this week, Fender hopes the record will connect with people.
“I think it’ll appeal to a few people.”
When prompted on where he sees his future, Fender provides a rather hilarious insight into his love of dogs.
“In a couple years’ time, I’d like to be in a big, fuck-off house, full of dogs, with a really good studio close by. Shit tons of musical instruments, and really boutique synthesisers hanging off the walls. Most importantly, a load of fucking dogs. I’ll still be touring, but I’ll have someone to look after them.”
But ideally, Fender seeks “somebody who doesn’t look after them too much to the point where they’ll love them more than me, but someone who’s available because I’ve got things on. What’s that fuckin’ dog called? The Canadian big old fluffy thing? A good 13 of them, a festival of Canadian hounds.”
The singer draws a stark comparison between himself and those of a more canine quality.
“I am a dog, I relate a lot to dogs, because they’re simple creatures. They like to be loved, they love to be walked, and they like to be fed. That’s how I like my life as well. As long as I’m walked, loved and fed, I’m a happy dog,” Fender explains.
“Don’t bullshit dogs as well. If you’re a dick, the dog knows you’re a dick. Dogs are really intuitive. They don’t give a shit, they’re not materialistic. Whereas people are, people are c**ts.”
Excitingly, Fender does hope for a prompt return to Australia.
“I’m gonna come over here, and I’m gonna try spend longer than a week. I’d like to spend a few weeks here when there’s more sun. I wanna know what all the fuss is about when it’s all hot. I wanna see all the surfers and all the people kicking it. I’m just gonna be there on the beach, pasty and fat – looking like a horrible fucking pasty ghosty tramp from the north of England, with all the beautiful people. That’s what I want from Australia.”
Hopefully, his next trip will include a run of shows even bigger than the last few.
He’ll embark on a mammoth North American and European tour soon, and here’s to hoping we’ll hear of Australian touring news soon.
Sam Fender’s debut full length studio album Hypersonic Missiles is out this Friday, September 13, via Dew Process.
PREORDER HYPERSONIC MISSILES HERE!
Sam Fender – ‘That Sound’:
