Since Neighbours first aired on Australian television it’s almost been de rigueur for its stars to branch out and launch a singing career. It’s fair to say that the move has panned out better for some than others (Holly Valance anyone?). Sam Clark is the latest actor to step up to the plate. Elize Strydom (LMM) caught up with him a few days into a three month promotional tour from his new single ‘Broken’ and discovered this kid ain’t no one hit wonder.
Life Music Media: Where do I find you this afternoon? Sam Clark: 662km from the city..city..of…thhh…Sydney. Ah, I can’t even speak! I’ve been driving for too long already. |
LMM: You have a relentless schedule ahead of you for the next three months. How are you going to handle it?
SC: I’ll just have to man up and deal with it! It’s all good fun. I get to play my music. I’m releasing my first single so it’s exciting. I just have to look at all the positives and the workload is something that has to happen.
LMM: You’re no stranger to hard work. Tell me the difference between the average day on the set of Neighbours and the average day as Sam Clark the rock star?
SC: I suppose there’s no such thing as an average day for either of them! With acting, your schedule is different every week. You need to learn your lines somewhere amongst it all. You’ve got rehearsals, wardrobe, hair and make-up and then you’ve got to shoot your scenes. I’m on a break now but Neighbours was taking 40 to 65 hours out of my week, Monday to Friday. When I was doing that and doing the music at the same time I was trying to fit music in wherever I could at night up until midnight and getting no sleep then getting back into it again the next day. Now I’m on the promo side of things for the release of ‘Broken’. I’m on my way to Sydney, I’m going to schools to talk to kids about the industry and over the next 26 days I think I’m doing at least that many performances.
LMM: What will happen when the promotional tour is over? Will you go back to juggling Neighbours and music?
SC: Well, they’ve already written the script for my return! That decision was made quite some time ago because of how far ahead they are with filming and scripts. So I go back at the start of next year and I’ve signed a six month contract. At some stage I’ll have to work out if I can do both or not. But I’ll definitely be playing music and acting for some time to come, I’m sure.
LMM: It must be a great thing to have this chunk of time devoted to playing your music and getting the tunes out. Was music your first love?
SC: Yeah, that’s right. When I was about 15 I started playing the guitar. I got a friend of my sister to teach me the open chords and just went from there, teaching myself. It came at a really good time in my life. I needed a focus and music became the focus as well as an outlet in terms of song writing. It’s great to finally be able to put as much as I can into the music. Sometimes it’s a bit disheartening when you’re working so hard trying to do two jobs at once.
LMM: Did you do much performing and recording in your teens?
SC: Yeah I got singing lessons when I was about 16 and did my first performance with a singing group. The feeling I got from that and the recognition…it just made sense and I realised from there that music was something I was always going to do.
LMM: How does it feel having your first bona fide single out and a slick video to go along with it?
SC: It’s really mad! We went into a school a couple of days ago and they had a big screen in this theatre and they turned the lights off and projected the video clip and that was just unbelievable for me. I think I was more excited than the kids were, really! It really put the whole thing in perspective for me, where things are at now. So it’s very exciting.
LMM: The video is impressive! Tell me about making it? Where did you go and who did you work with?
SC: We got a production company that’s made up of band members from Goodbye Motel and they’re under the same management label that I am. So I just got them to come up with a concept and we shot it out in Kyneton (Victoria) and spent about 10 hours filming. It was quite a fast paced shoot especially as there were quite a few location changes. I got to use my car in the clip which was very exciting! I bought it about a month before we did the shoot. I said to the guys, “Hey, I’ve got this car and I wouldn’t mind it being in the clip. Is that possible?”
LMM: Now, tell me what sort of car it is because I’m really hopeless in that department.
SC: It’s a 1974 Ford Fairmont XB with a GS pack.
LMM: I’m sure that will mean a lot to somebody but it’s wasted on me!
SC: Yeah, it will mean a lot to some but nothing to others!
LMM: But it looks good, I can appreciate that. So when should we expect an album?
SC: We’re looking at releasing that in the first half of next year. Obviously we’ll look at how this single goes and hopefully it has done very well by then and we can follow it up with a second single and the album.
LMM: What’s your writing process?
SC: I’ve tried a whole lot of things. Usually for me music comes first. I’ll just be sitting at the piano or with my guitar going through a couple of chords and I’ll hear something in my head and I’ll nut it out and try and make it sound the way it does in my head. I’ll sort of just sing whatever over the top. It’s funny; your subconscious is quite powerful in bringing to the forefront of your mind what it is you want to write about. More recently I’ve been trying to write melody first and then trying to shape chords around that. But musicians and bands who write lyrics first and then write a song around it? I don’t know how they do that!
LMM: Speaking of other bands, who have you seen recently? What’s playing on your iPod?
SC: I have been flat out so I haven’t had a chance to go see many bands. I was going to see Karnivool but I’m on this tour now so I’m looking to sell my ticket if anyone wants to buy it! The next concert I get to see is probably the Big Day Out and I’ll get to see Karnivool there. I’ve been listening to band called the Rocket Summer a lot lately. I get into certain bands and listen to them for a long time. I had a year where I listened to Incubus pretty much every day.
LMM: Now Sam, obviously you’re not the first Neighbours actor to go down this path. Do you feel like you have to prove yourself as a credible musician?
SC: I think that once people come and see me play live then that will be the clincher. Also when they listen to the album and hear the diversity on it and the fact that I’ve written most of the album they’ll see that it’s more than just a hobby. This has been a number of years in the making so I think people will be surprised.
– Sam Clark music available at iTunes