Suitcase Sam
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE
Music
Press
Suitcase Sam & the Suits are a collective of some of Torontos finest musicians. Fronted by Suitcase Sam himself the band plays playful whiskey soaked folk tunes. The band has quickly garnered a reputation for an excellent live show.
November, 2013 - Two Way Monologues
One man sometimes two man band, pulls out the classics, cowboy blues riffs on acoustic guitar, accompanied by kazoos, piano, the occasional horn. Sams voice floats over his oldtime-y ditties like a less annoying Randy Newman.
Seriously they should have hired him to do the Toy Story score. Simplicity at its best, Suitcase Sam makes the small guy sound big with a comforting warmth. // BlogTO - BlogTO
It should come as no surprise that Suitcase Sams debut EP, Get It To Go, looks to the past for its inspiration. After all, the bands main member is a current member of White Suede and a former member of the late Barons & Lengthy, and both of those groups had sounds that borrowed heavily from the 60s and & 70s.
What is surprising, however, is how much further back Get It To Gos influences stretch. If you were to hear songs like The Sweetest Hippopotamus and Gas Pedal Rag free of any context, you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to some old jazz or folk music from the 20s or 30s. Almost everything about them -- the vocals, the melodies, the general vibe -- hearkens back to a much different era, and the only way you can tell that the songs are, in fact, modern is that the production quality is a little bit too crisp and clean.
Complaints about how good the songs sound, however, really dont -- or shouldnt -- amount to much. Suitcase Sams debut is made to be thrown on and enjoyed, and demanding anything more from Get It To Go misses the point of it entirely. // IheartMUSIC - IheartMUSIC
I was popped into a time machine and transported back to San Francisco 1969 by this modern Leon Redbone channeler. Sam did a fine set of covers with his own sweet original pieces. A great guitarist and a solid singer. // TOpoet.ca - TOpoet.ca
Discography
Waiting On A Train: Digital 7" EP Spring 2013
Independent Release
Suitcase Sam: 7" EP. Fall 2010
Pleasence Records
Photos
Bio
It is believed that it was there, on the train line, that Sam drank up the great American musical traditions his grizzled protectors on the engine yard filling him brim-full with religious awe, laying him reverently down at the feet of the old masters: Mississippi John Hurt, Emmett Miller and the great Jimmie Rodgers. Young Sam distinguished himself, though still a child, by his unique guitar and vocal stylings, and by a genteel demeanor that seemed beyond his years. Loved though he was on the Central Pacific, when he was just fourteen he struck out on his own.
Nearly 10 years and countless miles of steel later, Sam had drifted North and eventually found safe passage to Toronto City, Canada. He found a whiskey-soaked bunch of musicians and convinced them with a twist of second-rate tobacco and the last few swigs in his bottle of bourbon to hit the streets of Toronto.
Suitcase Sam and his gang sing about the old times past, the days ahead and what can happen when all you have left is a sunburned guitar and a song in your throat.
ONLINE VIDEO:
THE SWEETEST HIPPOPOTAMUS
A Bravo!FACT short film, by Red Sneakers Media
http://vimeo.com/36025155
2012
FRANKIE & ME
Suitcase Sam and The Suits, RogersTV 'Toronto Sessions'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0KUU_gxEf8
2013
Band Members
Links
