About this Artist
Samiam (pronounced "sam-I-am") is an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California, active since 1988. Samiam was formed in late 1988 after the breakup of the Gilman club mainstay Isocracy. Their first show was in January 1989 with Christ on Parade. They released records through New Red Archives and Hopeless Records in the US and Burning Heart Records in Europe. In the mid-'90s, the band had two releases on major labels, Atlantic Records in 1994 and Ignition/Tommy Boy in 1997. This path achieved modest mainstream success; a video for "Capsized" gained considerable airplay on MTV, they performed on The Jon Stewart Show in 1994 and the single "She Found You" garnered considerable radio play in 1998. In early 2001, the band went on hiatus after supporting the Astray album. Despite what was initially to be a breakup, they continued to tour abroad yearly (Europe and South America) with occasional shows in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This led to the recording of the band's seventh album Whatever's Got You Down, which was released in 2006. Samiam toured Europe three more times in 2006 and 2007 and played various US dates in 2008. Samiam released Trips, their first album in five years, on September 6, 2011. Semi annual tours have followed ever since in Europe, Australia and South America. In 2015, while in Chicago for an appearance at Riot Fest, a four-song demo was recorded but never finished. After a 12 year break from any studio recordings, the band have recently announced their new LP "Stowaway" set for release spring of 2023 via Pure Noise Records.