Nick Sampson is 'Still Breathing,' coming home with his band Senses this week.
Plus, a new Fresno band from Mom' Jeans frontman Bart Starr and the Gottschalk Guide to Your Local Music Scene.
File this under: Fresno ex-pats out in the world.
Nick Sampson is a guy you’ve maybe seen playing drums and not even known it. The San Joaquin Memorial and Fresno State graduate (classes of 2011 and 2015, respectively) has had a few decent gigs as a hired gun, including playing in the backing band on “America’s Got Talent” season 13.
Here’s the video of him with Courtney Hadwin singing “Born to Be Wild.”
He also worked on the “The Masked Singer” and “American Song Contest,” according to San Joaquin Memorial’s alumni spotlight.
He also did this thing for Disney.
These days, his main musical project is Senses, which he formed with singer Madison Taylor in 2019 (the pair met through a Craiglist post, which almost seems like a quaint way of things). The band (led by the duo) describes itself as “emo-friendly” and “punk-curious.”
Senses releases its second EP, “I’m Still Breathing,” on Hopeless Records on Friday (click here to presave).
It will support the release with a headlining tour (the band’s first), which kicks off with a hometown show for Sampson. That’s Thursday night at Strummer’s. Negative 25 and MVSSIE open.
New band alert: Chain
Without making making this an Aftershock lineup announcement, the Sacramento mostly-metal festival did release its lineup this week and some were likely shocked by the number of punk/emo/indie bands included (especially the later it gets on day one).
That includes the emo pop-punk band Mom Jeans, which has been mentioned in this newsletter before and is being mentioned here now because guitarist Bart Starr has formed an off-shoot/side project called Chain.
Chain is based in Fresno. Like, it’s spelled out officially in its press releases, one of which came my way last month as the band set to release its debut single (“No Power,” which dropped Friday) and album (“No Spirit,” which releases March 14. You can (and should) stream it now).
Per the release: “Chain was formed with a simple goal: to have fun with his friends, create music that resonates, and play as many shows as possible. At its core, Chain’s music is about embracing authenticity and breaking through the glass walls of the world to discover yourself. Whether you’re moshing in a packed room or driving with the windows down, Chain delivers a cathartic experience that’s equal parts nostalgic and refreshing.”
Gottschalk Guide to Your Local Music Scene
Once upon a time, when blogs ruled the web, there were several sites chronicalling Fresno’s live music scene.
Over at The Beehive (RIP), Mike Oz had something called “Post No Bills,” which was essentially a scroll-through version of the old telephone pole system of promoting a show.
The Fresnan had a weekly post called Bandgeeek (I took the name) in which he presented a less comprehensive, more curated selection of choices each week.
While these were great resources, they were a lot of work to put together; too much work to keep up over an extended period of time, which I know because I tried it for awhile when I took over for Mike Oz at The Bee (and actually, in different forms in the newsletter.
All this to say, there is now a whole new batch of people putting this info out there (if you know where to look). There’s the Spanspek Instagram account, RAD Music’s weekly newsletter and the Valley Echoes substack (all mentioned here before).
And I just this week saw that Gottschalk Music Center has started what looks to be a monthly guide to the local music scene via its Instagram account (though it might be shared other places, too).
It’s nicely done in that it looks pleasing (from a design standpoint), is comprehensive without being overwhelming and was clearly done by someone who is a part of the community themselves (as opposed to just dropping in for some quick fun).
You can follow along here, and also check out Gottschalk Music Center in person for all your musician guy needs (this isn’t any kind of paid plug, the place has just always been supportive in my experience).
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. Lotsa new musics tonight. Follow my other writing at The Fresno Bee. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com