Samiam initially was part of the 924 Gilman punk scene in the late-80s/early 90s and released their first 7” I Am on Lookout Records. Their first three albums - (self-titled), Soar and Billy were all released on New Red Archives. The band toured a lot during this period with similar little-known bands like Green Day, Jawbreaker and Seaweed.
Opening support by The Raging Nathans and Sleepy Drums.
Samiam is a punk band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1988, the band has released nine full length albums and toured extensively throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Japan. The band members are Jason Beebout (vocals), Sergie Loobkoff (guitar), Sean Kennerly (guitar, vocals), Chad Darby (bass) and Colin Brooks (drums).
The most recent album Stowaway was released in 2023 by Pure Noise records. Samiam toured in Europe with Hot Water Music and in the US with Bouncing Souls to support the album and released videos for the singles Lake Speed and Crystallized.
Samiam initially was part of the 924 Gilman punk scene in the late-80s/early 90s and released their first 7” I Am on Lookout Records. Their first three albums - (self-titled), Soar and Billy were all released on New Red Archives. The band toured a lot during this period with similar little-known bands like Green Day, Jawbreaker and Seaweed.
In 1993, Samiam signed to Atlantic Records and released the album Clumsy. The band did several successful tours including with Bad Religion and recorded a follow-up album but was dropped before its release, which put Samiam in a state of limbo for several years. Finally in 1997, they regained control of the recording, You Are Freaking Me Out, which was released jointly by Burning Heart Records and the now-defunct Tommy Boy subsidiary Ignition Records in 1997.
In 2000, Samiam signed to Hopeless Records and released Astray, followed several years afterwards by Whatever’s Got You Down (2006) and Trips (2012) before moving to Pure Noise and releasing the aforementioned Stowaway.
Samiam is touring the East Coast in May of 2025 with Iron Chic and Toys That Kill.
Voted #2 punk band in Dayton, OH by some website. But they didn't take our winning personalities and striking good looks into account.
Beginning as a solo side project, J. Stout crafted the first Sleepy Drums album "Spooky" in 2012. This album served as an experimental outlet, with ranging genre styles. In 2015, J. Stout decided to switch the focus from free form experimentation to garage punk and lo fi indie rock, somewhat in the vein of fellow Ohio rockers Guided By Voices. Once again, he recorded and performed the next Sleepy Drums EP "Lucy" on his own, self-releasing it on Lo Fi City Recordings.
Once both Dinosaurs & Thunder and Little Trees (J. Stout's other bands at the time) began to dissolve, Sleepy Drums emerged to the forefront of creative focus. Calling on long time friends Michael J Hamilton (Revenge Pinata, Flux Capacitors) and Christopher Berning, Stout finally turned the project from a solo endeavor to a full fledged-band, releasing "Cosmic Imagination pt. 1" in late 2015. Joshua Bradbury, known for his bass work in Dinosaurs & Thunder, was added to the lineup in 2016, assuming the rhythm guitar position.
"Cosmic Imagination pt. 2" was released on August 5, 2018 and expanded their experimentalism while also honing in on their now trademark sound.
They entered the studio with Todd Uttley to begin recording their next album in 2019, but the pandemic thwarted it's progress, eventually forcing the album to be completed remotely.
In the meantime of finishing this album, Sleepy Drums released a series of singles, many from the sessions with Todd, that solidified their new sound with much more clarity of vision.
"Cosmic Scraps," a collection of previously unreleased demos and b-sides was released exclusively to Bandcamp on August 24, 2022.