My Summer Lair Chapter #275: When Was The Last Time You Faced A Blank Page?
Can we trace rock n roll reinvention directly to Elvis?
Most likely Elvis established The Blueprint: a man at the height of his powers seeking reinvention via redemption.
What about The Beatles? That’s weird to go from the puppy love of I Want to Hold Your Hand to the stoner logic of I Am The Walrus. (Goo goo a’joob, to you too.)
If that was rock’s past, the Sam Roberts Band is part of rock’s future.
This is my third My Summer Lair conversation with Sam Roberts…it starts off nerdy because we are nerds. (Last time we spoke during the pandemic, we discussed Lord of the Rings. This time we get into Marvel movies, The Chronicles of Narnia and Master and Commander. Nerds, yo.)
Though beyond nerd leanings we contemplate reinvention.
The 8th album of the Sam Roberts Band is The Adventures Of Ben Blank.
Ben Blank, as an avatar has allowed the Sam Roberts Band to be reborn (in a flame…). Which is a gift…there’s a proud freedom that comes with being reborn. This is a reinvention and you’re all invited.
Sam Roberts has things to say (nerdy and emotional); just as you go to a concert he will use a mic to broadcast those emotions.
Ben Blank works like a mic. He’s a tool to broadcast what Sam Roberts is struggling to express.
Only Ben Blank isn’t a mic, he’s a mask.
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
~ Oscar Wilde
And this is what Sam Roberts has to say about all of that. As long as you don’t ask him about the Afterlife.
Track Listing:
Track 1: Projection by Sam Roberts Band (via The Adventures Of Ben Blank)
Track 2: Afterlife by Sam Roberts Band (via The Adventures Of Ben Blank)
Sam Roberts Band @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Thursday January 25, 2024 at 11:00 am
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