Biography
The David Samuel Project is a group of musicians, suffusing timeless honesty, emotional transparency and musical showmanship into a sonic package that must be seen and heard to be fully appreciated. The band, with Samuel on guitar and vocals,Tyson Klassen on bass, Cory Knowland guitar and Jared Knowland on drums, seamlessly fuse an organic mixture of rock, blues, funk, and soul into dynamically progressing jams, massive grooves, and moody melodic ventures.
So where does Samuel draw his influence in a day and age of commercialized music and clone-like genres? Although he still finds inspiration in the artistry of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Santana, and of course Jimi Hendrix, Samuel and company have found new and invigorating influence in lesser known players: Austin, Texas based guitar slinger Doyle Bramhall II, former-Austin-now-Pacific Northwest based Ian Moore, and the lengthy, guitar-dominant jams of the mid 1970’s Miles Davis Group have all loaned musical inspiration to the band’s collaborative efforts. The result of these influences has led the lyrical and instrumental components of Samuel’s music into a melodic and soaring realm whose often minor-chord structures and emotional lyricism become musical confessions to the listener; celebrations of faith and hope in “Vision of Love,” reflections of pain in the progressive adventure “Behind the Sun,” pure exuberance in the optimism of “Feel Real Good.”
“My songs are story lines,” Samuel says. “I would like to create my music the way a cinematographer films a movie. It’s as much a visual craft for me as it is musical.”
The David Samuel Project originally began as an outlet for Samuel’s more explicitly blues-based pieces. Just listening to the gritty textures and sensitive dynamics of the lamentation “Another Blue Sunday,” incendiary fretwork on the rip-roaring boogaloo “Groovin,” the old-school feel of Howlin’ Wolfs “Tell Me” and one can hear that Samuel has not lost touch with a music that holds expressive significance for him.
“In the early 90’s I suffered a series of trials and tribulations that really came to define who I am today. It was as if my world came crashing down around me. If that doesn’t fuel the blues, I don’t know what does.”
However, the blues as a specific genre of music holds no dominance for Samuel.
“The heart, soul, and passion of life are the things that influence my craft. Those components are the blues in my opinion, not necessarily a specific sound, or category,” he says.
Pick a style of expression and David Samuel will deliver the goods it seems. The David Samuel Project’s strength is evidenced not only in their commitment to musical integrity, but also in their versatility as evidenced by Samuel’s acoustic guitar compositions and arrangements, making he and the band as comfortable in coffee houses or cocktail settings as he is on the main stage of a hot blues joint or rock club. The beauty of Samuel’s music is that it has the ability to bring people together regardless of worldview, because his experiences are universal.
“I’m laying my heart and soul on the table every night of a performance,” Samuel says. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going or if there are three people in the audience, I just want to be as honest as possible in the way I convey my music. It’s a commitment my band and I have to the audience.”
An intimate interaction with the listener fueled by a guarantee of musical integrity and ingenuity; a novel idea to some, but all in a nights work for the David Samuel Project.
So where does Samuel draw his influence in a day and age of commercialized music and clone-like genres? Although he still finds inspiration in the artistry of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Santana, and of course Jimi Hendrix, Samuel and company have found new and invigorating influence in lesser known players: Austin, Texas based guitar slinger Doyle Bramhall II, former-Austin-now-Pacific Northwest based Ian Moore, and the lengthy, guitar-dominant jams of the mid 1970’s Miles Davis Group have all loaned musical inspiration to the band’s collaborative efforts. The result of these influences has led the lyrical and instrumental components of Samuel’s music into a melodic and soaring realm whose often minor-chord structures and emotional lyricism become musical confessions to the listener; celebrations of faith and hope in “Vision of Love,” reflections of pain in the progressive adventure “Behind the Sun,” pure exuberance in the optimism of “Feel Real Good.”
“My songs are story lines,” Samuel says. “I would like to create my music the way a cinematographer films a movie. It’s as much a visual craft for me as it is musical.”
The David Samuel Project originally began as an outlet for Samuel’s more explicitly blues-based pieces. Just listening to the gritty textures and sensitive dynamics of the lamentation “Another Blue Sunday,” incendiary fretwork on the rip-roaring boogaloo “Groovin,” the old-school feel of Howlin’ Wolfs “Tell Me” and one can hear that Samuel has not lost touch with a music that holds expressive significance for him.
“In the early 90’s I suffered a series of trials and tribulations that really came to define who I am today. It was as if my world came crashing down around me. If that doesn’t fuel the blues, I don’t know what does.”
However, the blues as a specific genre of music holds no dominance for Samuel.
“The heart, soul, and passion of life are the things that influence my craft. Those components are the blues in my opinion, not necessarily a specific sound, or category,” he says.
Pick a style of expression and David Samuel will deliver the goods it seems. The David Samuel Project’s strength is evidenced not only in their commitment to musical integrity, but also in their versatility as evidenced by Samuel’s acoustic guitar compositions and arrangements, making he and the band as comfortable in coffee houses or cocktail settings as he is on the main stage of a hot blues joint or rock club. The beauty of Samuel’s music is that it has the ability to bring people together regardless of worldview, because his experiences are universal.
“I’m laying my heart and soul on the table every night of a performance,” Samuel says. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going or if there are three people in the audience, I just want to be as honest as possible in the way I convey my music. It’s a commitment my band and I have to the audience.”
An intimate interaction with the listener fueled by a guarantee of musical integrity and ingenuity; a novel idea to some, but all in a nights work for the David Samuel Project.
