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Sam Fender - The Howling Wolf
Bild: Universal Music // Jack Whitefield
In the northwest of England, not far from the important industrial city of Newcastle upon Tyne, lives a population group in the midst of the British society, which is called "Geordie" because of the predominant dialect of English in this area. "Geordie" is both the name of the people and the dialect spoken around Newcastle. The coastal town of North Shields is home to many Geordies. This also applies to a pale blond young man named Samuel Thomas Fender (Sam Fender). The 27-year-old Brit is the rock high-flyer of the last few years, as a songwriter and rousing musician. His music is possibly one of the most important phenomena of popular contemporary culture.
It is about music that tells the story of the struggle called life
"I grew up in a place where there were a lot of kids from families without jobs who then didn't work either. It's a lot about fear when you grow up in a town like that - fear of not making anything of yourself. I didn't want to persist there. I messed up my school because I was too busy being a jerk and playing guitar and then worked in a pub for years. It all looked hard that I was going to stay here forever."
No one can choose which world he or she is born into. But we can all choose where we go from there, to use the words of a romantic tale. That the reality of life corresponds to far more complex circumstances than this formulaic saying. But it is precisely with this one-dimensional narrative that music, like nothing else, can perform so pointedly. Drawing attention to life and moving people, triggering emotional states that not even science can explain to this day. If you listen to the urgency of the lanky Sonnyboy from the North Sea coast with his gruff Geordie slang, flattering melodies, and hauntingly beautiful voice, the listener opens up to an emotionally determined state of mind that you will never forget. In short: one becomes a fan. Of course it's about music, but actually the story is told here of the struggle called life, which makes the artist greater than his songs.
The search for redemption on the shoulders of his songs
Musicians or art in general are always a result of their own life reality. This is also the case with Sam Fenders. As a songwriter he understands the cultural, political and economic inequalities of England and the world. This is the burden of his generation. Sam had already sharpened his eye for minorities at a young age and processes his impressions and feelings in songwriting and guitar playing. He manages to survey the gap between Brit-rock rapture and Geordie reality in his music and never does it out of a political desire. It's a social key that doesn't hide the rifts. Which addresses his own demons and shadows of the past. He is the folk singer of the British working class, and a Gen-Z storyteller.
More than a few lines that rhyme
With his debut EP Dead Boys and the first studio album Hypersonic Missiles, the awareness of the grievance within British society seems a bit more bearable and clear. A journey with Sam through the petty bourgeois fug of northern England. A bitter reckoning with England, the decline of a country. Admittedly drastic slogans that give hope—hope through his power of words and musical understanding. These are hymns for the underdog; songs for underdogs. Identity, belonging, disadvantage—these have always been addressed in rock music. Things that fuel the feelings of what it's like to grow up in a proletarian-provincial milieu. Songs about the darker side of life. About drug crashes and suicide in youth. Falling down, getting up and moving on. Music as a way out of this darkness. As a driving force to create something meaningful, fed by the experiences he and his environment from the working class made. Songs that reflect these feelings and circumstances. Making them a precious commodity, endowed with a musical beauty that enraptures.
Sam Fender makes all this come alive. Music is his way out of this paralyzing misery, the disaster that is called life. Like a howling lone wolf, he fights back completely without self-pity against a path he never wanted. With a graceful, vulnerable voice, he rocks his way to the top of the charts with his very own hybrid of The Strokes, Jeff Buckley, or Bruce Springsteen - which he also names as sources of inspiration and unmistakably anchors in his music. He's celebrated by critics and loved by fans.
Alienation, sorrow and meaning
With cold revelations and a warm heart, Sam Fender answers his own alienation. To his grief, the terrible existential angst of many Geordies and young Brits. He sings of the past, present and future of all burdened souls in search of redemption. The stories of men like Sam Fender are inspirational. They reach that status because they tell stories that are nothing but real life itself. Not generic pop music devoid of content with no solid ground, but real rock music, which is all too rare these days. All this makes Sam Fender one of the most important musicians of our time and, above all, a bearer of hope for a deeply divided and disoriented generation.
Am 08. Oktober 2021 erscheint sein zweites Studioalbum Seventeen Going Under.
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Originally published on March 26, 2023, updated on March 26, 2023
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