Life works in a delicate balance, a push and pull of tragedy and hope. Singer-songwriter Sammy Kay teeters with acrobatic ease between both facets of the human condition across the entirety of his new record. A storybook by nature, civil/WAR depicts a smorgasbord of characters — many of them weary and downtrodden from addiction, mental health, death, suicide and heartache.
Kay, whose voice is unmistakably shattering, has played with or onstage alongside such bands as The Gaslight Anthem, Mumford & Sons, American Aquarium and The Bouncing Souls. His impressive resume has certainly not diluted the craft itself; even after he wanted to walk away from the industry altogether, the songs inside his head drew him back in again.
“I came home from a tour, and I was just done. I didn’t want to do this anymore. It was November 2017. Everybody’s got mental health issues. I thought the road was really the issue, but it turned out that it was everything else,” he says. “When I got home from this tour, I said, ‘We’re going to leave this be and maybe, if something changes in the future, we’ll revisit it.’” His creativity tugged at him, and so, new songs poured out of him.
With the help of The Bouncing Souls founding member, songwriter and producer Pete Steinkopf, Kay cobbles together an explosive, yet introspective, masterpiece. civil/WAR is indebted to his personal struggles with addiction as much as it is to his keen eye in observing the world around him. “I don’t care what I do, and I don’t care necessarily that I make money. I like to break even,” he says. “I fell in love with songs, and as somebody who struggles here and there with addiction and mental health, songs have kept me alive.”
“This album is what you see is what you get, in regards to mental health, the state of the country,” he adds. “It’s also the projection of self.”
Glide is very proud to premiere the edgy sauntering track “Sweet Cecillia,” (below) by Sammy Kay. Kay candidly approaches the struggles of making it as a musician and just keeping one’s emotional well being intact- taboo topics for certain artists looking to make an immediate splash. With a winsome growly voice, Kay brings a Tom Waits meets Brian Fallon tone, making universal musical medicine for the punk-folk masses.
“‘Sweet Cecillia” was the catalyst for this record. It was the first song we wrote for it. It started as a raw, Replacements-style rocker, and ended up how it sits now. It was the beginning of the narrative of realizing we often overlook those in need. The conversation between a person in distress, struggling at a bar with the hand they’ve been dealt, and a stranger offering their support and advice,” says Kay.
“This concept of painting a picture, the story of looking out for our fellow human being, realistically the concept of empathy and compassion is what this record is about — Growing and working to be the best person we can be,” adds Kay. “The support for this record has been amazing, we just cleared our goal (and then some!) on the Kickstarter campaign. I’m excited to be able to have our record release show on home turf in New Jersey with the legendary John Moreland (stay tuned for details), I’m excited to be back in the U.K. in October, a trip to Fest with Mikey Frazier, as well as an extensive U.S. Tour with Chad Price (Drag The River / ALL), Paul Luc, and Chuck Coles (United Snakes / the Creepshow). It’s gonna be a real fun year!”
Throughout his career, Kay has dabbled in punk rock and soul music, linking up with many of music’s most enduring torchbearers. He played in numerous bands in high school and would soon befriend King Django, a heavy hitter of ska and reggae music in New York City who taught him the ropes of the business when Kay was 16. Kay initially began selling Django merch and soon linked up for sessions and collaborations with countless other local outfits, which led to support tour gigs for any major bands that traveled through the area.
His debut album, Fourth Street Singers, arrived in 2014 and cemented his potential as one of Americana’s most ambitious players. “I had always written songs as folk and turned them into whatever it was,” he says. That record was destined to be the catalyst for his entire career. During the album’s creation, he decided to sober up, and before it was even mastered, Gaslight Anthem and Mumford & Sons offered him various tour opener slots. He was later signed to Stomp Records (whose roster boasts such names as Creepshow, Joystick and Gutter Demons, among many others), and he dropped his follow-up, Untitled, in 2015.
Photo by Daniella Heminghaus.
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