In March, DIY power pop songwriter, vocalist and musician Sam Page self-released his debut album, Breach, featuring ten original songs of excellent guitar-driven pop/rock that partially channels styles of the 1980’s and 90s.
Page wrote all of the songs himself, and recorded and mixed all of the vocals, guitars and bass tracks at his home in Mission Viejo, California. He also mixed in shakers, tambourines, and even various children’s percussive instruments that he picked up around his home. His friend, Jim Moreland, stepped in to play drums and mastered the tracks for the album.
Prior to the release of Breach, Page released a number of EPs and performed at more than 20 well-received gigs throughout southern California. He has a well-honed, driving guitar rock pop sound with strong melodic hooks as demonstrated on the single, “Hold On,” which almost sounds like an 80’s FM single, although the vocals and some of the production levels could be tweaked a bit to make it even better. The second song off Breach, “Now I Know,” has a catchy chorus, buzzing, jangly guitar riffs and an overall feel-good aura about it; the song reminds us of Matthew Sweet, who not surprisingly turns out to be one of Page’s major musical influences. Other influential artists include Jack White, CAKE, Cloud Nothings, Dinosaur Jr., Weezer, and The Pixies.
“Hold On” – Sam Page from Breach – March 16th
“Now I Know” – Sam Page from Breach
Sam Page is a talented songwriter, vocalist and musician who creates hook-filled pop rock tracks
Page’s prolific work in the past two years has provided fans with more than a couple dozen tracks in a relatively short period of time. His discography features one splendid, enjoyable, and infectious hook-heavy guitar rock/pop song after another, as the terrific single, “I Wonder,” from his 2012 EP, Going on a Rampage, demonstrates.
“I Wonder” – Sam Page from Going on a Rampage – Jan. 1st, 2012
“Pass Me By” – Sam Page from Waiting For Another Spring – April 1st, 2012
Page Song Popular on Spotify?; Schoolhouse Rocks Comparison
A couple of weeks ago, Page said that another track, “Pheromones” had more than 27,000 streams on Spotify in a week, but he doesn’t know why. It’s possible those statistics could be a “false positive,” because we’ve counted at least four other songs with the same “Pheromones” title from different artists.
Therefore, it’s possible that people looking for the song of the same name, by another artist, were creating those streams, depending of course on Spotify’s reporting methodology. It’s also possible that the song – which is an excellent track on it’s own – simply went semi-viral – all it takes is one link from a blog post, or even a very popular Spotify user who just happened to include the song link in a playlist.
That said, “Pheromones” is a pretty good track and it even has a bit Schoolhouse Rocks charm about it. Schoolhouse Rocks was a long-running (1973-2009) ABC television series of short educational spots that used music and animated characters to teach school children about everything from grammar to how a bill is passed in Congress.
Page is not only the Artist of the Week, but he’s also an Artist to Watch. We keep listening to his tracks – they’re addictive when you’re in the mood for guitar-driven pop rock songs with super melodic hooks.
Learn more about Page’s work at his official website.
