Interviews & Articles

Osmosis interview by Leigh Tran – September 2005 2SER FM

LT: Joining me on Osmosis is Sam Shinazzi, you would normally him by the name C-Minus Project but he has a solo record out under his own name. The album is called ‘Stories You Wouldn’t Believe’, and now that there is no C-Minus Project guise to hide behind, it’s just you Sam.

SS: It’s always been me, Leigh. I just got tired of the name to be honest. I just don’t think it’s a cool name and it was a bit confusing…I’d turn up and play solo and go “Hi, I’m Sam…C-Minus Project…and it’s a mature sounding record and it’s time to do the mature thing.

LT: It is a mature sounding record, but I kind of want to talk firstly, on a couple of the songs on this album you’ve actually named certain real life people that are close to you. Most people who don’t know you personally wouldn’t think too much of it but when we do, the song actually becomes a lot more meaningful. Are you aware of changing the songs content when you become very specific about actual life?

SS: I’m aware of it but it doesn’t factor into it. I’m not really slagging anyone off. If I mention someone’s name it’s usually about something pretty nice, or I’m trying to remember some good time or something…so I just would feel dumb name checking someone else…you know…if I was talking about a certain experience and…you know if I was singing about my friend Scott and then I called him…John! To me it would be kind of lame…

LT: But when you write a song with someone very specific in mind and you’re sort of talking about the people in your life, does it take it to a whole new dimension because you’re not only writing a song that is semi-autobiographical…

SS: Yeah, to write and perform something like that is very personal. It’s possibly the most extreme songwriting you can do I think. It’s a very personal record and by mentioning those people it becomes more personal to me. Therefore, for me…it makes it stronger I guess?

LT: And what is it like when you’re on stage and then you’re singing these songs to a whole bunch of strangers? Songs which are very intimate and presumably written in the comfort of your own bedroom.

SS: It’s always been a bit confronting for me but it’s what I do and if those people I am singing about are there, then its kind of nice. But you know, I’ve started to play a lot of places where they’re not going to be. It doesn’t have to be about those certain people though; that’s the bottom line. If I’m singing about my friend Scott, it could be about anyone. I just don’t feel comfortable changing the name to a fictitiousness name, that’s all. The songs are universal; it just happens that I’m singing about someone specific.

LT: So as an audience member it wouldn’t feel too weird hearing you sing these songs? It doesn’t feel like I’m prying into your life? Like I’m reading your diary?

SS: I think it’s always been that way though, that’s why I’m kind of used to it. I think that’s kind of what I do best. Very honest kind of writing. Most reviews I get mention that it’s like a diary entry and I’m ok with that.

LT: So you’re ok with the idea of people looking into personal life?

SS: Well, I’m not that kind of a person…I’m kind of a standoffish kind of person to be honest…but the fact that I’ve written these songs and made a CD and released them to the public…I’ve got nothing to complain about if people pry because I’m kind of inviting them…but its not not consciously inviting them…that’s just how things are.

LT: You mentioned the album’s a lot more mature, and I’d say the sound of the album has improved a fair bit. It feels less home made but more home spun. What sort of things did you want to get out of this album?

SS: I wanted to record an album that was timeless sounding in the sense that it wasn’t ‘alt-country’ or it wasn’t ‘electro-clash’ or whatever (laughs)…

LT: Not genre specific.

SS: It just had to be current, and something that if you put on in a year or two’s time it still had to be natural sounding. So everything was recorded pretty much live, and there are not too many effects and when there is an effect its there for a reason. I just wanted to write a really honest record and not hide behind too many characters…which again comes back to mentioning real life people. I was stepping out solo as such, and it just felt like the right thing to do. And I wanted to make it more upbeat musically; it’s very much a band record whereas the first one was me and some layering here and there. The last one had six full band songs whereas this one has twelve. I just wanted to step things up a bit.

LT: It’s funny because you wanted to make a timeless record but it also has those very personal stories so it also pinpoints a very specific time in your life so it’s almost like another diary entry for you so you can look back in a year’s time…

SS: It is, but I guess I just meant musically timeless. I mean everything gets lumped into a genre; that’s just life. People sort of say “Oh its acoustic pop or its country pop” but if you listen to it…it’s not that twangy. They’re some songs I wrote and in my head I had a specific sound of how I wanted it to be and they all kind of flow together pretty well…I’m very happy with how it came out.

LT: How did you approach making this album? You say on your website that when you started this one you felt less fear and anxiety than you did on the first album ‘Less Than Perfect Day’, so where did this fearlessness come from?

SS: Originally we were going to a very much live sounding record in a studio of a week’s time and we were going to get Wayne Connolly to do it all. I had a certain budget. And then money, wasn’t so much a problem but … I was working somewhere … and I don’t want to give you my life story (laughs) but I was working somewhere and that money kind of dried up. I had to record on my own. So my friend Adam Wes Gregorace who plays in The Devoted Few, he’s always helped me and we made a record on our own and in the end we got Wayne to mix it. The fearlessness was…I didn’t have a choice. It was like “Now’s the time to make a record”. We borrowed some gear; a lot of it was recorded in my house but I’m really proud of the fact that it sounds like it was done in a studio. The drums were done in a big proper studio but yeah, I couldn’t afford a producer…I paid Wes something sometimes but it wasn’t an engineer’s fee. We just put our heads down and just did it. It was done a lot quicker than the first record, and just everything was poured into the record. On the first one, I was worried about the artwork and all these special guests but this time it was just a close knit amount of people. We’d record as quick as we can, but just make it really great quality and it seemed to work really well that way. There was wasn’t pressure from outside because I didn’t have a label, so no one was on my back saying “Where’s your record?” but it was more like a personal thing : to make a record and I want it out by a certain time and out by a certain time.

LT: And it comes back to that point where you were saying you’ve gone from C-Minus Project to Sam Shinazzi, but this album is more like a band record (laughs), so it’s almost like going back to the C-Minus Project thing. Tell us about the people you worked with on the record?

SS: Graeme Trewin played drums, and he’s my best friend and he’s always played with me and he plays in Peabody. It was pretty much the band I had in 2003/4…they played on the record. So Tessa Benjamin plays keyboards and Rob Cranny played most of the lead guitar and Beau Cassidy from Starky played bass…
LT: Did you have their parts worked before you started on the record?

SS: In some cases, yeah. But I’m not that much of a control freak. As long as it’s good I don’t care where it comes from. The drum ideas…some were mine, some were Graeme’s. If we…when I say we I mean if Adam Gregorace and I didn’t like it, it didn’t really make the cut. But they’re all tasteful players…that’s never been a problem for me really. I’m open to other people playing on my songs otherwise I wouldn’t invite them in.

LT: You mentioned that record is a lot more upbeat. Were there other things you very specific about when you were writing or recording the songs?

SS: Not much writing them, but recording them I wanted a really clear vocal sound that sat high in the mix, which some people don’t like but that’s just how I wanted it. And a live sound but not so much garagey or anything; just well recorded…

LT: Does that mean the songs will translate quite nicely in a live setting when you play with a band?

SS: Yeah, totally. There’s one song, ‘My Friend and a Free Day’ … and I don’t want to spoil it for people who are going to come watch us play (laughs)…but we just can’t master it in a band room…on the record it sounds great…but mostly yeah, it all comes out well as a band.

LT: In other news, 2005 has been a pretty busy year for you. You toured overseas and you also collaborated with your friend Jenny Queen. What was that whole experience like?

SS: It was amazing. I had never really been overseas. I spent a month over in America, in New York and LA mainly. I went to DC and Jersey as well. It was awesome. I played shows and realized that music is so universal…someone in a café in LA is going to buy your CD and someone in Surry Hill is going to buy your CD…it was really great.

Leigh then asks Sam to discuss certain songs from ‘Stories You Wouldn’t Believe’.

My Friend and A Free Day
That’s an old song, and I think it’s a happy song. Its not really a happy ending…people always say I’m this melancholic songwriter and you know…whatever…but that song I really like playing and it’s about being with someone special. It doesn’t have to be your love interest; just someone you’re really comfortable with. It’s about experiencing life. I’m really proud of the lyric in that one. It was a bit of a bitch to record but we got there and I’m really happy with how it sounds.

Getting Too Old
It’s a song for people who are on their own, and that could mean in life, or they feel they don’t relate to others artistically or in school or wherever…It’s about recognizing that everyone feels alone at some point but you’ve got to kind of keep your chin up…it’s another angry song but it doesn’t sound angry…it sounds almost cute. And I swear in it which didn’t please family members of mine. It’s probably the one song people raise their eyebrows at, which is a good thing.

Game Over
That’s a pretty angry song. It’s about people who think they’re better than everyone else for no apparent reason. It’s fun to play live. It’s probably the most obviously angry song I’ve ever written. It was fun to record, in my little vocal booth at home…just spitting out the words. It’s a song I didn’t want to write but I just wrote it and felt a little better afterwards.

Until Sunrise
I wrote that late at night. It’s exactly how it sounds on the album. I think I’d even been drinking, which is what it suggests in the song. It’s about when you want to talk to someone really badly, get in touch with them…and you can’t for whatever reason. My reason was it was four in the morning. You want to get across certain emotions and feelings but you can’t…and I had the luxury of picking up a guitar and write about it.

The Drifter
Personally speaking, it’s one of the best songs I’ve written. It’s pretty intense and personal. It’s six minutes long; it’s never going to be a radio song that’s for sure, but then again that’s kind of the beauty of it. It talks of a time which everyone can relate to, when things in your life are not going that particularly great. Things just seem to pile on top of each other. That’s what it’s about. It’s not about being defeated or anything; it’s documenting a time in one’s life.

Wyoming
A couple of years ago, well more than that actually, I was playing a show on the Central Coast of New South Wales, and my best friend Scott lived up there at the time. We made a bit of a weekend out of it. He and myself and our girlfriends at the time all went up. It was fun and we were hanging out and we had to go to the show. My friend Scott, he’s a little crazy in the head…like in a good way…and he made us walk from his house in Wyoming to I think Gosford or somewhere? It was an hour and a half walk and it was freezing cold. It was one of those walks where the two guys are hanging out and talking about…football and stuff…and the two girls are trying to make the best of it, even though their boyfriends are way ahead, or in our case I think, way behind. But when we all caught up, because it was so wet and windy and muddy…I accidentally kicked mud onto my girlfriend’s new pair of jeans…in a really bad way! It was such a mess and I was such a klutz and she was really pissed at me which she every right to be…but the beauty of the story is that it was a happy ending and we got to the venue and played the show and had a great weekend and I felt like documenting that time.