“I think the greatest thing for me about this band is having a whole bunch of people come along because they genuinely love the music we make and, more than that, they respect it enough to fall completely silent. I think that’s amazing.”
What’s your name then? Oh. And the name of your band…
“Samuel, and my band is called The Paper Kites.”
And what do you do?
“I play a bit of banjo, a bit of guitar and do a bit of singing.”
When did you start doing that?
“I don’t think there’s a particular defining moment when you start singing; you sort of just grow up with it. I picked up a guitar when I was twelve because I saw a girl on a hammock playing it and thought she looked cool. Banjo is only a recent development in my musical adventure; I only picked it up this year after watching Deliverance, but it’s a fun little instrument. I’m no banjo master though.”
Why did you start doing that?
“I guess in terms of singing, my parents put us kids in a lot of horrible local Christmas musicals, so that’s where it started… but even through high school I was always a guitarist first and singer second and never took it that seriously. I grew up thinking that it was cooler to rock out than to be a good singer. Then at one point, a respected frontman I knew told me that all he ever tried to do at a show was sing as well as he could. He said that’s all that mattered and when you can silence a room you’ll know you’re doing it right. Things kind of clicked from there and since then that’s kind of stuck with me.”
Do you think you’re good at doing that?
“Well, people seem to listen to us when we’re playing? Maybe that’s because we’ve had really polite crowds in Melbourne.”
If you weren’t doing that, what would you be doing?
“Actually I used to look after kids at an after school care, and this one little chubby boy would always poo in really strange places and it was horrible. I’d probably still be working there. Actually, nah.”
What makes you happiest about what you’re doing?
“I think the greatest thing for me about this band is having a whole bunch of people come along because they genuinely love the music we make and, more than that, they respect it enough to fall completely silent. I think that’s amazing.”
And what makes you unhappiest about what you’re doing?
“There are very few bad things about playing music. I guess though, at the same time it’s a very tough industry and we’ve all played in bands in the past and know how hard you have to work to do well. So if your focus is purely on ‘making it’ you’ll have a tough time. We do it for the love of it but it’s an easy thing to get caught up in.”
What’s you proudest moment of doing what you do?
“It’s the first band I’ve ever played in that my parents dig.”
And your least proud?
“I spilt a beer at the Northcote Social Club and never told anyone it was me.”
When are you doing your thing next?
“At The Corner Hotel on Monday December 20.”
