Sam Fender: The sudden meteoric rise of Britain’s newest indie darling

As someone whose taste in music leans more to the alternative and indie genres, the radio format is something that irritates me.

I’m more comfortable listening to classic rock and indie bands such as Queen, Metallica and New Order, rather than the majority of hip hop that takes up airplay on most stations today. A saving grace from this however, has been the music of Sam Fender.

Ironically my introduction to Sam was through his first few singles which were on heavy rotation on radio. I was fairly intrigued by the lyrics of Dead Boys’, which talks about the stigma of mental health in men, something that I myself have struggled with at times. I then heard Hypersonic Missiles’, the title track to his debut album and then it clicked. This song felt as if it was exactly what I was looking for, here was our generations How Soon Is Now’ or Blue Monday’, I thought. The song’s lyrics fit perfectly with the world’s current situation and given the fact it was released in mid2019, more or less foreshadowed it.

One of the reasons I relate to Sam so much, would be that he’s a fellow northerner. He was born in North Shields in Newcastle, a city I consider a second home, as the majority of my mother’s family is from there. Sam’s troubled upbringing and teenage years in the north of England gives his song writing and music a genuine feel not seen in many artists today; harkening back to classic indie bands such as The Smiths and The Smashing Pumpkins. With both albums from his discography hitting No1 in the charts, he is becoming a sought after live performer, with comparisons being made to a young Bruce Springsteen.