Page 15 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2023
P. 15
“This band and our performance energy really The band continues to book bigger gigs and
drive to generate a safe space where our travel further than they had before. Sammy Rae
audience can come exactly as they are and feel and The Friends will be returning to Europe for
comfortable to do that,” Rae smiled warmly. “We a more extensive tour than their first UK stop,
want them to feel that they're very much taken for the month of November.
care of and hopefully see themselves
represented by at least one person on stage. It's “We did a short UK run this past winter, which
always been about keeping that personal was hugely fruitful, very exciting, and very
connection between us and the audience. We inspiring,” Rae gushed, “however, we only
often say it's a bit of an exchange of energy: we toured the United Kingdom. This time we’re
can't live this life that we love and live our dreams branching into some other places in Europe,
unless those people are showing up and such as Ireland and France! We source a great
supporting us. So, we try to exist in a constant deal of inspiration from the audience and I'm
place of gratitude and always find new ways to excited to play for some audiences and
say thank you and make every single audience countries that we've never been able to touch
member feel important for being there.” or visit before. It was amazing to see the
different ways that our music is consumed and
As the band’s fame continues to climb the ladder appreciated, and we were hugely grateful for
of success, Rae notes how keeping these being received so fondly in countries aside from
intimate connections with their audience is the United States. There’s a different sort of fan
starting to become much greater, though they culture and music consumption culture in the
will continue to find ways to show their listener’s UK that we were very pleasantly surprised and
how grateful they are for being their friends. inspired by. Branching out of familiarity leads to
“It was much easier to thank all of our fans at a inspiration.”
show when we only had 100 people in the
audience, but as we get to these larger venues Although Sammy Rae and The Friends feel a
we’ve found it to be a challenge to figure out how loyalty to their home of New York City, traveling
to generate that space of 'Thank you, your to the UK didn’t leave the band too homesick.
individual self, for coming exactly as you are and
offering what you are to this fan base, to this “It was amazing, the fan response in London
world, and to this venue.' It gets particularly hard was so similar to the energy of New York city,
when you're playing for 5000 people and there's and we normally find that each city has their
a whole balcony full of people that aren't even lit own fan resonance and cool appeal,” Rae
and you can't see them,” Rae sighed, “But we've smiled. “LA is different from Denver, Denver is
found ways of keeping that energy of ‘thank you different from Chicago, it’s all so different; but
for being here’, and we continue to find ways to we were very happy to discover that London
do that. We’re always looking for new ways to and surprisingly Seattle have similar fan energy
say thank you.” and interactions as New York City. We also
seem to stream almost as well as we do in New
The band’s listening analytics on Spotify alone York City, in London, sometimes better. We’re
have gone up almost 100,000 monthly listeners very eager to play London again, but bigger this
since March. time around!”
