Page 17 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2023

The Band That Thrives on Community...

Although Sammy Rae and The Friends continue to book bigger venues further
away, Rae emphasizes they’ll never forget where they started out.

“I think every New York show is really special because every time we play New
York, we expand,” Rae smiled. “When we started, we were booking maybe one
show a month and it was for fifty people, but then suddenly it was for one hundred
people, and then it was for two hundred people, and we started to expand in this
way that was really rapid. But whenever we come home to New York, I always see
faces that I remember from the very early days.”

“A huge memory that I’ll carry with me for quite some time happened just last week:
we played Central Park Summer Stage, which is one of the largest, most exciting,
and most coveted outdoor venues in New York. It's in the middle of historic Central
Park which creates this deep sense of community throughout that whole show, and
I recognized so many people from my community at that show, as well as met a
collection of new fans; that's really special and those memories are always really
powerful -- to play in New York is to also play for your friends,” Rae said warmly. “It
can get hard to be a touring musician, being away from your home for a majority of
the year can become very lonely, so to return home always feels like a hole has
been filled in my soul.”

Seeing as it’s right in the band’s backyard, Rae gushes how their band’s bucket list
will never be complete until they perform Madison Square Garden, and with their
fan base climbing, and a prospective new album being released by Summer of
2024, that goal becomes more attainable with every song and stream.

“It’s very difficult to write music on the road, so with our next few months of ample
time off the road I want to become the band that takes over the city,” Rae grinned.
“I love touring more than I love sitting still, but I want to get to a place where our
creative process and our communication skills as a band are extremely effective,
and we’re being recognized and remembered by our listeners as a band with every
album being better than the last.”

Add Sammy Rae and The Friends discography to your playlists today and keep a
watchful eye out for their debut full-length album next summer! Until then, in the
words of Sammy Rae and The Friends, “Do whatever you feel!”

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