West Sussex singer songwriter Sam and Sounds on the delights of busking

His first three singles have outdone each other.

Do it All Again, Addicted to You and Cloud 9 soared to 200,000 streams within three months of his debut and more than 32,000 monthly listeners.

“Just before lockdown I had found a producer who fitted with my sound,” says Sam who lives in Lingfield.

“I got into the studio on March 4 and 5, and it was at the point where I was saying to my dad ‘Should I go or not?’ and he was saying ‘If you haven’t got the symptoms, you are fine.’

“None of us knew what was coming.

“But once we got into lockdown, I just had this crazy creative spurt.

“I have got ADHD so sometimes I am absolutely crazy creatively and sometimes I am absolutely creatively dead.

“Often you can take the time pressure to force creativity, but with lockdown, I had lots of time, and I just got into the flow.

“I started going to bed at a good time; I started getting up at a good time; it was all much more of a routine.”

And it all started to come together.

“ I got into a good habit and I started writing these songs.

“We released the first one to test the waters, and we just thought if it does well, then amazing; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter.

“But it did really well and took off, so we released another one which did even better, and then another.”

He is now on single number four, In Time She’s Mine.

Sam puts the success down to a number of possible things.

“Dad, who is my manager, used to be in the music industry. He found a really amazing marketing streak and it has been going really well.”

Important too, though, have been the lessons learnt while busking.

“Crawley is a great place to busk.

“I know Crawley has got a little bit of stigma as being a bit dodgy sometimes, but having been a busker there for a while, I know it is a lot different to how people sometimes see it.

“Lots of people come up and talk to me… and almost talk to me for too long!

“They have conversations, asking me how I am doing, saying I should go on X-Factor.”

It’s all a great reflection of the town, he believes.

“The people in Crawley are really down to earth, really genuine and really generous.

“Busking is great because it means you can build up your social media. I have a little sign with me saying what my social media is.

“But it’s great also because busking three or four hours a day gives your three or four hours of paid practice.

“If I do two hours and stop because it is raining and I haven’t made much money, I still think to myself that it is two hours’ paid practice I have had!”

You can catch up with Sam and Sounds via his social media on the following platforms:

https://www.instagram.com/sam_and_sounds/

https://twitter.com/sam_and_sounds

https://www.facebook.com/iamsamandsounds