As I wrote about recently with Maren Morris, artists experimenting with multiple genres is nothing new. Led Zeppelin could go from folk-inspired rock (“Going to California”) to heavy metal (“Immigrant Song”), the Beatles, Stones, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Miles Davis, Taylor Swift, Chris Cornell, Madonna, The Byrds, Eagles, the list of artists who have evolved is endless.
However, seamlessly going from being a punk and hardcore frontman to making a brilliant soul album is about as rare as Shohei Otani striking out 10 batters and hitting three homers in the same playoff game. But that is exactly the unheard of feat British singer Sam Ryder has pulled off.
It has indeed been a crazy journey for Ryder, who lived a whole musical life in bands before success on Eurovision brought him to solo fame. And now after all of those different turns, he has found his voice. The result is one of the best albums of the year with the stunning Heartland.
I spoke with Ryder about the unique path from mosh pits to playing for families.
Steve Baltin: What’s the craziest pit you’ve ever been in?
Sam Ryder: I like Enter Shikari pits. They’re good fun because you’re having a good time, but you’re not fearing for your life at the same time. It’s just a vibe. Sum 41’s last tour they were playing at Wembley Arena, and I went to see them only a couple of months ago. I went down into the pit, and it was just a vibe. Early Avenged Sevenfold, early Billy Talent shows I remember; Parkway Drive is a good one as well, Lamb of God I could go on.
Baltin: What’s the craziest be you’ve ever seen at one of your shows?
Ryder: Oh, mate, it would be going back now. I don’t really get pits at my shows these days. I’m playing a different sort of music. But back in the day, we had some good ones. I particularly enjoyed some of the shows we did in Russia, actually, when I was in a punk band. St. Petersburg would just be going off, but to be fair I totally forgot South America. South America pits were insane just like wicked little push pit vibes.
Baltin: I was looking at your Instagram and watching the wonderful songs you were doing on the streets where it’s all families.
Ryder: Yeah, thank God there’s not a pit there. Yeah, it’s a different flex these days.
Baltin: I saw your one too where you’re talking about the fact that you don’t have kids, but if you did, it would imagine it would be like this. Was it something that you naturally found as you got older, that you started migrating towards more family-friendly music?
Ryder: That’s a good question. I think you always see the value and the draw of something that you don’t have in that moment. When I went out and sang with Enter Shikari recently when they did their Wembley show. I was looking at the crowd, and I was thinking, “Oh, man, I miss being in a band that caused the crowd to behave in this way, crowd surfing, mosh pits, everyone just going wild.” But I also know what it’s like to have that because I’ve been in bands that have done it before, and I remember even back then I’d watch bands that were like a singer/songwriter, and the crowd would just be the most animated, they would be jumping or waving their hands around or clapping and singing along. There is value in every sort of crowd artist dynamic. And depending on the music that you play at the time, you always look over the fence a little bit. And we’re like, “Ah, it’d be sick to have a crowd that would do that one day.” But I count myself lucky. There are not many people that are playing in the popular music space where they come from the hardcore punk space or heavy metal space, and they know what it’s like to be making music in those genres and with those crowds. So, yeah, I’ve experienced a few different sides of the coin. But I am enjoying, first and foremost, the point I am at now. For the foreseeable future I believe in just trying to be the best vocalist I can be, to improve and push new ground there. And for an audience that is into listening to that they just want to listen, and there’s a respect there that is really cool as well when you can sing in a room and it’s pin drop quiet. That’s something beautiful in itself.
Baltin: I’m sure it feels very natural to have gone from the punk stuff to this more soulful sound because your tastes evolve as you get older.
Ryder: When I think back to those years where I was jumping around on stage and I still jump around now, to be fair but in a different sense, there was way more aggression in the movement back in the day when I was playing in punk bands. So, when I think back to then, a lot of the singing was mixed with shouting and yelling. I knew I had a voice, and I knew I wanted to use it because I would come off stage and the artists I’d be listening to were like Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston and stuff like that. So, I was living this double life where my gigs would be yelling down the mic and just blasting my voice. And then I’d get on a plane and put Whitney on or something. And I’d be like, “I wonder what it would be like to sing soul and Motown.” That was where my voice wanted to be, and I longed for it. I got to a point where I was like, “I’m kind of wrecking my voice and wasting something that I could do by being in this space. There are people that could do the hardcore punk thing way better than me and I feel like I would be better suited stretching my legs a little bit in soul music.”
Baltin: It must be so gratifying that this is the sound you always wanted to do, and people are responding to it so positively.
Ryder: The road to Wembley is the same with the road to the sound, I’m going to be breaking new ground and blazing that trail for a long time to come. You don’t reach the sound that you want to make totally in one album, there’s ways I know that I want to push new boundaries with that and but I’m using Wembley as a master to me in my studio right now is the ticket stub for that Wembley arena show. So, yeah, that’s cool. Not many artists get to play there. It’s like an iconic mecca of music.
Baltin: When you’re at Wembley, do you imagine you’re going to be feeling that spirit of Freddie Mercury and Zeppelin and all these people?
Ryder: One hundred percent, man. You’ve got to pay respect to it as well when you’re there and just be thankful that you’re living in a time where a venue like that is open and available to be played in. A lot of famous venues in London don’t exist anymore, like The Rainbow or something like that. They exist only in memory now or live recordings like Thin Lizzy at The Rainbow or something like that. You imagine what it would have been like back in the day to play there, but we get to sort of envision it in real life and live it through playing a place like Wembley. It’s monumental for an artist to play there.
Baltin: When you think of playing this album to 20,000 fans, what are those songs for you that you are most excited to envision the crowd singing back to you?
Ryder: I think there’ll be certain moments that will be quite emotional. Playing “Space Man” there will be amazing because that was a song that kicked all of this off. And it’s found a really special place in a pocket of culture over here in the UK. It really resonates with the kids, their parents and their grandparents. I look out and see it weaving its magic when we play it. People are buzzing. A lot of people will be at their first show ever. They’ve never been to a concert before and they’re screaming along to “Space Man.” Or I see how families or couples react when we play “More,” which is a song about really relishing the present moment and everything amazing that you’re getting to experience in it because it’s not a given, it’s not forever. But in that pocket of time, you have everything. Obviously, the new records are going to be so interesting to see how people respond to them. The new album will be out a few weeks before Wembley so fingers crossed all the fans learn the words and they’re buzzing. But the new songs can be really helpful in a bit of a vibe. In a world they have a certain soundscape to them, which is fun to bring to life on stage with the lighting and the stage design and stuff like that. They lend a bit more of themselves to that kind of approach.