Sammy Rae & Friends Share New Single 'Thieves'
The track was released with a live video.
By: Michael Major Mar. 08, 2024
Sammy Rae & Friends have released a seductive new rock'n'roll earworm- “Thieves.”
“To be blunt, the song is about petty theft,” songwriter Sammy Rae says. “It's a song about shoplifting - a song about getting what you want and precisely when you want it. In our brains, we wanted to write a song about kids stealing, and what we came up with is a definitively anti-authority song.”
“Thieves,” follows last month's release of “Coming Home Song,” and together they mark the first two releases of new recorded music since she burst onto the scene with her two EPs The Good Life (2018) and Let's Throw a Party (2021). Since those early releases Sammy Rae & Friends has become a juggernaut.
With a live experience that fans liken to church…or an exorcism- however you see it, it's an exultation and a cathartic release like no other musical act can offer. In the few years since she started workshopping her live show at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall, she's grown to selling out 5000 cap venues from London to LA and continues to add to her fervent fanbase.
For as much as Sammy Rae & The Friends may be a band, this collective of dreamers and artists considers themselves a family first. They flourish in any spotlight with a combination of all-for-one and one-for-all camaraderie, palpable chemistry, deft virtuosity, and vocal fireworks. Their sound is a mélange of Sammy's influences, rooted in classic rock, folk, and funk and sprinkled with soul and jazz.
Complete with a rhythm section and two saxophones, The Friends had a stellar year of high-energy performances throughout 2023 playing their biggest shows and festivals to date, including Central Park Summerstage, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and their first-ever international headline tour, which saw them selling out venues from North America to the UK and Europe, including London's 5,000 cap Apollo Theatre two times.
Rae has been building toward this moment since moving to NYC from Connecticut in her early 20s. Finding herself without a built-in peer group, she simply built it herself: the literal and proverbial Friends. When she started playing shows, she made sure the audience was part of the family too.
Everything that's happened since, from the EPs to sold-out shows in major markets and secondary markets alike across North America and the UK & Europe, to high-profile festival sets around the world, including Bonnaroo's main stage, Sound on Sound and more, has been based on friends telling friends. This year, they'll take it up a notch with a major North American headlining tour soon to be announced, along with festival stops and spring and summer dates of their own and with the Avett Brothers. Full tour dates below
As they prepare for the release of their long-awaited debut full-length album in 2024, Sammy Rae & The Friends have come to represent more than just a band: they are a full-on movement being adopted with refreshingly diverse clientele.
TOUR DATES:
* w/ support from Sir Woman
# w/ support from Fleece
+ w/ The Avett Brothers
March 08 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MO*
March 09 - Bogarts - Cincinnati, OH*
March 10 - Electric City - Buffalo, NY#
July 05 - Noches del Botánico Festival - Madrid, SPAIN
July 12 - North Sea Jazz Festival - Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS
Aug 20 - KEMBA Live! - Columbus, OH+
Aug 21 - Masonic Temple - Detroit, MI+
Aug 23 - Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica - Cleveland, OH+
Photo Credit: Mia Aguirre
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