The Sam Haiman Band are a four-piece rock’n roll band from New Jersey, U.S.A. Sam Haiman is lead singer and songwriter as you’d expect and has a throaty, raw voice that sounds like he leads the rock ‘n roll lifestyle to the tee. The band are all good musicians and have a rootsy sound, coming across as authentic in a way that, say, Nickelback don’t. They are the sort of band you’d want to find playing in a bar at night, though am certain much bigger venues await them.
Coming from New Jersey, it’s no surprise to find that Springsteen is a big influence and nowhere is this more evident than on Darker Side Of Town, which is a great opener to the E.P. It has a driving, cinematic quality that The Boss’ best songs have, but there are other influences at work with the Foo Fighters-esque chugging guitars. It has a truly memorable chorus and I loved the passion in the vocals towards the end.
When You Fall is another strong song with more of a country/folk influence, especially in the catchy guitar lick. It is more mid-paced with surprisingly poetic lyrics and a nice, concise solo by Haiman. Gave It All is more rockin’ fare with an excellent chorus. Haiman sounds great singing in tandem with drummer Remy Felsch, who supplies backing vocals in the same way Dave Grohl did for Nirvana. Felsch’s drumming is very good on this track and is good in general, never overplaying. Great solo on this one too.
Ballad of Broken Hearts is the lighters-in-the-air song that every good rock band needs a couple of. Haiman sounds rather like Eddie Vedder on this track, showing he can do epic rock with the best of them. He delivers another strong chorus and perhaps the best solo of the lot. Definite potential single. Running On Empty starts with just acoustic guitar and slowly builds into a slow burning tale of a woman’s emotional struggle. I thought the lyrics were superb on this one, Haiman knows how to tell a story across a song.
Out of My Element is a great finale, a funky upbeat rocker with a brilliant Chili Pepper’s style guitar riff and I heard some nifty bass playing from Brett Frey also. The whole band play their hearts out on this one and I loved the brooding instrumental section with the wall of guitars. Overall, a very enjoyable twenty minutes of music, it’s nice to know there are still some great rock ‘n roll bands out there.
