An Interview with Sam Bradley

Some of you may be familiar with the movie "Twilight" and none other than the lead actor Rob Pattinson, but what about the music? What about the writers of the music that made the movie so intense? Well, a childhood friend of Rob's, Sam Bradley, is one of them. He co-wrote Never Think from the Twilight Soundtrack.

I came about Sam Bradley's name on Twitter as he became a trending topic called the Sam Bradley movement (#sambradley). I had to find out who this person was so I researched his name, pulled up his myspace page and started to sift through his music. I was blown away. It is not very often that I am pulled into a tune or a song that gives me an unexplainable uplifting feeling, but it happened with Sam. I had to know more about him so I set up an interview over the phone one Saturday afternoon. After some Skype technical issues (my operating error of course) we were on our way.

Full name: Sam Bradley

Birthplace: London England

Birthday: August 29, 1986

Sibings: 4 Sisters

Worst Habit? Smoking

Biggest Pet Peeve? People telling me to quit

Michelle: Hello Sam, how are you?

Sam: I am good, and you?

M: Great now that I can hear you and you can hear me!

M: Give me a quick rundown of who sam Bradley is in 5 sentences or less:

S: Young man with ambition, integrity & Passion. I believe that writing was something I was meant to do.

M: Where are you currently living?

S: Vancouver

M: I heard you had a dog, what kind and his name?

S: Husky-Alsatian-Lab mix, his name is Blue

M: Since your first language is English, do you have a second?

S: I have never been asked that before, yes I speak a little French.

M: At what age did he know he wanted to be a musician?

S: 17, well when I was 16 it was planted in my head and by 18-19 I knew for sure.

M: How did you know that writing and playing music is what he wanted to do?

S: There were a mixture of reasons, I left school at 16 and I was working really shitty, sorry rubbish jobs and when I was in Canada I met a girl; it didn't last. I started practicing the guitar, which made me sad and happy then I started writing and it made me something. I was not happy at the time with my singing-over singing. But 4 months later I quit my shitty job.

We were shortly interrupted by my 3 ½ year old Keira, who was searching for me around the house and found me behind the closed doors in my office. Sam heard her talking and chuckled and said hello there! She said hi and he proceeded to ask her name and I had to encourage her that it was ok to talk into the computer at this voice that was coming out of it. After the introductions we were back on track.

M: what artists are you inspired by.....look up to?

S: I am more inspired by music, something that catches my heart, ears and feet. But normally I would say Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, and Babyface.

M: Are there any artists that you wish to work with or have already worked with?

S: My mum, she is a singer. Friends, band mates and I have written with Mitzy Dawn.

M: What inspires you to write about the things that you do?

S: Experience, Say I go away or travel or whether it's just walking down the street. I sit and reflect on my experiences. Most influential are people in general.

After he answered this next question, I was a bit embarrassed that I did not know the song....

M: Did you write "Give my love to Rose" Can you explain that video on you tube and the lyrics? S: No, that is a Johnny Cash song. The idea behind the video was an idea that just came together. My mother's cousin, also a singer, Avril Bradley had her grandmother visiting at the time and she loved that song. So, I had a silly idea and asked her to be in the video. It looked as if she was the "Rose" the song was about.

M: Yes, that is what I got from watching the video; it was great and a touching video.

S: Thank you!

M: What is Sea Blue about in your interpretation?

S: It is about a person saying to another that they need to clarify....(off the record he told me a bit of what the lyrics meant, but asked I leave it up to the listener) well, its really meant for the listener.

M: What is your favorite song?

S: Sea Blue is my favorite.

M: What is your most embarrassing moment on stage or personal?

S: Well, I accidentally spat on a girl in the front row of one of my shows. (laughs) I stopped the song and said I was sorry, I never saw her again.

M: Do you have a favorite Venue that you will never get tired of going back to?

S: Grey Horse in London.

M: Are you in a relationship?

S: I am in a relationship with my music.

M: How old were you when you had your first kiss? Remember her name?

S: I was 8 years old, her name was Sasha she was a classmate.

M: What do you want to say to your fans before we end the interview?

S: I'm coming to meet you!

We chatted briefly after the interview and he said he was getting ready to start up some more projects and that he was excited about the journey ahead. I had also asked if there was a chance for him to release a record soon and he said his plans were to release an EP of some recorded songs and maybe some live ones as well. I told him I would schedule a follow up later on down the road to see if any of his plans have changed or if he added any new ones.

On that note, keep your eyes open for this rising artist and writer and check out all his sites below and even more important listen to his music, including his version of Too Far Gone. He has so much ambition to do what he loves and I can promise he will be inspirational in what he does and he will be successful at it!

http://www.facebook.com/sambradleymusic?ref=nf

http://www.myspace.com/sambradley

http://twitter.com/samueltwitt1

http://www.youtube.com/user/samueltube1