Interview with Welshly Arms: From Nothing But Static to what’s next

Sam, how is life on a tour bus?

Sam: It‘s interesting. We’ve been doing it for a long time now and gotten used to living and working together. In most jobs, you work with your colleagues and then go home to your family or your own space. On tour, though, when you’re living on a tour bus with ten or twelve other people, you don’t really get any personal space. Even after work, you‘re still hanging out together, sharing the same space. You have to work around each other’s quirks (laughs). It’s nice that most of us have been in this band together for a long time, so we really know how to work and live together.

Today is the last day of the tour. How do you feel about that?

Sam: I’m feeling good and grateful for the last week of playing shows out here in Europe. It’s been a lot of fun and refreshing to feel the love from Europe again. We plan to come back within a year. 

Do you have any rituals before going on stage? 

Sam: Before each show, we get into a circle and we either talk a little bit or pump each other up. We always end with what we used to call the Welshly Whisper. We‘d put our hands together, whisper „Welshly“ and then scream „Arms!“ as we raised our hands. For some reason, it’s evolved into „Beef Stew Shemmy“ as an homage to the actor Steve Buscemi. Some of us really like him. Someone accidentally called him „Beef Stew Shemmy“ and I thought it was so funny. 

So it turned into an inside joke within the band?

Sam: Yes (laughs). 

What goes through your mind before you go on stage? 

Sam: That’s when, at least for me personally, I slip into an alter ego. It’s almost like a different person takes the stage. So, in those few minutes beforehand, I’m transforming. It’s almost like getting into character. The moment I step on stage, nothing else really exists except the band and the audience. 

Like tunnel vision?

Sam: For sure. I feel like nothing could break my concentration. Everything else just fades away, and all I‘m thinking about is playing music. 

What’s the difference between Sam Getz on stage and Sam Getz off stage?

Sam: Probably fearlessness. Most of us carry around different fears and self-conscious feelings. It‘s really hard to go on stage feeling any kind of self-conscious thoughts. You have to let go of all of that – at least for me.

Let’s talk about your new album Nothing But Static. What’s the meaning of the title?

Sam: We’ve had a theme in this band since we’ve started putting out records. Our first full-length record was self-titled. After that, all of the album titles came from a lyric in one of the songs – but never from the title of a song. For the last couple of albums, I put together a spreadsheet with all the lyrics. I looked through and when I stumbled on a phrase, that outside of the context of a song, meant something that feels right for the full album, I chose it. For example, No Place Is Home is a lyric in the song Sanctuary. Back then, we were travelling a lot and nothing really felt like home. I saw that line on my spreadsheet and thought: „Hey, that speaks to me right now for this particular time.“

What made Nothing But Static stand out to you as the album title this time?

Sam: We had to make a few changes. We lost a few band members, but we also gained some great new ones. We’ve also made further changes to our operational processes. But all of that is really just noise. There‘s so much static – so much stuff that doesn’t really mean anything. When it comes down to it, the only thing that really matters is the music we make and the connection we have with our audience, with our fans. So Nothing But Static stood out to me as the theme this time. It comes from a song called Get it Started. 

Get It Started is one of ten songs on the album. How many songs didn’t make it to the album? 

Sam: Well, this album is a little different than our traditional way of making albums. The songs are kind of grouped into pairs, with each pair being written around the same time. Every song was released as a single until the day that the album came out. The last one was Tell Me That I’m Wrong. Then we packaged them all together and called it Nothing But Static. Even before the album was released, we had already started working on our next record. This one is going to be back in that traditional sense of an album, where we’ll release everything – except for a few singles – at the same time. I’d say we’ve already written more songs that will actually make the record. If it ends up being a ten-song album, there will be probably another ten, maybe even twenty songs that don’t make it. 

Anything else you can tell about the new album?

Sam: I can. I think this next one is going to be the first one that really reflects what our band has become with the addition of our two new members, Anthony and Nate. It’ll be the first record they’ve been part of from the very beginning, from the initial conception. So it will have their obvious influence. I think that’s going to have a profound effect on both the songs and the overall sound. We’ve also been experimenting a bit more and trying out some different sounds. 

Back to Nothing But Static. What’s your favourite song on the album?

Sam: Tell Me That I’m Wrong is my favourite. I think the reason is simple: it’s the newest one. It was written and recorded the most recently. We’re just playing it for the first time. And a lot of times, as an artist, you only feel as powerful as your latest work. Right now, I’m just feeling very empowered sharing it.

I was blown away by the song Shelter and its lyrics. What is the song about?

Sam: It’s really about being in a tough place that you aren’t going to be able to get out of alone. It’s very similar to Save Me from the Monster in My Head, where it really is a call for help, but also a thank you to those who are there for you. It’s about having that help to get out of the dark times.

Is there a song that changed its meaning for you after it was written?

Sam: Actually, most of them. Legendary would be one that comes to mind. It probably changed ist meaning several times over the years, which is fun because it’s a song that I want to play every night – and probably will want to play every night for a really long time. I’m a different person now than I was when I wrote that song, so it needs to take shape. I took inspiration from, in my opinion, the greatest basketball player of all time: LeBron James. 

Oh wow, I didn’t know that. 

Sam: I’m biased. He grew up about an hour away from me, and he’s my age. So while I was growing up and becoming a musician, he was growing up and becoming a professional athlete. I had him in mind because he had gone to our hometown basketball team, started his career there and really became a legend. But I was also thinking about the band. It’s almost like a motivational speech. At the beginning, there are times when you get a bad review or something else happens that’s really discouraging. That’s what the lyrics are about: „I think they got it all wrong. We just got to hold on and on and on. We’re going to be legends.“ But I didn’t mean it in a very sincere or serious way. I meant it more in a funny way. Then, as time goes by, you find yourself playing a festival in front of 20,000 people, singing a song that was originally about getting past those early stages, and it actually takes a whole new meaning: „Oh man, yeah – anybody can do this.“ So now that song has become like a bookmark for me, if that makes sense (laughs). 

I love the song. It’s incredibly inspiring. 

Sam: That’s so cool. And it still is for me, too. 

Interview and Photography: Michelle Brey