Joe Samba is embarking on a little East Coast tour starting Jan 29th. I’ve seen Joe’s show a few times, and it’s not to be missed. His website says he “blends reggae, rock, hip hop and punk into a vibrant and emotional sound.” I whole-heartily agree with that. I feel his music has something for everyone.
Joe described his music and said, “The root of it all is this reggae rock thing but I like to express as many influences in there. If you listen to my album front to back, there’s a lot of different influences. I was exposed to a lot of different music at a young age.
I got to listen to his whole album (“Lifeline”), which was released in 2024, and the 10 track recording has many special guests like Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce, and more), Wax, Jarv (2018 interview), and Mihali (2023 interview). It starts out fierce, with a banger of a song in “Culture War”. It’s really funky, with solid vocals. Track 3 “Little Love”, I instantly thought about sitting on a beach, and the lyrics literally say that. It’s a fun, upbeat, reggae song that says, “Put a little love in what you do”, and you can feel Joe loving what he’s doing. Track 4 “Lost Boy” is my favorite. It’s hard to say that since the entire album is great but I’ve seen him perform this live. This track is more rockin’ with a Ska feel, and a horn segment. Track 7 “Surfside” (Feat. Jarv) is another banger. This one has a heavy rock, punk and ska feel, that’s right in your face. I hear hints of Pepper, whose label (Law Records) Joe is on. Track 8 “Home” (Feat. Mihali) goes back to reggae. It’s fitting that Mihali is on this song because it’s a perfect vibe for those two. The song has an island vibe to it. I could listen to this on repeat.
Joe just finished tracking another album, at The Halo Studio in Maine. There’s no release date yet, but he plans on releasing some singles from it this summer. He said, “The engineer Kevin Billingslea I’ve known for 15 years. We used to play in metal bands together. It kind of came full circle doing a reggae rock album. It was an experience for him. It was cool.”
Joe, having played in metal bands, took me by surprise, so I had to find out about that. Joe said, “I’m a music fan, I’ve always loved everything. My Dad raised me on funk, soul, R&B, but my brothers listened to Metallica and Black Sabbath, but then I discovered Hanson and all these pop things when I was 7-8. I’ve always listened to everything. In my angst years, metal stuck out the most. I was in a metal band that did some light touring when I was 16-20. When that band was done, I had already written a few reggae songs, and discovered there was a reggae scene in the Northeast, miraculously. The rest is history.” This explains all his different influences.
Joe’s been a singer since a young age. He said, “My dad’s a bass player. I would always have some sort of an opportunity to jump up on stage as a kid. Guitar came when I was 15-16, before that I was taking piano and drum lessons. I’ve always been playing, it’s just kind of been in my world. Piano was my first instrument. My dad explained that if I started with piano, you get a sense of everything from the melody to the bass to the rhythm but younger me didn’t get that I just wanted to play the drums. It’s a great introductory instrument to understand music more. I look at it now and I’m glad.”
Joe’s been writing music since he discovered music, like when he was 7-8. He said, “I was messing around with lyrics and melodies, not full-fledged songs but like little silly rhymes. I’ve always had an itch for it, I’ve always wanted to write. I started writing songs properly when I was 12-13. When I was 14 my Dad brought me to a studio in Haverhill, MA. It was my first experience and I cut a 3 song demo.”
Joe said his writings have varied throughout his life. “When I was in the metal band, the lyrics were a little more rough around the edges. They weren’t necessarily about my life, not about a specific thing. You’re trying to be deep when you’re 16, it’s kind of hard. I would always try to put together words and sentences that had people saying, “Ooh, cool”. That’s what I’ve always tried to at least capture. I have a family now with two kids and a wife. “Lifeline” is mostly about that change in my life. It’s a little more mature than my last record, more so relatable to the family man than relatable in other ways.”
From the video channel of CALIFORNIA ROOTS
His son is 4, and his daughter is 1. At his son’s preschool the kids told what their parents do. One said a doctor, firefighter, and Joe’s son said, “My dad’s a rock star.” The teacher pulled Joe aside after and questioned him about being a rock star. Joe said, “I told them I’m a musician. I wouldn’t consider myself a rock star but I do play music for a living. They said, “That’s so cool”. It’s cool that he can say that and be proud of it. They asked me to sing some Christmas carols for the class this past Christmas. It was really fun.”
This reggae thing started for Joe in 2019. He was gigging around Manchester, NH and playing the 3 hour bar gigs. He said, “I was the reggae rock guy. If it was a reggae day, I was their guy. I’d play covers and some of my originals. When I released my first record,independently, in 2019, to my surprise it ended up #1 on the reggae billboard charts for that week. That’s kind of what got things started. I didn’t have any crazy expectations. I had fans who wanted music, and an album from me so I put one out and it took off regionally in Southern NH, and MA. My shows started picking up and from there it just got bigger and bigger.”
Joe likes to make people happy and said, “The world is kind of crazy with everything from family life to beyond. It can get kind of heavy, and I like being the guy who can get people’s brains away from that sh*t for a few hours and be into something together and have some fun. Whether they’re listening to one of my songs on Spotify and they can relate to it, or they’re at a show, having a few drinks and dancing. I love it. It’s still fun. When it stops being fun, I’ll stop. There’s a lot of high highs, and low lows in playing music for a living but whenever I’m playing a show, I’m happy and having fun. No matter how pissed off I was before, it’s gone.”
You can find Joe on all the social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram but he said he’s most active on Instagram. His website is www.joesamba.com. His music is on Spotify, but he said wherever people stream music, it will be available. My friend Rick Kuehl, who I’ve been to Joe Samba shows with, said the videos he’s filmed of Joe are some of his favorites. You can find some cool music videos of Joe on YouTube. Joe ended by saying, “I’m everywhere.”
TOUR DATES
Jan 29 Pickle Barrel, Killington, VT
Feb 7 Ocean Mist, S Kingstown, RI
Feb 13 Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, Baltimore, MD
Feb 14 Scandals Live, Virginia Beach, VA
Feb 15 Rehoboth Ale House on the Mile, Rehoboth Beach, DE
Mar 28 Baltimore Soundstage, Baltimore, MD
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