Credit: Found On Internet

In the U.S. this summer, a bee-like buzz about Brooklyn band, Sam Champion, has been building into a tinnitus-inducing screech. This four-piece have the melodies of Spoon, the quirks of Stephen Malkmus and the throw-back pastoral charm of The Band. With that winning combination, they are about to play the important music industry wing-ding that is the CMJ conference before celebrating their first UK release with their first UK live dates. Music Towers catches three of Sam Champion in their first British interview.

These adopted sons of Brooklyn share their name with a particularly glitzy, blonde, blue-eyed weatherman on breakfast television’s Good Morning America. However, the two Sam Champions keep their distance. “We let him have midtown and he keeps a low profile in Brooklyn. It’s cool,” Sean ‘Bones’ Sullivan says wryly. “I don't think he cares,” suggests Noah Chernin. “Except I went to some online music store and they use Wikipedia for artist bios, and our bio was his! But that’s the music site’s fault and laziness. In my mind, I’ve never connected our band and him.”

Sam Champion is Noah (lead vocals/guitar) who works at the Bowery Ballroom, Ryan Thornton (drums/vocals) who works at a day nursery, Jack Dolgen (bass) an ex-park keeper, and Sean (guitar/keyboards/vocals) who is a production designer at a company which manages events such as the current New York Fashion Week. “I will be dodging bitch slaps tomorrow when Fashion Week starts!” he groans.

The four mostly met at college including newest member Sean. “Noah and I met in a dorm laundry room. He was winding down from some sort of acid trip and I wanted his opinion on whether I should check out some laser show on IMAX. We never made it there.” According to Noah, “friendship and a general respect for each other’s quirks and record collections” has kept them together.

Sean joined Sam Champion after they already had recorded their debut LP, 'Slow Rewind'. Not long after, they left their record label. A charity funding scheme pretty much saved them from having to call it a day. “Jack's smiling face and good vocabulary saved us,” says Noah. “He did all the work.”