I Can Give You Sampology

Posted on Jan 25, 2014 in Interview

He may have saved the world from the apocalypse in 2012 alongside Bruce Willis, and now he’s going Beyond Bollywood on his upcoming tour.

Sam Poggioli (PAH-jee-OH-lee), better known as Sampology, is an up-and-coming Australian Audio/Visual (AV) DJ and producer with heaps of artistic ability and an affinity for Turkish remakes. He’s released two original albums in the past three years and continues to tour around the world, recently playing at Baby’s All Right in New York on January 19th. His productions are energetic mixes of samples and synthesizers. His live AV performances combine music, art, and visuals, and have earned him praise from the New York Times and The Independent.

We had the opportunity to chat with the young artist about his work, B-movies, and what the future will hold for his wild head of hair. Here’s what he had to say:

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ICGYH: How were your shows in NY?

Sampology: The first one, the visual set went really cool, unfortunately the second one had to get cancelled because of the weather.

 

I guess the weather is a little different there than in Australia right about now.

Yeah I think a few days ago, Adelaide in Australia was supposedly the hottest city on Earth for that day, so we’re going through some pretty intense heatwaves while NY is like the opposite, yeah.

 

So you were born in Brisbane and you still live there?

Yeah I’m still based there, I have a heap more shows in other cities in Australia, but I play in Brisbane about 4 or 5 times a year but- Brisbane is one of those places where… basically like a big country town but it’s one of the best places in Australia for kind of developing what you do, just because it’s so… such a relaxing and slower paced city.

 

How was it growing up there? What were your influences?

I kind of spent most of my time indoors in High School. I played some sports but the influence growing up probably had a lot to do with my older cousins - they’re 10 years older than me - that were doing music at that time and they kind of taught me production. During their gigs up and down the coast I’d play DJ sets in between bands which was really cool, and yeah just hanging out with them. Working at a record store was also a big kind of influence, I worked at a second hand record store for 4 years. So, my first introduction to really playing music - to DJing - was firstly more in live music venues rather than night clubs. So the crowd was more there for bands, more for checking out something musical rather than just kind of grinding on each other and just night club stuff - not that there’s anything wrong with that - but it was just a cool experience. And then um, they actually had a DJ in that group who left and so I ended up joining that band for a little bit as well. That was a really fun experience.

 

Of course you’re doing much more than making music. You also make your own video. Did traditional art influence you at all?

Um, not really. I never studied visuals or art after school. But it’s funny enough my mom is actually an art teacher and my dad’s a musician. It was one of those things growing up where I didn’t really think too much about that - that’s just what they do for a living. I’d already been DJing for quite a while when I started integrating the visual component into what I do and up until that point I didn’t have any training in video editing or anything to do with that at all.

Looking back that was kind of cool because I didn’t really get taught the right way to do anything. It was more just, having ideas and trying to figure out how to edit video or combine video and audio in an interesting way. So just having ideas and then finding out the actual processes in putting those things together. A lot of the time I think about what I do is kind of like - a lot of time I’m doing it the wrong way but that’s kind of fun when there are no rules and you can just kind of do whatever you want with it. For me the most important thing is the idea rather than the process of actually being correct.

 

I also read that Bruce Willis was an inspiration to you. Bruce Willis… What’s that all about?

(laughs) Well that was funny. Because in Australia, usually the touring circuit I do, I’ll do two visual sets a year. With four seasons in a year - two of those will be visual sets and in between them I’ll just do DJ sets while I’m putting together visuals for an upcoming show. But once a year for one of those visual sets I’ll do a theme show and in 2012 the theme for that show was actually - cause everyone was talking about the end of the world, apocalypse and stuff - I did kind of like a take on that. I kind of decided I wanted a central character of the show people would recognize that I could kind of juxtapose the image. And it didn’t take long to figure out that that person would have to be Bruce Willis. Like who else is gonna save the world? Like he’s such an iconic figure.

 

 

It was really kind of an intense thing putting together that set. Just because I was consuming so much content either watching movies or getting an illustration done of his face which I used through the whole set. Um, and I was just kind of… staring at his face for so long. I spent so much of my time during that period looking at Bruce Willis’ face that it really - I developed these weird relationships with him. It was kind of creepy but yeah um… (laughs) ah… Yeah I don’t know what else to say about Bruce Willis.

 

So did you end up watching all of his movies?

I tried to give myself a diet of one Bruce Willis movie a day. I wouldn’t say I’ve seen every single one but I’ve seen most of his work. And then what was the tv show he was in? … I watched as much as possible.

 

Any particular favorite movie of his?

I’d probably say The Fifth Element is my favorite. Not that it’s my favorite movie but it’s a fun movie to watch multiple times. Hudson Hawk was not like awesome, but you know it was kind of weird - that I enjoyed. Something about it was weird and interesting which I appreciated.

 

 

As a visual artist, are you passionate about or influenced by film at all?

Yeah what I enjoy doing with this stuff is I get to spend a lot of time researching things. So yeah I’m into B-movies and all different areas of cinematography and all that kind of stuff. My interest is really combing that into coming up with stuff I can perform to a crowd. At the moment I’m going back to Australia to do a Bollywood theme tour - Beyond Bollywood. It’s not like all Bollywood but it’s kind of like remixing that stuff which is actually interesting because I went to India for the first time a month and a half ago and did a tour there, and it was something I was both interested in in terms of Indian music and film. But that’s kind of allowed me to delve and immerse myself in Indian cinematography and a lot of films from the late 70s and early 80s. That’s what I’m kind of immersing myself in right now. Yeah it’s fun to kind of geek out on that stuff.

 

Maybe the most initially apparent component of your work is your music which has a lively, sometimes-tropical feel. What role does that play in your work?

It’s something I’ve always done. And yeah, dub, reggae, tropical flavor’s always been something I would find myself coming back to as an influence. I like playing around with different tempos as well. At the moment what I’m enjoying heaps is when I’m making a new track for myself - an original - thinking about how I’m going to visually perform it as well which I’m kind of doing a lot more. Because I think it’s interesting to try and combine the two.

The last one I did which was a collaboration with Beanie Man and DJ Butcher called “Dancehall Queen” which I did the video clip for, all in a similar color-scheme to what I’m using in a lot of my visual sets at the moment. So that kind of represents the color scheme in the look of a lot of my current content.

 

(“summer lounge room studio” posted January 3rd)

 

You seem to use a lot of samples in your music. How much is original and how much is actual being sampled?

I’m probably sampling less, or I’m replaying stuff. There are samples through a lot of the tracks and sometimes I’ll get them cleared, other times I won’t if it’s like less risky, but now…the future stuff… all of the sample tracks I’ll probably put out for free. Other stuff I’m finding I’m like re-recording myself. The unfortunate thing - my personal opinion on sampling is like, I wish, from a legal standpoint, it was a lot more open. Because I love music that samples other things and takes something and redefines it in a really interesting way like I really enjoy doing that. But from a legal standpoint, definitely as time goes on you can’t get away with it as much, which kind of sucks. I mean like, for example, some of Diplo’s early stuff, he’s sampling a lot. Now I like the way that he re-contextualizes things. But as time as gone on I can see he’s sampling a lot less just because he’s working on a bigger scale. I think sometimes it’s maybe a bit of a letdown to know that things aren’t as open as you’d want them to be from a creative standpoint.

 

What does the future hold for Sampology?

I think the next thing is just more original production. I guess I just wanna keep making… I guess art. Whether that be live music or visual sets and combining the two together. But hopefully another album by the end of this year.

 

What about new mediums?

Um… yeah… I think I’m really interested in the next releases I do combing interesting packaging for it. Like, the “Dancehall Queen” video has a certain look to it and a color scheme, and the illustrator I work with for that - I’d like to combine some physical prints as well as a kind of collaboration with the illustrator I work with. There’s a lot more I want to do with visuals - a lot more avenues to go with in terms of that.

 

Since you animate your videos currently, will you ever have a traditional music video?

Yeah, I don’t know. I feel like it’s been so hard to come up with an original idea for a music video… I don’t know. I find it more fun thinking about an idea for a music video for my shows as in like to perform to a group of people and have me engage with them. I think it’s a lot harder to come up with a music video that’s just being played in a traditional sense of like, whether it’ll be like a music video tv channel, something like that or YouTube. I’m not specifically the best person to do that kind of thing. I really like making music videos to engage with people at a live music venue.

 

How does what your doing fit into the mix of major festivals?

I think for me, what I’ve always enjoyed doing is anything that’s kind of different. I find things interesting if it’s not completely defined and for me with the AV set it is slightly different because it’s not like a super-defined thing or function a lot of people are doing. So in some ways it’s an advantage but on the other hand it’s um - it kind of takes a little bit longer to introduce. It’s something that’s hard to describe in words to people sometimes. It’s just like sometimes people need to kind of see the show to actually fully understand it. There have been a lot of challenges with it but the rewards are really good.

I’m really hoping over the next year or so I will have more in place over here. Just because how things have gone in Australia I’ve found it really fun playing festival circuit. Most big festivals in Australia - it’s really really fun to engage with people in that kind of setting. I’m hoping to do that heaps more in America.

 

 

You go by Sampology, people call you an AV DJ, and we’ve talked about you as an artist… but how do you define yourself?

I’m not really sure. I don’t really think about it too much in depth. I know how I enjoy spending my time. Everything I’m doing with the DJing and production and making visuals to engage with people, that’s actually what I enjoy doing the most so it’s what I spend my time doing. I don’t know how to define myself other than that really.

 

We’ll obviously be placing a picture of you alongside this interview, and people might wonder… You’ve got some pretty wild hair. Is that still going on?

Ha, yeah the hair thing’s still going on. I mean when I’m in NY I’m wearing a pretty thick beanie but yeah it’s still there (laughs).

 

What does the future hold for your hair?

I don’t think about it on a daily basis, what the future of my hair is, but um… I’m not sure. I enjoy having my hair the way it is because I don’t have to do anything to it. That’s the look. It’s a zero maintenance hair. So it’s like the look, but at the same time just a lazy life choice. I just wash it two times a week and I don’t comb through it ever. Yeah I’m just really lazy basically.

 

Any upcoming shows to make people aware of?

I’ll be back in March doing some AV sets. Everything I do I collect on my website Sampology.com. Yeah if you wanna check it out - full visual sets - there’s a couple recorded up there.

 

Lastly, any movie in particular you think people should check out?

There’s a lot. I’m watching a lot of Bollywood movies at the moment. There’s one called Piravi which is really awesome, from 1988. But some years ago I also discovered all the Turkish remakes. They went through this phase of… I think in the 80s… there was a bunch of Turkish remakes of American movies. Like they did a Star Wars one, they did a Superman one… I think Star Trek as well.

Sooo bad. Like so bad they were awesome. I think in some of the movies they actually show parts of the movie they’re taking off as well -they just blatantly cut to scenes from the actual film. For example in the Star Wars remake, they actually cut to big shots of the Death Star or whatever it is. Obviously, probably because they didn’t have the budget to remake the special effects (laughs). They’re pretty amazing in a bad movie kind of sense. They have a lot movies, I had no idea.

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Sampology will be releasing a brand new track, “Show Me”, on January 31st which coincides with the beginning of his Beyond Bollywood AV tour. For more information and content visit www.Sampology.com, and check out his music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and iTunes.

 

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