Today we’d like to introduce you to Samuel Stein.
Hi Samuel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Samuel Stein and I am from Moorhead, MN. I have been writing music for as long as I can remember. My mom started me on piano lessons when I was about 5 so my first compositions were solo piano. Around middle school, I picked up a guitar and decided I liked writing words and singing them as well. I released a few albums just under my name throughout high school before moving to Eau Claire, WI to get my degree in music composition. I majored in applied math too but that’s irrelevant.
While in school, I wrote the music for two different theater productions and studied/researched under Dr. Chia-Yu Hsu. My band, Sad House Guest, got our start due to the pandemic. The gigs and recordings always had three others on them: my brother Ben Stein, my best buds Tor Kjartansson who I met in Moorhead, and Sam Lakmann who I met right away in college. But during the pandemic, it was time for a rebrand to a more community-centered project name instead of just my own.
Sad House Guest is a quote from the best movie of all time Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson. Being a malleable band, I and some combination of those three would play at any bar, basement, winery, brewery, or event we could. Our biggest shows probably happened right on my front steps in Eau Claire. In the fall of 2022, we toured around the midwest from Fargo to Chicago with our songs. We currently live in four different cities: Moorhead, Minneapolis, Eau Claire, and Chicago.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There are no smooth roads in music. If you’re trying to get a specific gig it sometimes takes about 10 follow-up emails before they get back to you with a “We’re booked that day. Sorry.” The biggest deterrent is not having the time or money to finish the projects you want to get done. It takes a lot to get something out there, and there’s not much return. That being said playing any show is a rewarding and appreciated experience.
It’s all about who you know. Moving somewhere where you don’t know anybody has its obvious flaws, which was the case when I moved to Eau Claire and the case again when I moved to Chicago. It’s more frustrating than challenging most of the time; you feel like you have everything ready for this cool thing but then nothing happens because you don’t know the right person.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am first and foremost a composer. Even with the band, my specialty lies in the writing and arranging process. How everything fits together is an incredibly addicting process. Sometimes I think of certain chords as different characters or colors, and then the job is to make those characters have a conversation or have those colors blend.
A lot of the time with lyrical writing the words will just attack me out of nowhere and then the job is to get the music to match the feeling of those words. Sad House Guest is my forever project. Writing and playing indie tunes is an experience that never gets old and is a necessity in my life.
I am also known for incorporating these indie-tune feelings into my more “classical” writing. My theater projects and chamber compositions all have the feeling of an amateur folk rock band putting something raw and natural together. I feel that’s what gets me closest to the stories I want to portray.
Any big plans?
Two huge projects I am currently working on are Sad House Guest’s first full-length release as well as a musical that will hopefully someday see production.
The album is set to release in fall 2023. It may even be released by the time this article is published, who knows? On it are the songs we have been crafting and playing for the past two years, on tour and in Eau Claire.
The musical is something I have been working on for the past two years, although the concept has existed long before that. It is based on a couple of Greek myths but based in realistic fiction, exploring different social dilemmas and class warfare. The music is a collection of indie-rock-theater songs that explore the constant struggles of 9 different characters.
In terms of location, I have recently moved to Chicago to see if I can make these projects bigger and more recognized. In terms of obstacles, I have not succeeded yet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sadhouseguest.wixsite.com/band
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadhouseguest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sadhouseguest
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sadhouseguest
- Other: https://samuelsteinmusic.wordpress.com/
Image Credits
Bridget Kelley, McKenna Dirks, and Anders Aspenes
