West Coast Love: Sam Alviar
Tunezy has been super busy lately on the East coast, with the success of #styleandsound, the upcoming KollaborationTO and #oneTO. Here’s a little West Coast Love we had lately.
On August 30th, Y57 hosted the 4th Annual Battle of the Bands, an event showcasing young and emerging artists. Y57 is an alternative media radio broadcast, spotlighting and supporting musically inclined youth. This annual event provides tools for young musicians to reach the next level in performing, including studio time, media showcases, singing lessong, and even photo shoots!
One of the young talented acts to be featured was Sam Alviar and his electrifying band, who have been defying the odds and making the rounds in high exposure venues around Vancouver, despite being fairly new to the scene.
Musically bred from a young age, Sam attributes his musical talents to his family. “Everyone on my dad’s side of the family is super musical and plays at least 3 instruments each. I grew up around karaoke. After holiday meals we would just pound back the turkey and head to the basement to play music."
After playing the drums for 5 different bands, Sam got the itch to start to experimenting with lyrics and melodies. Soon after, he wrote his first song at 19, a gift for his father’s 50th birthday. Through his experience playing around town, began the organic creation of Sam Alviar and his band: Myles Koebel on bass and backup vocals, Adam Baldwin on lead guitar, and Sam’s best friend, Jonathan Mitchell on drums.
Sam is influenced by Coldplay, City and Colour, Tallest Man on Earth, and describes his sound as a mix of blues rock, folk, indie, acoustic, and possibly alternative, "I don’t even know what alternative is these days”, he jokes.
Meet Sam Alviar.
What was your Aha moment in realizing music is what you wanted to pursue and create?
Music has always been a part of my life, and my family is really supportive. I didn’t really have an Aha moment. When you find something you really love to do, it just makes sense to spend alot of time doing it. The more I performed and wrote, the more it solidified creating music was what I wanted to spend my life doing.
What should we expect from you in the near future?
Right now, we are recording our new album, and it’s the first album with everybody on board, in full band arrangements. We are recording 7 to 8 songs, and will be done by October or November. We are also tentatively planning a West Coast tour, so stayed tuned for that.
You’ve played a lot of high exposure venues in Vancouver, including The Cellar, Ceilis, and The Backstage Lounge. If you could perform at any venue in the world what would it be?
MSG in New York and Wembley Stadium in London. I’d love to play Glastonbury Festival.
What is your guilty pleasure/secret song on your playlist?
Love Story by Taylor Swift. It’s my jam. It’s perfect.
Tunezy is bringing power to the fans and artists, and focusing on engagement rather than pure monetization. What are your thoughts on the future of music, with the rise in new technologies and social media?
I love how you can share your music and you don’t know who’s going to hear it, or what kind of response you’re going to get back. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt. It’s really cool. I’m still kind of in shock about it.
What’s your Blue Sky dream?
Seeing a lot of people enjoy my music, and having it impacting in some way. For example, at one of our shows at the Backstage Lounge, a wedding party showed up and 10 couples were dancing under the spinning laser to one of my songs. The groom came up to me later and said “I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.” Those moments make it worthwhile for me.