Samvega Uses Inspiration to Transcend Genres
If you’re reading this, congratulations, you woke up today! It’s a good start, right? Now you have to get about your routine, do the things you need to do to survive and the things you’ve decided you have to do to thrive in the late stage capitalist wasteland hiding under the thin veil of shiny-eyed prosperity and other lies. If you’re fortunate to do it multiple times and run through the same repetitious cycle long enough, we all start asking ourselves questions like what’s the purpose in doing any of this, how long is this going to last until it’s all over, and if it’s all going to end anyway why do I have to wear pants?
Philosophers, poets, and priests have been pondering such existential matters for as long as anyone’s existed to feel smug about appearing smart, but no one really has any answers (except for the pants one; that answer is “because you skipped leg day.”) However, the sudden shock of realizing that uncertain meaning combining with awareness of a very certain end to light the burning desire to just do something good in the face all that futility has a name in Buddhist teaching. They call it Samvega.
“We aren’t Buddhist,” says Mercedes Baker, synth player, vocalist, and ¼ of the band Samvega,“but we like the complex surge of emotion that eventually leads a person to change; the shock that the world is different from your original perceptions followed by anger, helplessness, and finally a desire to change. Change is such a constant in life and yet we resist it with every fiber.”
Change has been fairly constant for Samvega in the course of becoming one of the best live rock acts you haven’t heard yet, but the other constant has been a genuine friendship that all started in a Wisconsin back courtyard shared by drummer/vocalist Pat Feistel and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Melissa Baker. “We became instant friends,” shares Feistel. “Six months later, Merce moved out to Wisconsin and our bonds have stayed as strong as ever since that incredible happenstance.” After finishing their college education, Feistel and the Bakers migrated from the Midwest back to the sisters’ native California where they played in separate bands that did shows together around Napa Valley before merging through attrition into the original version of Samvega, a rock band designed to shift as the spirit goes.
“We decided that this group would take on any and all ideas, just to see where the music would take us without a preconceived notion of where it should go,” Feistel says. “The strength, trust, and eager exploration in music that flows through all of us is truly the foundation of Samvega.” The original core of the three friends cycled through members and ideas for a few years before eventually change happened again, this time sparked by a chance encounter.
“A friend brought Henri to our painting studio,” says Mercedes Baker. “They were forming a band that became our brother band, who we played many shows with and started doing larger productions together. We became friends, art conspirators, and production junkies in those years and as the years proceeded, members fell in and out of Samvega. Then Henri’s band also split apart. He joined initially as a trumpet player, and then easily slid into guitar player, singer, and collaborative writer,” and just like some fabled meeting of the tall, dark stranger at the Black Crow King’s crossroads who steals their way into hearts, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Henri Woulfe became a beating part of the now complete Samvega’s.
Figuring out who is in Samvega is easier than figuring out just what they’re doing, even for the band. “Samvega’s music is a little hard to describe since we are not a genre-specific band,” Feistel describes. “We refer to our music as heavy psych rock but it is more and different than that. I always ask people after our show what our style is. The answers are all over the place but one of the responses we routinely get is people describe our music and performance as a journey that this band has taken them on. It’s more than just a band playing music on stage; it somehow touches the inner heart, soul, and minds of the audience. Another common response is that people tell us how inspired, hopeful, and transcendent that journey was for them. It is one of the greatest things that I feel we can give to people.”
Well, that certainly sounds like a lot of smoke and hokum in this age of illusion and algorithms aiming to numb us into submission, but it’s neither a sales speech nor a shell game. It’s completely genuine and, though everyone’s will vary, not far off from our experiences with the band. We’ve been doing this music thing for more than a minute and have seen more than a lot of bands play in more places than we can remember. We’d never even heard of Samvega when we first stumbled across them performing live, but after a few minutes were so entranced that we messaged all our friends (both of them, but the imaginary one left us on read) to come see what was happening. We’ve since seen them play every time we’re in the same area and have never regretted it. We also don’t know how to properly describe what they do, except to use the word “magical” more times than adults not wearing mouse ears probably should. What they have is truly a gift for sincerity rare in rock music and it’s wonderful to watch.
“In these times to be able to inspire and give hope is critical,” Feistel continues. “I don’t know where it comes from, it is not something that we plan out or try to make happen. We all fully trust and love each other. We allow each other to feel so secure in a vulnerable space when exploring musical jams and we will follow each other down any path or avenue that comes to any of us in those moments. No words, just the exploration of the flow of music. Maybe it is the honesty, the vulnerability, the trust that people connect with. Whatever it is, I am forever grateful for this group and what we are able to share and give to people.”
The music business as a whole is filled with cutthroat careerists, psychological vampires, and their assorted victims, so it’s refreshing to see artists who want to not only create for themselves but give back to the world at large. “I guess if Samvega has a goal it would be to continue to help people feel hope and inspiration,” Feistel muses. “I feel this is a gift that has and continues to be given to us. My goal is to get it and give it to as many people as possible. Our success is not about fame or money. Our success would be making and being a part of the change, part of the evolution and expansion of love, compassion, empathy, and hope that is so needed and necessary for all of us.”
We all have questions, we’re all confused on a daily basis about what any of this is about, and we all need a way to express the ever-present, indescribable Not-Knowing. Music can help us get outside of all that and maybe make a little change within ourselves. “Life is complicated, emotions even more so,” confides Baker. “We have simple words to describe an emotion, but the word Samvega describes an emotional overhaul. That’s what we personally seek in music, to convey the torrid sea of the mind and try to come out on the other side clearer, maybe even lighter.”
That’s beautiful. No questions asked.
Come see Samvega for yourself and maybe get a little lighter this Friday, May 16th at the Heavy Anchor (5226 Gravois Ave.) where they’re playing with local sonic surrealist superstar 7 piece They Need Machines To Fly? and the much beloved, much smaller trio Bagheera.
All photos by author – @sonicgallerystl
