Deliveryman Interview
7 Jul 2011
The C-Minus Project (Indie/Unsigned Artist for June 2003)S
Deliveryman
In a convoluted fashion, Sam Shinazzi has links with many artists I have featured on this site in the past, both unsigned/indie and mainstream. Shinazzi’s name has most recently cropped up as contributing musician & vocalist on Jenny Queen’s new album (‘Girls Who Cry Need Cake’), and credited as co-composer of all but three of the songs on that album.
Taking a step backwards though, a look at the musicians who feature on the latest C-Minus full-length album (‘Less Than Perfect Day’) will bring back memories of the days when this page was the main focus of the site, and visitors were introduced to The Kubes, a pre-fame Starky, Peabody (to name but a few), all of which have vague, or not so vague, links to this latest album. Even alt.country musician (and recent Gram Parsons biographer) Jason Walker gets a look in.
With a mixed bunch of musicians like this, one might very well ask which direction the new album leans towards – since I haven’t heard more than a snippet of a couple of tracks from the album, I admit that my own enthusiasm and admiration for this outfit is based on the (predominantly) acoustic (and solo) material which has featured quite prominently in my CD player of late.
Shinazzi is a self-confessed Dando/Morgan/Smudge fan, and has featured as guest musician on tours by these artists (as well as the more recent incarnation of ‘Sneeze’), and to some extent his acoustic material is along similar lines to that of those musicians with whom he has associated himself. This might seem a little removed from the raucous punk of Peabody, with whom he seems to have surrounded himself recently, but since this fella seems to turn up in some rather strange places, one is left wondering where, and with whom, he is going to show up next. On the other hand, he’s been around long enough to have established a bit of a reputation for himself, and perhaps the fact that the nucleus members of the hugely popular Peabody have associated themselves with this album is the turning point in Shinazzi’s career. Perhaps the commercial viabilty of Peabody’s own ‘Professional Againster’ has rubbed off on Shinazzi’s ‘Less Than Perfect Day’, and bring him the recognition he so deserves. I’m looking forward to hearing this latest from the Shinazzi camp, and just hope that raw talent hasn’t been sacrificed for a stab at attracting a wider (dare I say ‘less appreciative’?) audience.
