Sam Lapides (born David Samuel Lapides, August 14, 1962, Irvington, New Jersey) is an American singer-songwriter, known as the guitarist and lead vocalist for the bands Ghosthouse and Folkminers. He cites Paul Westerberg, The Replacements, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan as influences. His folk-rock sound has been classified as Americana (music). [1] Throughout his career, he has produced a variety of recordings and completed numerous tours of the United States and Europe.
As the youngest of five children, Lapides was raised on the East Coast, moving between New Jersey and Maryland. He settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he attended Community High School where he played drums and joined local band The Evaders. He began playing guitar and started busking on the campus of the University of Michigan. In 1987, he recruited a band to play his songs. The Folkminers developed a rapid local following and released a cassette recording and a self-titled EP.
The Folkminers disbanded in 1988 and Lapides moved to Boston and then Los Angeles in pursuit of a music career. Like on the streets of Ann Arbor and in the subway stations of Boston, Lapides continued the folk tradition of street performance and occasionally played on the boardwalk of Venice Beach. One day while performing a song by Dream Syndicate, the song's author and indie-rock legend Steve Wynn (songwriter) happened to walk by. Wynn liked the rendition so much that he decided to produce several songs. [2]
At this time Lapides had just formed his band Ghosthouse. [3] Another of Lapides’ heroes, ex-Rain Parade guitarist John Thoman, joined the group. They released their self-titled "Ghosthouse" on Italy's Club de Musique Records. [4] They toured Europe several times in 1994 and signed with European label Semaphore. Ghosthouse released their third full-length recording "Thing Called Life" in 1995 on Semaphore. It was released in the United States on Birdcage Records in 1996. [5] They toured with label mate Stan Ridgway several times. The band continued performing and recording until they disbanded in 1997.
During a brief move back to Boston, Lapides put together a band,(featuring noted local bassist Christian T. Bachmann) to record new material for his first solo CD, "Wake up from the Wasteland" on Bluerose Records. [6] The release was met with critical acclaim and Lapides moved again to Los Angeles. After another solo CD, "We’ve Walked These Streets" on Inbetweens Records and several European tours and the successful re-release of the original "Ghosthouse" CD, Lapides decided to reform Ghosthouse. [7]
In 2003, the band reformed. In 2004 they released "Devotion" on Bluerose Records. [6] To support the CD, Sam toured the Netherlands and Denmark where he was joined by guitarist Robin Berlijn of Fatal Flowers and Ellen ten Damme. In 2006 he released a CD of cover songs "Ghost in Me" in tribute to some of his favorite artists and to commemorate his history doing covers and busking.
Between 2006 and 2014, Sam Lapides played shows in Europe and Los Angeles with various friends.
In early 2014, Sam formed a new band called Sam Lapides and the Rotten Liars. The band included Cliff Conley on guitar, David Dieckman on bass, and Kristin King on drums. Cliff, who played with The Chi-Lites and Eugene Record, brought a R & B element to Sam's songs giving them a bluesy swing. In 2015, they released a CD entitled "Bodie," named after Bodie, California of a ghost town that inspired Sam to write the new songs on the release. [8] Paul Rutter and Aaron Guitierrez play bass and drums on the "Bodie" CD.
In 2019, Scotty Persico, from The Holy Broken, replaced Cliff Conley on lead guitar.
In 2021, Scotty was replaced by Bill Lloyd. The current line-up is Sam Lapides on guitar and vocals, Bill Lloyd on lead guitar, David Dieckman on bass, Kristin King on drums, and Julie Fergus on background vocals.
Sam Lapides lives and works in Los Angeles with his wife and artist Maureen Maki.
Dread Zeppelin is an American reggae rock band. Formed in 1989 in Sierra Madre, California, the band combines hard rock and reggae styles with humor. They are best known for performing the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style as sung by a Las Vegas Elvis impersonator. Over the years they have also performed songs originally by Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and The Yardbirds. The group toured extensively around the world during their tenure with I.R.S. Records.
"Street Fighting Man" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, written by the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Considered one of the band's most popular and most controversial songs, it features Indian instrumentation contributed by Brian Jones, which has led to it being characterized as a Raga rock song. It also features controversial and ambiguous lyrics about armed revolution. In the United States, it was released as a single in August 1968, while it was not released in the United Kingdom until four months later on the Beggars Banquet album, where it opened side two. The B-side of the American single featured "No Expectations", considered one of the final Stones tracks in which founding member Jones played a significant role in its construction.
Sebadoh is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his songwriting when J. Mascis gradually took over creative control of Dinosaur Jr., in which Barlow plays bass guitar.
The Coral are an English rock band, formed in 1996 in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside. The band emerged during the early 2000s. Their 2002 debut album The Coral, from which came the single "Dreaming of You", was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and listed as the fourth best album of the year by NME. Their second album, Magic and Medicine (2003), produced four UK Top 20 singles, including "Pass It On". In 2008, after guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones left the band, they continued as a five-piece.
The Moldy Peaches were an American indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band has been on hiatus since 2004. The appearance of their song "Anyone Else but You" in the film Juno significantly raised their profile; Dawson and Green made a handful of reunion appearances together in December 2007.
Superdrag is an American alternative rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They are best known for their 1996 single, "Sucked Out", off their album Regretfully Yours, for which a video was played on MTV. The original lineup reunited in 2007, releasing a full-length album in 2009: Industry Giants. The same lineup reunited again in 2021.
Un-Led-Ed is the debut album by Dread Zeppelin, released in 1990. The album received a public endorsement by Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant, who claimed he preferred Dread Zeppelin's cover of "Your Time Is Gonna Come" to the Led Zeppelin original.
"Where the Streets Have No Name" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's third single in August 1987. The song's hook is a repeating guitar arpeggio using a delay effect, played during the song's introduction and again at the end. Lead vocalist Bono wrote the lyrics in response to the notion that it is possible to identify a person's religion and income based on the street on which they lived, particularly in Belfast. During the band's difficulties recording the song, producer Brian Eno considered erasing the song's tapes to have them start from scratch.
Smash Palace are a power pop rock band currently based out of Southern New Jersey.
"Sweetest Thing" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It was originally released as a B-side on the "Where the Streets Have No Name" single in 1987. The song was later re-recorded and re-released as a single in October 1998 for the band's compilation album The Best of 1980–1990.
M.O.T.O. is an American garage punk band currently based in New Hampshire. Formed in New Orleans in 1981 by Paul Caporino, the lineup of the band has seen many changes over the years, with Caporino being the only consistent member. The band has recorded many albums, singles and CDs, including several albums for the Chicago-based record label Criminal IQ Records.
The Doctor is the ninth studio album by Cheap Trick, released in 1986. It was produced by Tony Platt and reached No. 115 on the Billboard 200 Chart.
The Cassettes are a Washington, D.C., based "Mystic Country"/Steampunk band formed in 1999.
Ross Andrew Hannaford was an Australian musician, active in numerous local bands. He was often referred to by his nickname "Hanna". Widely regarded as one of the country's finest rock guitarists, he was best known for his long collaboration with singer-songwriter Ross Wilson, which began as teenagers, with The Pink Finks and forming the seminal early '70s Australian rock band Daddy Cool. Hannaford died of cancer after being diagnosed a year earlier.
Yukon was an American three-piece experimental band from Baltimore, Maryland.
Six Pack is a Serbian punk rock/pop punk band from Smederevska Palanka.
Joseph Jack "Severs" Ramsey, better known by his stage name Jah Paul Jo was an American musician, singer and producer best known for creating the novelty band Dread Zeppelin. From 1983 to 1988, Ramsey was the singer/bass player in The Prime Movers. Ramsey was also the owner of independent record label Birdcage Records, which has released albums by Dread Zeppelin, The Prime Movers, Stan Ridgway, Ron Asheton, In Vivo, The Mystery Band and others.
Adem K is an Australian independent rock musician and songwriter. As a founding member of the group Turnstyle, Kerimovski is credited with helping to revive Casio and toy keyboard integration in rock music in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Australia.
Keywest are an Irish pop folk band formed in Dublin, consisting of Andrew Kavanagh, Andrew Glover, Luke Murphy, and Conor Ray. They are signed to Marshall Records in Europe, and Eleven Seven Records in America, and are widely known for their rise from the street busking scene to the mainstream music industry.
Ed Alleyne-Johnson is a British electric violinist and prolific busker. He has been busking since he was a Fine Art student at Oxford University in the early 1980s. He uses an electric violin he carved with a kitchen knife, a custom pedalboard and portable amplifier. This setup has enabled him to perform on the street in almost every major city in Europe, and across the United States and Canada.