Sam Garrett ADD

Forward to Zion We Go! Interview with Sam Garrett

11/11/2023 by Gardy Stein

"The messengers gather to weather this storm as one (…) Medicine man, guitar in your hand (…) Medicine man, microphone in your hand, following the calling of the Almighty Jah Jah plan." In this beautiful track by Rising Tide featuring Mike Love and Clinton Fearon, the artists call on musicians and singers to bring us together and provide humanity with guidance and wisdom. One of those who heard this calling a long time ago is Sam Garrett, a musician and singer hailing from rural England who made the world his home.

Ever since his teenage days, he has used his talents to bring messages of love and unity to the people, and during his recent sold-out show in Hamburg, Reggaeville seized the chance to meet this fascinating person. Despite an approaching cold, he took the time to talk to us about his origins, about his unique blend of Indian and Rastafarian philosophies and about the creation of (and inspiration for) his album Forward To Zion. The result of this reasoning is a deeply spiritual interview revolving around the truth that we are all one family:

Sam Garrett! Great to have you here in Hamburg. Tell us how you grew up, when did you get involved with music, what were your influences in early life?

I grew up in a musical family, my father and my mother they met in a recording studio. My mother was a background vocalist and my dad was a bass player, that's how they met, so growing up, me and my brother were always exposed to a lot of music from Stevie Wonder to John Lennon to Ray Charles to Bob Marley and Dennis Brown, and a lot of Rock music and Punk music… everything really! So that was my life growing up, going to concerts and so on. I was always fascinated by music, I had a guitar in my house and started to play, and then it was kind of like that, it just grew. I never had guitar lessons or singing lessons or anything, somehow the spirit of music was really pulling my heart, it was calling me, and so I felt I have to answer this call and follow this path.

And other things in life, you know, as a kid when other kids they were more interested in video games and football and these things, I was always more interested in music and particularly Reggae music and Soul music. Any music that had this spiritual aspect, because I always had this feeling that life is a lot more than we think it is. When I would listen to these musicians, it really helped me to connect deeper to my spirit and to my soul, so then naturally when I started to write music and songs started to come through, it was really coming from this place, and it's still like that. I really feel it's not coming so much from my mind but more from my heart and soul.

How old were you when you started writing your first songs?

Maybe about 8 or 9… just very simple songs.

When did you start performing them?

Maybe around 12. When I was 12, I started playing my first concerts. And then, later, I moved to London, and then I started to bask on the street, and that's really where I kind of found myself, my way and my style and my playing, and this was a real joy. In India, they have these holy men and women called Sadhus, these people they leave society and they pursue a spiritual path. Very often you see them sitting on the side of the street and people come to them to receive their blessing and they give money to them, and I always had this strong connection to them. When I was in London, it was a funny thing, I would sit on the street, I would put a little blanket and sit on it, I'd have a little shrine and light incense and I would close my eyes and I would just sing. When I opened my eyes, there was lots of people, they just sat in front of me, listening to me (smiles), listening to my songs. I felt in a way that this is my path, just like these holy men, but it's through the songs that I can give a blessing, it's through the melody and through this vibration that this is the blessing for the world.

How did you connect with the Indian philosophy, when did you learn about Sadhus and all this?

When I was at Highschool, I was 15 or 16, I had a teacher called Mr. Harrison and he told us the story about Siddhartha becoming the Buddha, and after I heard this story, I raised my hand in the classroom and I said, "So, I can become the Buddha? I can become enlightened?" and he said "Yes!" That did something to my consciousness at that young age, that made me realize that there's something more than just what I'd been conditioned to believe about life. So then I went to the library and I got all those Hindu books and Buddhist books. And then, around 16, I also went to Jamaica, so then I got exposed to Rastafari, which is also for me a very similar vibration. It's already what I was experiencing, so the whole thing started to connect for me, that it's really one truth but expressed in many different ways.

Your earlier songs are more in the Indian tradition, with the instrumentation, the mantras, more meditative somehow. When did you start to play Reggae?

Reggae has always been in my life, but I haven't started really playing it and recording it in that way until… I had an album called Grace [2017], and on that album I started to experiment a bit more with Reggae. But for a very long time I was always playing, like when I was on the streets, I was always playing Reggae, and then I started to mix Reggae with Mantra, because in India I was exposed to Mantra, and then with Reggae, so I started to mix them together.

Your new album is called Forward To Zion. It is the first Reggae release you did, right?

It's kind of Reggae, but all these things… for me, it's music. You listen to Chronixx, you listen to Protoje, you listen to these guys, they play everything, it's not just straight Reggae. And a lot of them, when you hear them, it's just music, so this is my feeling also, it's like… it's not to get caught on one style. When I was younger, a lot of people said like, "What style are you?" And they wanna put you in a box and say, "Ok, you are Reggae, you are this, you are that.", but it's really… it's deeper than that, it's more than that.

Talking about the title of your album, Forward To Zion, what is Zion for you?

Zion is a state of being, a state of awareness where it includes everyone. It's a place where there is love and peace and harmony, brotherhood, sisterhood, compassion, kindness, care, where nature is thriving. Zion is really just… when we talk of Babylon, the system that we all grew up in, the system that doesn't have any respect for nature, it doesn't have respect for human life, it only has respect for its own agenda, its own greed, its own ego. So, Zion is the opposite of that, Zion is love and care and kindness for all beings. And the reason why it's Forward To Zion is because, during the pandemic, I was seeking guidance and I found His Majesty Haile Selassie, and when I found Haile Selassie and he came to me, I was seeking direction, I was seeking focus, I was seeking clarity and truth, and His Majesty just picked me up and said, "Forward we go, forward to Zion!" That's why the album is called Forward To Zion, because he really gave me this strength and courage and clarity to be myself without any fear and to really come to know his teachings and to see how important his teachings are now in the world today.

Beautiful. Can you say something about the producers and musicians that are part of the album?

Yes (smiles)! The album is also inspired by another brother of mine called Paul Izak, who lives in Hawai'i where I recorded the album. I've been in touch with him for some time, and I called him and said, "Look Paul, this is my idea, this is what I wanna do. I wanna do a Roots Reggae album, I want you to be part of it!" and he said, "Yeah, just come through!" He hooked me up with Sam Ites who is the drummer on the album, he plays for Mike Love, and also with Keith who is the keyboard player, he also plays with Mike. And then it was really just the four of us in the studio, with Dimitri, who is the engineer. I had the songs and I played them the songs, we had one rehearsal and we just did it! (laughs)

You said you went to Jamaica when you were 16, but you also went there quite recently…

Yes, in January!

Can you tell us about this experience? Where did you go, who did you meet?

Really, we went many, many places in Jamaica, but the intention of going was to visit this elder whose name is Ras Bongo. His wisdom came to me and inspired the song I & I on the album. I got in contact with a friend of mine who is actually the flagman for Damian Marley, his name is Judah, I spoke to him cause he was in a video with the elder. I was already connected with Judah, so I said, "Judah, you have to connect me with this elder cause I would love to seek his blessing to use his words for this song I have!", and he put me in touch with his son, Ras Gabriel. I called his son and I told him everything, and he said, "Yeah, no problem!" but he wasn't with his father at the time. Then I was here in Germany playing a festival, and I got a call, and it was the elder on Facetime with his face, just a big smile saying, "Yeah man, full blessing, full love!" and he just gave me the blessing to use his words and said how much he loved the song and how important the message is in the world today. He just fully supported me, so I just felt so happy, so when I went to Jamaica, the intention was to go and meet him and his family. It ended up being a whole spiritual journey and we went to the Blue Mountains and we stayed in a Rasta camp there called the Haile Selassie School of Vision which has become our family. We became baptized in their tradition, it was very powerful, and we traveled all over, Negril, Montego Bay… I just met so many beautiful beings, it was a very profound trip, a very spiritual trip.

Did you get to perform there?

Yes, I performed in a place called Jamnesia near Kingston, it's a surf camp, and then we spent a few times going up to Skyline Drive, to the Dub Club also, and getting to meet Chronixx and Protoje and Yaadcore and Kabaka Pyramid and Keznamdi, all these I've been listening to, that really helped and inspired also the album and my life, in this recent times, so it was a real blessing.

**You said Ras Bongo inspired I & I, was any of the other songs inspired by words of wisdom or by people?**

Yes, my spiritual teacher Mooji, he inspired the song Nearer Than Near. I had a very profound experience with him. I was holding on to a lot of ideas about life and, you know, what was right and what was wrong, and when he walked into the room where I was, it was like… I just felt this pure love from his presence, and I felt like I'd been living in like a dark hole or a cave for years somehow. And when he walked into the room, he didn't say anything, he just walked in, and it was like somebody opened the curtains in my own being, and I just felt so much love and so much joy and so much peace… Then he started to speak and he said, "Everybody is looking for something, everybody wants something in this world, but what you are truly looking for is nearer than near." And he gave an example of a knife that can cut so many things but it can't cut itself because it's one, and he said, "This is just our predicament as a human being, we seek to find something that we can't get, and what we are really looking for is our own self and that we cannot get because we are that." So the song is about this experience with him. And also Haile Selassie inspired a lot of the songs, especially Viva La Revolution, his words are the beginning of the album also.

Wow, thanks. You already mentioned some of the artists that inspire you, that you listen to, is there somebody hat you find especially intriguing or that you listen to a lot presently?

So many! In this time I just became really good friends with Marcus Gad, and we spent some time together in Portugal where I live, and I've been listening to his music a lot. Somehow it's this vibration, we just find each other, it's like… we have a similar message and the energy is very similar that we are putting out into the world. A big inspiration to me is Stephen Marley, I always loved his music, Mind Control is my favorite album growing up. All the Marleys really, they are all amazing.

Yes, I saw a reel in which you do a cover of Ziggy Marley, Brothers and Sisters, which I find very beautiful!

(laughs) Yeah, so I love all the Marleys obviously, and Mike Love, Marcus Gad… Keznamdi is a really an inspiration for me which I really love, Chronixx, Jah9, Protoje, all of them! There are so many!

And what do you think attracts people to your music? Why do they follow you, why do they come to your concerts?

I think we are all seeking connection, seeking for peace and harmony and clarity. I think that in our society, we've been conditioned to believe that this comes through money, success, family, a car and a house, to be a success in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of your parents, to be a successful human being or a good citizen. And I think it doesn't work, it doesn't make you happy, I've seen that in my own life, in my own family, and what I found is that we are really seeking this unity, this connection, firstly to ourselves and to God, and then to one another and to nature and the world around us. I think it's all connected actually, I don't think there is anyone that's more or less. I think we are truly seeking connection, and that's why people come, and for me it's such a joy to get to just sing and share these songs with everyone! It's not a performance about me, it's not about me performing. It's about us, it's about we, it's about this human family remembering what's really important in this life.

Your album covers always depict plants, rivers, mountains, the sun… What is your connection, your relationship with nature?

In a sense, I feel like we are nature, you know, but somehow we live in this modern technological world which is getting very strange and crazy very quickly, with AI technology and all these things. I think, for me growing up, I grew up in nature, I grew up in the countryside where I was surrounded by birds and rabbits and trees and rivers and streams and lakes, and these things for me were just part of my everyday existence, part of my reality. It's only when I moved to London that I started to see how far we've become removed from nature. I feel in a way it's like if I can share something with my music, it's to share this reverence, this respect and honor for nature because we all came from nature and we all must return to nature. So, while we are here and especially in this time now, you know, when technology and all these things are happening and everything is evolving in such a rapid rate, I wonder what can we do about it? We can't really stop it, but what we can do is remember again our roots, remember where we come from. Everything comes from mother earth, and in every ancient tradition and culture they have a deep respect and reverence for the earth, for the plants and everything, the sun, the moon, the stars… everything is revered as sacred, and I think that was somehow lost in our Western culture. I feel like it's important for me to express how beautiful and magical and sacred nature is, because I think we forget that. Somehow in my artwork and these things, it's a representation of this fact that we are all part of nature and in some way we have to return back to this respect and reverence for mother earth if we are to have a chance of survival!

So true! Are there any upcoming projects once the current tour is finished?

I don't have any plans for recording, but I definitely will be recording something with Marcus Gad. I don't know what or when, that will come maybe next year, but I don't have any plans. I have a whole album ready to record, so just finding the right place and the right people, maybe I wanna do that in Jamaica, I don't know.