Guineafowl is Sam Yeldham, a young Sydney musician who is about to launch his sophomore EP I Hope My City Loves Me Still. We were able to find out a little more about him and how he got his start in this interview.
Hi Sam, Welcome to Beauty and Lace.
What inspired you to become a musician?
A laptop. I had played music throughout school, but it was not until I started to teach myself how to actually record music that I really think I was inspired to actually do it properly.
Can you tell us a little about how you came up with the name?
It was a nickname given to me when I was very young at school. A teacher decided to call me guinea pig due to a dangling fringe that covered my eyes. Then for no apparent reason he evolved it to Guineafowl. When choosing a name for myself, I wanted something that had meaning. And now I am stuck with it!
The upcoming EP, I Hope My City Loves Me Still, is released in October, can you tell us a little about it?
It was an EP written when I was going on these massive walks throughout Sydney. I would leave home at night and just walk and walk and walk. I needed to move and be outside, it’s as if, were I to be at home, with my thoughts, I would lose my mind. So walking helped me find some other way of thinking. I did this for months, every night. So, that’s what’s in the EP.
How did the recording process differ for this EP to your debut EP Hello Anxiety?
It was not as much of a brief affair. I spent a bit more time in the studio working on these songs. I was also clearer on what I wanted and not as overwhelmed by being in a real studio, around multiple microphones as opposed to just my laptops in-built one. Also, working with Jean Paul Fung in a producer capacity (he engineered the first EP) was great. He is a talent.
How would you describe your sound?
I wouldn’t! I don’t know if I can describe it. Whenever someone asks me, my stock standard response is “big”. So I guess that is my sound, big!
What have you got in your CD player at the moment?
Kirin J Callinan’s debut album has been spinning a fair amount lately.
Can you tell us the first album you ever bought?
It was a Hottest 100 compilation. But the first album I ever owned was Nevermind (Nirvana).
What is your career highlight to date?
It’s still that first time I heard one of my demos on the radio. It was totally unexpected and I was driving at the time. I pretty much re-enacted the scene from “That Thing You Do” where the entire band dance around the street the first time they hear “That Thing You Do” on the radio, except I was alone. In Bondi.
You have a Live-To-Air performance at FBi Social on Wednesday September 4th, what can we expect from the performance?
Be prepared to huddle around the wireless and then move back from it a bit because the sound coming out of it will be so huge!
To follow Guineafowl you can find him online in these forums: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!