Sam Cullen on his new EP

Words by Hannah Powell

Hannah Powell had a chat over coffee with Sam Cullen, the upcoming musician had a yarn about his new music video and EP 1000x. We can assure you you’re in for a treat.

“It’s me, real beaten up,” Sam says when describing his new music video for his single 1000x. The concept is centralised around him running away from something. Directed by Dave Thomson from Auckland’s Imaginary Friends production company, the video was filmed over two days in both Auckland and Wellington. Cutting across vast and rugged New Zealand landscapes, Sam’s new music video hits the nail on the head with aesthetics. Featuring the beach, the bush, and an angry mob compiled of a group of good mates, Dave Thomson came up with the concept. “He’s just a genius man,” Sam says. With the track written in his dorm room at Victoria University’s Weir House, Sam describes it as a struggle with getting used to university. When he was getting a grasp on adulthood, it was hard to find the balance. “It was the first time I’d got myself a solid girlfriend [too],” he says. “I was wanting to put time and effort into that.” 

The finished track is his personal favourite, and it was one he produced himself from beginning to end.

Riding in tandem with the music video is his 1000x EP release. Consisting of six tracks, including an acoustic version of 1000x the EP explores a lot of love, heartbreak, and Kiwi masculinity. With the first and title track being 1000x, the second is Love Lies. “[It’s a song] exploring the idea of masculinity and for me, growing up in small-town New Zealand, there’s a lot of things you observe, whether people do address it, or not at all”. Lyrically in the form of a rough break up, Love Lies is an observation of a time his mates were going through. The message? “It’s all right if you cry.”

The third track is recently released single All Night Long – self-described as your “cliché feeling sorry for yourself after a break-up” song. The fourth, The Week, is Sam’s oldest song to boot. Finished three years ago, it’s about losing a friendship and drifting apart. Reasons is the fifth; an observation of his mate losing a long-time girlfriend. Sam says, “it’s just another love song, really”. Number six, his acoustic version of 1000x, is waiting at the end.

Art by Molly Halpine.

With strength in storytelling, and of a picture painted well, Sam’s sound is one to get amongst. “The Springsteen thing is flowing through now,” he laughs. His 1000x release tour starts 25 September 2020, with shows in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Queenstown, Invercargill, and Dunedin. Get your tickets quick.