Top 45 Sam Fender Quotes

Musicians – we’re not doctors. We’re not saving people’s lives. We’re not going out and changing the world. We’re not coming up with cancer cures. We’re not any of that. They’re the real heroes of the world.

I recorded ‘Play God’ in a shed. I don’t know how we got it to sound as good as it did.

I remember specifically, for me, as a kid growing up or as a young teenager, if I ever cried or got upset in front of anybody, I would be so humiliated.

I think I’m the last generation that remembers life before the smartphone. I’m going to be one of them old geezers going, ‘You know, when I was a kid, we used to play with sticks.’

I think the best writing is full of honesty and conviction. A lot of people are afraid to reveal much of themselves.

Pretty much every prime minister since I can remember has made me mad.

I put enough pressure on myself already – I can sit here and work myself into an anxiety-filled breakdown without worrying what everyone else is going to think.

Back in the day, you could have a crap gig, and nobody would film you. Now, everybody’s got an iPhone – you have a bad day, and it’s going on the Internet.

The thing about Springsteen, his music, although he’s writing about, you know, New Jersey and Asbury Park, all of them places, it’s blue-collar towns that, like – it’s similar to Newcastle, where I’m from.

I try my best not to be preachy.

I would cry if I met Bruce Springsteen, man. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it.

The music industry as a whole needs to genuinely make a conscious effort to look after people’s physical and mental health.

I’m never going to overestimate the clout of my job.

I’m a horrendous cook; my mum does my meals. I can only cook beans on toast with cheese.

I think honesty is an important thing when writing a song. If you can’t sing it with conviction, then no-one else is going to believe it.

Music was always ever present when I was growing up, and it’s continued to be the most important and intrinsic part of me. It kept me from going off the rails as a kid, and it gave me rare purpose and self-confidence that I couldn’t find from anything else.

When I was about 18, I started playing restaurants for £150 a night. I felt like a millionaire.

I’ve chronicled a time when I was 17, 18, utterly terrified that you’re not gonna get anywhere with whatever you want to do. It’s that fear and claustrophobia that I think comes to most people living in small towns. But I am lucky, because I just knew that music was my thing.

I love my job – I’m going to keep doing it until I die – but there’s nothing more soul-destroying than having to cancel a show.

It’s so vacuous, this job. You’re constantly looking at pictures of yourself, talking about yourself. Then I come back home, and all my mates want to talk about is me because I’ve been hanging out with Elton John and stuff.

I’ve been lucky enough to support some absolute legends and incredible songwriters over the years, including Hozier, Daughter, Willy Mason, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Nick Mulvey, and Benjamin Francis Leftwich.

I don’t live in London. I live in the place that I sing about.

I’m asking questions that most people are asking, but just putting a melody or a song to it.

I’ve got a band that I tour with, and they’re not session musicians; they’re my friends.

I’m hopelessly addicted to Instagram.

It’s impossible to let fame go to your head when you still live in North Shields in a flat with your mum.

I got scouted to be the dude in the video for ‘Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.’

I like to write about stories and life experiences of me, the people around us, and just the things I see on the telly without overcomplicating things.

When you have these moments where a song connects with people and creates a conversation, it’s quite a humbling experience because it’s like, ‘Maybe there is a little bit more weight to this job than I thought there ever was before.’ Which was wonderful that that happened with ‘Dead Boys.’

It’s so surreal for us to be playing at Tynemouth Castle. It couldn’t be much closer to home. I’ve got so many mad stories of us all running around here as kids, and it’s mental that we’re going to be playing at an actual castle!

My brother was a drummer, and he was always, like, smashing the kit around when I was a kid, and my dad was, like, one of them old musicians, and he played in, like, loads of different bands in the ’70s and ’80s. Him and my brother were kind of like my main inspirations.

I write all my own songs, so if it goes wrong, I don’t co-write anything. It’s all going to fall on me.

The negative effects of greedy politicians have haunted the north-east for years; it’s very apparent.

I write from the perspective of an early 20s kid who is trying to grasp an idea of what the hell is going on.

Me and my mates are very, very close. We all talk about our problems – especially as we’ve got older. But I don’t think a lot of people have that.

My mam and dad were blasting Steely Dan when I was born; the music hasn’t stopped since then.

The reality is, the only thing I can control is whether my songs are good and if I can turn up and sing. All the rest is background noise.

I’m not an expert on politics, but there’s a bunch of bad people at the top who care about lining their own pockets before creating a society that looks after the vulnerable.

I’m so grateful to everyone back home for believing, and to my band and team for all their hard work.

I think I got stopped on the train once by a kid, and that was the first time I realised I had fans. He was shaking. I just reassured him that I’m an idiot and nothing special, so he didn’t have to be nervous. It was very sweet.

I’m relentless when it comes to writing and recording.

‘Poundshop Kardashians’ is Newcastle on a Saturday night. Nobody wears coats – it’s all muscles and V-necks and fake tan.

I was told not to cry as a kid.

I’ll always just be stupid boy, and I’m happy with that.

I love my hometown, but ‘Leave Fast’ is the way I felt when I was 17, 18 – it’s that fear that I’d never be able to do something else.