“WE ALL HAVE A HUNGER FOR IT AGAIN” | 25 YEARS LATER WITH THE SAMURAI SEVEN
INTERVIEW | SIMON WILLIAMS – THE SAMURAI SEVEN by Emma Carrington
The Samurai Seven have transcended time, with over 25 years away from making music they are back better than ever with a new singles, ‘Punching Down’ and most recently, ‘Duck and Cover’.
Simon Williams – vocalist and guitarist of the band – speaks about how different making music is in 2026 compared to in the 90’s:
“The way that music is released and consumed has changed completely. Platforms like Spotify mean that bands can release their music on their own terms, rather than being reliant on finding a label; that sort of democratisation is good. Although there’s such a tidal wave of music being released this way that it is hard for any one artist to get heard.”
Adding on a nostalgic note; “Playing shows hasn’t changed much at all, I recognise a lot of the backstage graffiti from our first time round.”
Much of Williams’ songwriting is inspired by society and life in general, charmingly commenting “Lyrics must be about something, so they might as well be about something meaningful to me.”
Samurai Seven’s lyrics are more motivated now than they were back in the day, Williams commented; “The songs I have written lately have lyrics motivated by stuff going on in society and in the world – certainly more than our songs used to be. I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind about anything. It’s great if anyone identifies with the lyrics, but I hope the tension and release, and the velocity of the music, plus the vocal harmonies, make people feel something (excitement or whatever), more than think anything.”
25 years away from music is both a significant time to grow rusty, but also unusual to hear happen to bands, life moves on and people drift. Williams says that the band pulls through due to their determination. “Being in a band requires four (in our case) people to all be equally committed and to all be pointed in the same direction; through both good and bad times. It’s hard work and everyone has got to want to do it. Eventually people want to maybe have a family or do something else with their time, and that’s fair enough.”
He followed up by reiterating the passion that it already so clear in The Samurai Seven’s music; “We definitely had time to miss each other – we all stayed friends over the intervening years, and when we got back together it was clear that the chemistry between us was just as strong as it ever was. We all have a hunger for it again, and while that continues, we will carry on.”
Their latest single, ‘Duck and Cover’ was released last month, and when asked about his songwriting process Williams stated; “I almost always write the music to songs first, so I had the idea for the music knocking about in my head already, but lyrically it was prompted by stuff on the news about the lengths that elderly rich white guys will go to to avoid some sort of accountability.”
Asked which contemporary inspirations influence the band, Williams shared “I really like Getdown Services very much, especially live. Adwaith are fantastic – a great band but also, I love how they support the importance of the Welsh language in everything they do. You have to admire anyone who puts their principles before commerciality.”
To close, Williams commented on where the band feels like they fit into modern day music opposed to the 90’s where the band started off. “I’m not sure how representative of the late 90’s we were even back then – we never quite fitted in. I wish I could make music like the bands I loved at that time (The Delgados, Grandaddy, OK Computer/Kid A era Radiohead), but I am not talented enough. I am not sure what era we really fit into now, and Oasis are already selling out stadiums representing the 90s; so we’re just a funny-shaped jigsaw piece looking for a place to fit, same as we always were.”
Making a definitive return in 2026, The Samurai Seven have dropped their latest single, ‘Duck and Cover’ – another taster of their forthcoming EP, Make It Real out September 11th. Fans can catch the band at Portsmouth’s Wedgewood Rooms on September 20th (tickets here) before they hit the road this November alongside ’90s contemporaries The Boo Radleys – tickets.
