We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sam Farr. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sam below.

Sam, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The EP we are preparing to release, Nature and Nurture is likely the most meaningful project we’ve worked on as a band. It is the most collaborative effort we’ve had so far in terms of the songwriting, and the most fun too. Nature and Nurture tells a story of how growing up and self realization changes you. The way you came to be was by luck, and you didn’t choose when and where you were born, so to an extent you are bound by your nature. But in other ways you are bound by your nurture. You didn’t choose your parents or the ways in which you grew up really. You are who you were, but you are also who you become. Balance is everywhere, from smaller decisions of what you do with your day, to overall patterns your life can take on. This is a story of loves come and gone, learning from mistakes, learning to live within the balance, and always reaching for inner happiness and peace.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Have Near is a Alternative/Indie Rock Band from Dallas, TX. We have spent the last six months playing shows throughout the DFW area building a loyal following and bringing energy and -good vibes- to the stage. We just finished recording new songs with Michael Briggs of Civil Audio in Denton, TX and we are very excited about our new sound. The tone of our music has changed with every release, but we’ve maintained an element of self realization, growth, and an emotional-centric vibe to our music through the lyrics and the music. Our music combines elements from the Emo, Shoegaze, Dreampop, and Indie Rock, but is a unique blend that truly stands on its own.

The band formed in the fall months of 2019 when I reached out to drummer Jordan Proffer to jam together. At that time, the intention was just to make music together, and the idea of a full fledged band was not there yet. But, we quickly decided to find a lead guitar player and bass player to jam with. A few members were in and out of the band in various roles before our current line up. Most notable are lead guitar players Adam Samaniego, who wrote and performed the lead parts to our self-titled EP, and Roger Johnson who played the bulk of the live shows post-shutdown in 2021. Bass Player Mario Ortega has been in the band since before the shut down as well, and now with the final addition of Noah Myers on lead guitar, the band has found a sound that is energetic, emotional, and pure.

We’re very proud of our steady growth as a band, and each release seems to keep getting bigger and bigger. But it’s baby steps, really. It just takes time to grow something really special, I think. There’s a lot of people who blow up overnight on Tik Tok it seems, and maybe one day one of our songs will catch on like that, but we’ve been steadily building loyal fans with each live show and each music release we’ve done, and we love to see that.

One of our favorite things to see is people at our shows wearing our march and singing the words to our music. That’s always amazing to us. We never thought in the beginning that people would care about us like that, but I think that only really happens when you make an emotional impact on somebody. That’s where that connection comes from.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Honestly, a little respect goes a long way. We can never force someone to love our music or force them to come to a show, but we really appreciate the loyal fans who are willing to pay ten bucks or whatever small cover charge there is to come and see us. The people who share our stuff online, stream our music, buy our merch, come to the shows, those are the people that help us the most on our journey.

A lot of venues have lost my respect over the last year with the way they treat us and other artists. It’s my feeling that venues should do their best to make sure the artists are taken care of financially, and the absolute least they could do is give them some free food and drinks for the night. But there have been a few nights where we barely made anything at all, not even enough to cover gas. People come out, they’re at the bar buying drinks, and then we get paid next to nothing. When you as a venue care more about making an extra few dollars than taking care of the artists you’re hosting, it just feels like we are totally expendable. No matter how many bands there are in the area, that’s never a reason to treat someone like they’re nobody. You never know what band is gonna blow up one day and then you’ll wish you had paid them the respect they deserved.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

NFTs are silly. I cant really tell if its just a trend right now or if it’ll be an actual way to make legitimate exchanges in the future. I guess there have already been some big deals done with NFTs but it just seems like theres nothing of inherent value supporting the whole thing. But, we have a lot of artist friends so maybe we’ll get one of them to make some for us to sell as merchandise or something. Like a limited edition NFT run, that might be pretty sick.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://have-near.squarespace.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/have_near_tx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaveNeartx
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaveNear
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNHfVH2TNrggGxKsDxphgWA

Image Credits
Portrait Photos: Faith Alesia Visuals Live Show Photos: Sammy Northrop