Sam Way
Model/Musician/Writer/Actor, is there anything this man can’t do? MenStyleFashion is given an intimate insight into the changing face of Sam Way as he releases his debut single, Dancing Shoes.
Back To The Start
Chance, the briefest and most serendipitous of moments, brought me from the sloping fields of the west country to the heart of east London to pursue a career – and a career that seemed most absurd – as a male model. I passed through obscurity – posing as Mr. March, the centerfold pull out in a magazine aimed at 13 year old girls – to the catwalks in Milan, a place where my thick rugby playing thighs struggled to fit into the slight tailoring. From there it was to travel the world, to jet-set across the globe, to sleep alone in strange hotel rooms and to feature in major campaigns for TOPMAN, DIESEL and TOMMY HILFIGER. I’d open magazines at random places and see my cheeky grin smiling back at me, friends would ring me up to say they’d seen me on the TV and I’d see my face plastered up high on billboards in the airports I passed through.
But who is that up there? So strange to see oneself blown up so large and looking so serious. It’s like it’s not really me at all, as though I’m wearing a mask, my identity covered accordingly by a concept; for on a shoot, even though it is me up there, I do transform into something else, I’m given direction and I try my best can to give the client exactly what they want.
But here, now, standing back at the start of a brand new journey with a guitar in my hands and a song in my soul the mask is about to be taken off. My music is me. Once on a job in Argentina I got up and rode a horse bareback, totally naked, yet up on that stage, in the fragile silence that settles in the room before I play I feel more naked than ever. Someone has already told me I should combine the two, appear doubly naked, but my mother always said ‘Sam. Always leave them wanting more’ and anyway, I’m sure there are enough images of me on Google in tiny pants to last anyone a lifetime so we’ll let the music speak for itself.
The Debut Single Dancing Shoes
The Debut single Dancing Shoes is out now and I love this song so much. It was born from the thought that sometimes the only remedy to life’s hard knocks is to just get up and dance your heart out. I wrote it to get people on the dance floor and I truly hope it succeeds.
Photography by Alexander Barnes Follow@al_exb
But it’s an unknown quantity, like I said I’m back at the start, someone asked me recently where I’m going to be in 10 years….10 years!!! I replied. I don’t know where I’m going to be in 10 weeks. Life in London moves so quickly and here in this jungle of opportunity it feels as though anything is possible. So far in music and similarly in modeling I can consider myself lucky, across both worlds many things have fallen into place, chance has indeed played it’s part in both, but here I think it’s important to note that the only thing we can put between us and our dreams is hard work. Good things take time. When it’s ready it’s ready, and I don’t believe you can rush art. I’m all up for growing organically, like it’s meant to be. I don’t want to be a genetically enhanced tomato, turned into a pop commodity for a label to exploit; I have no desire for fame, just an ambition to share my passion and I hope that no mater what happens I’ll stay rooted in the earth… like a sweet potato.
So please, lend me your ears – upon deaf ones my words will fall empty – and support this music because I made it for you. Who knows where the journey will take us, and it’s us because of course I invite you to travel with me too. Lets aim for the stars, even if we miss we’ll be amongst the clouds.
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