Taber’s $am Hill to perform in city tonight
Admittedly a glass-is-half-empty sort of a guy at times, Tyler Gouw (a.k.a. $am Hill) has found lyrics to be his comfort as he tackles issues of the day.
Growing up in Taber, Gouw always loved music, be it Blink-182 or Outkast to satisfy his appetite for expression.
“I liked a vast variety of music. I was always performing in my basement, lip synching and having fun,” says Gouw. “It wasn’t until Grade 12 that I really started writing. It was a new wave of music that inspired me making music about consciousness and spirituality in hip hop that was really underground like Joey Badass who is my age.”
$am Hill will be performing tonight at the Canadian Polish Hall (745 13 St. N.) in Lethbridge as part of a Psychonauts mixed tape release party, with the event starting at 8 p.m. for the all-ages show. Tickets are $15.
Gouw found his lyrics powerful, and a very big change from the “gangster”-themed hip hop that dominates the airwaves at times.
“It really delivered a message in getting a following,” said Gouw. “We still want to party and have fun with our music, but it is also sending out a message, and with $am Hill that message is a little darker.”
Collaborating with Taylor Wall (co-producer) and Braden DeBona (co-producer and vocalist), the persona of $am Hill was adopted. Sam Hill is an American English slang phrase, an euphemism or minced oath for “the Devil” or “hell” personified, thought to have originated back in the 1830s.
“As I was trying to relive things through my lyrics, I was noticing they were having a dark vibe, so I had to label it that I was bringing out my demons, so I came up with the slang term for the Devil,” said Gouw. “That phrase. ‘what in Sam Hill was that?’”
While admittedly darker in the shades of grey with his hip-hop lyrics, the underlying tone has rays of hope.
“It’s always believing in yourself and saying f**k what everyone else thinks,” says Wall, adding there are naysayers out there that a small-town boy out of Taber wants to enter the rap/hip-hop game. “It’s releasing your demons.”
It’s hard for $am Hill to know exactly how many original songs they have produced, constantly writing and scratching off the old stuff. Usual sets are between 10 to 12 songs, with a full array of musical accompaniment of guitars, drums, keyboards, etc.