Evelyn Champagne King’s classic “Love Come Down” gets the AOR Indie-Soul treatment courtesy of Mapache's Sam Blasucci. Inspired by the original version & Barry Biggs classic reggae version, this modern day cover is a culmination of genres.
As Blasucci writes: “This is really more of a Duvet than a cover because of how many beautiful versions there are of this song. Written by Kashif and made famous by Evelyn “Champagne” King, ‘LoveComeDown’ was also recorded by many artists whose versions also influenced mine making it a bit of a hodgepodge of genres all together. I wentdownto Kyle Mullarky’s and recorded it all in a day along with a little help from Derek Dosz on backing vocals.”
“Swinging Stars is an intriguing entry in Mapache's catalog. More than any of their previous releases, it highlights the individual characteristics of each songwriter, relying on their natural chemistry to glue things together” - All Music
“Their cosmic, carefree Californian country-folk seeds and sprouts from Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch’s close harmonies and sun-bleached guitar melodies, everything geared towards good vibes” - FADER
Mapache release their dynamic and ambitious fifth album Swinging Stars - an LP of calm, second-nature swagger, cosmic folk filled with distinct styles and the band's most cohesive album yet.
In connection with the new album, the band releases a new video for single, "Sammy Boy," which uses footage from a live performance in San Luis Obisbo during a 2023 tour.
The band are on tour this Fall with new dates added on the West Coast in November (all dates in the flyer below).
"If you've ever wanted to breeze up the coast highway from Los Angeles to Malibu in a convertible as the sun sets out across the glittering Pacific Ocean, Swinging Stars will take you there" - MOJO
"Mapache couldn’t escape who they are at heart: acolytes of the ’60s Haight-Ashbury scene as filtered through the more recent desert psych sound” - Paste
”worn-in and relaxed with a classic air” - Raven Sings the Blues
Mapache release a new video for album single "Encinal Canyon,"a song about singing to yourself on long windy drives through the canyons. It’s about finding a quiet place where you can gain some insight even when you feel like you’re always on the run.
Mapache share a video for single "What A Summer" - "a reflection on the times we are living through, and the sweet but aching trip back to flashes of life, the half waking half dreaming state in the early morning when memories bubble up unprompted in vivid detail - the sidewalks and houses on your walk to school, the inside of your dad's car, your first love."
"What A Summer" comes from the new and upcoming album Swinging Starsarriving August 18, 2023 an LP of calm, second-nature swagger - the natural result of a band that’s existed in one form or another for its founders’ entire adult lives.
Sam Blasucci's debut solo album Off My Starsis out now with the focus single "Around the Corner," which he explains, "Life passes by your window so quickly and with luck you can catch a glimpse of its fragility in different ways. Joy and loss break it all down and bring everything back into perspective. They are panoramic and infantile states that breed creation and put you around the corner from everything."
Sam Blasucci Tour Dates
7/15 - Las Vegas, NV - The Griffin
7/16 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
7/18 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
7/19 - Portland, OR - Holocene
7/20 - Seattle, WA - Sunset
7/21 - Eugene, OR - Whirled Pies
7/22 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre
7/25 - Bolinas, CA - Smiley's
7/26 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
7/28 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse
7/29 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse
When Blasucci was writing the songs that would become Off My Stars, he found himself less focused on the guitar and more gravitated toward a different instrument: piano. The mother of Clay Finch, his Mapache bandmate, was getting rid of one, and so Blasucci took the piano, carefully transporting it to his home in Ojai, California, with the help of a few strong friends, including Farmer Dave Scher of Beachwood Sparks (and a Mapache collaborator). “Farmer Dave wasn’t even wearing shoes,” Blasucci remembers, laughing. Once the piano was safely in there, he became deeply attached, playing on it multiple hours a day: “It’s changed the way I think about music, having all the keys laid out in front of me,” he explains. “Having that sort of changed everything.”
Also inspired by his recent time riding out the pandemic in New Orleans, where the clubs may have closed but the music never stopped, Blasucci used that piano to start writing one of the most inspired batches of songs of his career thus far. New gems like “Turn Yourself Around” and “Sha La La” were developing with a Southern swing and classic songbook sparkle, and when assessing the growing stack of music he was working on, Blasucci realized that there was something about these tunes that wasn’t quite suited for a Mapache record.
Infused with an honest, personal perspective about settling into adult life—about developing as a person and a partner and a family member—these songs were straight from the heart, a clear window, recently Windexed, into the life of one of the most talented members of the L.A.-area underground rock scene. Using just as much inspiration from the music of Ronnie Wood and Sade as the films of Ingmar Bergman and the writing of Brian Doyle, Blasucci started to see a vision of songs that are all “fully autobiographical.”
Blasucci reached out to songwriter and producer Johnny Payne, and the two decamped to Dan Horne’s Lone Palm Studio, the home/studio where Mapache has in the past both recorded and abided in. Blasucci’s direction to Payne—acting as producer and as multi-instrumentalist, performing on everything from shaker to “guitar pancake”—was simple: no pretense, no affect, no Mr. Cool. This approach is most evident through covers on the record—like a stripped-down, achingly beautiful version of Dido’s ubiquitous “Thank You,” or a New Orleans-porch-worthy version of the Cranberries’ classic “Linger.” “There was nothing ironic or gimmicky about wanting to do those,” notes Blasucci. “I just really, really love those songs.”
Also covered on Off My Stars is a raw take on Jimmy Fontana’s timeless ballad “Il Mondo,” sung in its original Italian by Blasucci, who belts it in a performance that ends with him giving it all he has, his voice cracking as he reaches the song’s epic finale. “Il Mondo” is a song that Blasucci particularly wanted to do as a means to get more in touch with his Italian roots—and this wouldn’t be the only way he’d tap into family on the album.
On “Proud of You Dad,” Blasucci dug into his archives for a song that’s he had for some time, originally having written and recorded it just for his father, David Blasucci, a musician who was at one time a touring member in the band Toto, and who has performed and acted in Christopher Guest movies like A Mighty Wind. “If I ever told you this while we were in the same room / I know you would cover your ears and run,” Sam sings over a rustic, campfire acoustic progression. As Sam explains, David was a crucial influence on his taste: “A lot of the underlying styles that influenced the rest of the songs on the record definitely come from what he introduced me to,” Sam says.
But Sam is his own man now, writing the new chapters of his own life with an aw-shucks tone that belies his prolific workload. Even through the pandemic—and even with the ongoing backlogs at pressing plants—Blasucci has still managed to put out beloved Mapache records in each of the last three years, and he and the band have no plans to slow down anytime soon. “I’m definitely the type of artist that is constantly creating,” Sam says, matter of fact. “And I can’t seem to really stop.”
