i first met sam through a mutual friend who is super close to him and went to high school with him. he saw my painting of zach over the summer and asked me to do something for him/remo drive because he liked it so much. of course i did, and when i sent it to him he retweeted it and posted it on instagram, gave me credit, and even wanted to meet up with me before the show in duluth so i could safely get it to him. i ended up running late and we didnāt find each other before load in, but in the recap video of the duluth show with hippo you can actually see me handing it to him from the crowd. we chatted after the show and out of all the guys in the band, he was the most kind, most personable, and most charismatic. he was so thankful and so easy to talk to. that picture is now hanging up in his drum room with other fanart/letters hes recieved and he still talks about it being one of his favorites!
then later in the summer i went to another remo show in madison where i met up with our mutual friend and samās girlfriend. we stayed after the show for a while to just chat and when sam came up to talk with us, he told me that they had an extra spot in their hotel room and that if i didnt want to drive back to milwaukee, i could stay with them. without even knowing me that well at all! then, on the past fall tour, sam and his girlfriend met with me both before the show and afterwards as well. he took me to the merch booth and let me pick out whatever i wanted, all the while saying he was so excited to be able to do that kind of thing now because the band can finally afford it.
im not posting this with the intentions of bragging- i wanted to post this to show people what a down to earth person sam mathys is. he is the one that does all the livestreams for remo and keeps the fans interested. heās the one that interacts with the fans on twitter and chats with them in person as well. beyond all that, he is extremely talented! sam was more than dedicated to remo drive both for the music and for the fans. furthermore, on a personal level, this situation has beyond hurt samās feelings, and now he has to face the decision of either going back to school or trying to continue a solo career/finding a new band- or maybe heāll try and do both at once. people get kicked out of bands all the time, but this isnāt like harry styles leaving one direction, he doesnāt have the money or the fame to continue living off of for the rest of his life. remo drive fucked him over when they kicked him out. regardless of why he was kicked out- be it for creative differences, personal reasons, whatever it was- his departure did not deserve to be shoved under the table like that. for all that he did for the band and all that he is as a person, he deserved a public statement.
not only should the remaining members of remo drive have made a statement for sam, but they should have also made one for the fans. as weāve said before, people are expecting to see him on their upcoming tour and he wonāt be there. i know for some people, the members of the band arenāt a big deal and itās all about the music- sometimes itās like that. but for remo drive, and for me at least, sam was too important of a person and too good of a person for me to continue supporting their music without him. and i know iād be extremely angry and confused if i had purchased tickets to a show without knowing what was going on and sam just wasnāt there.
the lack of a statement from remo drive is ridiculous. maybe they are just waiting for the right time to say it- but its been over a month and the tour is quickly approaching. itās about fucking time they said something for us and for sam.
2087
titsay
prguitarman
turnnoffyourmind
