Sam Gorgone - Nothing But Oregano

February 6, 2002

Sam greeted me at the door and I nearly tripped over myself. So began the interview… To my surprise, Nico, Sam’s cat, came up and introduced himself as well. I’d brought along an Idle Ride CD for him to listen to, and I even caught him tapping his foot to it while interrogating him.

The group began in pieces… Sam met Jeff at Millersville University, where Sam had earned a football scholarship, a degree in communications studies, and a reputation for starting what he calls the 1Ecourts tradition. (If your curious about what the 1Ecourts tradition is, I leave it to you to ask Sam or some of the younger, crazier fans of Nothing But Oregano, but here’s a hint: These are the tenants that keep the tradition alive. I encourage you to come out and meet up with them at any Nothing But Oregano concert.)

Nothing But Oregano originally had a conga player, Dave Skinner, who left the band for a radio job in Colorado, and recently returned to co-host the morning show at FM97. His percussion was a big part of the band before they really went "rock".

"The band was already formed when Jason entered the picture, but it obviously wasn't complete until he came along. I knew Jeff, Jeff knew Clayton, Clayton and Jason worked together at the Mount Hope Winery (fall of '94). (If you see the pictures on our site of our trip to Ithaca, NY, you'll see how much we like wine! {AUDIO CLIP}) Anyway, we had already played out a few times without a drummer (we had loads of percussion already going on) but when we decided to cut a demo at Millersville Univ. (may of '95), we invited Jason to join us. And the rest is history. The moment he started playing with us we knew we had a nice fit. So, I consider that the moment that NBO really got rolling, because within two months of Jason sitting in, we were playing Chameleon, and within a year, we were headlining the Chameleon and packing the place. It really was almost success over night."

Regarding the band....

Question
Answer

Clayton is listed as being the songwriter.
How are each of you involved in the songwriting process?

 Clayton brings fully formed songs to the band, which take on their final flavor after being voiced by each member of the band on their respective instruments.

What about your band/performances are you most proud of?

 Nothing But Oregano has been able to maintain and add to their fan base. Not many bands stay together as long as they have and still hold the interest of the loyal fans as well as catch that of new ones.

Most bands go through several band members before settling on a formation. Did NBO go through that?

 Nothing But Oregano was originally a 7 member band. They have lost members, but have never added any new ones. The four that are left are the core of the original formation of NBO.

NBO has been together for 8 years… what brought you together and what do you think keeps you together?

 There is a tight-knit friendship between band members who are all playing for a common goal.

In 3 words or 1 complete sentence, describe your fans.

 Loyal, Tight-knit, always interested (they do not leave the stage area while the band is playing)

Sam, you appear to be the business and PR man of NBO. If you had to assign titles to each of the band members, yourself included, what would those titles be?
  • Sam: The Cynical One
  • Clayton: The Song Writer
  • Jason: The cheuffer/instigator
  • Jeff: "When it's all over, it's cool."

If you could be signed by any label, what one would you pick?

 Matt Pinfield {AUDIO CLIP}

All about Sam....

What I thought was going to be an hour long interview became a 3 hour in-depth discussion about the band, life in general, life as a band member, families, and ideology. By the second hour, the awkwardness seemed to wane a bit, and some of the fun stories began to flow.

Some of the most amusing life experiences are spawned from challenges. Sam recalled an experience getting to a show at the Grape Street Pub about 3 years ago: {AUDIO CLIP}

I believe that what people collect can say a lot about who a person is. Sam's collections include guitars, baseball cards, wine... {AUDIO CLIP}

Sam commented on the original music scene: {AUDIO CLIP}

Question: I want to see your performance through your eyes. Describe to me how it feels and what it looks like when you step on stage and play your first song: {AUDIO CLIP}