Born in Kansas City, singer/songwriter Samantha Fish has be around music since birth, as most of her family either sang or played an instrument. No matter the genre, Fish has the ability to mold her sound beautifully in any direction, but her heart is in good old fashioned rock and roll. Be sure to have a listen to her latest release “Chills & Fever” embedded below.

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Chris Remmers: We’re going to talk a little bit about where you are from, the places you have been, the things you have seen and how that has influenced your music career. Why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about where you are from? When did you start to make the realizations that music was something you wanted to pursue as a career?

Samantha Fish: I’m from Kansas City, Missouri — born and raised. I was probably around 18 or 19 years old when I realized I wanted to get serious about music. I started playing the guitar at 15, my dad and uncle played — most of the people in my family all played and my mom sang in church. So, music was always around in my life. I guess in a way you could say music really helped to shape my foundation.

© Zach Werner

CR: Do you have any memories of anything that stands out from some of the first venues you played?

SF: There’s a venue in Kansas City called Knuckleheads and it was definitely a place that was pretty important to me growing up. As a teenager I started jamming and the owner there would get me up with a bunch of the regional acts that would play. When I got to go from an audience member to being on stage it was just an incredible feeling. So, to me, that was one of my most special memories. Of course when you play in places like New York City, New Orleans and really any big city for the first time it’s pretty amazing. You start to really feel the weight of the history of the venues that you’re playing. It’s a humbling feeling to be walking in footsteps of legends and icons.

CR: I can only imagine! I’m sure that must be a euphoric feeling. Who were some of your musical influences growing up?

SF: I definitely listened to a lot of classic rock like The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, ACDC and whatever was on the radio. That was the time period I really grew up. We had CD’s and things weren’t online yet, so the radio was a huge outlet for diverse music. It drove me to want to be able to play many different sounds.

CR: All classics. I love them all! How do you feel music and travel really fit together best in your life at this point?

SF: It’s pretty much all I do now. I have gotten to visit so many different places playing music. I feel like the past five years has been a lifetime. They’ve been definitely something that’s all encompassing, and really if you want to preform music for a living your life is going to be travel. Touring and playing music comes first, then after that everything else pretty much becomes secondary.

CR: Would you say your inspiration comes from being home with friends and family? Or, out on the road touring or traveling?

SF: The last record I had written was really a hardcore road record. I had spent about the last two years touring the country and traveling abroad. Things like that make it easier for me to write, because I am writing about my different experiences, and how my personal relationships have been affected by being gone all the time. I think the last record I wrote was really affected by the road and the amount of time I had spent out away from loved ones.

CR: You seem well traveled, have you ever gone to a new location to play a show and experienced any kind of culture shock?

SF: Yeah of course! That’s actually happened a few times. The first time I can remember being in a sort of culture shock was when we went to play in Europe. It wasn’t a shock in a bad way, it was more of an enlightening experience. As a kid you can grow up in the states and have a Denny’s down the road. Then we go to places like Romania and to see how these other cultures function with less technology, and unaffected by some of the things we deal with here in America. It’s really cool, because I never could have fathomed that way of life until I went there and experienced it for myself. I love it!

I love traveling and seeing different cultures. It’s just something I feel like I was born to do. One funny story I have about what people think Americans eat is when I went to Mexico. They had this giant buffet and I noticed there was nothing but hamburgers, hot dogs and quesadillas. I just thought it was funny that was their perspective of what most Americans ate.

© Dennis Jarvis

CR: That’s too funny! Now, if someone came to you and said, “Sam, I want to go somewhere I have never been that has good food and amazing scenery.” Where would you send them?

SF: As far as scenery goes, I think it doesn’t get much better then Hawaii. I know it’s generic, but it really was an amazing place. New Zealand was also one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. You could be on the beach and see a mountain at the same time, then 100 feet away is the forest. It was absolutely amazing. As far as food goes, I would say that I have definitely had some of the best food in the Caribbean.

CR: If you were getting ready to take time off are you heading for a beach, the mountains or something completely different all together?

SF: I’ll be honest with you, I’m usually looking for a beach if I can find it. My most memorable beach trip was our recent trip to Cancun. It was just so gorgeous! But, like I said earlier, the beaches in Hawaii were probably the most beautiful I have ever been too.

© Christopher Chan

CR: Lastly, everyone has a bucket list of places they would like to visit at some point. Do you have three places that come to mind for you?

SF: I wouldn’t say that this is the final bucket list, because it changes all the time but, I would really like to go Australia, Italy and Japan. Japan and Thailand just seems like an area of a whole different world. I got a small glimpse of that when I went to Hawaii, there was this influence of cultures from the Philippines and various parts of Asia. You can see it in the scenery, the food and the culture. It really made me want to go to the other side of the world for a long time.

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For more on Samantha Fish visit her website: