Artist-in-Residence: Sam Jeffers, MPP2
by Naseem Khuri, Culture/Photo Editor on September 17, 2007 in Artist-in-Residence, Culture
In 1995, Sam Jeffers and two high school classmates in London came together to form a band called Fridge. Since then, the band has headlined several international tours and released five albums, the most recent of which is The Sun. Joined by Kieran Hebden on bass/electronics and Adem Ilhan on guitar, Jeffers balances playing the drums with earning an MPP degree from KSG.
Tell us about the band.
Originally the idea was to do something a little different for a school band and actually make some music that didn’t wallow in “the world hates me, I hate the world” depression and that was, in fact, interesting to us.
In all, we’ve released five proper albums and a double-CD singles compilation, as well as many other bits and pieces. We’ve been used in TV and film, played on the radio and have toured extensively at home and abroad. All this while just hanging out with our best friends since boyhood.
What did you do this summer?
In June, we released “The Sun” and played a few shows to support it in the UK and Europe. We have shows scheduled for Japan and Spain. I imagine we’ll try to write and record a sixth album in the summer next year. I’ll stick with it whatever happens, including school, simply because I love it - the physical thump of hitting the
drums. It’s not the sort of music that is going to compromise the other aims I have for my life by dragging me towards endless touring or massive excess. And that’s a good thing.
Jeffers (center), with Hebden (left) and Ilhan.
How will you manage leading a dual life - one as a KSG student and the other as a drummer in a successful band?
I’ve already managed it the last year or so. The music tends to be a pretty relaxing and therapeutic part of my life these days. It’s certainly not a parallel “full time” job, to go alongside my KSG studies, rather a nice, occasional complement. The most difficult period last year was when I was designing the artwork for the record (in my third life, as a designer and web developer) and this was putting pretty heavy demands on my time. Nothing really suffered as a result of the dual pressures of school work and band commitments, but you do get a sense that you really should be working on “the other thing.”
Give us a cool rock and roll story that makes us feel lame for being in grad school.
We’re just clean living guys you’d be happy to take home to meet your mother, so most of our thrills are lame. However, this summer, we found ourselves ten feet away from boyhood heroes Smashing Pumpkins backstage at a festival in Belgium. What better opportunity to pick your bandmate off the floor in front of rock’s collective glitterati when mountain-men security guards obscure your idolatry with their beefy forearms?
The moral is… stay in school, stay on your feet, stay away from ageing rockers’ security guards.
“The Sun” is available on iTunes and in any good record store. You can check out Fridge’s myspace page here.
Written by Naseem Khuri, Culture/Photo Editor · Filed Under Artist-in-Residence, Culture
Naseem Khuri (MPP2) is Culture and Photo Editor of the Citizen. Prior to his time at the Kennedy School, Khuri worked as an Associate at CMPartners, a consulting firm specializing in negotiation and conflict management training and coaching. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 2001 with degrees in biochemistry and music, and actually still plays music (myspace.com/kingsleyflood). He enjoys late night Guitar Hero, Diet Coke with Lime, long walks on the beach and shamelessly advertising his myspace music page.
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