Words With: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No its Sam Duckworth, or for those of you that are more familiar with his on stage guise, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly! Not the kind of name that easily rolls off the tongue or that is normally associated with a singer songwriter. Nor is it the cleverly constructed alter ego of this one man band intended to vent a split personality. It’s actually quite simple, intelligent and it works as Sam explains:

“When I started out 18 months ago I wanted people to come and listen to me without any idea of what to expect. I didn't want people to think it’s just another singer songwriter. I just wanted people to come to a show and think that's cool, that's what he's doing that's who he is. People just thought GCWCF sounds quite good, I'll go and check that out and then they kind of got to see it for what it was, as opposed to people thinking this is a traditional singer song writer, it’s not my bag I'll stay away from it”.

Hailing from sunny Southend, Sam has spent the last 18 months travelling the length and breadth of the country, with nothing but his guitar, laptop and backpack for company, playing his mix of acoustic electronica as often as possible to whoever would listen. And through sheer hard work and determination, this have guitar will travel mentality eventually paid off and not a moment too soon. But the endless months on the road was more work in progress than a hardship, as Sam almost fondly reflects.

“If I wasn't playing live I’d just hang out in the environment that I’d be playing in anyway, so I might as well play. I feel really drawn to that way of life, non stop touring and working to the point of dropping, having a days rest and getting back out again. You get used to living out of a suitcase, sleeping on trains and buses and having 4 hours sleep here and 4 hours there”.

The hard work paid off when Sam signed to Big Scarey Monster and his eponymous titled EP was released in April 2005. But the relationship with BSM was short lived and Sam soon signed to Atlantic in March 2006. Despite the amiable nature of his departure, the split caused many to claim that he had already sold out. But ever the realist this doesn’t bother Sam one bit.

“I was sick of not having any money to pay bills, having equipment that was broken and having nowhere to sleep. Its a nice romantic picture of me and a backpack sleeping in train stations but I’ll be honest with you after 18 months you get to the point where its nice to have a little security so that I can continue in the way that I have. It got to the point where if I didn't get involved with a label that was going to allow me to continue leading the lifestyle and playing the music that I was, I would have either given up or ended up dead or something”.