Sam Goodwill returns with new lineup

By John Benson

“There’s been major ups and downs, even like is it even going to work out?”

Sam Buonavolonta

Songwriter

The songwriting has matured, says the group’s leader.

During the 785 days that will have passed between the last Sam Goodwill show at Cedars and the band’s Saturday gig at the same Youngstown venue, group visionary and songwriter Sam Buonavolonta has been struggling.

“There’s been major ups and downs, even like is it even going to work out?” said singer-keyboardist Buonavolonta, a 2000 Girard High School graduate. “Is it even going to happen again? It’s taken a lot of patience and faith to get it from that last show we played to this first show we’re going to play.”

He added, “And I’m definitely conscious of Aug. 18, 2006, the last date we played. When one year passed it was a pretty depressing time, and when the two-year marker passed I was like, ‘I have to book a show. We have to do this.’”

Buonavolonta’s long journey began when he formed Sam Goodwill in 2003. However, sensing the first incarnation of the group didn’t possess the right mixture of dedicated musicians, he decided to cut his losses and reform the band piece by piece. Over the past two years, Beau Banfield (guitar), Dmitri Monroe (bass, synth) and David Pokrivnak (drums) joined the fold.

During which time, Buonavolonta wrote new material, evolving the group from its indie rock early sound to more of an indie-electro-soul feel that is inspired by diverse acts such as Headphones and Radiohead.

“It’s just a little bit more focused and more intentional than what it used to be,” Buonavolonta said. “That’s the simplest way I could put it. As far as how it sounds, there are more synthesizers in it now than there were, but I think the songwriting just had two years to mature.”

New songs in the mix for Sam Goodwill include the in-your-face, Armageddon-sounding “Entertainment for the Cultured” and the funky yet somber “You Are Here.”

In talking to Buonavolonta, it sounds as though his two-year purgatory is over and he’s finally free again. It should be noted that Buonavolonta has, well, rock ’n’ roll hair.

With a Mars Volta-like fro, the future of the warehouse worker by day and musician by night must have been defined at birth by his distinguishable mound of hair.

“Yeah, either you ride a motorcycle or be really good at dancing or something,” Buonavolonta laughed. “And I definitely don’t ride a Harley and I wouldn’t say I’m a good dancer.”

If that’s the case, it sounds like he made the right choice in forming Sam Goodwill. Nevertheless, while the future is uncertain and the end is always near, Buonavolonta, his band and his fro are back on the clock.