The Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMAs) returned with a bang last Friday night (25th October) at St. Lukes in Glasgow, celebrating in style a night of the best in Scottish underground music talent. The Academy of Music and Sound were proud to once again sponsor the award for Best Newcomer, which went to the multi-genre bending duo Vanlves.
Richy Muirhead, creative director of the SAMAs, said: “The seven winners are all very exciting artists with exciting futures ahead.”
He added, “this year’s SAMAs were another huge celebration of Scottish music…. It is fantastic to see the public get so involved and participate in the vote to determine the winners. We gathered over 12,500 votes in two days this year, which is a new record. It’s great to see so many people engaging with the nominations, streaming the music, and discovering other artists involved.
“The Scottish music scene is such a friendly and supportive community.
It wouldn’t matter who won really, the kindness and respect we all have
for each other really sets this scene apart.”
It was also a great night current and past AMS talent. Academy alumni and accomplished acoustic superstar Zoe Graham, took home the award for Best Acoustic act, who took the prize a year after another previous AMS Glasgow student Megan Airlie was awarded the prize in 2018. Zoe was a HND student at our Glasgow centre and is embarking on a solo headline tour at the end of November, performing in Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.
We caught up with Zoe after the event. She commented on her experience at the 2019 SAMAs and her win: “I totally wasn’t expecting the win, I was up against some stiff competition and considering it all depended on votes I really thought Aaron Smith was going to take home the prize. Safe to say I was slightly lost for words during my speech.”
She continued, “After many years of graft and dedication to my music it’s just so nice to be recognised for it. Afterwards it was a great night with so many of my friends. The Scottish music scene is such a friendly and supportive community. It wouldn’t matter who won really, the kindness and respect we all have for each other really sets this scene apart.”
Five other former alumni from AMS Glasgow were nominees for the award including Aaron Smith, Godeater, CRYSTAL and Cloth (who are also headlining our highly-anticipated 25 Year celebrations in Glasgow next month). The event itself raised more than £300 for Help Musicians Scotland.
You can check out the full list of nominees and winners here and keep checking the SAMAs website for updates and photos from this years installment.