Sam Cash: Son of a PoliPUNK

Photo Courtesy of Sam Cash and The Romantic Dogs

When Sam Cash, frontman of Toronto band Sam Cash and the Romantic Dogs, was about three years old he picked up a mandolin that belonged to a bandmate of his dad's, claimed it as his own and pretty much tore it apart. “From age three to six, he virtually destroyed that mandolin,” says Sam’s dad; Andrew Cash, the musician turned politician who is now a member of parliament for the NDP. “He would grab it by the neck… he couldn’t play chords or anything. He had a pick and he would just strum the thing, make up songs.” Sam, now 23, grew up in a rock and roll family and for years watched his dad soundcheck, play gigs, work in recording studios and come home from tour, exhausted. He saw his mom, Sandy Pandya, hustle as a manager for the likes of Hayden, Hawksley Workman, the Lowest of the Low, Tegan and Sara and Serena Ryder. He cites those artists as musical influences, as well as his “three guys”: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello.“I think a lot of people spend time trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be, and I’ve always sort of known that,” says Sam. “There’s…never a memory that I have that isn’t of me wanting to do this.” With two LPs under his belt, one a solo effort and the other with his band the Romantic Dogs, he’s getting ready to head into the studio with producer Ian Blurton and bandmates Aaron Comeau, Matt Bailey and Kyle Sullivan. Just recently, the band wrapped up a month-long residency at the Cameron House in Toronto, playing almost every day while tightening up and re-working songs for the new album.

Andrew Cash is the skinny-tied, bespeckled MP in the House of Commons who talks about urban and precarious worker issues. In his past life, he was a member of eighties punk band L’Etranger (old friend and fellow L’Etranger member Charlie Angus also became an NDP MP), as well as a solo musician, and one half of music duo, Cash Brothers with his sibling Peter from the Skydiggers. Andrew and Angus idolized Joe Strummer and sang about social injustice with one of their singles, anti-apartheid song “One People,” making it to constant rotation on MuchMusic. They both carried those values with them in later life—Angus forming folk-inclined band the Grievous Angels and then moving into politics in 2004, and Andrew pursuing his own musical iterations and entering the political arena with the orange wave under Jack Layton’s NDP leadership.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew Cash's official website

Sam and his dad talk about politics sometimes—at least, to clear things up about anything confusing or not-so-clear in the news. The young musician’s in school at Ryerson University where he works and plays gigs, so he doesn’t have much time to invest in the new part of his dad’s life. According to Sam, it’s not as natural or comfortable as talking about or playing music, or working on set lists together. “I mean, I’m a socially conscious person, and aware of the world, but politics has never been my thing at all,” Sam explains."So when he started doing it, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do. I’ve always been used to his world being my world,” says Sam. Despite, Sam's different calling in life, he still, however, finds time to talk music with his mom and dad since they are, in a way, veterans on call for solid music industry advice. “My dad really teaches me things about playing live and how to communicate, and taught me a lot about songwriting. My mom’s taught me a lot about the music business and how it works.” Sam says.

Andrew figured Sam would be a musician of some kind, but didn’t expect his son would play music that he could so easily relate to. He says the two get deep into Sam’s tunes. “Like, does this song need a bridge here? Should I sing this song in this key, or should I change the key? You know, what do you think of those lyrics,” Andrew said. “So, we’ve talked a lot about that because he has been constantly writing songs. I’d be making dinner in the kitchen and he’d be 14 and he'd come in and be like ‘Dad, what do you think of this?’”

Laura Beaulne-Stuebing is a writer based in Ottawa. Follow her on Twitter - @laurabeaulne