The Glasgow Guardian spoke to 19-year-old Liam Hannah about Sam’s Night, his podcast Get Oan Wae It and showcasing Scottish musical talent.
19-year-old Glasgow teen and music lover Liam Hannah has organised an online festival in memory of his younger brother Sam Hannah, who passed away this year after battling with leukaemia, at just 14 years old. The charity event, Sam’s Night, streams 9 October at 5pm. The night has already gathered an impressive line-up of musical talent including: The Snuts, Mark Sharp, Luke La Volpe, Dictator, Voodoos, Spyres, Shambolics, Katuns, Ryan Phillips, White Novels, Lewis Payne, Joshua Grant, Dylan Ramage, Connor Fyfe, and Retro Video Club.
Liam, who founded music-centred podcast Get Oan Wae It earlier this year, has even managed to land one of Sam’s idols, Scottish chart-topper, Lewis Capaldi as a headlining act as a result of a committed Twitter campaign.
The Glasgow Guardian spoke to Liam about Sam’s Night, Get Oan Wae It and showcasing Scottish musical talent.
The Glasgow Guardian: This night is in memory of your wee brother, Sam, what made you decide to host a sort of online festival dedicated to him?
Liam Hannah: It was always in my mind. At first, I was going to put something at the end of one of my podcast episodes, but I don’t think it really did [Sam] justice. It just kind of came up that if we could get as many people as possible to do this online festival [it could happen], so we just started messaging people. A few of our friends are involved with music too, so we managed to get them involved.
GG: There’s a great showcase of Glasgow talent, especially young talented musicians playing Sam’s Night. Are they bands you’re personally a fan of? How did you go about getting them involved?
LH: I’m massively into the music scene in Scotland, especially Glasgow and West Lothian. Sam liked artists such as The Snuts, Lewis Capaldi and Dictator. I’ve had Jack from The Snuts on my Podcast, as well. I just messaged them and they were good enough to actually say aye and do it.
GG: Have you been surprised by the response Sam’s Night has garnered?
LH: It’s been mad. I’m getting tons of messages saying how good it is and we’ve raised up to £3,000 now.
GG: I’d seen Teenage Cancer had messaged you saying the Sam’s Night page was one of the top fundraisers. How did that make you feel?
LH: To be honest, I was trying to hold off as much as I could for the event. I always wanted to raise money on the day of it, but I’ve ended up putting the link out already. So many people have donated straight away, but hopefully it’ll still raise quite a bit on Friday as well. It’s been a crazy response so far and can’t thank everyone enough who’s donated. I can’t thank the bands enough as well; they’re the ones making this happen and giving up their time for us.
GG: What was your reaction when you heard Lewis Capaldi was playing?
LH: It was mad, I always wanted to get Lewis Capaldi involved. Sam loved him and I’ve seen him live at the Hydro. I thought the best way to do it was to get everyone to Tweet him. I was at my pals’ house and got the text confirming he would play at like half 12 at night. It was a good buzz. I mean, especially with him, he’s a superstar and so busy right now but still agreeing to play a few tunes. It’s amazing.
GG: You run the podcast that the Night is streaming on, tell us a bit about Get Oan Wae It?
LH: I’m really into podcasters and listen to podcasts all the time. Just one night, I thought: “I kind of want to start one.” Then lockdown happened, so I had lots of time to get it all set up. It was the same again, just messaging people and seeing who wanted to do it. My first three guests are music related, my first guest was Mark Sharp who’s playing Sam’s Night, but I’m going to try to change it up and cover society and culture too. It was just a one-night thought about starting a podcast then I thought I might as well just do it. And again, trying to relate it to Scotland as much as I can because I don’t think there’s that many podcasts paying homage to Scotland as much as they should. I tried to do that as much as I could.
GG: Looking to the future, is Sam’s Night something you’d consider repeating as a physical gig?
LH: Yeah, I didn’t really think that at first. But now I think that’s an option because there’s been such a hype around it, with a lot of people hopefully tuning in on Friday. I’d love to keep on doing it, whether it’s as a live stream or an actual in-person gig in the future. Going back to how young the musicians are, Connor Fyfe is on the bill at only 14 years old with a crazy voice. It’s just amazing how much talent we have in Scotland. But hopefully everyone will see that on the night.
Sam’s Night will stream on Friday 9 October at 5pm from the Get Oan Wae It podcast.
Donations towards Sam’s Night and the Teenage Cancer Trust can be made at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/liam-hannah.
