NFV Song Spotlight: SASAMI's Lose It All

I first came across SASAMI in January 2019 at The Echo. 

SASAMI at the Lodge Room

There's a little fun music history involved in that. 

First, The Echo used to have FOMO week. The first week of January would be dedicated to free shows at The Echo. Like any year during that music era, the week was packed with top notch local bands (you can see a schedule here). Here are some awesome performers:

Anna St. Louis
Death Valley Girls
Fiona Grey
Holy Wars
Jen Awad
J.R. Slayer
Laena (under the name Laena Geronimo)
R E L
Veronica Bianqui

I'm not saying you would recognize all of these bands and singers, but if you're into the Los Angeles local music scene, I'm sure you've heard of at least one in the above list. And if you clicked on the link, you might wonder why I didn't mention such and such performer. 

Second, The Echo was teaming up with Dr. Martins for the SASAMI night. At the time (I believe they still do this now, but it is much rarer), Dr. Martins would team up with a venue to co-promote a show rather frequently. 

I was hesitant to go to this night, because the prior night (Holy Wars) I had trouble getting my camera into the venue. Since I know Holy Wars, I was able to work things out. For those in the know, The Echo at the time sort of flipped back and forth between having an open door policy for photographers to requiring a photo pass. It was always hard to know the situation. Since I didn't know SASAMI or anyone else on the line-up, I really wasn't considering going to The Echo on this particular night. 

SASAMI at the Lodge Room

Just a couple hours before doors opened, I got an emergency email from Kevin Bronson of Buzzbands. He wanted to know if I was heading out, because he wanted to post a photo gallery of the night. I responded, sure, but I would need a photo pass. He replied back that he would work on it, but if he didn't get a response, I should just mention that I was shooting for Buzzbands. It was always fun being able to go around town and say I was a Buzzbands photographer. It even worked once at the Lodge Room. I had a legit photo pass, but for some reason I wasn't on the Lodge Room list. I told them I was shooting for Buzzbands. The ticket person called up the manager. The manager must have said something like, "Let him in." 

I got to The Echo that night and I got waved in without any questioning about a potential photo pass. I didn't need to bring up the fact that I was shooting the night for Buzzbands. Interestingly, another photographer showed up a little later and mentioned that he was given a hard time about his camera, but they did let him in. 

If interested, you can see my photos from the night here.

The last band of the night was Slut Island. I had a fun encounter with the band a couple years later in 2021 at the Zebulon. You can read my fun interaction with the band here. a

SASAMI at the Lodge Room

Fast forward to April 2025 and I noticed that SASAMI was playing at the Lodge Room, her first stop of her tour in support of Blood On the Silver Screen album. I circled the night. Working with US Rocker Music, I was able to lock in a photo pass. You can see my photos and review here.

My favorite song from the night goes to "Lose It All." I think it is also one of SASAMI's favorite songs as she gave it a special shoutout, saying it was the world premiere of the song. It is a song about not giving up on finding the love of your life. 

At the Lodge Room, she had a three piece band: guitar, bass, drums. On the recording, there is a keyboard, which adds an additional layer to the music and makes it all the deeper. The piano chords really hit the spot for the following lyrics. 

When you love sometimes you lose it all

It's worth the fight just to feel alive

But when you love sometimes you lose it all

Sasami's Lodge Room setlist: Honeycrash, For the Weekend, I'll Be Gone, Love Makes You Do Crazy Things, Need it To Work, Not The Time, Lose It All, Call Me  Home, In Love With A Memory (featuring dora jar), Possessed, Slugger, Just Be Friends, The Seed, Nothing But A Sad Face On.