Sam Spiegel
DJ / Producer / Composer / Music & Film Director
Executive Creative Director of Squeak E. Clean Studios
Source: Maxwell Miranda
Sam Spiegel is a DJ, music producer, composer, music director and film director.
Over the past decade, Sam has certified himself as one of the premiere creative minds throughout the international music community. He began his career as a DJ but quickly found himself in the studio producing music for, and collaborating with, many remarkable musicians while simultaneously establishing a name for himself as a film score composer.
2009 saw the release of The Spirit of Apollo, the debut album from Sam’s landmark music project N.A.S.A. (North America South America). Created with long-time music partner DJ Zegon from Brazil, the album features jaw-dropping collaborations with many of the pair’s heroes, legends and modern musical luminaries including Kanye West, George Clinton, M.I.A., Tom Waits, RZA and David Byrne. The album’s corresponding music videos feature animated/live action collaborations by visual artists including Shepard Fairey, Sage Vaughn, Marcel Dzama and The Date Farmers.
Sam eventually went on to work as a music director for a number of projects, including Kanye West’s “Glow In The Dark Tour” and Karen O’s Stop The Virgens. In particular, Stop The Virgens was the realization of a close-to-the-heart concept album Sam co-wrote and produced with Karen. The show completed two sold out runs at St. Anne’s Warehouse in New York City and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia.
Sam’s film score credits include regular collaborator Spike Jonze’s cult classic Yeah Right! (the top-selling skate movie of all-time), Jackass 3D, Cop Out with Harold Faltermeyer, Warren Miller’s City, Park City, the HBO documentary Pretty Things, Drew Barrymore’s Whip It and award winning work on two short films by Jonze: I’m Here and Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side). Notably, the song “Hello Tomorrow,” featured in an Adidas commercial directed by Jonze, won the Gold Lion for Best Music at the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival and Silver for Original Music at the 2006 Clio Awards.
Squeak E. Clean, the commercial music house started by Sam in 2005, has taken the commercial world by storm and has now helped to score several incredibly successful campaigns for Nike, Adidas, Cadillac, Honda and Sonos.
2015 saw Sam take on film direction. His self-funded music video for the final N.A.S.A. song “Jihad Love Squad” was shot in India and directed/produced by Spiegel himself. Following the release of the “Jihad Love Squad” video, Sam signed to Hey Wonderful, a division of RSA Films, as a director. This led to Sam directing two National Geographic short films as well as CNN’s first live commercial, which aired at 11:35 p.m. ET on New Years Eve 2017 during CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” and received nearly 3.3 million live viewers.
Most recently, Sam released the single “Mutant Brain” via Interscope Records. The track was featured in the Spike Jonze-directed “Kenzo World” short film, which also went on to win the Original Music category at the 2017 Cannes Lions. In addition, Sam is working intensely with artist Jean Paul Goude in creating music for Jean Paul’s work with Lacoste, Kenzo X H&M, Roger Vivier, and Pompidou.
Sam continues to release his own music, produce for other artists, direct and grow Squeak E. Clean.
Watch Kenzo World featuring Margaret Qualley.
Watch the music video for Jihad Love Squad.
Watch Karen O in Stop The Virgens.
This episode of The Pop Disciple Podcast is hosted by Paul Goldowitz.
Production, Editing, Mixing, Mastering | Paul Goldowitz
Music Throughout Episode | Sam Spiegel
The Pop Disciple Podcast Theme and Outro Music | Paul Goldowitz
Special thanks to Sam Spiegel and Leila Wolf.