Sam Champion 'Kind of' Break Up

This past Saturday, Sam Champion took the stage at Brooklyn's Union Hall for what was their first show in more than a year. And it was also, possibly, their last. The band didn't really make a big to-do over what could very well be their final bow and their official website merely announced the gig as "We're back."

But a statement the band released last Friday intimated quite the opposite. In a Q&A format, the band responded to "Did Sam Champion break-up?" with the non-committal, "Kind of, yeah, I think so." How's that for a break-up note?

Bursting onto the New York indie scene with their 2005 Razor & Tie release, 'Slow Rewind,' Sam Champion lined themselves up for a meteoric rise. But even the longer route was becoming questionable by the time they released 'Heavenly Bender' in 2008. "We all know reunions are very popular now," frontman Noah Chernin tells Spinner, adding that he all but expects they might reunite for a gig down the line. In the meantime, he says, he spent the last year basically just watching a lot of TV -- "but in a good way." Hmm.

While Sam Champion was named after the famous ABC-TV weatherman, there really is no accurate forecast for the band's own future. However we can report that while Chernin slowly starts thinking about his next project, guitarist Sean Sullivan will continue to explore new environs as his alter-ego, reggae artist Sean Bones. It must be something about the weather.