Samuel Petersson a.k.a The State of Samuel grew up in Varberg on the west coast of Sweden. Frustrated with the people and music climate in his hometown, he started recording songs on his 4-track machine and in 1996 he came up with the name "The State of Samuel". Several of these early recordings would resurface for his debut cassette "a 141 points average" referring to his personal-best in bowling at the moment. At that time recording was just something Sam did in his spare time when he wasn't watching TV