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Moved By The Music - Moved By The Music |
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Written by Dan England
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Wednesday, 09 August 2006 |
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Page 1 of 2
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photo courtesy of www.thesamples.com
The Samples are, from left, Sean Kelly, lead singer and guitarist; Dan Blondin, guitar and other strings, harmonica, vocals; Bill Mutchler, drums and percussion (black stocking cap); Jared Johnson, bass guitar; and Karl Dietel, keyboards.
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Sean Kelly wanted to be a musician since he was 16, when he first learned to play guitar.
Notice we said “musician” and not “Rock Star,” “King of Rock” or “Rock ’n’ Roll God.”
So to many, Kelly might seem like a sad story, a tale of a bandleader who is the only surviving member of The Samples, an alternative band that had a big album in 1989 and a couple hit songs, including “Feel Us Shaking,” a song that was probably sung by all students in America that year, whether they wore black or not. He’s still on the road after 20 years, hasn’t played with his original lineup in years and just released a CD that got little or no attention from critics or radio stations.
But Kelly doesn’t see it that way. He’s still doing what he loves to do. In fact, he can’t see himself doing anything else. And he’s excited to be returning to Colorado for several days as a part of the band’s national tour. The band made its mark in Boulder — its first show was in April 1986 in a Boulder club called Tulagis — and it will play Sunday at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins.
It will feel good to sniff the thin air again and be under the state’s sunny blue skies, Kelly said in a phone interview. It almost gives him a nostalgic, sad feeling, reminding him of the days when the band survived on free samples from Kings Soopers stores (and, yes, that’s how the band got its name).
“It was unbelievably magical,” Kelly said. “We had three people, a Volkswagon and a dream.”
Those memories make Kelly appreciate his career, even if it wasn’t the career some thought his band might have, when the songs he wrote when he was 17 were packed into the band’s first album and it became a hit. Now the band is on its 17th CD, a CD Kelly is proud of, and sometimes he jokes that The Samples are “the best band you’ve never heard.” These days it’s about the music and not if it gets radio airplay. In fact, after a dispute with the major label that released the band’s first album, it has released albums on independent labels and toured almost non-stop.
“I have no idea what a hit is these days,” Kelly said. “My career is not justified by a hit song. I’m doing what I love to do. To complain about it now would be pretty late in the day.”
It does get hard at times, Kelly said, to live on the road so much. Kelly’s never been married, though he was engaged once, and occasionally some bigger success would be nice, he admits. Still, he tempers that by reminding himself that bands such as the Spin Doctors, who were huge when The Samples peaked, aren’t around anymore.
“It really takes a lot to be a Dave Matthews,” Kelly said. “There’s times we don’t get the result for how hard we’re working, but you suck it up. We’ve never been a band that’s about record deals and making money anyway.”
Kelly validates his own career with soul and depth, he said, and the last album, 2005’s “Rehearsing for Life,” on Apache Records, contains more than enough of that, even if it wasn’t noticed as much as he would have liked. Kelly might be remembered for songs he wrote almost 20 years ago, but he keeps going because of the new audiences that his latest songs still attract.
“It is an absolute high to play your own music,” he said. “It’s so great. There’s so much freedom. That’s the victory.”
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|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
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|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
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I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
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|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
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| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
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