Somehow surviving the experience, the Samples evolved into a deal with Rob Gordon's indie label What Are Records? or W.A.R.? for short. Three years of constant touring lead to an ill-fated 1989 signing with Arista Records, a label as infamous for killing rock bands as they are famous for Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow and Milli Vanilli.
In 1986, together with two guys he met at open mic nights at the King Street bar called The Sheik, Kelly relocated to Boulder, Colorado and started the Samples. Kelly worked around Burlington for a few years, washed dishes at Zachary's, and played in Burlington bands Secret City and The Last Straw. They must have been pretty good, because fifteen years later, he's still singing them. Armed with a guitar, Kelly locked himself in a house on rural Bear Trap Road and taught himself how to play. But without a doubt, the town inspired him, because it was when Sean Kelly dropped out of Milton High School in 1983 that his real education began. Kelly gets a definite nostalgic tone in his voice when we talk about the town, and when he describes his experiences there as "very isolating," it's almost as though he recognizes that he might be rewriting the past. He's heard all the white-trash jokes and he does a pretty convincing version of the Milton accent, but he still has a soft spot for the town he once called home. Sean Kelly knows that Milton has a bad rap. Andrew Smith talks to Sean Kelly about his life as a Sample.
Andrew Smith gets a phone call from Sean Kelly and gets a taste of the Samples. Lead singer Sean Kelly dropped out of Milton High School in 1983 and did time in various Burlington bands before heading west and starting the band that would sell 750,000 albums.
The Samples may live in Boulder, Colorado, but they have very deep Vermont roots.
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