The Samples

The Samples performed at the 2010 Mile High Music Festival with all their original members. This historic coming together of the original members has been a long time coming as they have not played together in over 15 years. The Samples were a band formed in Boulder, Colorado in early 1987. The band’s name came from the members’ early sustenance of food samples from the local grocery store. The music has been described as “reggae influenced folk and rock/pop”.

The founding members were Sean Kelly (Guitar/Vocals), Andy Sheldon (Bass/Vocals), Charles Hambleton (guitar), Jeep MacNichol (Drums/Vocals), and Al Laughlin (Keyboards, Vocals).

Their live shows helped them on the college circuit selling out venues in the 1990’s. Their records blended soulful pop sensibility with a mix of folk, reggae, jazz, and rock to create their own signature sound. They wrote songs about nature and the environment giving the band an “eco-friendly” reputation.

The band headlined the H.O.R.D.E. tour shows in 1993 and 1996 and they shared the bill with Sting The Allman Brothers Band,Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors Collective Soul Widespread Panic and Phish. On their own tours, many up and coming bands opened up for them including Dave Matthews Band, Tragically Hip, Hootie & the Blowfish, andLisa Loeb. They have also appeared on The Jay Leno Show.

Since the last time Sean played with the original lineup he has recorded six or seven Samples CDs under The Samples name and continued with non stop touring since 1996. He is currently working on a solo album to be out in the near future and has a song on a major movie coming out soon called Santorini Blue starring Richard Belzer Ice T and Deirdre Lorenz.

Charles Hambleton and his team recently produced and had a major role in the Oscar award winning documentary (The Cove). Jeep has released 2 successful albums under the name Mr. Anonymous and made several videos and performs regularly available on youtube and hosts a weekly reggae radio show on 95.3 Fm or greenlightradio.com in Colorado every Thursday from 4:00 PM to 6:00 Pm.

Andy has also recorded 1 solo album available on cdbaby.com. Al has also released an album under the name Highway 50 and played in numerous bands as well. “It has been 12 years since this group has played together and it is going to be magical to reunite with original members.” Sean Kelly”

For a complete set of photos of this performance see my Flickr set here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gonzoshots/sets/72157624853614168/

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 14th, 2010 at 3:32 pm. It is filed under Live music reviews, Mile High Music Festival 2010 and tagged with Mile High Music Festival 2010, The Samples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.