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PS: So how’s the tour been going?
SEAN: It’s been excellent. Probably one of the better tours we’ve done in several years at least.
PS: Do you have favorite shows you’ve played?
SEAN: They’ve been like one right after the other. They just keep going up and I know when we hit Texas in a few spots it was a little bit light for the…no, no, no…it was…was it Texas? I think it was like Austin, Texas…there’s only like two places where it was slim and I think it’s because of the venue we were at, but the whole tour’s been…I can’t even describe how…it’s just been incredible.
PS: You have a new album out. Are you happy with the response?
SEAN: The response has been really, really excellent as well. And we’re playing a lot of the songs, a good percentage of them every night so they’re going over really well and people have obviously picked it up so far because they’re singing the songs while we’re playing them so it’s really cool.
PS: It helps that you pass out the lyrics.
SEAN: We did that at one show.
PS: Was that the only one…in L.A.?
SEAN: I hit the printer because I needed the lyrics for it and it printed out like ten or something and I was like, well, I might as well just toss ‘em out. I didn’t know what else to do. I think it may have been L.A.
PS: Yeah, that was the show I was at in L.A.
SEAN: Oh, excellent.
PS: I thought, ‘That’s so cool, they pass out the lyrics.’
SEAN: Yeah, that was the only time that happened.
PS: That’s funny. Now I know that past members like Andy and Jeep have contributed to writing songs. Were you the sole writer on this album?
SEAN: Yes. With, you know…other than these guys playing on it, yeah, and I always consider that a good portion of how it comes together. But yeah, I wrote all the songs on this one.
PS: When you’re trying to finish an album, is there ever a time when you’re just totally blocked and feel completely uninspired or do the songs just seem to flow?
SEAN: Yes. Good question. Not uninspired, but writing songs is a weird thing and it’s like, you know, why do you write songs? You start asking yourself and then it’s like, ok, you’ve got this tool or this craft of sorts and you have the opportunity to express yourself so what do you want to express? That time period I was staying at a good friend of mine’s house and we were just sort of talking about the world and watching TV, turning it on and off and just sort of absorbing things and I think that all went into me, so a lot of this album, even the song Lollipop is about our culture really…and this time period. So that’s how I channel the stuff…it’s like a channeling of sorts.
PS: Do you feel that’s a main difference between this album and the previous albums is that it’s more about the culture than personal experiences?
SEAN: Yeah, it could be. It could be. We’ve had bits and pieces of the essence of what this album is about on albums before, but not so direct in your face and full on as this is. And consistent.
PS: You’ve been through a lot over the years with The Samples. You’re the only remaining original member.
SEAN: Yeah.
PS: And you were very close to financially being unable to continue. Was there ever a time you felt like just throwing in the towel and saying, ‘I’ve had enough.’
SEAN: Yes, absolutely. Last year. We had been robbed by a booking - ex booking agency – not the one we had prior to this and I wish I could mention names, but it was really an effort that undermined our tour to steal the deposits from the shows. And buses and all that’s very expensive so at the end we just…it was coming at us from all different angles. We just barely make it as it is so the ripple effect from having our money stolen just spun us into a downward spiral of almost filing bankruptcy. And that to me got me more down than anything. I could never…I don’t have any interest in filing bankruptcy and I was advised to potentially do that several times over and I just said, ‘No.’ So a lot of the joy that we’re feeling now is also the surviving effects of not throwing in the towel, you know.
PS: Is there anything you do to keep yourself grounded during those times and not let financial issues bring you down? I know from my personal experience it’s very tough to not let financial issues just take over.
SEAN: That was a unique experience because that kind of…that was sort of like a…that was really a dark period for me and so there’s many different things that I thought of and the final one was the potential of reaching out to our audience and seeing if they wanted to help out. But other than that it was just a lot of sleep and brainstorming and I fell into a real dark depression actually so it wasn’t a pleasant time. And in movies, certain movies inspired me like the Ernest Shackleton story. I started resorting to heroism in people. Like Jimmy Stewart’s role in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ You know it’s like, come on let’s…you know, we’re the last of our kind here and we give so much and it was like, I wonder if we could just ask if people can help us out and it was so great to see that happen. I don’t know if that would happen with a record company, you know…I think people just wouldn’t have the sensitivity. They represent to me like the Mr. Potter, you know. And so we just really held in there.
PS: Talk to me about the Lifetime Pass. For those that don’t know, what is it and what did that response mean to you? I mean you had an amazing response from just that.
SEAN: Yeah, it was just people saying they didn’t want our music to go away and knowing that honestly it was on its brink, you know, and that this is as far as we could take this thing sustaining the integrity and spirit and the soul of what our music’s about, what the essence of The Samples are about – whether it’s original members or not - you know, that there’s a lot of music to be made here and a lot of purpose behind what we do. It might not be the commercial success that the industry validates as success, but it’s a success on another level that doesn’t get any recognition really other than from its fans. And that’s the sole purpose you play music anyways.
PS: Which is most important. Above the music industry.
SEAN: Exactly.
PS: Speaking of the fans, I’ve read a lot of comments from the fans and the recurring theme is how deeply they’re touched by your music. What do you think it is about your music that they connect with and how does that make you feel?
SEAN: Well, I look at it like, almost like politically. You know, you’ve got…people vote you in for a reason. You know, they trust your product or your belief or your values and our audience doesn’t really have anywhere else to turn, you know. Our audience typically is like the way we are, you know, what we believe in and for music and we’re sort of the spokespeople for generations of people that have no one to really speak for them or sing something about something, you know, or go somewhere with your heart that’s not solely dictated and…what’s the word…solely dominated by money, you know, and figures and units and all that stuff…the smoke and mirror tricks. It’s like, the curtain’s open, this is it. It’s very vulnerable. And I don’t think you find any vulnerability in music personally. I don’t see it and I know it’s out there because those are the bands that aren’t getting signed and aren’t getting attention, but hopefully we can stand as a beacon of like, ‘Look, there’s that way to do it and there’s this way.’ You know, blaze your own trail and be creative with your losses and your struggles. And we don’t…I don’t believe in being the victim and wallowing in that. I have no interest in it. You know, there’s many reasons why financially we’re in our predicament. I mean I have, you know, countless, countless reasons why I believe that we have been victimized, but I’m not going to go there with our music or anything. And I think we’re going to get the last laugh at one point and maybe we already have.
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