Today we've been speaking with Sean Taylor (one of the founding members of The Samples).
Who are The Samples?
Hailing from Worcester, they were one of the bands signed with No Future records which spawned the likes of Blitz, The Partisans and Peter & The Test Tube Babies, to name a few and for me personally - released one of the best singles on that label "Dead Hero". The band reformed just before lockdown and there is a fair bit of interest within the punk scene about their reformation. Let's take a look at The Samples 'Then &
Now' as we catch up with them......
THEN
DLW: What prompted the band to form in 1978 and what were your main topics to sing about?
Sean; The original band was formed in 1978. The first line up was Sean Taylor (vocals), Pascal (Paz) Smith (bass), Tony Allen (drums) and Dave Saunders (guitar). The early rehearsals were fun as we just got used to each other and was a huge learning curve.I met Pascal through a cousin of his who mentioned he had a band and they were looking for a singer, I think I turned up to a rehearsal got the job. The early songs we did were Ramones covers and a few of our own songs mainly dealing with being 16 and angry.
DLW: What bands were a big influence on the band?
Sean: Big influence at the time was the early punk scene in general. It was a very exciting time so bands from the first wave of punk were our main influences - Pistols, Clash, Stranglers, Generation X etc.
DLW: Was it the very original line-up that recorded your first single "Vendetta" on Sample Records and in your opinion, was the debut single well received and how well did it sell as I personally first heard about The Samples with your track on "A Country Fit For Heroes"?
Sean: The line-up had changed by the time we did Vendetta - we had Dave Evans join us on guitar and we had a manager, Chris Berry, who later went on to start No Future Records The Vendetta single got us on the road to better things (we pressed 1000 copies) but in general we had hoped for a bigger impact….but if you want a copy these days it will cost you around £400!!
DLW: Were there any other singles released on Sample Records or was it just Vendetta?
Sean: We only released Vendetta on Sample records but we have used it again recently as we have been moving all the stuff we own onto the main streaming sites…so it’s made a bit of a comeback too!
DLW: With reference to Government Downfall, I can imagine that you were very pleased to be offered a single release, so apart from "Dead Hero", were there any more releases promised by No Future or was it just a one single deal as other bands Blitz, Partisans etc had more than one release? Do you have fond memories of working with No Future records?
Sean: By the time Government Downfall was recorded our line-up had changed again - both Dave Saunders and Tony Allen had left the band by this stage and so we decided to go with just one guitar and then recruited our new drummer, Rick Mayhew from local punk band The Tights. We had a strange relationship with No Future; we were happy to be included on the A Country Fit For Heroes release, but we were promised a contract and a single before most of the No Future Bands so really, we should have been their 2nd or 3rd single release. I think the relationship we had with Chris Berry worked against us to be honest and we ended up getting shunted down the release pile and we were last to be considered. Then, when the second Blitz album blew the label’s budget, we were back to square one. We had recorded some demos for a follow-up single to Dead Hero (Nobody Cares) but there was just nothing left in the bank by this stage to get it released.
DLW: On your Facebook biography, you stated you did over 200 gigs back in the day. You played with Blitz, did you play any other gigs with fellow No Future bands?
Sean: Despite how it may sound, it wasn't all doom and gloom with No Future - we got on well with all the other bands, got to play with a few of them too - Blitz, Partisans, Red Alert, Peter and the Test Tubes, Screaming Dead etc.
DLW: Daft question but did you prefer studio work or playing live and why?
Sean: I think we liked both to be honest but I much preferred the live shows. It was great to have that much interaction with people.
NOW
DLW: Apparently, the band never officially split but back in 1986 would it be safe to assume that you went into a long phase of hiatus? Whose idea was it to exit the hiatus phase and decide to pick up the guitars, drums and bass again and start to make some more noise? And why?
Sean: We did stop in 1986 and I think we all thought that was it, but we have had so much interest recently and offers to play and record so we got together and thought it’s now or never really. Hopefully we made the right choice? We had been approached to do Rebellion in Blackpool too and that was probably the spark we needed to get us going.
DLW: Apart from Pascal (bass) and Sean (vox) being from the original line-up and currently forming part of the new line-up, were the other original members approached about the reformation? Are you still in touch with past members of the band?
Sean: Myself, Paz and Dave Evans are all part of the Vendetta era band and have been the nucleus of the band for most of the time we have been together We’ve remained friends with all the other band members that have played with us (our original drummer Tony was involved in the recent release of demos from 1981 that we released on vinyl) and hopefully some of them will come along to see us at one of our upcoming gigs.
DLW: What is the current line-up and how does it feel to be playing as part of The Samples again?
Sean: The current line-up is myself, Paz and Dave plus a new drummer, Gentleman Johnny P, who’s a great edition…and God is he loud! It feels great to be playing together again – hard to believe it’s been so long really.
DLW: How have rehearsals gone and are you busy writing lots of new material?
Sean: Rehearsals have gone (were going I should say) really well, the sound is better than ever. We have 1 new song nearly in the bag and we will probably do 1 or 2 more as we’d like to avoid being a 100% nostalgia act – one of the reasons we were unsure about getting back together if all we were going to do was play 100% old stuff. New stuff is sounding very good so far but we still need to add some finishing touches.
DLW: Who in the current scene are you listening to and do any new bands have any influence on writing new material?
Sean: To be honest, we have kept to the way we sound but the scene is pretty good at the moment with some great new bands, too many to mention.
DLW: Before this pandemic hit I know you had plenty of gigs lined up (your reformation gig in Worcester being put back to January 2021), including Rebellion - are you surprised at how much interest has been generated by all of this plus were/are there any US/European dates in the offering?
Sean: The pandemic has stopped us all in our tracks like everyone/everything else. We had some great gigs lined up and those are being rebooked for 2021. We are hoping that Rebellion will still want us! At the moment, we still have the Morecombe festival in November and a gig in Antwerp with the Exploited etc in December…. if they go ahead. Otherwise, we start afresh in January with the rearranged Worcester gig. As for other gigs on top of this next year, we’ll see what happens and what interest there is in us first and then think about it.
DLW: Finally, I appreciate you talking to me. If you were an interviewer, interviewing The Samples, what question would you ask them?
Sean: The question I would ask is “why did you leave it so long to come back???!!!”
Words DLW
