Now that some of history’s coolest bar bands — 311, Belly, Live — are too big for their bar britches, ain’t it grand that a member of one such musical demigod, Sean Kelly of The Samples, is taking time out from the band to hit those venues with a less-than-C.Y.-Stephens capacity.

Kelly has enlisted the help of an old friend from their hometown of Boulder, Colo., Rob Somers, to take up the duties of bass and guitar in order to embark on a hop-along tour of the Midwest without the rest of the group.

He’s drumming up support of his now-toddler-aged release, Light House Rocket. Now, even the most major Samples admirer might be missing this disc from his or her collection. “A lotta people still don’t know about it,” Kelly explained. “[But] it’s pretty basic. It doesn’t have a shelf life.”

Such an in-the-trenches-with-the-people kind of tour fits the style of the pair just fine. The two go waaaay back to the guys’ adolescence, and their current pairing allows them some breathing room: Kelly from the rest of The Samples and Somers from his busy life in Hawaii.

“We used to play in a band together when we were younger, about 15 or 16 years old,” Kelly explained. “We do this every spring. What I do acoustically, it makes much more sense to have him along. It gives us an opportunity to play songs we can’t ever play with The Samples. It’s also a way to keep things on a grassroots level.”

Which is no new thing to Kelly, even within the realm of the band. Even though The Samples have been around longer than the 90s have (eight years to be more exact), a fan (or a potential one) would be hard-pressed to stumble across a song on the radio or a video on MTV.

Not that The Samples ever relied on media airplay for exposure. All of the 400,000-plus albums they’ve sold were from an independent label, a near Herculean feat (if Hercules were in the record biz). And the fans who buy the discs do so because of the band’s incessant touring, not because of MTV stress rotation.

“A lot of radio play doesn’t justify music,” Kelly said. “We’ve never written music just to get played on the radio. … Word of mouth is worth its weight in gold. The radio is practically brainwashing people by playing songs over and over. You find yourself singing them whether you like them or not.

“We do the same kinda thing; but if people like it, they’re gonna spread it around. If there are four people at a show, they go and tell their friends.”

So for now, Kelly, Somers and The Samples are relying on their rigorous touring schedule to spread the word (“We’ve written a lotta songs about highways,” Kelly laughed).

While Kelly and Somers are out galavanting in the Midwest, two other Samples are doin’ the loner thing too: drummer Jeep MacNichol will release With a Fist, and bassist Andy Sheldon will put out Science Fiction. And in true underground fashion, the discs are only available through mail order and at their shows.

As for the band as a whole, Kelly said, “We’re about to hit it hard in June with our own tour and an album,” an offering called Outpost, the long-awaited follow-up to 1994’s Autopilot. The new release is the first on a major label (MCA), a switch that Kelly doesn’t see as being life-altering.

“It might make us more loony,” he joked. “No, I don’t think it’ll change things much. Some bands get what we’re headed for on their first album. But we’re seasoned enough that it’ll be okay. And it’s all honest: people are getting what they want ’cause they like it, not ’cause it’s a one-hit wonder.”

Kelly and Somers will have tapes available at the People’s show tonight, but “we’re still kinda keeping it low-key,” Kelly said. “It’s sort of another grassroots vibe.”

Kelly also wanted to remind people that this show will not completely neglect the efforts of his bandmates. “If anyone’s apprehensive about if we’re playing Samples’ songs, we are,” he said.

Kelly and company are also on-line, so those fellow email addicts can reach them at [email protected].

Kelly and Somers will get down ‘n’ dirty with a crowd at People’s this evening. Show time is 9:30 p.m., and Sherri Jackson will start things off. An ID and $7 at the door will getcha in.