{"id":22852,"date":"2022-05-04T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T09:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22852"},"modified":"2022-04-27T12:24:51","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T16:24:51","slug":"candleboxs-simple-lessons-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/04\/candleboxs-simple-lessons-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Candlebox’s Simple Lessons, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"Winter 1993 represented a turning point for Candlebox. \u201cWe had already sold 250,000 records,\u201d Martin recalls. \u201cWe came back to Seattle and sold out three nights at the Paramount.\u201d With the creative winds at their backs \u2013 and three million copies of the debut sold \u2013 the band returned to the studio in 1995 to record a follow-up album. Released in October 1995, Lucy<\/i> was a comparative commercial disappointment.<\/p>\n

The album explored different styles than its predecessor, and fans of the early hit singles weren\u2019t as impressed. \u201cBy going the direction we did,\u201d Martin allows, \u201cwe alienated a lot of the people who loved us for \u2018Far Behind.\u2019\u201d But success is relative: Lucy<\/i> would eventually go Platinum. \u201cIt only<\/i> sold a million records,\u201d Martin says with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the second album\u2019s modest showing, Maverick did what record companies often do: they assigned a producer to work with the band, one with a proven track record of delivering hits. In this case it was Ron Nevison, best known for his work with both hard rockers (Michael Schenker, Ozzy Osbourne) and mainstream pop acts like Chicago. \u201cWe wanted Jeff Lynne or Roger Waters,\u201d Martin says.<\/p>\n

Martin acknowledges Nevison\u2019s talents and skill, but in retrospect thinks his approach wasn\u2019t right for Candlebox. \u201cHe had a history of taking rock bands and crossing them over into the pop world,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were just not interested in that, so it was a bit of a battle.\u201d The resulting album, Happy Pills<\/i>, repeated a pattern, selling fewer copies than the record before it.<\/p>\n

Maverick was going through changes at the top, and the members of Candlebox weren\u2019t fans of the new management. \u201cWe broke up the band to get out of the contract,\u201d Martin says. A key-man clause in the group\u2019s contract meant that Martin was forced to remain with the label; he would produce demos under duress. \u201cI was writing songs that I knew they wouldn’t accept,\u201d he says with a laugh. In 2002 he finally gained his freedom from Maverick; the label ceased operations a few years thereafter.<\/p>\n

By 2006, the Maverick catalog was owned by Warner Brothers Records. When that label decided to compile a Candlebox best-of, the band members were inspired to reunite. \u201cWe got in touch and said, \u2018Let\u2019s go back on the road and support The Best of Candlebox<\/i> and maybe make a new record,\u2019\u201d Martin recalls. They did just that, and 2008\u2019s Into the Sun<\/i> represented a return to form, a new beginning for the group.<\/p>\n

Martin ascribes some of that record\u2019s creative success to the time the members spent away from the group. \u201cWe had become better songwriters and better friends, getting to know each other,\u201d he says. The creative streak has continued unabated since then. As solid as Candlebox\u2019s early releases are, Into the Sun<\/i> and 2012\u2019s Love Stories & Other Musings<\/i> showcase a band that sounds more comfortable in its collective skin.<\/p>\n

Disappearing in Airports<\/i> would follow in 2016. Candlebox\u2019s most recent \u2013 and quite possibly best-ever \u2013 album, Wolves<\/i>, was released in September 2021. Working with producer Dean Dichoso, the band adopted a live-in-the-studio approach that effectively captures the power, energy and passion of the band. \u201cIt feels the aggression, it feels the sadness, it feels the tension,\u201d Martin says, explaining that the group took its time to write and refine the songs before going into the studio.<\/p>\n

Future plans call for more touring in support of Wolves<\/i>, and then sessions for a follow-up record to commence in late \u201822. And next year will mark the 30th<\/sup> anniversary of Candlebox\u2019s smash debut. \u201cWe\u2019ll probably do something special for that,\u201d Martin teases. \u201cMaking records is fun, but it’s really about getting out there and playing those songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with the 1990s receding into the distant past, whatever tenuous connections Candlebox might have had with the grunge movement are largely forgotten now: the band is measured on its own terms. And Martin says that opposed to groups that are built around one prominent member, his band has a different character. \u201cI think people love us because of the whole<\/i>,\u201d he suggests. \u201cThey don\u2019t know us as individuals. The majority of people know and love us because of the songs. That’s why we’re still here. And we still write some pretty great music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Winter 1993 represented a turning point for Candlebox. \u201cWe had already sold 250,000 records,\u201d Martin recalls. \u201cWe came back to Seattle and sold out three nights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,62],"tags":[4815,4816],"class_list":["post-22852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-candlebox","tag-kevin-martin","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22852"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22859,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22852\/revisions\/22859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}