From Seattle, Washington, Candlebox vocalist Kevin Martin gave us a call to discuss the exciting news that after a 10 year break up, the band is back together and releasing a new album this year.

You will randomly hear me mention bras throughout the interview. Don’t be weary, Kevin was just bra-hunting at Victoria Secret. (For his wife, that is, not himself! Let’s not get confused here!) Kevin explains what acid rock was and what it was like jamming in Seattle, grunge-central-station in the 90’s, he tells us what drove the band apart, what brought them back together and what one fan wanted to know about – what inspired their song, You…

http://www.candleboxrocks.com/
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Kevin: Maverick yeah.

Diana: Maverick yep. Ok. And you were their…

Kevin: We were their first band actually.

Diana: Yeah you were their first huge success, and then Candlebox went and took a ten year hiatus.

Kevin: No, not really, we did a third record called Happy Tales.

Diana: Ok.

Kevin: We released in 98 and then took in 97, I am sorry in 99, in order to get of the label, we broke the band up, which ended back firing on us and locking us into a tough 4-year legal battle with the label.

Diana: Oh really?

Kevin: Yes, which we really weren’t able to talk about at that time, but now its over and done with so we can talk all the kind of shit we want.

Diana: Awesome, so yes its been about 10 years, yes.

Kevin: Now it is actually.

Diana: So why the break up?

Kevin: To get off the label, to get out of the deal. And in the process of doing such, you know, Pete went off and did a solo project. I did a solo project. Bardi went to law school, got his law degree. Scott was playing with Brandi Carlile and coby linkler, and we were all just kind of doing our own thing and, when the contract was finally, when all the legal battle was over in 2004, everybody was in the throws of, of their own business so, we didn’t really decide to put this thing back together until 2005 when Warner Chappell contacted us and where putting out a best of Candlebox record and we were like hey it would be kind o fun to go and tour on so that’s what we did and then decided we’d make a record this next year.

Diana: Awesome, was it, was it intended, so it wasn’t intended to be a permanent break then, you guys always intended to get back together?

Kevin: Yes it was just, sometimes it’s the only way you can get out of these contracts with these labels.

Diana: Uuh hum.

Kevin: But it, it actually was something our attorney at the time didn’t look into, in depth into the contract to find out if it was something that actually was going to work, so we kind of ended up shooting ourselves in the foot. Yeah we, always had the intention of, continuing to make records as a band.

Diana: Ok, what wasn’t working with Maverick?

Kevin: Everything.

Diana: Everything?

Kevin: Yes they are a horrible, horrible label.

Diana: Ok, would you like to tell us about it?

Kevin: Well its very disjointed very egotistical, its all ego driven label, you know obviously being you know, Madonna’s vanity label and not a lot of consideration put into the actual art itself. Even with successes of Candlebox, Alanis Morissette and the Deftones. The label was very disjointed and I think lost sight of who it was that actually helped them to establish themselves as Maverick Records and I think that they pretty much thought that it was all them and they were the main success and that the music was second to what they needed as a label and the minute that happens you know, everybody kind of tries to break free and if you look at them now they are basically no longer major. They are subsidiaries, independent of Warner brothers. They are a very small, mini label, and all they have left is really Alanis Morissette and the Deftones.

Diana: So they took kind of took a power trip then, they went on a power trip?

Kevin: Yes.

Diana: Yeah…didnt work out very well.

Kevin: No, and I don’t think it’s worked out too well for anybody ever since I mean, I know the Deftones aren’t happy there and I know Alanis Morissette’s not happy there, but unfortunately they are locked into the same kind of contract we were, which is you will always and forever record for us. Which is, it’s a bullshit deal for the artists and at the end of the day it’s the music that sells them, that sells records not the vice president of the label, or the president of the label. It’s the music.

Diana: So how hard was it for you to then to decide “hey you know what, like I don’t believe in this, I don’t like what you are doing. I am going to stand up for myself and our band and you know, whether you like it or not we are going to do things our way”

Kevin: How hard was it?

Diana: Yeah.

Kevin: It was a tough decision to make, because I knew, I knew what I was walking into doing it. I think that we as a band knew that we were running the risk of being ostracized by the label, Warner Brothers not, you know, Maverick was a subsidiary of Warner. We knew that if we did make this decision to break up the band to get out of the contract that you know we ran the possibility of ostracizing ourselves from Warner Brothers and any other label for that matter that we were going to try and work with and outside of it. Which is exactly what happened I mean the minute that people found out what we were doing and breaking up the band, it became, we were pretty much blacklisted by any Warner Brothers label and so, not a good thing.

Diana: Well, was there anything other than all of that going on in your lives that may have been stressful that contributed to the break up, other than the whole record label business?

Kevin: No not really I mean, I think that you have band members that obviously get burned out on the road and stuff but I think we were so exhausted from this constant battle with Maverick and not being able to release the records that we wanted to release that it pushed us to a point where we were just really disinterested in making music in general you know.

Diana: So why get back together now?

Kevin: Well I was going to say, the main contributing factor of it was Maverick Records but you know, I think that the difference now is that we have all grown up a lot more we are all in our 30s you know, and we’re not 22 year old kids any more out there having fun, its now, we get to make the music the way we want to make it, and we have just signed a deal with a label called Silent Majority which is a totally independent, of-themselves label and they are allowing us to make the record we want to make, the way we want to make it with whom we want to make it with. And they are just basically saying, “hey you just let us know what you need from us” and so that’s why it’s different now.

Diana: And you already got the huge following from before, so.

Kevin: We still have a relatively strong following yes.

Diana: And was there anything that sparked you to do it now, at this point in time? To get back together now?

Kevin: Well we had so much fun touring, on The Best Of you know, I think we kind of, when we found out they we putting this thing out in 2005 you know, we were able to pick the track listing for it, I think we kind of, we were all re-invigorated by listening to the songs again and going through, and picking the track listing and the arrangement of the tracks on the record and I think that by doing that you just kind of spice things up again like, its been 5 years since we toured together as a band of friends and now .

Diana: So you have toured recently?

Kevin: Yeah we toured last 2006 and 2007.

Diana: Oh awesome, any chance you will be coming to Canada?

Kevin: We, where are you are you in Toronto?

Diana: London Ontario, 2 hours away from Toronto.

Kevin: Right we just played Windsor Ontario, Strawberry Fest.

Diana: Ooh. Didn’t know.

Kevin: We just played, yes.

Diana: Will you be there again next year?

Kevin: I don’t know actually, do you know the band Ashes of Summer?

Diana: No.

Kevin: They are a Windsor Ontario band, great friends of ours.

Diana: Oh ok.

Kevin: We did it with them, they are a great band I really really enjoyed them a lot.

Diana: I’ll have to check them out.

Kevin: We are trying to put together a springtime tour of Canada with Default and I want to say, is it Default and Our Lady Peace I think it is.

Diana: Oh that would be a really good tour.

Kevin: Yeah well we toured, we took Our Lady Peace out in 96 here in the states for 6 weeks and we told them that they were going to have to repay us the favor.

Diana: Well it would be great to get you guys back in Canada .Now just going back to the 90s again briefly, what was it like being a rock band in Seattle during the 90s when it was a grunge and post grunge era?

Kevin: (clears throat) I mean excuse me! I don’t know what is going on here! Besides the fact of you know watching this amazing explosion happen right in your front of face, it was really cool you had, every single weekend you could go see a different band and all the music that was coming out of Seattle at the time was so different, that’s one of the funniest things about the term grunge is, it’s not really, that’s not what Seattle was, Seattle was a city it was, like to say you know, the whole northwest including Portland and what-not, it was a very heavy acid-rock driven time you know, its like everybody took Black Sabbath and threw it in the mix with Black Flag so you got this kind of really kind of heavy metal mixed with punk rock which is what you know, what we called just acid rock uum so.

Diana: Acid rock?

Kevin: Yes, and it’s kind of funny that the term was given to it, grunge, because it was really just heavy metal mixed with punk rock and you know dirge, dirge, dirge-rock and it was interesting. I mean I saw Nirvana play, I saw you know, I saw their first show in Seattle. I saw Sound Garden play when Chris Cornell was still playing drums for them, you know when it was a 3 piece and Chris was on the drums so, I mean it was amazing, and I was just a kid actually. A lot of these guys in Pearl Jam and Sound Garden they are all, they are all a bit older than us by about 5 years so its not like we were all 21 years old playing in clubs. I was 15 years old and going to see the bands playing at all ages shows. I moved to Seattle in 1984 from San Antonio Texas and then I saw my first concert there, that same spring when I moved there and it was just like, it was just the most amazing fuckin place I’d ever been to.

Diana: That would be yeah, totally.

Kevin: It was very cool and I really really enjoyed and now its nice to be considered a part of it whether they use the word grunge or not it’s…

Diana: Were you influenced by it, musically or otherwise?

Kevin: I don’t know if I was influenced by it, I grew up on punk rock. My first concert in San Antonio, was in San Antonio Texas when I was 12 years old and it was the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Butt Hole Surfers and the Big Boys.Thats the first concert I ever saw so you know, I was more inspired by what was happening than influenced by it because it was really still a part of me you know, and my lifestyle in Texas and what I loved about that type of music so not so much influenced but really inspired by it. It was an amazing period and it was really great to be a part of it.

Diana: Gotcha. How is the bra hunting going?

Kevin: How is the what?

Diana: How is the bra hunting going?

Kevin: Oh I’m done, I am in the car and on my way home.

Diana: Ok ok, you’re all over the place as I am talking, excellent.

Kevin: See how quiet I am? You don’t even know what I’m doing.

Diana: No I didn’t know. Now people change dramatically in 10 years. Will the new album in 2008 sound like your previous albums or should we expect something totally different from it?

Kevin: Well I think it’s gonna definitely have our style, it will sound like us, my voice is my voice and Pete’s playing is his playing, but it has grown up I mean, we’ve grown up, we’ve all grown up quite a bit musically and our influences and inspirations have all kind of taken new direction. I have found a new love in old blues and jazz that I had kind of forgotten about for a really long time so I’ve rekindled a love for it I should say. So I don’t know if that’s going to be a part of our new sound or not but it definitely is something that is inspiring me now in my writing, my lyrical writing and my song writing.

Diana: Well definitely we need to see. If you were to think about what way, what main most important way you’ve grown, you mentioned you guys have grown a lot. What would be the main most important way do you think? If you can only pick one.

Kevin: Probably just patience, patience for life. Not trying to do everything now, taking my time with it and understanding that it’s all a part of the big plan and letting the music speak for itself rather than trying to make it speak, if that makes any sense.

Diana: Uuh hum yes. Now I also have a question about your song You. Well actually its not really my question but an individual had wanted me to ask you about the song because its very personal to him and he had actually mentioned that if he was to be going on a really long drive to Alaska, and he was only allowed to bring 4 CDs with him, that yours would be one of them.

Kevin: Wow.

Diana: So he really loved your song You and wanted to know what inspired it.

Kevin: That was a song inspired by my own, my own drug addiction but as well the process of watching a lot friends go through their own addiction to drugs and it’s more so the conversation with the inner soul speaking to the outer saying ‘look you know, this is just wrong” and that’s really the foundation of what it was really about.

Diana: Uh hum, so you did struggle with a drug addiction yourself and watched others go through that as well?

Kevin: Yeah when I was young, I must have been on drugs since I was like 12 and I quit when I was 18, cold turkey, but that was one of the songs that came out of that process of quitting.

Diana: So that helped you in going through that process?

Kevin: It didn’t help me to stay off of it, it just really helped me tell the story.

Diana: So you would say of course that its, or would you say that it’s a process kind of a big long process like a journey that you go through to overcome something like that?

Kevin: I think so.

Diana: Yes, an exploration?

Kevin: Its different for everybody I think.

Diana: Uuh well yes, he did want to know it had to do with drugs and drugs that other people were involved in, so I guess that was right on the ball there.

Kevin: Yes.

Diana: Do you any words to live by or a best piece of advice that you have received from somebody?

Kevin: Uuuh, I mean the biggest thing is that I’ve learned is, well somebody said to me “don’t sweat the small shit, its all small shit”. I mean that’s the truth, its not uuh, you are never bigger than where we are now, the world is so much bigger us and you can’t control it, you have no control over the changes that are going to happen to you or the curve ball that life is going to throw at you, the big stuff is what’s important and that’s taking care of yourself, and being good to yourself and your family and your friends and that sort of thing.

Diana: Excellent. Well that’s all the questions I have today Kevin. Thanks so much for calling in and talking to me about all this.

Kevin: My pleasure.

Diana: Yes and thanks for talking to me while you are hunting for bras and all that good stuff. Good luck with the baby.

Kevin: Thank you.

Diana: And yeah, we definitely look forward to the new album in 2008 and hope to see you guys play in concert in Canada as well.

Kevin: You will.