Candlebox arrived on the alternative rock scene over 25 years ago, with their now 4-times platinum self-titled album which contains the band’s biggest hits “Far Behind”, “Change”, “You”, and “Cover Me…all of which we sang along to on the radio and watched on MTV many years ago. Candlebox is honoring what it meant to its fans by performing their debut, self-titled album in its entirety during select dates.
Fans in Orlando and St. Pete were treated to a set that included the album in its entirety. The crowds filled the Plaza Live on Wednesday night and Jannus Live on Thursday night to sing along and reminisce the years of their youth. I have to say, I have so many memories from these songs and it was a pleasure to see a whole new generation of fans having the opportunity to enjoy the experience of Candlebox live. Kevin Martin was on point and sounded just the same as he did so many years ago when we all fell in love with the music from Candlebox.
Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since its formation in 1990, the group has released six studio albums, which have achieved multi-platinum and gold certification, as well as numerous charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD.
In addition to Martin, Candlebox members include Adam Kury on bass, Brian Quinn on lead guitar, Island Styles on guitar and Dave Krusen on drums.
Joining Candlebox on this current run is To Whom It May, a progressive hard rock trio from Galveston, Texas. These guys rocked and are absolutely worth a listen if you are not familiar with them.
Music Madness caught up with the band’s bassist Adam Kury to learn what fans can expect from Candlebox in 2019.
Music Madness: Enjoyed the show in St. Pete. It looked like the band was having a blast.
Adam: We do have a good time. I mean, everyone in the organization … not just the band, but our whole crew … everyone were all good friends and we enjoy hanging out.
Music Madness: Outstanding. What is the ‘state of the union’ on the band? Is there new music in the works? And the band recently announced additional tour dates, correct?
Adam: Yeah, so we are still out celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first album up until July, that’s the first full year of the release. We are doing a bunch of touring all year long. We go out for a couple weeks at a time, then come back home and do some other stuff but it’s constant. We’re back out again in April for dates and I think we’re going to the UK and Europe in June. We are hoping to get back down to South America again as well this year, so we’re trying to put all that together.
I think the plan is for August … we’re going to go in and record another record. So, we got that coming up too. There’s lots of stuff going on with the band.
I’m sure we’ll probably do an album. I don’t think we’ll do an EP. I mean, you can take the business a different way and just release singles and piece them together, but I think the plan is to go in and do a full-length album in August.
Music Madness: Very cool. Music festivals seem to be popping up all over the place. Do you guys still enjoying doing those kind of shows?
Adam: Yeah. Yeah. It’s fantastic for a couple of reasons. You get to play in front of people that may not necessarily come to see you, just on your own and they don’t really know the band or whatever. So, it’s a chance to play in front of a bunch of new people. I think the band delivers pretty well live, so I think we gain fans that way.
The other thing is just out of a personal selfish level…I get to see a bunch of bands that I want to see on the bill that I don’t really get the chance to go out and see. It’s kind of a weird thing, but for what we do, pretty much any time I see another band, it’s almost exclusively due to being on a bill with them. I look forward to that perspective as well.
And it’s just good to be in with the community of people. The shows aren’t hard on us because when you do a festival with so many bands, it’s a shorter set. You play 45 minutes or an hour, as opposed to 90 minutes to two hours. I enjoy it. They are fun. It’s a good energy.
Music Madness: It feels like it’s come full circle. I remember watching old movies and the label would put all their acts on a bill together and bring them to those state fairs. They would parade you up on stage for a couple songs, rush you off the stage and the next one would come on. It’s evolved but same idea.
Adam: Yeah, and it’s great for people because they can see so many bands in one show. I mean the tickets are relatively expensive but not when you think about how many different bands you can see. If you wanted to buy individual tickets for all those bands, or even half those bands, it would cost you a fortune. It’s great because you get a sample of all these bands. You hear their core material. The bands are going to play their hits and their songs they feel are the best things that go over live, and then you’re on for the next one.
It’s just nice, because you get to see such a whole variety of different acts. I dig it. For me, like you were asking about having done this stuff for so long. I don’t know if I’d wanna be in the audience for one of those. We’ve done this for so long, it’s a little different, but if you’re in your twenties, you can pop out there and get all muddy and sweaty, and rock out with everybody.
Music Madness: Last year’s Rockville, I got stuck in all that madness during Stone Sour’s set with all my gear. I literally put that shit on my chest, crowd surfed out of there, and I’ll never do that again. Too old for all of that (laughing).
Adam: Right. Right. It’s nuts down there. Like I said, it’s good fun but you get to a certain point, and you’re like uh. I want to see the band, watch ‘em, and not worry about elbowing people out of the way, you know.
Music Madness: Oh, and it gets crazy. I mean, these guys now wear BMX gear with built-in GoPros.
Adam: Yeah, the people get insane. It’s a fine line between the fight and the fun.
Music Madness: That is very true. One of the things people ask me about are how bands come up with whom they tour with. Especially these days… every time you turn around there’s another kick ass bill being announced with a lot of high-profile bands. Do you get a choice of who you want as an opening band? Does the label put it all together?
Adam: Yeah, sometimes. Normally, we’re looking at our own thing if we’re going to go with a co-headline tour. It’s hard to pull off, because it’s expensive to tour and if you get too many big bands on the bill, then the ticket price has to go up so much. Then you start to worry about maybe you’re not going to be able to make it all work. So we tend to do our own thing a lot of times. If we have a band that’s affiliated somehow, somebody that we know, share management or we’re on the same label or whatever, they might go on a run with us … but a lot of times, we do our thing, and then the local promoter puts bands on the bill.
Music Madness: I know you always have other projects going on. Anything else in the hopper or are you too busy with Candlebox these days?
Adam: I’m still out touring with Sons of Silver, which is a Pete RG rebrand. The Sons of Silver name just seems a lot better and Pete’s last name, Argyropoulos, means son of silver. So, it all worked out.
We’re doing that in-between Candlebox runs, Dave Krusen plays with us as well. So then, we go out and do that, and then back in town just trying to pick up session work. I’ll make a record here and there, although I haven’t done that in a few months. You just piece everything together, ’cause you can’t be out 24-7. It would burn you out. My family would kill me. It’s nice to come home, do something different.
Photos and review by Jennifer Reis & Interview and photos by Steve Carlos
