INTERVIEW: Candlebox’s ‘Wolves’ has a little bit of everything
Photo: Candlebox’s new album is called Wolves. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Pavement Entertainment with permission.
When singer Kevin Martin sat down with his band Candlebox to start work on a new album, he knew he wanted to be diverse and expansive with what they created. The result is Wolves, which was released this week and features songs in many different styles. The recording effort, a followup to 2016’s Disappearing in Airports, fits nicely into the band’s musical career, which now consists of seven albums dating back to their early days in Seattle in the 1990s.
“I love this record,” Martin said in a recent phone interview. “We’re kind of all over the place. We made a record where we didn’t really limit ourselves to one style of music. If we felt like we wanted to go in the direction of an Americana track or a progressive rock track, we did it, as long as everyone was game, and that’s something we’ve not really ever done. This is the first time collectively as a band we felt that this was the record that we wanted to make and how we wanted to make it. It’s very refreshing as a songwriter to work with guys that want to do the same thing, that really want to push themselves and experience different sides of one another’s songwriting because we’re all such individuals, such individual writers and partners musically, that we don’t always get that chance. And this is the first time we’ve written a record like this, and I’m just excited about it. We’ve got some great heavy rock tracks on here. We’ve got some blues, some pop. We’ve got a piano ballad, all these types of things we wanted to do. It just makes it fun.”
Wolves has been complete for quite some time, but the band has been waiting for the optimal moment to release the new music given the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the work was finished in August 2019, and Martin completed his vocals in January 2020. These past two years have been trying for Candlebox and the music industry in general.
“It’s been a challenge,” he said. “It’s been a real struggle to stay focused on what it is I do. I’ve really enjoyed being home, so the thought of going out on tour, although exciting when it came up, I’ve really just been like, I’m enjoying being home. So I kind of stepped back from being a musician for a while, so it’s a little strange reacclimating myself to the world of getting in a bus and going and playing music for people during this strange time right now. I mean, all of it is kind of freaky to me.”
When the songs started coming together for Wolves, the members of Candlebox thought about what type of music they enjoy. They tried not to care too much about what they believed the audience would want to hear. It’s a fine line for an artist, trying to be oneself and yet keeping a fanbase happy.
“It’s just never in the back of my mind that I have to worry about whether my audience likes the record or not,” Martin said. “I know that’s an unfair thing to do, maybe, I don’t know. It’s just who I am and how I’ve always been. I’m a little bit selfish in that when it comes to Candlebox.”
Two songs off the new album jump out as favorites for Martin. One is “Let Me Down Easy,” a tune actually written by Peter Cornell, the older brother of Chris Cornell. Martin has been friends with Peter for quite some time, and the two decided to collaborate on the new song.
“I met Peter in Seattle back in 1988,” Martin said. “I was always a big fan of his band, Inflatable Soule. We started chatting at a concert in Seattle in 2018. I said, ‘Man, I would love to have a song on my new record with you. I’ve just always been a fan. We’ve never worked together. What are your thoughts?’ He’s like, ‘I’d love to do that. What are you thinking?’ I told him, ‘I wanted something that was kind of swampy, bluesy, maybe he and I sitting on a tree stump with Robert Johnson talking about life and music and making some decisions about our futures.’ And he sent me that.”
Martin said “Let Me Down Easy” feels like it’s sweating, humid, dirty and dusty, exactly the feeling he was hoping for. Ultimately, the tune is about redemption and taking ownership and responsibility in life.
Another favorite song on Wolves is called “My Weakness,” written by another buddy of Martin’s. This friend writes in the same vein as Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, kind of like storyteller rock.
“I wanted a song that kind of felt like that,” Martin said. “It’s not in my wheelhouse. I can’t write songs that way. It’s not my style of songwriting, but I really, really wanted something on the record like that. He wrote the song kind of from the perspective of my relationship with my wife. He knows my wife and I very, very well, and I think it represents our relationship and what she means to me. … It was perfect. I love singing the song. It’s got everything in it that I wanted.”
Candlebox, who are now on an extensive tour, plan to bring some of these new songs, plus old favorites like “Far Behind,” “Cover Me” and “You,” to audiences around the country.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Candlebox’s new album is called Wolves. Click here for more information.
