Exclusive Interview: Kevin Martin From Candlebox

Kevin Martin of Candlebox – Rock Confidential interview

On August 28, 2020, Candlebox released “Let Me Down Easy,” their first glimpse of new material since 2016’s Disappearing In Airports album.

A few days later I spoke with frontman Kevin Martin about the new tune and the as-yet-unnamed upcoming album.

“Let Me Down Easy” was written by Peter Cornell (brother of the late Soundgarden and Audioslave singer/songwriter Chris Cornell) and Martin as a special collaboration between the two. “Peter and I had been chatting about doing something together and he sent me the song. I really loved writing this one with him. He’s incredibly talented and has an innate ability to produce something that is easy to sing to. I really loved this process with him.”

Kevin recently made news when he announced on a radio interview that Candlebox is winding down it’s 30+ year career. “I am retiring after next summer. I don’t know if I would have ever thought that Candlebox would be around this long. I wanted it, of course; I think every kid wants to have that opportunity and a career that lasts decades, and I’m very grateful that it has. But there comes a time where my responsibilities as a husband and a father supersede my responsibilities to the music that I make. And that’s kind of where I’m at.”

He further explained, “I enjoy it, but it’s not the love of my life anymore. And that’s, I think, when you as an artist you kind of have to recognize that and step away from it. And if it means that five years after that I decide that I wanna go out and do some shows, I’ll do it; if two years after that I decide I’m going to do some shows… But I won’t be doing the full-band tours for two, three, four months. I don’t wanna do that. It’s really, really hard. And I miss my family. And physically, it’s very taxing. The way I sing, it’s acrobatic, so it’s not something that I wanna be performing and not have my voice work. So I’d rather go out on top, I think, is the term.”

Kevin doesn’t rule out making new music. “I know that I’ve got another record I have to do,” he said. “And people are saying, ‘Well, if you do another record, you’ve gotta tour on it.’ Well, that’s not necessarily true. I would certainly want to and have people hear it, but I think that the case is that it’s probably best for me to just accept that the mindset that I’m in and what I’ve decided for myself is what I need to do. As much as I may wanna keep singing and doing this and putting myself in the music the way I do, I have to recognize that I’m just not in love with it the way I was.”

Until a few days ago, the recording of my conversation with Kevin seemed to have disappeared. In light of Kevin’s recent announcement, I feel like it’s appropriate to post the interview now.

Let’s travel back to 1PM EST, September 14, 2020.

“Let Me Down Easy” is a killer first single from the new album. Is it a good indicator of what we can expect from the new tunes?

“Let Me Down Easy” was an indication of where my head was at when we made the record. The record is a bit bipolar. I don’t really have one direction that I went with. I let the songs do what the songs do and go where they wanted to go. There are two similar songs on the record, a ballad, and there’s all the other shit. I’m all over the place. I’m happy with the record. I love it. I think it’s really cool. I’m not sure it’s something that everybody is going to be attracted to. I went the direction I wanted to go and make the record I wanted to make. I’ve got fans that will roll with me and some that won’t. The indication it will give you is this is a rock n’ roll record. Be ready to turn the shit up and hit the pedal.

Is it important when you’re writing for an album that the songs have a connection or flow?

I think it matters to some bands. Look at a band like Green Day who are notorious for making politically charged punk rock records. That’s what their audience expects of them. That could go for any popular band. Candlebox is allowed the freedom to make records like this because our fans are rock fans. They want to be taken on a different kind of journey. They don’t want 12 to 15 of the same song on a record. That can also be a bit of a downside for a band like Candlebox. That’s why we went from selling millions of albums to hundreds of thousands of records to now selling tens of thousands per outing. That’s quite a bit different than it used to be. It’s a different world. I don’t know if I would want to make a record that sounded exactly like one I made before or an album of 11 tracks that all sounded the same. I don’t know if I’m capable of that.

Peter Cornell wrote the music for “Let Me Down Easy” and you tackled the lyrics. Tell me about your relationship with him.

Shit, I’ve known Pete since 1987 or ’88. He’s quite a bit older than me and about three or four years older than his brother Chris. We didn’t run around with the same group of friends in Seattle because of the age difference, but I’ve known him a long time. We never really wrote any music together. This is the first time I said to him, “Listen man, I could use a song.” I ran into him a couple of years ago at the shows we did in Seattle when the band got back together for the 25th anniversary of the debut album. He came to the show with his wife, my manager, Amy. We picked up where we left off and I told him I’d love to have a song from him on the record. I was a big fan of the stuff he wrote back in the day with Inflatable Soule. He was keen to do it and I immediately fell in love with it. It had everything that I wanted from a song. I wanted something similar to “Rust Never Sleeps” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Something bluesy. I love that element of rock n’ roll that I think is lacking right now. I was so stoked when I got it. He sent exactly what I wanted.

Did you have lyrics ready to go or did the music inspire the lyrics?

The music dictated the lyrics, absolutely. It always has with me. I don’t sit around and write lyrics. I’m not a Jim Morrison type or any of those cats that carries around a book of lyrics. I’ve always been the kind of musician that lets the song dictate to me what it wants me to say. I think the music is instrumental in that for any type of artist because you require something that inspires. When that happens it’s super easy to write lyrics to. When Pete sent me that song, I was immediately drawn to it. I heard what I wanted to say. It happened really quickly. I don’t know if that happens every day for a lot of musicians, but for me it was pretty instantaneous.

Is “Let Me Down Easy” a nod to religion or forgiveness and having faith or something else?

It really was inspired by Robert Johnson and the Crossroads thing. I love that story about him selling his soul to the devil, or that’s what people actually thought. I think that’s just cool. At some point, your card’s going to be drawn. If you’re a practicing Catholic or Christian or something like that, your belief is that you’re going to go to Heaven and walk through the pearly gates and get forgiven for your sins. Some of us believe that’s not the case – you’re going to die and be buried in the ground and that’s it for you. If you do have that faith, that’s a great thing. For me, I just wanted to say that this is what I’ve done and I take responsibility for the person I’ve been my entire life. Please find someplace in your heart to let me go and not have to go the hard way. I don’t want terminal cancer. I’ve lost three friends to that. That’s a terrible thing to watch. That song is really about redemption and resolve and finding someplace in your heart to ask for forgiveness for whatever it is that you’ve done. Whether it’s religious, a friendship, a relationship, or even to yourself. If you’re a former drug addict or alcoholic and you’re getting clean and trying to turn your life around, ask for that forgiveness from yourself. It will be somewhat easier for you to move through things. It’s really about self-awareness, if anything.

What were the original plans for the album?

It was supposed to be out last month. This pandemic has fucked everything up. Not just for us, but a lot of my friends that are in bands – crew guys that can’t find work. We don’t have the best protection in our industry. If you’re an actor you’ve got the Screen Actor’s Guild that truly protects you and makes sure you’ve got your insurance and things are paid. The Musician’s Union really sucks. It’s almost impossible for you as a musician to get unemployment because you’re self-employed. I had to get a PPP loan for my band and make sure the guys got paid. We were supposed to be out on the road from March until December and then back out in January. We got fucked on that.

When did you start writing for the record?

I started writing around January of last year. About a year and a half ago. Adam, my bass player, and I started writing and Brian, my guitar player, sent me a couple of tracks. We knew we wanted to make the record in summer so I kinda needed everything put together before then. Right around May of last year we had all the tracks we needed. We popped in the studio in August and the record was done shortly thereafter. It was really quick. I don’t write records until I feel like I have something to say. That’s when I know it’s time to make an album. That’s probably why Candlebox has about four years in between albums. I like to tour them and take my time and then take a break and spend time with my family. It’s really my schedule and how I want to do it. With this record, I wasn’t really ready to make it. I even told the guys I wasn’t sure it was the record I wanted to make right now. When it was done I knew it was exactly what I wanted to make. At first I wasn’t sure because there’s so much going on in the world. I’m highly opinionated on what’s going and and with politics. I know there’s a lot of my fans that don’t agree with me and don’t want to hear my opinion. I voice it but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get involved with that on this record. I took a step back and discussed it with my manager and asked “How could I do this without pissing people off?” She said “You gotta do what you gotta do.” I avoided it because I fell in love with the songs rather than trying to force something. Maybe that’s why I love the record so much. It’s about my love for the actual tracks instead of my political opinions.

How does it feel to live with a record that’s been finished for so long?

I don’t know, man. With Disappearing In Airports it was the same thing. I had that record done almost a year before it came out as well. This one was done this past January. That’s when I finished the vocals. I took four months to write the lyrics and work on the vocals. I didn’t rush them out. By the time this record comes out it will be the same time as Disappearing In Airports.

The band is creeping up on 30 years. Looking back to the beginning, what do you remember about your ambitions and the things you wanted to accomplish?

(laughs) I just wanted to be a band forever. God, man. If you would’ve told me back then that it wouldn’t be Pete, Bardi, Scott and myself for the rest of our lives I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought that was how it was going to be. Candlebox has always been the band as a whole instead of the sum of its parts. That’s why it works. The music and the songs that we created so long ago is what people fell in love with. It wasn’t me or Pete or Bardi or Scott. It was us and it was this music. That’s why people are still paying attention to what we’re doing and we’re still able to sell out shows and have fun. My ambitions were to be an Aerosmith or the Rolling Stones or something like that. That didn’t happen. But we’re still here like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, just musically and not personality-wise. It’s good. We’re here and I’m happy and I’ve got no complaints.

When the first Candlebox record came out, you were just a couple of years away from an entirely different style of rock music – glammy, poppy rock. What shifted you away from what was going on at the time?

Mainly it was because Pete, Bardi, Scott and myself were all such different musicians. Pete was an Iron Maiden guy, Michael Schenker, UFO. That’s what he grew up on. Bardi was into the Clash and Jaco Pastorius, bass players like that. He liked bands had something to say. Scott was a huge progressive Steve Gadd cat. I grew up on predominately punk rock, but I listened to a lot of New Wave and shit like that but I also loved the classics like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. All of that allowed us to be the band we were. We weren’t trying to fit into the mold of the Seattle music scene or the grunge movement. We weren’t capable of that. We weren’t those musicians. Pete, Bardi, Scott and I are still the best of friends. All of those differences are what kept us from becoming a flash in the pan or another Pearl Jam ripoff. We played what we wanted to play. If you listen to Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Tad, Melvins – none of them sound the same. Unfortunately, because Nirvana’s success was so massive, they had to give the Seattle sound some sort of title. And that’s what they did. They called it Grunge. None of us really followed in the footsteps of Nirvana.

Nobody sounds like you. You’re one of those guys whose voice is so distinctive that it absolutely carries the band.

Thanks, man. I’m very fortunate that my voice is what it is. I sang in choir from second grade to my senior year, but I never wanted to be a singer in a band. I wanted to be a drummer. I stuck with this gig and have been a reluctant lead singer ever since. That’s the thing about Seattle bands. Each one of those vocalists was different than the other. There was obviously some Eddie Vedder sound-alikes, but now even Eddie doesn’t sound like he did when he started. We all grow and become the musicians we were supposed to be. Your first band is like your first love affair. It’s fast and exciting and fun. As you get older you realize it’s just how you’re supposed to be as a musician. You grow and change and move with the times. From Day One you’re always who you’re supposed to be as a musician, you just find better outlets for your talents.

You always hear guys answer the question, “Why did you start a band?” The usual answers are girls, money, fame. What was important to you?

Just having people listen. I just wanted people to hear me. If you think of rock star, you think of a guy buying big houses and fast cars and shit, but I just wanted people to like the band. I wanted to go out on the road and see the world in hopes that I would maybe be able to pay rent on my apartment. It wasn’t really about the fame or the fortune. It was about being a musician that somebody listens to and has music affect them the way it did me when I was growing up.