In the 1990s, the Seattle-born rock band Candlebox was everywhere. With songs like “You” and “Far Behind,” the Pacific Northwest group was alternative radio darlings. The group, which released its debut self-titled LP in 1993, is now set to both celebrate 30 years of music and the end of the road.
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American Songwriter caught up with Candlebox frontman and lead singer Kevin Martin to ask him a few questions about what it was like in the ’90s when the world was descending on Seattle and his work was going platinum. How they differentiated themselves from their contemporaries and more.
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We also asked him about the band’s eighth and final record, The Long Goodbye, which is out today (August 25).
American Songwriter: What feelings did you have internally, did you express amongst the band as Candlebox was getting off the ground in the early 1990s – excitement, fear, curiosity, wonder?
Kevin Martin: One-hundred-percent excitement. There really was no fear. We just knew we wanted to make the best record possible in the hopes that it would give us some sort of career or some sort of longevity.
American Songwriter: What did it feel like to be part of the massive Pacific Northwest movement that decade and into the 21st century – did you identify with bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, or do you feel like you were in a different lane?
KM: We didn’t really identify with Nirvana or Soundgarden, if anyone maybe Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains. But honestly we were in our own lane as a band and that’s where we wanted to stay. We thought there must be ways to surpass what bands previous to us had accomplished, but that was just a dream, of course.
AS: When Candlebox was all over the radio and MTV, how did you stay grounded as a human being – was it even possible?
KM: I’m not sure we did stay grounded as human beings. I think we got caught up in a lot of the hype and hoopla that surrounded being rock stars in the ’90s and somehow we manage to survive all of that. But not without losses of band members packing up and moving on.
AS: How did you know your new album, The Long Goodbye, would and should be your final LP – does it feel right to be ending the band on this note, so to speak?
KM: We started discussing this in 2021 – wrapping up the career on the 30th anniversary of the [band’s] debut album. I knew I wanted something that was different than anything we created before. The five of us wrote this record together over two different studio sessions so that’s the cohesiveness of it and what we wanted. It’s never felt more right.
AS: What do you love most about what you’ve done with Candlebox and with music, in general?
KM: This last record is what I love most about Candlebox. Recording it with Island, Adam, BJ and Brian was the greatest gift possible and the best way to end a somewhat illustrious career.
Photo by Graham Fielder / Press Here Publicity
