It’s Called Rock ’n’ Roll: Kevin Martin of Candlebox on Building a Rock Band That Lasts (Episode 49)

Everything you do is an audition.

Kevin Martin calls himself a reluctant frontman. He started on drums, got asked to sing on some demos, and that band became Candlebox. He wrote and still sings "Far Behind," "Cover Me" and "You," and the band toured with everyone from Metallica to Living Colour to the Henry Rollins Band.

In Episode 49 of The Career Musician, recorded during the 2020 quarantine, Kevin and Nomad poured a whiskey and talked about what life in a 90s rock band really looked like, from a van with eight guys to platinum plaques, and what he would do differently. If you have ever wondered what it takes to build a rock band that lasts, this is a straight answer from a guy who has been at it for almost 30 years.

From the bar staff to 15,000 a night

In 1993, before their debut album was even out, Candlebox went on the road in a 15-passenger van, eight of them, sharing the road with another young band for about 12 weeks. Kevin remembers playing Madison, Wisconsin to five people. Those five people were the bar staff.

Then Living Colour took them out, and the rooms went to 1,500 to 3,000. The next year they opened for Rush, around 15,000 a night. Kevin says the Living Colour guys taught them stage presence and something bigger: respect the audience and what they give back to you, and play to the crowd you are opening for. A lot of bands didn't do that. He thinks it is part of why Candlebox is still around.

And the headliner was watching. The guys in Rush watched Candlebox every night and came to the dressing room afterward with notes: maybe move this song here, and maybe lose the cover song, because you are a great band and you don't need it. When you are the opener, Everything you do is an audition, including for the people who hired you.

Debrief every night, and own your mistakes

Nomad lit up at that story. As Babyface's music director, he ran a post-show debrief every single night, 30 minutes to an hour, on exactly that kind of detail. Kevin brought the habit home from Rush, and his original bandmates hated it. After a bad show, nobody wanted to come into the dressing room and talk. He did it anyway, and his current band does it too.

He holds himself to the same standard on stage.

"I'll be the first one: if I mess up, I'll stop a song on stage... and I'll let the audience know. That's on me, we're gonna fix this."

Kevin Martin, 18:52

He said he did exactly that at a show in Florida a few weeks before the interview. No hiding. Fix it and move on.

Success is when the real test starts

The momentum was wild. By fall 1993 they sold out three nights at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, all three gone in 15 minutes, before they had sold half a million records. At a Rush date in Cleveland, their label rep walked in with gold plaques. About a year after the album came out, Madonna, whose Maverick Records they were signed to, threw them a party and handed them platinum plaques. Then came a summer with Metallica, Woodstock '94, Europe with Henry Rollins and a run with the Flaming Lips.

Then they got home. Kevin was blunt: that's when you do really stupid things. There was money, houses, distractions, and nobody wanted to focus on the most important job, following up the debut. Cocaine was in the room for some of the band, and Kevin, who had quit drugs at 18, couldn't get through to them because they didn't really know or trust each other yet. Four million records together, and it still ended up pulling the band apart for years.

The lesson for any working player: the talent got them there. The relationships and the behavior decided how long it lasted. That's why Low maintenance / no drama is not a small thing.

Stop trying to sound like somebody

Kevin doesn't do the "I'm brilliant, I'm terrible" roller coaster. He moved constantly as a kid, always making new friends, so he cares whether people like him, not whether they like his band. When they write, they write for themselves, and his one worry is whether the audience will like the songs, not whether they will be hits. And his advice to the young bands who message him is always the same.

"Stop trying to sound like somebody. You send me your music and you sound like Nickelback... I can pick it out instantaneously."

Kevin Martin, 36:00

Every chord progression has been used a million times. What matters is the way you do it. On the new record, he sent a guitar solo to several players, including his own guitarist. The one who nailed it was a guy who had never played with him, because he wasn't precious about it. He heard the song and played what it needed.

Nomad and Kevin were careful here. This is not walking into an audition with an attitude. Nomad put it this way: you show up, you do you, they either like it or they don't, and you still go home confident and happy with your delivery.

Even the hits surprised him. "Far Behind" is four chords. He wrote the lyric in the old Mother Love Bone rehearsal room, thinking about his friend Andrew Wood, who had died about six months earlier. Kevin thought "You" and "Cover Me" were the songs that would take them to the next level. "Far Behind" is the one that still pays the rent.

Side projects, door deals and doing it for love

When Candlebox was locked in label limbo around 2000, Kevin kept working. He started a new band and got a small record deal through a relationship with his old radio guy at Maverick. Work begets work. When that label folded, he got the masters back and put the record out himself.

Later, he made a record with members of another band, and they toured it the hard way: a bus, RV parks, cooking on a grill, no hotels. The agent couldn't get them more than about $2,000 a night, so they took door deals instead, which actually worked out better because they skipped promoter and booking fees. That money kept the bus running and bought the groceries. That is Make Music Your Business, even on a labor of love.

He also never stopped being a drummer. He still plays at soundchecks, and his vocal phrasing is built on where the words fit in and out of the groove.

Respect is the whole thing

When Nomad asked for words of wisdom, Kevin said respect. Respect one another, and respect your talent and your craft. His one regret is that he didn't know his original bandmates well enough to say, "You're out of control, come back to what we're doing." With the relationships he has now, where the band and crew sit up talking until 4:30 in the morning after a show, he thinks Candlebox could have had a much longer run at the top.

He is having more fun now than in the 90s. And when fans walk up to his current guitarist and call him by the old guitarist's name, he takes it as a compliment to the songs.

"As long as the message is being delivered, the vehicle doesn't matter."

Kevin Martin, 1:22:52

The takeaway

Kevin Martin's story covers the whole arc: a van and five people at the bar, platinum plaques from Madonna, and the hard lessons in between. Respect the audience and the headliner. Debrief and own your mistakes. Don't chase somebody else's sound. And build relationships with your bandmates strong enough to tell each other the truth. If you are working on landing your next spot, opening slot or otherwise, grab the free Get the Gig guide, and check out Candlebox at candleboxrocks.com.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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