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Apr
7thCandlebox Is Never “Far Behind”

For the better part of the 1990s, plaid shirts and Seattle grunge rock were king. I’m not saying Biggie Smalls and Jewel weren’t top stars of the decade, but for me, I was all about that lethal combination. Back in the “pogs” decade, my late best friend Stephen and I would mosh in the pit — whether it was at the Roseland or Randall’s Island in New York City (it didn’t matter where), wrap our plaid shirts around our waist 24/7, and would go out for beers (assuming bars would serve us) while rocking out to songs from artists like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Candlebox. Speaking of the latter, that Seattle band was caught up in the whole grunge scene even though the band admits now they weren’t really a part of it. To paraphrase the band, whose members Kevin Martin, Peter Klett and Sean Hennesy sat down for an A-Sides session late last month, they made rock songs that just happened to be put out in grunge-Mecca of the world: Seattle. In other words, they were grouped with bands from the area but not once did they try to bite off their sound. Think about it — how many Alice in Chains clones can you name? Dozens, right? Anyways, the multi-platinum rockers are back with their first studio album in almost four years called Love Stories & Other Musings. The album features nine new tracks including first single “Believe In It” as well as five bonus recordings [...]
Mar
9thTalking “fun.” and “We Are Young” in NYC

“Do you wanna have fun? How’s about (fun) a few laughs? I can show you a… good time… Do you wanna have fun… fun… fun?” I realize quoting “Big Spender” lyrics from Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields’ Sweet Charity musical won’t earn me any sweet indie cred, but I went there anyway. Why? Because it allowed me to use this as an intentionally tacky lead-in: “Who doesn’t want to have some ‘fun’?” Winks and nudges out of the way, I can now tell you about the indie pop rock band “fun.”, who have been on quite a roll since their song “We Are Young,” appeared on a December episode of Glee. The track has been killing it on pop and alternative stations ever since. It’s listed at #1 on its Digital Songs charts and the album is currently ranked #3 on the Billboard 200. Despite the early success with that song, which features Janelle Monáe, the fun trio (Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff) aren’t exactly sold it’s a hit yet. In the immortal words of Will Ferrell in Zoolander, they are clearly on “crazy pills.”