CANDLEBOX's KEVIN MARTIN: 'I Don't Believe In Releasing' Full-Length 'Records Anymore. I Think It's A Waste Of Time'

In a new interview with "Reckless" Rexx Ruger of the Pod Scum podcast, CANDLEBOX frontman Kevin Martin was asked how he and his bandmates feel about the prospect of releasing full-length albums nowadays. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think Pete [original CANDLEBOX guitarist Peter Klett] really wants to release [full-length] records. I don't believe in releasing records anymore. I think it's a waste of time. I think you just release a song when you've got it. Get in the studio and track a song and put it out, because nobody's selling records anymore. I don't even know the last PEARL JAM record, how many it sold. I don't know if it sold — it probably didn't go gold, for sure. I mean, what's the point? People just want music. They want new music from the bands they like, and my opinion is, release three songs and do another three the next year and another three after that."

Kevin continued: "We're in charge of our own career now. We're not signed to any label. We're completely independent. We've got a great agent, we have a great attorney and a great management, and that's really, for us, all we need. I mean, if a record company came in and said, 'We wanna give you half a million dollars to make a record,' I wouldn't shy away from it. But that's not gonna happen. I'm the realist where I'm, like, no one's giving us money to make albums, so let's just go in the studio, pay for the studio time ourselves. We're actually going to Matt Sorum's [ex-GUNS N' ROSES drummer] studio in Palm Springs in August to record three tracks — GoodNoise, which is an awesome studio, and I've been friends with Matt for years. He actually was producing demos for us for our third record back in '97, so I've known him since then. And he's always been, 'Man, come use the studio. It's yours. Don't worry about it.' So I'm looking forward to that, because for me, environment is everything when we're working. And I think [2021's] 'Wolves' was written — we wrote that record really fast, but [2023's] 'The Long Goodbye' was written between an East Coast session and a West Coast session. And what I like about that is you put yourself in an environment and it gives you different energy, and that's why I think 'The Long Goodbye' has such an eclectic style to it. Half those songs are East Coast, half those songs are West Coast."

Kevin added: "Guys our age, we still listen to records. I just downloaded this young artist. I listened to one song, and I went through her entire catalog. Her name is Emily Wolfe. And I just was, like, 'Hold on, man. This is killer.' … And I put the collection on shuffle and just got into it. But people don't do that anymore. They want what's on the radio, they want the single. It's kind of like we're thrown back into the '40s and '50s, or even early '60s when you had these kinda songwriters writing songs for everybody else, and you just got the single, and you didn't get a record. And I'm okay with that. I think that's fine."

Regarding what still keeps him going after more than three decades, Kevin said: "It's funny. [BUSH frontman] Gavin [Rossdale] said something interesting in a text when we finished that [CANDLEBOX] tour [with BUSH]. I texted him a couple of weeks later, and I was, like, 'Hey, man. How are you doing? Everything good?' And he's, like, 'yeah,' he goes, 'It's so strange to come home, there's no applause.' And it is intoxicating, but I don't think that's why any of us do it. I think for us it's you have this artistic talent, you have this gift that people love, and you give it to them, and they give you love back."

Kevin continued: "We're all searching for some kind of semblance of self, and what is my life? And I'm 57. How much more time do I have? I was on the treadmill today. I was, like, 'God, I could drop dead right now.' That's always in the back of your mind. And I think that realizing that I'm mortal is a hard thing to swallow. So I don't go out and do it because I need the accolade, but I do love that accolade. I do love the applause. I do love the singing. We just did South America to 3,000 screaming fans, and an hour before we went on stage they started with the soccer chanting. And we played a two-hour set, and they never stopped singing the whole show. And I wish America still had that passion that Latin countries have, that South America has, that Mexico has. Everybody in America's become so jaded, and they've lost that love of the show. Now, that doesn't mean everybody, because, of course, you go see a SHINEDOWN show and it's, like, 15,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs, which is amazing. And I'm so proud of those guys for that. But then you go to Coachella, and Madonna hops up on stage with Sabrina Carpenter, and people are more interested in taking selfies of themselves than being in the moment. And that wouldn't happen in South America. That does not happen in South America. It doesn't happen in Central America or Mexico. These people are ridiculous for music, man. And even Europe. We've done European festivals that… Every time I go to Europe, people are always, like, 'Why don't you come over to Europe enough or more?' And I'm, like, 'It's so expensive, I lose money every time we go there,' but I love it because when we do go there, there's 20,000 people at that festival we're playing singing 'Far Behind'. And it's the greatest. And even when they don't know you… We played a show with SLAYER in Belgium, and the crowd had no idea who CANDLEBOX was until we played 'Far Behind'. But early on in the set, we started the set, and we watched thousands of people come in, stop and then come in further, and then they just kept coming. And we grabbed 'em, and they loved it. And that was a perfect moment for me. It was, like, okay, this is why I do this, is to turn people on to what this band is and what this band has meant to me for 35 years."

Two months ago, Kevin explained to Chile's Radio Futuro why he decided to back out of his plans to retire from touring, despite the fact that he and his CANDLEBOX bandmates announced their "farewell" tour, "The Long Goodbye", and released what was being billed as their "final" album of the same name three years ago. He said: "Well, it had a lot to do with the [2024] BUSH tour with Jerry Cantrell. I had kind of packed things up after the 3 DOORS DOWN tour. And then I got a call to go out with Gavin and Jerry and do that run. And then Pete came back [to the band]. And bringing Pete back into the picture really kind of reinvigorated me. I hadn't played with him since, really, 2015. So, 10 years of us kind of being a part and me continuing to make music — when old friends get back together and kind of chat about the times, it really just re-inspired me to keep going. And to be honest with you, I think my wife was really sick of me being at home so much. She was, like, 'You don't need to be around here [all the time].'"

CANDLEBOX released "A Little Longer Goodbye (Tour Edition)", the digital deluxe version of the album "The Long Goodbye", on all DSPs in July 2024 via Round Hill Records. The digital release featured the 12 tracks on the record plus two bonus live songs, "Elegante" and "Cellphone Jesus" (recorded at Club Amanda in Santiago, Chile on October 27, 2023),as well as the single "Washed Up".