Rock Still Alive in Candlebox

Where is the ROCK in new rock n’ roll? Where is the base of all these other genres and is rock n’ roll as a descriptor sill used? There are so many categories: hardcore, post-hardcore, post-grunge, nu-metal, and yes journalists such as myself are the biggest culprits in using them, but maybe for good reason. Variety in music caters to our schizophrenic emotions as a listener. But listeners still need roots – music with the basics in tact – passionate guitar, vocals and a deeper meaning.

Welcome back Candlebox.

Originally, I went to see Candlebox in December because I wanted to support any national act coming to Syracuse and “Cover Me” twists my insides around. However, what resulted mentally from my attendance was a stream of consciousness that was both a pleasant surprise and a discouragement. I finally realized the true void in the industry – the lack of bands that know where they came from but know how to evolve with their own creativity without the need to sell out to trends. More bands like Candlebox are desperately needed.

Candlebox is absolutely amazing in concert-lyrically, vocally, all around, a solid rock show bursting with musicianship. They bring elements of a blues style with a classic rock floor to the listener and flare it up by the vocal angst of grunge. The performance was everything I’ve been thirsting for in shows since the fall, but something I didn’t realize was missing until it was in my face again.

The band’s new album, Into The Sun, (at once difficult to find I might add-but that’s a different blog about record companies entirely)  debuts new tracks like “Stand.” Live, this song made me do the concert dance; that small little head bang hip swing that doesn’t look cool but just happens because you are moved, similar to the blues trance. This song put me in a jive and made me angry simultaneously – because of the lyrical content, a politically aware song on consumption and our actions as a nation.

Wait..I’m hearing it…the elements of true rock songs. Seeing them again in Vegas four months later, after really spending time with the album, “Stand” jolted me even more. Other songs like “Miss You” stood out, and not just for the accompanied commentary by lead singer, Kevin Martin paying tribute to his father storming the beaches at Normandy. Timelessness, consistency, and emotional climaxes projected from the stage – all elements of a true rock outfit.

All elements that provided stark contrast to a show representative of what labels are pushing now.  Bands now geared towards college kids don’t involve as much awareness as the rebelliousness of the rock that fostered the genre. During a show at a university not long after the Candlebox show in December, I viewed a disappointing “alternative rock” show. Many attendees didn’t know the band performing but the merch people working for them couldn’t get over the number of t-shirts that were selling. However, this has become an increasingly relevant phenomenon. As I interview up-and-coming bands, some of their theories are literally, if you have a cool t-shirt, people will think your band is cool. Thus the band will sell records, thus make money, thus the “type” explodes. Cool hair and t-shirts are all you need. Meanwhile they are the only threads holding together the entire structure of an art form.

My advice, to a rock lover who really wants to feel more than the generic tang of screen-printed cotton, go see Candlebox. Their music will rejuvenate and hopefully outrage. Rock n’ roll’s future depends on you yearning for its presence.

Bands to consider as their hold-steady partners: Kings of Leon, The Airborne Toxic Event, TV on the Radio,  The Mars Volta, Chevelle, Seether, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs




The Magnetic Pull

The Magnetic Pull

by Tiffany Bentley

(Sounds of Syracuse, Table Hopping Magazine)

The “magnetic pull” of the ocean always hypnotized their friend. This same friend’s early death has inspired a stream of consciousness created in their music. The original electronic assembly, The Magnetic Pull, borrowed their name from a poem penned by Trish Taylor, the girlfriend of Kris Campbell, a close friend who passed away at an early age in a drowning accident. The Syracuse trio creates a euphoric, yet mindful experience with their music while honoring a friend in the name of the project.

The music is anything but pop, but has the same strange appeal that a pop song might have. Individual songs are only discerned in transitions that are as seamless as water, and unpredictable and captivating as the ocean. Digital manipulation and sound sampling by Jake LaManna, accompanied by Jordan Glaski’s keyboarding technique maintain a melodic flow that is susceptible to variance at any moment.

The group formed in 2005, and added live drummer Brady Dembroske in 2008. Prior to Brady’s emergence, drum beats were only produced electronically by Jake. Jake now jokes that he is really not needed anymore for digital percussion, and feels that he should be able to sit down during certain sets because the rest of the group gets to sit down at their instruments.

However, like all good DJs, he stands stoically at his table. Jake’s sampling adds the uniqueness that sets aside the music from just random play. From the voice sets of Howard Stern character Riley Martin to exact length orgasm sound clips from Meg Ryan’s performance on When Harry Met Sally, any sound is game for Jake’s exploitation.
“I thought this was a family show,” an audience member once commented to Jake after hearing the lengthy screaming montage. “Well the movie was rated PG-13,” he answered.

Despite the lack of lyrics in their songs, the Magnetic Pull is a verbally-oriented bunch. Jordan constantly conjures up different quirky word strings for song titles that usually have nothing to do with the song itself. The rest of the band credits him with witty song names like the Silence and the Space and Demon Song (Demo Song with an N added). They in fact jest that they often get texts from Jordan at random times with new title ideas. For example, during the monumental six overtime Syracuse basketball game, Brady received a text from Jordan stating a possible song name as “Boeheim’s Breaking.”

The Coming of Tan, a book by Riley Martin, voiceover for “The Silence and the Space,” discusses alien abductions and the afterlife, topics discussed on Riley’s radio bit for Hoard Stern. Riley is now a Magnetic Pull fan since the group confronted him for work to add alien presence to their songs.
“According to him,” Brady says, “We’ll be the only band rocking out on the mother ship.” Riley has given them limited edition tokens that guarantee their place in the afterlife when the whole thing goes down. Before that happens, however, you can catch them physically at The Dewitt Shire April 11th and during impromptu visits at Mac’s Bad Art Bar open mic nights on Thursdays in Mattydale.