Candlebox have released a new single, “I Remember Everything“, their first new music with guitarist Peter Klett since the 2012 album Love Stories & Other Musings.
The song is also the first new material since Klett, a founding member, rejoined the band after a decade away. He did not play on 2023’s The Long Goodbye or its 2024 digital deluxe version, A Little Longer Goodbye (Tour Edition).
“I Remember Everything” was released independently. It was produced by Kemble Walters at Good Noise Studio and mastered by Jeremy Costa at Backward Clock Sound Studio.
Singer Kevin Martin said: “Super stoked to be releasing new CANDLEBOX music and having my buddy Pete back in the saddle next to me is an absolute treat!”
Klett added: “It feels so good to be writing new CANDLEBOX music. I’m really excited for what comes next.”
The single arrives a week after Candlebox started their “Can’t Quit You” tour, a 32-date run of North American shows that began on September 17 at The Pageant in St. Louis and ends on October 30 in Sayreville, New Jersey. The Mountain Goats, Sponge, The Verve Pipe, Sweet Water and American Blonde are supporting on different dates.
In July, Martin spoke to Remzi “Jam Man” Yates of “Rocking With Jam Man” about the new songs the band had been writing. He said: “It’s interesting. We’ve kind of started reimagining who we were as young men. We’ve talked a lot about how we made that first record. We talked a lot about how we wrote those songs. Because as we’ve grown, we’ve learned to become better musicians. We’ve learned to become better friends. We’ve learned to become better artists and better creatives. And the thing that happens with it, ’cause Candlebox was… I didn’t know Pete when the band was formed. I didn’t know [bassist] Bardi [Martin]. [Drummer] Scott [Mercado] and I were the only guys in the band that knew one another, and we didn’t even know one another well. So, really, Candlebox is the happiest accident that’s ever happened to the four of us. And in that process, we’ve kind of lost who we were as young men. And so we’re kind of hoping that we can recapture kind of that innocence of when we were 22, 23 years old. And we’ve got three songs that are very, very cool and very reminiscent of that debut album. They don’t sound like ‘You‘, ‘Far Behind‘, ‘Cover Me‘, ‘Change‘, ‘Mothers Dream‘, any of that, but they have that kind of young energy, which is interesting, because I didn’t think it was possible to kind of maybe reintroduce yourself to yourself, 30 years later. But we’ve been able to do it.”
Asked whether he wanted fans to feel the new music sounds like the old band or like a band that is still alive, Martin said: “I want them to say it sounds like a band that’s still alive, still kicking, still making great music. We appreciate our audience, of course, we appreciate our fans, but we’ve always made records we wanted to make. We’ve always done what we wanted to do. We’ve never tried to follow a trend. We’ve never chased trying to rewrite ‘Far Behind‘. We’ve never been that band. We’ve always pushed ourselves and the envelope of the music that we create forward. And it’s interesting that we’re looking back at who we were, trying to create new music. It’s very interesting. It’s an interesting way to approach songwriting. And I want people to say, ‘Oh, they’re still kicking. They’re still alive, and this is a great rock and roll track.'”
Martin explained why the band chose to release single songs rather than a full record: “We thought about maybe releasing an album, but I kind of kiboshed that because I just feel like I’ve released three records that maybe 5,000 people have heard, and I don’t wanna make… Spending 40, 50 thousand dollars to make an album is just a waste of money. There’s no reason to do that. Release a song. See what happens. If people like it, they’ll stream it. If the streaming kicks in, we’ll play the song live. It’s really kind of about that.”
Martin said there would have been no new Candlebox music without Klett‘s return: “No. I was pretty much done. Pete filled in for Brian [Quinn] for four dates on the Bush tour two years ago, and he sat down with me and he’s, like, ‘Look, man. I’ve missed this and I would love to come back.’ And he’s, like, ‘I know that you’ve got a band that you’re loving and you guys are close friends and super tight, but…’ And he’s, like, ‘I know you said you were gonna pack it up, but I would really just like to make some music with you.’ And I was, like, ‘Let’s do it.’ And we got into a rehearsal space January of ’25, and we started jamming on some stuff, and I knew that I wasn’t gonna be able to put it away because the minute he starts playing guitar, I know exactly where I’m gonna go. So if he didn’t come back, no, there would be no more Candlebox music.”
When Martin announced three years ago that he was stepping away, The Long Goodbye was presented as the band’s final album. Asked whether he had been truly done or simply burned out, he said: “There was a part of me that was burned out, but in reality, I was really done. I felt uninspired. I’d been so kind of changed by COVID. Being at home with my wife and my son made me realize how much I actually had missed of that life that I have with them. And I didn’t wanna do this anymore. I just feeling as though I didn’t wanna be an artist that was phoning something in. I didn’t wanna look back at myself and go, ‘Why did you do that? That was a waste of time for everybody, and it’s not good.’ And we’ve all seen those bands that shouldn’t be doing it and still are, and they’re only doing it for the money. I didn’t wanna be that guy. I was really done. I thought, ‘This’ll be the last record. We’ll go out and we’ll tour on it. I’ll say my goodbyes.’ There was a moment when I was out on tour with 3 Doors Down after we made the record, and I was standing on the side of the stage getting ready to go on, and I thought to myself, ‘Man, this is really the last time I’m gonna do this. And I hope I enjoy it.’ And I did, but I think I was so kind of focused on the fact that this was my last hurrah that it made me really kind of embrace that moment. But putting everything away, even when I got the call to do the BUSH tour, I was reluctant. Even though I really wanted to tour with Gavin [Rossdale] and Jerry [Cantrell], and I’ve known Jerry for years, I was reluctant because I wasn’t sure I was gonna feel it the way I did with the 3 Doors Down tour. And again, in the back of my mind, ‘Don’t be the guy that’s phoning it in. Don’t be a guy that’s chasing dollar.’ And that’s where I was. Yeah, I was done. I mean, burned out a little bit. Everybody burns out on something, but I was ready to pack it up.”
He added: “I think I what I should have said is, ‘I’m gonna take an indefinite break. I’m not sure when I’m gonna come back.’ Because I think using the term ‘retirement’ is — I don’t know. You think about using that term because people retire from work. Or retirement comes along at the age of 65 when you start collecting Social Security or whatever. So I think it’s an easy term to throw around. But, yeah, I think bands should just say, ‘Hey, it’s an indefinite break. We’re not sure when we’re gonna come back.’ I mean, very much like the Foo Fighters did when Dave [Grohl] got in trouble with extramarital affairs and kid, and it’s, like, ‘We don’t know when we’re gonna come back.’ It’s a better term just to say, ‘We’re gonna take a break.'”
Grohl announced in September 2024 that he had become the father of a daughter born outside his marriage.
A Little Longer Goodbye (Tour Edition) came out digitally in July 2024 through Round Hill Records. Alongside the 12 tracks from The Long Goodbye, it added the single “Washed Up” and live versions of “Elegante” and “Cellphone Jesus“, recorded at Club Amanda in Santiago, Chile, on October 27, 2023.
The remaining dates of the “Can’t Quit You” tour are:
- Sep 26 – Rock The Locks, Umatilla, OR
- Sep 27 – Elsinore Theatre, Salem, OR
- Sep 29 – The Guild Theatre, Menlo Park, CA
- Sep 30 – Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
- Oct 2 – The Observatory North Park, San Diego, CA
- Oct 3 – The Edge Pavilion, Laughlin, NV
- Oct 4 – Marquee Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
- Oct 6 – Gothic Theatre, Denver, CO
- Oct 8 – White Oak Music Hall, Houston, TX
- Oct 9 – The Cypress Cove Ballroom, Bay St. Louis, MS
- Oct 10 – Iron City, Birmingham, AL
- Oct 11 – Brooklyn Bowl, Nashville, TN
- Oct 13 – FIVE, Jacksonville, FL
- Oct 14 – The Plaza Live, Orlando, FL
- Oct 16 – The Shed, Maryville, TN
- Oct 17 – The Bluestone, Columbus, OH
- Oct 18 – The Fillmore Detroit, Detroit, MI
- Oct 20 – The Fillmore Silver Spring, Silver Spring, MD
- Oct 21 – Electric City, Buffalo, NY
- Oct 22 – Roxian Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
- Oct 24 – House Of Blues, Cleveland, OH
- Oct 25 – Penn’s Peak, Jim Thorpe, PA
- Oct 26 – Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
- Oct 28 – Citizens House Of Blues, Boston, MA
- Oct 29 – The Paramount, Huntington, NY
- Oct 30 – Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
