Kevin Martin: Behind the Song “Far Behind”
it’s connection to Andy Wood, and resonance 25 yeas later. With: Candlebox frontman, Kevin Martin
I had met Andy Wood when I was about 16. He was such an enormous human being. Everything about him was — this guy is a fucking rock star. He was always super cool to me. We became casual friends over the years, between me working with Susan Silver and seeing him play around town with Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. When he died, it affected me because I was not only a fan of his, but a friend. Of all the Seattle musicians I’ve known over the years, Andy Wood is the single most important to my life. Being a 16-yea- old kid thinking he was going to be a drummer in a band, Andy told me, “Do what you want to fucking do, how you want to do it. Don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about it.” I never forgot that. That sat with me my entire life, up until today.
When we wrote “Far Behind,” I think we knew we had something special. I don’t think we knew it would be that quintessential song, we thought “You” would be. I don’t know if it still shocks me that it’s almost 25 years later and the song is still being played, or if it just thrills me. It’s confusing sometimes for sure. I still love playing it live. I love hearing the audience sing it. I think about Andy every time we play the song. It’s one of those things as a musician, you can only hope you write something like that. I’m just so grateful that it is that song for us.
One of the things that I think is amazing about it is, initially, the lyrics were — “Andy, I didn’t mean to treat you bad, but I did it anyway.” And –“Andy, some would say your life was sad.” When we went into the studio to track it for the demo tape, and actually the version that made the album is the demo that we recorded on Easter Sunday in 1992, but for some reason during the recording I stopped saying “Andy” and changed it to “Now Maybe.” Subconsciously I thought I needed to make it vague and more accessible for an audience. I always think about had I not done that, what would have happened? And the fact that the final cut is the actual demo. That was one vocal take and then we just moved on. We only had 12 hours to be in the studio. It’s interesting to me that we were able to capture something in that one and a half hours that we recorded that song. Now here it is all those years later in its infancy still. That song had never been recorded before that one time and that’s what people still hear, simply that initial recording.
~Kevin Martin
Catch Candlebox on tour starting January 25th in Grand Rapids, MI.
and for 1 Night Only!
The original Candlebox lineup of Peter Klett, Bardi Martin, Kevin Martin and Scott Mercado will be reuniting in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their self titled debut album.
Candlebox has decided to perform their debut album in its entirety from start to finish on July 21st, 2018 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle.
For Seattle tickets visit:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0F00542ABD351E71
Presale is Thursday the 18th at 10AM Pacific Time for all Candlebox email subscribers, general on-sale is Friday the 19th at 10AM Pacific Time!
Check out Jeff Gorra’s Candlebox catalog:
Interview with Kevin Martin: the passion of Candlebox
Sometimes We Carry More Weight Than We Own: a tribute to Candlebox’s “Sometimes”.
Kevin Martin guest article. Stop Apologizing. Can the spirit of Rock n’ Roll be revivied. (Me Thinks So)
If you enjoyed, please recommend below and sign up for our newsletter
Follow Artist Waves on: facebook |twitter | instagram
~ follow Jeff Gorra | twitter @JeffGorra |JeffGorra@ArtistWaves.com
