Ep 246 Grunge Candy
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Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66, it's the Rock
and Roll Chicago podcast. Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie. And this here is Hollywood Mike.
I'm just Hollywood today. Back to Hollywood. I'm back to being Hollywood.
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Why, were the bridges all down? No, I'm in a pretty good mood. I don't have anything to bitch
about. Oh, good.
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Normally I change my name when I'm pissed. Oh, I see. I'm not pissed off today.
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You're not pissed. All right, good. Yeah.
How you doing? I'm doing good. I'm ecstatic. Why? I don't know, because you were ecstatic last
week.
Can I be ecstatic this week? Yeah, you can be whatever you want to be, Ray. Okay, I can change
my name too. Yeah, I like your shirt too.
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Oh, thanks, thanks. Yeah. Would you like a cigar? I'd love a cigar.
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Okay. But not one of those, probably sweaty. Yeah, it is pretty sweaty.
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Yeah, we'll stay away from it. So what do we have going on in the studio today? This evening in
the studio, joining us is Candy Rock. That was awfully loud.
They really love these guys. Yeah, they do. And it's still just like everybody else.
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A bunch of guys. Bunch of dudes coming in here. No chicks, Sharon.
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Yeah, that's right. So how y'all doing? Good. Doing well.
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Grab hold of that microphone so you can, yeah. This is actually one of my projects, Grunge
Candy. Grunge Candy.
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Grunge Candy. It is a female fronted 90s, we call ourselves a party rock band. So where'd the
Candy Rock thing come from? So I have actually, my government name is a very distinctive
name.
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So I work in the corporate world at a pharmaceutical company. And I'm also from New York. I
went to school in Pennsylvania.
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So it's just easier to compartmentalize into an easier stage name that Illinois musicians would
know me by. And all of my, you know, people on the friends list are just Illinois connections so
that I can post about shows, networking, people will message me and ask, you know, we're
looking for a new member or something else, but we don't want to put it on our page because
it's kind of an uncomfortable situation. So I'll just put like, so an area band is looking for a
guitarist or a keyboardist or something.
So I try to be, I try to utilize this persona as networking in addition to fronting two different
bands. So I have Grunge Candy, the 90s rock band since 2019. And then I also founded
Hervana, which is a female fronted Nirvana tribute a couple of years ago.
So today we'll focus on Grunge Candy. And these guys also have bands that they're a part of. So
this is three out of five members tonight.
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And where are the other two? One has original band practice with Polarizer. So Ian, he's one of
our guitarists. And then Alex Bracey, he teaches music until about 8 p.m. up in Palatine.
So he wouldn't have made it in time. But they both wanted to come and they send their
regards. And they're both very talented.
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We'll miss them. I thought maybe they're just being punished. I don't know.
I'm not buying it. No, you can't go. No, I'm not buying it.
I think she calls herself Candy Rock, so she knows when telemarketers are calling her. That's
why I call myself Hollywood Mike, because, you know, people, you know, they'll call up and
they'll ask me for my real name. And then I know they're a telemarketer.
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I can hang up on them that way. That's right. Do you find it easier to hang up on people when
they don't know who you are? Well, the Candy Rock doesn't have a phone number, so they can't
get a hold of her.
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They have to message her on Facebook. And now she's speaking about herself in third. But we
have a real professional here.
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Yeah, she's good. She's good. So what band are we talking about tonight? Grunge Candy.
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We're going to talk about Sybil. Right, right. So tell us about Grunge Candy.
How did it come about? So I am obsessed with 90s rock music. I don't know if you've heard of
this, but there are some studies that your neural synapses in your brain lock in your music taste
from age 12 to 19. So whatever music you grew up with age 12 to 19, and you liked it, like
latches on and makes a pattern in your brain.
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So going forward, unless you have a very open mind musically, which I do not, all the music
that you like is going to sound similar or reminiscent. It's going to be very difficult to break out
of that. So I was born in 82.
So the 90s were full of grunge music, alternative, some 90s pop. And I really wanted to embody
harder 90s rock as a female because there wasn't really anyone doing that back in 2019. I just
felt really passionate about it.
And honestly, I saw the Freddie Mercury movie, and also A Star is Born. And it just kind of
sparked something in me like, oh, I'm going to start my own band. Like, look at people going
after their dreams.
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Very cool. So if that's true, so then what you're saying is, if you decide that I want to put
together a band that is going to, you know, bring in a demographic of people between the ages
of 30 and 50. Pop punk.
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So you're saying you're looking at like, you're looking at like the Green Day. I prefer, I prefer
Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots. Metallica.
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Well, that's interesting because I don't know if I call them pop punk. No, no, no. If you were to
want, I would say that the cutoff for the age is more like 37 to 53, because I look really deep
into this because I run a lot of different ads.
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So if you want to get people that are 30 to 37 out, you have to play pop punk. I personally, and
I'm very sorry for anyone that likes it. I really dislike pop punk.
It does not go with my neural mapping. So, but so there's, you know, what I've learned is you
can play what you want to play. And then you start playing places like Cubby Bear that has an
after baseball game crowd, or we've done bar crawls there before.
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And I found that you have to pander to what the crowd likes. So there's a good handful of
songs that we've added to our set list that I don't love, and that we've taken off. Like, for
example, Wicked Garden by Soundgarden, I'm sorry, by Stuntoppa Pilots.
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That's an amazing song. It doesn't really get the, you know, the average person going. So we do
a lot of different songs that are a little bit outside the genre.
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And that's why I named us Grunge Candy, because the emphasis and the preference is grunge.
But I feel like the candy means, you know, it's a woman singing a song that's a little bit harder.
We might change the key, or it kind of gives poetic license to add in some pop punk.
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We started adding some Billy Idol and different things like that, just to kind of, you know, what
are some timeless songs that people really like, no matter their age? So, you know, I started
with a vision and then have molded it to each scenario we have for shows. Yeah. Come for the
grunge, stay for the candy.
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Yeah. So, okay. That's terrible.
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I'm still hung up on this whole scientific study and shit. So a 30 year old crowd, you want to play
music that's from like the early 2000s. Yep.
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Is what you're saying? That's what they want to hear. That's what they'll come out for. They
might like grunge if they had like an older sibling or cousin that introduced it to them, but it's
not wired into their synapses because pop punk is such a departure from grunge and post
grunge.
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There's something about it that just, it's like nails in a chalkboard to me. There are a few songs
that are okay. But like we do Say It Ain't So by Blink 182 to pander to the crowd.
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Weezer. I'm sorry. My brain is malfunctioning.
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It's the neural pathways are too stuffed with the 90s music that I'm misspeaking. You're good.
All the small things by Blink 182.
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I blocked it out because it crushes my soul every time we do it. Because I dislike it so much, but
it's a song that's on the cusp of early 2000s where people that are in our target age range of
like 37 to 53, they might've liked it because they're still kind of within that age range. So again,
we pander to the crowd.
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Are you this cerebral with all of your musical planning? Yes. I've never heard anybody talk about
scientific studies and, you know, in your synapse snapping or whatever the heck it is. Okay,
that's interesting though.
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That is very interesting. It's hard to get people out. You have no idea.
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You've offered up a formula because that's something that people actually talk about. You band
sit around saying, you know what? Our demographic is getting old or whatever it is. They're not
coming out anymore.
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The people that spend the most money are like your mid 20s to 40 year olds, right? We need to
get them out. Well, what kind of music are we going to play? And everybody's just sitting
around kind of guessing at it, trying stuff out, playing it, see if it sticks. And if it fails, you know,
you give it, it's prerequisite to six, six tries.
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And by the sixth time you play it, if it's not working, you dump it. You kind of thing. I would say
Candy is very dedicated to her projects and her music.
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She like hardcore is very passionate and wants everything to be, you know. Under a
microscope. Like, yeah, she does a great job.
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Yeah. Okay. A little intense.
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Okay. Well, I mean, usually you got a set list and you check out the crowd and you see what
you're playing and you figure out what they're dancing to and stuff and you just change it up.
Nope.
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Throw those songs out. Let's start over. Right.
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That's pretty much the way it goes sometimes. I go to every venue before we play. I track all the
bands that have played there.
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I try to track other bands that are getting booked a lot just to see what are some things that
they do? What are some things that people like that draw people out? I'm really methodical
about it because I want to present the best show, not just for the audience, but for the venue
too, because it's really hard to stay afloat as a venue these days. So I know that the way that
they're going to do well that night is if we do a good job in marketing, advertising and giving
them a good show so that people continue to come back. Yeah.
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That's a good way to look at it. I mean, that's a very nice corporate way of saying your job as a
musician is to put asses on the barstools. That's right.
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And stay there and stay there drinking. Yeah. Yeah.
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Your job is to sell beer and keep people there and retain the people that are there before you
start playing. And to that end, once you get off stage, we do try to do a good job of interacting
with people, taking pictures, saying hi. You have to do that.
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Candy is dressed to the nines and then she she disappears and then the crowd consumes her
and then 300 selfies later and then we see her again as we're loading up. All right. Well, no,
yeah, you have to.
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It's part of it. Yeah, it's awful. That's why it's all show business.
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So how much is this responsibility bringing in people is your responsibility and how much of the
venue? I think it depends. I think it you know, you would love it to be 50 50. But the reality is, is
that that might be your only show that week or that month.
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And that venue might have two or three events that week. So proportionally, they might not be
able to give you as much time as you give it. So as long as they put it on their Facebook page,
put it on their Instagram, repost our stories a few times and create an environment where they
book other good bands so they just become a destination where people just want to keep
coming back.
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And even if they're not sure the band, they're like, well, I know this venue books, great band. So
I think it's a there's there's a lot of give and take in the partnership. But I would say that a band
can never depend on the venue on it.
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Like the band needs to put in the work. Yeah, I would say 100%. So how much of it is it about
the money for you? Zero, there's a lot of times I pay out of pocket for stuff.
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This is like my child, my hobby. And I have really great musicians. I started with, you know,
some friends and contacts and more casual way back in 2019.
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And I had a great group. And as people move away or have kids or, you know, the vision of the
band diverges a little bit from what they signed up for, or there's, you know, personality
conflicts. And I try not to publicize this.
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And this is why I don't always post all the band members names. I think we're on our 10th
lineup since 2019. And I'm like, I don't want people to think that's because of me.
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It's just, I have a very specific vision for the band. And also life happens to people. I happen to
not have kids.
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So, you know, I'm a very involved aunt. And I'm very lucky. We have three people in our band
that actually have kids and still make time for bands and there are other bands, but this is really
my child.
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So to answer your question about money, it's nice, but I, you know, I try to, I guarantee the
other members. But, you know, some people build cars or, you know, do Ironmans or do drugs.
Like other people have other expensive hobbies.
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Like all, I mean, there's no, there's no gray area. You're either an Ironman or you're a drug
addict. Yeah.
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Or you have a band. At this point, after you've established your career and your mortgage and
your kids are growing, yeah, you're going to find an extreme hobby one way or another.
Bourbon.
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Bourbon. Yeah. That's, that's always a good thing.
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Bourbon and cigars. So you said you're on like your 10th lineup of this band. So this band has
been together that long and you've gone through that many.
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I'm the only constant in the band. Okay. So Carrie joined us a few years ago, which is amazing.
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And Carrie does what? Hello everybody. I'm Carrie Ann. I play the drums.
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Okay. Excellent. So she, she's a drummer and they're, they're allowing her to have a
microphone.
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That's right. That's a rare thing. That was, yeah.
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Yeah. That's a steadfast rule. Yeah.
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If I had a microphone, everybody would not stay to listen to us. Well, we talk about it all the
time. If we put a microphone back there by Tom Dixon, he'd fire us.
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Because it's hilarious. Some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth. Tell me about your music.
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Oh, sure. Um, so I've been playing the drum since I was nine. So over 30 years, um, started in
band, you know, and started on snare drum, all the rudiments and all the fancy stuff.
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I was in band all the way through college, marching band, jazz band, pep band, you name it.
Had original bands for a long time and then joined the cover band scene. And yeah, I've been
doing this.
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The only time in my life that I've stopped drumming was when I had my daughter and got
married. I just need a little break. But aside from that, it's my.
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I mean, it would have been hard to do it at the same time too. It's like push and she's over
there. But I digress though.
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But so why aren't there more female drummers? Sure. It seems to me like female drummers
should be able to write their own ticket. I mean, can you imagine that if you're auditioning a
bunch of drummers and one of them is a woman? Yeah.
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We're going to do that. Yeah. That's what we're going to.
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We're going to put a woman back there. I always, um, I agree with you. There should be more
female drummers because we're freaking awesome.
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There's another project Carrie does with all female drummers. Yes, that's true. Okay.
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So I'm part of the lady. Um, but yeah, I know. I don't know if I'm supposed to.
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Drumline. Yeah. My drum.
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Yeah. Um, but if you've ever seen the, like the pack on AGT, America's Got Talent. Um, so we're,
we've have our own, um, like a lady drumline where it's all female.
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So we do like the Chicago sky game. Yeah. Yeah.
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No, I know. I don't. Okay.
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Well, whatever. I'm just going to say, uh, it's called the lady wolves drumline. So we play like all
the Chicago sky games and all stuff like that, but it's super cool because we are an all female,
like performance base, like drumline group.
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Cool. Um, and we're, you know, we just want to show women that we women are awesome and
drumming like, just because you're a woman doesn't mean that you can't do things like play
drums. But yeah, there's, I mean, they're in the Chicago scene.
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There's, um, like a handful of female drummers that are kick-ass women and they all rock. And
I've met a handful of them and they're amazing, but I agree there definitely should be more.
Cause I just think we bring something to a table.
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We've had one of them here. The drummer for the band don't matter to me, local group of
young, uh, young folks that got their start not too far down the street. And their drummer is
fantastic.
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Her name is Claire. She's amazing. Yeah.
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Amazing. I mean, plays in the orchestra pits and everything. She's a percussionist.
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Yeah. That's super cool. I love that.
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Very good. Cool. Excellent.
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And so, and you said, yes, you had other projects that you're also running. Not that we need to
go into that, but we're doing a lot of stuff. Yeah.
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Yeah. So we're actually, Jake, our bass player for Grunge Candy and I are in, um, other two
other bands together. Yeah.
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So we're in a lot of, a lot of groups, but, um, well, Jake, I'll let you say something. Okay. Uh, sure.
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I'll, I'll take the ball. No problem. Um, my name is Jake.
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I play bass in Grunge Candy. Um, and behind me, I have a guitar. So I'll be playing guitar
tonight as well.
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Oh, great. We love that. Yeah, I'm sure.
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Bass player comes in, plays acoustic guitar. Yeah. The jokes write themselves, but you got the
rhythm, you got the rhythm section here.
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So, uh, once in a while I'll send Carrie, like a picture of, uh, like, you know, two, uh, two
chimpanzees in a, in a, in a zoo cage, you know, and it's some kind of funny caption below
them. And it says like when the drummer and bassist like meet each other in the wild or
something like that, something, you know, you know, something fun like that. Um, but yeah.
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What are our projects, Jake? So our projects, uh, in addition to Grunge Candy, I play bass in a
Smashing Pumpkins tribute band called the Infinite Sadness. And I play bass in an Incubus, uh,
tribute band called Morning View. Really? And Carrie's in the drummer in both of those.
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Yeah. And, uh, Ian, our guitarist, one of our guitarists in Grunge Candy is the guitarist in both of
those as well. And Alex is, uh, he has his own, uh, other projects as, uh, as well outside.
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I think, um, I don't want to speak for everything for him, but I know that he has at least one
band he's in called Empress. And, uh, I'm not sure what else he does. He's in Hervana with
Candy Music.
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And he's in Hervana. Yeah. And Alex, he does original music through Alex Bracey.
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Alex Bracey. That's right. Alex Bracey Music.
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Sorry. What's cool. I was telling them on the, the way here, we all have such different kind of
backgrounds that led up to, you know, where we're at at this point in our musical life and
career and all that sort of thing.
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But, um, um, so for myself, I started learning guitar, uh, as a teenager and then, um, was in
some, some local rock and metal bands in high school, early college. Um, I met a guy at a
factory that I started working with. He said, Hey, my band needs a bass player.
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So again, the set up your own punchline here, but the field guitarist that picks up bass for his
friends, you know, that kind of thing. They bought me, uh, I think a $75 clear acrylic base off of
eBay, you know, or this is yours now pretty much with, uh, you know, uh, six-year-old strings
that are, that come with tetanus and all that already, you know? Um, but yeah, over the course
of, you know, a couple of years, I learned how to play it more than just a guitarist playing the
root notes of everything. So, and I've been playing bass for about 20 years now.
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Wow. So, and, and playing guitar, uh, ever since I was 14, that that's never stopped. So it'll be
okay.
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The performance will be all right. Yeah. It'll be fine.
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That'd be good. No worries. It would really suck if he just brought his bass.
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Yeah. Boom, boom, boom. It's a big bottom.
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I would like it. I'll be, uh, I'll be grading Jake pretty harshly. Cause I'm also a teacher.
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I teach high school math. So just throwing a plug out there. All the teachers.
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High school math. Geez. Yeah.
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Wow. That's tough. So teacher by day, rockstar by night.
(19:51 - 19:58)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's why you have to be a rockstar because I can only imagine that nobody
wants to go to math class, right? You are not wrong.
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Wow. Okay. So, so you guys pretty much have your own little dynasty or conglomerate of cover
and tribute bands.
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We call it the band family, the band fam, because their singer used to be our basis and he was,
he got engaged and needed to pare down some of his projects. Um, I, you know, no pun
intended. His name is Perry P money.
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If you guys have heard of him, um, he was amazing part of our band. He wanted just to kind of
strip some things down. So we played some show grunge candy, played some shows with his
other tribute bands and we all got along.
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So when he's like, you know, I think I'm going to step back. I'm like, Oh, no problem. I'm like,
can I borrow your other players? And so they were willing.
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So I don't know. How was I able to get you guys over? Cause that's how I did. It was, was
through.
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I paid them. I just never told you. Just kidding.
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I think you booked the show back in the winter and then tried to find the people to fill the slots.
Well, once you find, once you find a group of musicians that are professional and reliable, you
stick with them. I mean, you can, you can, you can go around here anywhere, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and you can see a different band every one of those nights.
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And you will run into the same people that you saw the night before the night before that or
whatever it is, because everybody's in several projects because you've got a group of people
who are professional and they're, they really are serious about it. And you've got people that
are just kind of messing around with it. Right.
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And those are the ones that tend not to be in multiple projects. And that's why, that's why we
see the same 30 people, you know, in four or five different things over. And when you're at this
point too, you've been in the music scene three, five, 10 years, whatever it is, you know, you see
the same faces time and time again.
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So. Right. Right.
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Exactly. Yeah. Well, I think it's time for us to hear just how good of a guitar player the bass
player is.
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I think so too. Right. Let's take a, let's take a quick break.
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We'll do a, we'll do some EQing and everything here. All right. And then we'll come back and
we'll listen to some music.
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We'll be right back. All right. You're listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.
(21:59 - 22:13)
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(22:13 - 22:29)
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(22:35 - 22:43)
Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie. And this is Hollywood Mike of the Rock and Roll Chicago
podcast. If you've been joining our weekly program, we have great news for you.
(22:43 - 23:01)
Just tune in to Road to Rock Radio on Mondays at 7 p.m. central time, and you can hear a
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(23:02 - 23:23)
That'll bring you to the Road to Rock Radio, a station committed entirely to the great music
from Illinois, from Chicago blues born on Maxwell Street to today's rock and roll and everything
in 24-7, all music with its roots in Illinois. And we are back in the studio. And for the first time
tonight, we got a live performance by Candy Rock.
(23:24 - 23:27)
And Jake. Grunge Candy. And Jake.
(23:28 - 23:34)
And State Farm. Yeah. Grudge Candy, Jake from State Farm, Candy Rock.
(23:34 - 23:37)
Who else we got? The Conglomerate. The Conglomerate. Yeah, there you go.
(23:38 - 25:04)
That's the name of your next band, The Conglomerate. All right. And I wonder when I sing
along with you, if everything could ever feel this real forever.
(25:07 - 25:23)
If anything could ever be this good again. The only thing I'll ever ask God, I promise not to stop
when I say when. She'd say.
(25:34 - 25:44)
I was getting into that and you guys cut it off on me. Yeah, yeah. Because I didn't know how
many clips you'd use because I used, I sent like two different 90-second clips for you guys to
play if you wanted.
(25:44 - 25:47)
Yeah, no, that's okay. A little tapas. Yeah, yeah.
(25:47 - 25:53)
Grunge tapas. I've never heard a female vocalist cover that song before. Really? Yeah, first time
for me too.
(25:53 - 25:57)
And it was kind of weird when we were doing the warm-up and you started singing that. I was
like, that's not right. And then I realized, oh, yeah.
(25:58 - 26:05)
Because if I did it, I could do it at the normal key. It's like, hello, I've waited here for you. But
then you're pushing too low though.
(26:06 - 26:09)
I totally get it. I've tried it both ways. And this happens a lot.
(26:09 - 26:31)
There's a lot of songs where we try to figure out, okay, for continuity sake, I don't want people
to have to tune a lot. Like, does the song have the vibe for the beginning of the show when
we're in standard tuning or does it have the vibe for half step down? So sometimes it'll be to fit
my voice the best. And sometimes it'll be to fit the set the best.
(26:32 - 26:43)
So, yeah. So that's an example of a song where I can physically sing at the same notes that he
does, but it seems to be brighter if I sing it higher. Sure.
(26:43 - 26:45)
Yeah. It needs to be candy. Yeah.
(26:45 - 26:49)
Like when we do toxicity, it sounds awesome. Yeah, we do toxicity. We do.
(26:50 - 26:58)
Can you totally do that here? I didn't bring my bass. I can bring some backing. I don't want to
blow out your things, but.
(26:59 - 27:19)
No, that's interesting. So do you choose all of the music or does everybody else have the input?
I have some personal favorites. And then because everyone is in a lot of other bands and they
have kids and families or their jobs, I try to let people rehearse as little as possible in person.
(27:20 - 27:36)
And when, you know, through getting to this 10th lineup and I've had so many amazing
musicians and this group that we have right now, they are just so dependable and responsible.
When we come to rehearsal, everyone is practice. Everyone knows the song.
(27:37 - 27:42)
We learn a new song and like one or two tries tops usually. Sometimes it's a little more
complicated. It might be.
(27:42 - 28:00)
But so that being said, I asked them for their set list for all their other bands they've ever played
in. And actually, Carrie helped me a lot with this. I think her teacher, she made a spreadsheet
and would put in the list of songs and then would put an X over what people said they knew.
(28:00 - 28:12)
And so I try to pick new songs based on what people know the most. So it needs to fit 90s or at
least 90s vibe. Again, there are some songs we throw in like Rebel Yell.
(28:12 - 28:23)
Like, I just like that song and everybody likes that song or things like that. So we try to keep it
90s ish. Again, I use the candy part of her name for a little bit of poetic license.
(28:23 - 28:40)
So, yeah, to answer your question, I have some favorites that I put in and then I try to find what
people already know. And then I ask them, do you want to veto it or do you have any special
requests? So go ahead and talk about mine. Are you the only singer in the band or is anybody
else? I have three singers.
(28:41 - 28:44)
OK, like that will sing lead. Yeah. OK.
(28:44 - 28:56)
Yeah, I do the most of it because I can't play guitar. So I'm just kind of like dancing in the band,
which I don't mind. And I think people like to hear a diversity of voices.
(28:56 - 29:17)
So both Alex and Ian, the other guitarist, I make sure they're able to sing a song or two at each
show so that people can hear other voices. But it's really great to have two backing vocals. And,
you know, we talked about doing a spinoff called Hard Candy, where we do all harder music
and new metal and things like that.
(29:17 - 29:22)
And Jake says he has a scream. And so usually I have to outsource. He has a scream.
(29:23 - 29:25)
Oh, I do. A rock scream. OK, I gotcha.
(29:25 - 29:53)
So, you know, to add that, to add some, for lack of a better term, some girth, you know,
because I can I can do some distortion and I use a lot more distortion and compression in
Nirvana. But for Grunge Candy, I have to use clean vocals more often. So it's kind of like, do you
build that distortion? Do you keep it clean? So for both bands, I have guys that can give an
undercarriage of distortion and scream.
(29:53 - 29:56)
So Jake will do that if we get to our Hard Candy. When we get there. Spinoff.
(29:56 - 30:03)
Yeah. Yeah. We want to do like, because with Helix's, they can do things like Korn without the
seven string guitar.
(30:03 - 30:06)
Yeah. And they're willing to do that. I'm so excited about it.
(30:06 - 30:12)
Well, it can be done. Yeah. Because who wants to have a seven string guitar? I'm not a bass
player.
(30:12 - 30:14)
I'm just trying. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
(30:14 - 30:22)
Bass players only need four strings. Actually, do you know why bass? Honestly, God, do you
know why a bass guitar has four strings? Four fingers. No.
(30:22 - 30:29)
So you have three extra strings. Oh, I see. It's not working anymore now.
(30:31 - 30:39)
Oh, there you go. So who was that for? You're the guy behind the mixer. I thought that was the
rim shot.
(30:39 - 30:41)
Yeah. That's right. That's right.
(30:41 - 31:01)
So I was just, I was just curious about it because I'm thinking about 90s music and you're the
lead singer of the band in the whole bit. Not a whole lot of female singers coming out of the 90s
doing that genre of music. So it's like, where are you picking your songs from? And obviously
the goal is not to provide like, it's not chick rock in other words.
(31:01 - 31:11)
Right? No, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked it. I specifically prefer doing male songs
to bring that candy edge to grunge.
(31:11 - 31:21)
You know, we do some female songs, but I really prefer doing male songs. Not that I like more
one than the other. I just, I want to provide something that's unique and different in the
market.
(31:21 - 31:31)
At least it was when we first started. I think a lot more people are doing it now, but I love when
people sing songs of opposite gender. It just really gives a whole different flavor to songs that
you already love.
(32:29 - 32:45)
And it helps when a couple's there to see our song or see us perform, you know, the girls are
up there singing as well. You know, it kind of, it's not just a novelty. It's, you know, somebody
else, it's, it's a girl up on stage.
(32:45 - 32:58)
So it's obviously a little bit different than a lot of other bands and stuff too. But if, you know, if a
husband and wife or a boyfriend, girlfriend are there watching a band, they can both sing
along. It's just a little different, you know, to step away from the normal experience.
(32:58 - 33:12)
So something extra fun. Do you change the gender of the song if you're singing a song written
for a man? I used to. So for Hard to Handle, it's about, it's a man singing about other guys
about this girl.
(33:12 - 33:19)
So I did change it to I'm the chick on the scene. And then I was like, you know what? That's just
weird. I'm just going to do man in the box.
(33:19 - 33:23)
I am the man in the box. So what? Thank you. Thank you for doing that.
(33:23 - 33:39)
Because I will tell you, that is my pet peeve. When I go out and see a band and there's a female
singer singing a song written for a man, and she changes the words, like ACDC, instead of she's
a fast machine, he's singing, he's a fast machine. And I get up and I immediately walk out.
(33:39 - 33:46)
I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it does. It just sounds weird to me. I had a big
debate about that.
(33:47 - 34:02)
And you just don't know what, again, I always try to think about what does the audience want?
And at the end of the day, I'm like, they know I'm not a man, which it would be fine if they
thought that. I recognized that immediately. So I'm like, I'm okay saying I'm a man in the box.
(34:02 - 34:09)
That song is epic. That's what that song is about. And we do also do female fronted songs.
(34:09 - 34:18)
So we do garbage, cranberries, a lot of stuff. But majority of our songs are male fronted songs
with a candy twist, which is awesome. Right.
(34:18 - 34:19)
Well, that's good. That's good. Awesome.
(34:20 - 34:24)
Awesome. Well, it sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun. It can't all be that good.
(34:24 - 34:37)
What was, what was, did you guys have a gig where you hated it? Not yet. Not yet. Like Candy
was saying earlier, kind of like band fam, like we, we make, I don't know, there's just something,
a vibe.
(34:38 - 34:51)
We make every situation fun. Like, yeah, I can't really think of a time yet where it's been. There
really hasn't been like the spinal tap moment or like, you know, the, the venue owner trying to
like withhold pay or anything like that.
(34:51 - 34:57)
You know, I mean, we're all pros. Shield them from all that stuff. There's a lot of stuff that I deal
with that.
(34:57 - 35:05)
I'm like, I'm so grateful to have these amazing professionals. I will shield them from as much as
possible so that they just have a fun time. Yeah.
(35:05 - 35:19)
Yeah. I think that whole thing about venues, you know, every musician's got a story about how
they haven't been paid. But I think that half of the stories I hear about not being paid are just
lies because they want to be able to join in the conversation.
(35:19 - 35:26)
I mean, I've been a musician, I've been a musician for, you know, over 30 years and it's never
happened to me. So, so I don't know. That's kind of crazy.
(35:27 - 35:52)
I've made bad deals sometimes or, you know, because it was a cool venue and I didn't, I kind of
trusted the promoter to take care of us and I, you know, based on previous experience and
then when it was at the end of the night, they're like, oh, you made this, you didn't, you know,
you didn't ask for anything different. So I could definitely be much better at booking and
negotiating because I spent a lot of time focusing on putting together a really good show.
Right.
(35:52 - 36:04)
And luckily, I think all the shows that we have booked this year, we haven't done as many,
usually try to do one a month in Grunge Candy. I think it's been about one every other month
just because we all have so many other things going on with other bands. Right.
(36:04 - 36:13)
But all of them have been gigs that came to us. So I do want to pivot to be a little bit more
proactive because I feel really proud that we have a really good product to put out there. Yeah.
(36:14 - 36:15)
Yeah. Well, that's good. That's good.
(36:15 - 36:25)
What kind of gigs do you have coming up? We should probably talk about that. Yeah. So on July
19th, we are playing On the Rocks Riverfront Venue.
(36:26 - 36:29)
Carrie's played it before. Have you played there before? Down in Kankakee. Kankakee.
(36:30 - 36:33)
Oh, oh, the one in Kankakee. No, I have not. Yeah.
(36:33 - 36:35)
We're really excited about that. So they heard about us. They reached out to us.
(36:36 - 36:46)
We're really excited to play there. That's Saturday, July 19th. On Sunday, August 3rd, we are
playing the amazing Hideaway Brewgarden in Hoffman Estates from 12 to three.
(36:46 - 37:03)
We love doing all ages shows. I mean, kids are the best audience. Like when we are able to play
all ages venues, you have young kids and teens that are wearing the Nirvana shirts and they
actually know the music because they hang out with their parents and they talk to them about
it.
(37:03 - 37:16)
And the parents don't have to get a sitter for the night and they're able to enjoy the music as a
family. So I always take out all the bad words and man the box at an all ages show. The dog
doesn't get beat.
(37:16 - 37:29)
He gets weak because I don't want to upset the kids, things like that. So I just try to make it, I
want to make it family friendly for them. And I kind of be, I play a character like a grunge Barbie
type of thing.
(37:29 - 37:38)
So it's like the rock answer to Disney Princess. I know that sounds silly. So anyway, Hoffman
Brews, Hideaway Brewgarden in Hoffman Estates, Sunday, August 3rd.
(37:39 - 37:47)
And then Friday, August 22nd, we are playing with Morning View Incubus Tribute at Salernos
and Hodgkins. And then we have some other stuff in the works. Okay.
(37:48 - 37:51)
Cool, cool. Awesome. You know, Jimmy Buffett used to censor himself.
(37:51 - 38:02)
You know, he used to change his own words. Did you know that? When he, after several years,
instead of singing, why don't we get drunk and skirt? It became, why don't we get lunch in
school? Yep. When he was singing to all ages.
(38:03 - 38:12)
Oh man. I've seen him several times and I saw him one time where he sang the actual words,
but then there was one time he kind of looked around like that. Yeah, nope, this is going to be a
lunch in school show.
(38:14 - 38:27)
Well, that's pretty interesting. And what about social media? I know you guys are on Facebook
because that's how I found you, but how else can we find you? Facebook, Instagram. I think I
have a TikTok, but I honestly don't really understand.
(38:29 - 38:41)
I don't know how TikTok works either. I have no idea. I basically take the stuff I post on
Instagram and Facebook and put it on TikTok and it gets a ton of views, but I don't know how
many people were pulling in because of that.
(38:41 - 38:59)
And that demograph is going to be a lot younger. Hey, I'm really trying to pander to the 20
somethings that are wearing Nirvana shirts and like, well, do you want to come check out some
90s music or just sticking with your pop punk or your mumble rap? Mumble rap, that's
hilarious. Wow.
(38:59 - 39:14)
Crazy. Well, I'll tell you what, I think you guys got another one prepared for us? I sent two video
clips that I think are an audio file that I think you'll enjoy. It's a live performance and it's a clip of
it's just a 90 second clip of even flow.
(39:14 - 39:18)
So I think I sent that an email. So I think you'd like it. All right.
(39:18 - 39:20)
Great. We'll use that then. We'll use that.
(39:21 - 39:23)
All right. Thanks for coming out, guys. Heck yeah.
(39:24 - 39:25)
Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.
(39:25 - 39:31)
Thank you. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin. Theme song courtesy of
M&R Rush.
(39:32 - 39:40)
The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the
show. The music is used to promote the guests that are featured. The Rock and Roll Chicago
podcast is produced by MNR Rush.