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It's
said that first impressions linger. Roman Candle can relate,
because the band is in the midst of the most protracted first
impression in recent memory.
Its excellent debut album, The Wee Hours Revue, was released
June 6 on V2 records but has been in circulation for years,
since it was first released as Says Pop on the independent label
Outlook in 2002. that was two labels and several lineup changes
ago for the band's core Skip, Logan, and Timshel Matheny.
"Going back to these songs again, yea, it's kinda like
moving back to your old hometown after being gone a long time,"
says Skip Matheny, Roman Candle's singer/guitarist. "Hearing
the record again is like riding around your old neighborhood.
But having
a new lineup to play them live is exciting. We've had to work
hard to retain that excitement. If the live versions don't seem
like the CD, well, that's intentional."
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The retooled album, immaculately produced by Chris Stamey, is
high gloss, detailed pop music for the senses as well as the
mind. Most pop records fall short on groove, but The Wee Hours
Revue is as rhythmically smart as it is sharp and catchy.
The first ten seconds or so of opening track "Something
Left to Say", could pass for ambient dance music, setting
a pulse that the album maintains throughout. Those bouncy hooks,
a bushel of insidiously catchy melodies, and Matheny's forceful
voice are the album's distinguishing features.
The first version of Roman Candle formed in the late '90s when
brothers Skip and Logan were at the University of North Carolina.
Logan was the drummer; Skip's wife Timshel played the keyboards.
After posting some demos on www.garageband.com, the band made
an unexpected connection with professional football player Trevor
Pryce, a dance-music recording artist who was also an All-Pro
Defensive Lineman for the Denver Broncos.
Pryce liked the demos enough to sign the group to his new label.
Roman Candle's self-produced version of Says Pop was Outlook's
first release.
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"Says Pop: everybody thought that was supposed
to be 'pop' like the Backstreet Boys," says Skip. "But
'pop' is all the music we love- Frank Sinatra, Merle Hagard,
Roxy Music, the Clash, the universal stuff you can find in anybody's
record collection.
Wee Hours Revue was actually our orignal title, but I've got
this friend from high school who got me into Captain Beefheart
back when I was listening to Dwight Yoakam. He had the coolest,
most amazing taste.
And when he heard the album, he said we ought to call it Says
Pop because 'It sounds like what you imagine to be pop music.
Like trying to do both Dj Shadow an Oasis.' That's what was
so great about hooking up with Trevor; he just completely understoood
that. We used to have long chats about drum sounds."
Says Pop attracted major label interest, and Hollywood Records
signed Roman Candle 2003. "Hollywood signed us at this
point where it wasn't clear which direction radio was going
to go," says Logan. "It seemed like maybe the college
pop was going to be the popular thing. But this was before the
Killers and Modest Mouse and this wave of indie rock stuff took
over rock radio. So it went the other way, and then Hollywood
didn't know what to do with us.
By then, Roman Candle was already working with Stamey on re-cutting
the album. Through Stamey, the band also hooked up with country
singer Thad Cockrell, recording a live album that's still in
the vaults (a limited edition EP from the sessions, featuring
a killer cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya", is out of print).
As one purported release after another came and went, the band
kept busy with Cockrell and also worked with a series of studio
types trying to come up with that ever-elusive hit single. One
particularly memorable attempt, with producer John Alagia (John
Mayer, Dave Matthews Band), happened just before Timshel gave
birth to the Matheny's first child.
"Hollywood did let us work with a lot of great producers,
we've got to give them credit for that," Skip acknowledges.
"But we still don't really know what went on; we just never
heard from them. I think it's for the best ultimately."
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Eventually, Hollywood let Roman Candle go and V2 came calling.
Now that The Wee Hours Revue is finally out, the band can consider
it's backlog of material-- two albums' worth, including a song
cycle called Love Songs For An Empty Room. Meantime, Skip has
also been writing a guidebook to surviving the music industry.
"None of this was that traumatic or anything, just annoying,"
he says. "But we realized that there's this massive gap
between what most bands think they know and what they really
do.
So we'd like to pass that knowledge on. It's based on Walker
Percy's Lost In The Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book, which posed
20 questions about life. I'm working on 20 questions about the
music business. I had to reach the 'acceptance' phase of all
the stages you go through."
-----David Menconi
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