THE CANDIDATES
On a clear, mild Friday evening in Dublin city I met Mark (guitar), Tim (drums), Deane (trumpet/flute) and Graham (bass) of the Candidates in a pub on Capel Street for a chat and a coffee. Friendly and relaxed, the four were getting ready for an evening practice. The band practices twice a week, in a rented room in the city which they all admit is “a bit cramped”. It’s tough to get all nine members of the band together at once, they concede, but usually they can work around it. The result is a polished, classy sound which simply has to be danced to. The communication and understanding between all the members of the band is a clear message in each of their songs. Deane points out that this is the first band he’s known to have “absolutely zero arguments”.
* Warning, the funky music of The Candidates is regulated by the
Funknancial regulator, terms and conditions apply.
It’s easy to believe him, after spending just a small amount of time with the four musicians you can tell they all get along and have fun together. They’ve had members in the past who haven’t felt the same way, but as Graham points out “the people who didn’t get on just left basically.” Deane adds that “this band’s only been a success because we all get along so well, you hear all the time about people having ‘creative differences,’ and I think if you’re not really loving what you’re doing and you can’t get on with the people around you maybe it’s time to find another way to express yourself…” The good nature between all the current members of Candidates wasn’t achieved easily, then. They explain that after a number of reshuffles, and people arriving and leaving, they’ve settled on a nine-piece ensemble that works remarkably well together.
The Candidates began to form when guitarist Mark Leddy and a friend decided to turn their mutual love of funk into a band. The members gradually built up over the coming months, with a number of changes along the way, to form the nine in the band today. With two trumpets, a tenor and alto saxophone, bass, drums, percussion, guitar, and keys/vocals, every song is a musical feast. Deane finds that, as a trumpet player, the size of the band allows for a bit more musical freedom. “It’s almost liberating, well for the horn players anyway, since you’re not having to play complicated things all the time. There’s a bass and everyone is playing to that central melody and it gives you a bit of freedom to do other things.” Their influences come from a number of different artists, including the Meters, Parliament and Funkadelic, but Deane adds “I don’t know if we’re specifically in the style of one funk band or another”. Their sound certainly couldn’t be said to be predictable. With a versatile mixture of players and instruments, every song is an original funk adventure.
After actively pursuing a number of festivals and getting nowhere, the Candidates were signed up for the Soul Festival in 2009 after meeting CEO Chris Maher at a gig. Tim tells how he came to know Chris from seeing him at gigs, and through having similar music tastes they got to know each other. Finally, the Candidates had a slot in a Dublin festival. Since playing the festival, the Candidates have had a lot more success in getting slots at the music festivals they wanted. “Before we played the Soul festival we’d been trying to get on to festivals like Life, and were sending e mails to any address we could find and getting nothing back. Then when we did the Soul Fest, the engineer, Dan, called us up and was saying he was doing sound for Life and invited us to do it. So that was a direct result of doing Soul Fest and that was really good” says Deane. He adds that the visibility of the band at the festival also helped them reach a wider audience. Tim points out that the festival attracts the kind of crowd who like to listen to “soulful music” and who would get into the Candidates.
Since then, the Candidates have been busy at work promoting their first EP “If You Got It” which was released before Christmas. “If You Got It” contains some funk gems, with infectious guitar melodies mixed with the occasional jazz flute and the constant backdrop of trumpet and sax. The band has future plans that involve a residency in the Tophouse in Howth, and dream of touring in France, England and Germany, where they tell me there’s a “good funk scene”. They also mention they’ll be playing the Life festival again, and “hopefully some bigger festivals too” adding as an afterthought that gets some laughter “Electric Picnic would be pretty nice.” With their funky, original sound and their unmistakable talent, it seems to me that the Candidates would fit right in on the line up for the Stradbally festival.
It’s tough to make a living from music, especially with nine members in the band. When asked if they’ve got any advice for young people hoping to get into music, the four Candidates burst into laughter. “Get out of it now” jokes Tim. “You won’t make a lot of money…” warns Mark, with a coy smile. Despite their jokes, though, I can see that these guys really enjoy what they do. Even talking about the band has them in a happy mood, and soon they’re off to practice. The music business may be an uphill struggle for many, no matter their talent, but this group are strolling uphill with smiles on their faces.
They got it I’m gonna’ get it! Hope to see you funky Candidates when I get to Dublin in May. Bye Bye Texas! Helloooo Dublin!
A.x
I saw them in Cork this weekend on jazz festival in River Lee Hotel,they were brilliant, I liked their music straight away,they are spontaneous,great musicians,I wish them all the best,I have already their CD,its an amazing music! Greetings from Cork,
Katarina from Slovakia;-)
the candidates rock! can’t wait for their discotekken show on september 10th in the twisted pepper