Interview with Bad Candy

Bad Candy were playing in St. Louis in the early 1990's. They recorded a demo called called "Welcome to the party" back in 1991. Recently Retrospect records released the demo and now the band also has another album called "Welcome back to the party" out on Retrospect as well. I recently interviewed guitarist Kevin Hauk to find out more about this band

MM-Tell us some about the history of your band?
KH-Bad Candy was formed in 1990. Me(Kevin Hauk) and Troy Heigl were writing songs, but we didnt have a singer so we had our friend Jeff Mueller who is also a singer record our songs and sing the songs for us. He liked what we were doing, so he eventually joined . We started playing locally and opening up for any band we could. In the summer of 1991, we went to Memphis Tenn. and recorded "Welcome to the Party" with producer Danny Jones, who is well known in the music industry. He had worked with the Beach Boys, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Patti Labelle, etc. We figured he could really make a great demo. And he did. I think our demo was one of the best sounding around as far as production. We played a huge demo release in June 91' and from there we just played all over town, opening for such big names as Firehouse, Britney Fox, Asphalt Ballet, and Valentine Saloon. We even opened for the guy who played "Ricky" in Skid Rows 18 and Life video, who had a band. We kept it going till some members were either got kicked out, or left. In 1993, the remaining members , Me, Troy, Ryan, and Travis, who had replaced Nikki on bass, changed the name to Beggars Playground and recorded a new demo, which was a totally different style than Bad Candy.



MM-What are you currently up to?
KH-We are now just playing locally in cover bands for now. We are all married and have kids and fulltime jobs. We have gotten together lately and did a reunion show which went very well.



MM-How would you describe your band’s music?
KH-I would call it 80's Hair band rock. Course none of us have the hair anymore.



MM-I know you had a reunion show lined up last year. Are you currently playing any shows? KH-Right now we arent locally. But we do have a big show coming up this summer, that I cant really give out any details to just yet.



MM-Did you ever have any label interest back when you did “Welcome to the party”?
KH-No, we did have a lot going for us as the follow up band Beggars Playground, but Bad Candy never had label interest as far as I know.

MM -How did you link up with Retrospect records?
KH-Sam from Retrospect records somehow got a copy of "Welcome to the Party" and then managed to get ahold of TRoy. Troy did all the correspondence with him. When Troy first told me about it, I was like , "Yeah Right". Everyone else said the same thing. But it turned out to be true. I mean it's 17 years later!!!!

MM-It seems like so many hard rock bands that were around in the 80’s and early 90’s are reforming. Why do you think that is?
KH-I think with the internet and myspace, you can reach a lot more people, so bands are putting up pages of their former bands, and people are responding to it. I think the overwhelming response, gets bands motivated to reunite. We were actually joking about a reunion show for a long time, but when Retrospect Records came calling, it just helped make it a reality.

MM-What do you hope to accomplish in 2008?
KH-Have Bad Candy's music reach as many people as possible. I dont know what to expect, but I think we're gonna just see what happens. Like I said, we have a pretty big show this summer, that we're all very excited about, and everyone will find out what it is as soon as we are given the go ahead to make the announcement.

MM-What is the hard rock/metal scene like in St. Louis these days? How is it different from say 17 years ago?
KH-Truthfully, I don't think its any better. Bars cater to cover bands mostly. Back 17 years ago, there were many more places to play for "original" bands. It seemed like back then, more people were into it. These days, the original clubs pack 6 bands on one bill for a single nite. Back in the nineties, we might share a bill with one other band. I think if we had the internet back then, we could have done so much more. We did everything with flyers.

MM-Any great unsigned bands there that we should know about?
KH-Well the best unsigned band around that I know is Modern Day Zero. There is also Never My Silence. I know alot of great musicians that are just doing the cover thing too. But those 2 bands are probably the best around in my opinion.

MM-So what were you guys doing when after this band broke up and before you recently reformed?
KH-Me and Jeff and Troy were in a band called Spit in the late nineties together. We were a cover/original band. Then Me and Jeff were playing in a cover band called Fivetimezero up till about a year ago. Troy was singing in a original/cover band called Slapdragon till about 8 months ago, and Nikki and Ryan were out of music completely.

MM-In the early 1990’s you changed singers and became Beggar’s Playground. How long did that version go and was the music any different?
KH-That went very well, we thought we had found our sound. The music was harder edged, more like Skid Row, and we were playing alot. We had a little airplay on Kshe 95, and opened for a lot of great bands. Our demo"the beg", which has just been released by Retrospect Records, was reviewed in RIP magazine, and thanks to that, we were getting the word out all over the world.

MM-Pick the band from the following pair that you prefer and tell why.
KH-
Poison or Skid Row
Skid Row, because Sebastion Bach was and still is one of the greatest Rock singers of all time.
Aerosmith or Cheap Trick
This is a tough one, since I think they are both great, but I'd have to say Aerosmith, because they are still to this day cranking out hits.
LA Guns or Pretty Boy Floyd
This one is a no brainer, Pretty Boy Floyd. Motley Crue junior, Bad Candy used to play Floyds version of "Toast of the Town".
Guns and Roses or Motley Crue
Another no brainer, Motley Crue. They were the band everyone wanted to be like. With a drummer like Tommy lee , and songs like "looks that kill" and "Shout at the Devil", they were the best around and fun to watch.

MM-Is there anything else that you want to say about your band or your music?
KH-We did just record a new cd, which is available on Retrospect Records titled "Welcome Back to the Party". 7 of the songs were written back in the early nineties when we were still together, and one of the songs is a brand new song, called "Hangin' On". It is a song about us, still being friends and Hangin on to the past, and doing it all over again. I hope whoever reads this, will check it out on www. Retrospectrecords.com and check out our myspace page at www.myspace.com/badcandystl. We will keep everone posted on future shows, especially the big one this summer!! Peace.

http://www.myspace.com/badcandystl

-Thanks to Kevin for doing the interview.