Seattle-based blues rock band Candlebox is back from an indefinite hiatus to tour in celebration of twenty years of making music.
Candlebox is scheduled to perform a free show at 9 p.m. Thursday at the Hollywood Casino Columbus.
“The tour is basically a kind of launch back to how we started back in the day,” said Candlebox’s singer-guitarist Kevin Martin. “Our first record came out back in 1993. I can’t believe we’re still around.”
The band’s first launch into success came with that album, which was self-titled, due to the popularity of the song “Far Behind,” which rocketed the album up to No. 7 on Billboard’s album charts.
“I remember hearing that song (‘Far Behind’) constantly growing up,” said Seth Gintert, a third-year in environmental science. “But I never knew the band that went with the song.”
Gintert said he wouldn’t be able to attend the free show because of his studies.
Despite its popularity surge in the ’90s, the band was forced into hiatus in 2000 following disputes with its label, Martin said.
“We were having a really bad relationship with our label at the time, Maverick,” he said. “We felt that we were getting lost in their politics.”
Candlebox broke up in an attempt to free itself from Maverick, but the plan backfired due to the band’s contractual obligations to the label.
Martin said this led to several years of “limbo,” where the band couldn’t produce any music as Candlebox. This lasted until 2006 when it reunited to do a supporting tour for the release of its greatest hits album, “The Best of Candlebox.”
Since the reunion, Candlebox has released two studio albums: 2008’s “Into the Sun” and “Love Stories & Other Musings,” released April 3.
Martin said apart from celebrating Candlebox’s history, the audience at Hollywood Casino can expect to hear some new material mixed in with the classics.
“This is the only Candlebox record that I really, truly, honestly love from top to bottom,” Martin said of the band’s most recent album. “I think it’s the best record we’ve ever done.”
Kyle Siegrist, owner of Lost Weekend Records, located at 2960 N. High St., had a slightly different opinion.
“Honestly we’re not really into that music here,” Siegrist said. “We mostly stick to lesser-known artists. We don’t really carry any big name, pop-y stuff like that.”
Martin said playing at Hollywood Casino will start a “new chapter” for the band’s shows in Columbus.
“Normally we play at the Newport Music Hall, right there on the strip,” he said. “So this will be a new direction for us.”
He said while he likes places like the Newport, the band can’t get the same huge sound it can at large venues like Hollywood Casino.  
“A lot of the venues around town can’t really afford to put the kind of P.A. (system) in that we require,” he said. “So when you go to a casino gig you’re pretty stoked to be there despite the kind of cheesy elements to it. It’s nice to play on gear that really works where you can really turn it up and make it sound the way you want your show to sound.”
Admission is free and attendees must be 21 or older. Hollywood Casino is located at 200 Georgesville Road Columbus.