Chinese Sky Candy offers up confections
During the past four years, the members of Chinese Sky Candy have spent more time practicing than hanging out together.
That bodes well for the local math-rock outfit’s music. But it wasn’t until the addition of lead singer and guitarist Joe Kelleher two years ago that CSC really started gelling as friends and musicians. With Kelleher and guitarist/keyboardist Jeremy Hughes having played in a previous band together, there was some added fiber to Chinese Sky Candy.
“It took a while to assimilate Joe into the band, but he is the link that connects the rest of us,” said CSC drummer Ben Bradley.
And that personal connection, more so than the musical connection, is responsible for the increasingly cohesive sound that has been coming out in CSC’s live shows, and even more so in studio recordings, Bradley said.
You can hear proof when Chinese Sky Candy hosts a CD release show for its first full-length album tonight at the B-Side.
“You know when you’ve crossed that line into a more collective feel, instead of there just being a lot of stuff going on. That is born out of us managing to find our cohesion as a feeling instead of something we had to think a lot about,” Bradley said.
“In our older stuff there was an awful lot of trying and rewriting. Now there is a lot less effort and conscious thought, and that’s an extension of having a closer relationship with the band.”
It’s unfortunate that Chinese Sky Candy has solidified as a unit just before one of its standout members, Jeremy Hughes, splits this fall to Mills College in Oakland to study electronic music and recording media. There is some uncertainty hovering about the future of Chinese Sky Candy once Hughes leaves, Bradley said.
“It sucks that he’s leaving, but we’re proud of him,” he said. “We don’t feel that any of us are replaceable as band members, but the three of us will continue to play together, and if Jeremy comes back to town, who knows? We’re keeping all of our options open.”
Recorded at Black Coffee, CSC’s new release is a self-titled album, with 8-tracks of dense guitar lines and the discombobulating time signatures that have made Chinese Sky Candy a favorite fixture in the local scene.
You can get a copy at the show tonight at 9:30 at the B-Side, 230 W. Riverside. Six State Bender and B-Side battle of the bands’ winner Belt of Vapor open the show. There is a $5 cover.
Hear tracks from Chinese Sky Candy’s new album at www.spokane7.com/ musicandmore.
Board meeting
In her home in Utah, folk singer Stacey Board is well known for her powerful voice, soothing acoustic guitar-based pop-rock, and engaging stage presence.
She has been voted best folk/acoustic performer by the Salt Lake City Weekly for the past three years. Since moving to Utah in 1998, she has been touring regionally almost nonstop and getting regular radio airplay in more than 200 markets in the United States.
She’s coming to Spokane on Thursday, as part of her national tour, and on the heels of her newest release, “Drive,” and a compilation of her first three albums, “Hybrid.”
Get acquainted with Board on Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Shop, 924 S. Perry. Cover to be announced.
Club hoppin’
• Popular local singer-songwriter Melody Moore plays Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Spike Coffee House, 122 S. Monroe. The suggested donation is $3.
• Another well-known singer-songwriter, Annie O’Neill, opens a show for rock band Kite on Saturday at Mootsy’s, 406 W. Sprague. There is a $5 cover.
• Local emcee Locke brings his punk-rock ethic and hip-hopaholic tendencies on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. to the B-Side as he and deejay Parafyn team up with their Midwestern rap cohorts Sentence, Earthwormz, DJ Thought and Nasty. There is a $5 cover.
• True Sullivan, Bench Road, All Else Fails, and Dead Face Down compete in the finals at the battle of the bands on Friday at 7 p.m. at Club Soda, 715 E. Sprague. There is a $7 cover.