Roman Candle | |
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Origin | Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States |
Genres | Indie rock, indie pop, alternative rock |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | V2, Carnival Recording Company, Hollywood, Outlook Music. |
Website | romacandlemusic.com |
Roman Candle is an indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, composed of Skip Matheny, Logan Matheny and Timshel Matheny. They have released three studio albums, several touring EP's, toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, and played in various other bands / live acts. Roman Candle was founded in 1997 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band, who all attended UNC-Chapel Hill, recorded and performed there for 10 years before moving to Nashville, TN in 2008.
Roman Candle started playing shows around Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1997. Most early shows involved (current band members) Skip and Logan Matheny and various musicians from around town sitting in. Eventually a regular lineup formed, including Skip's wife Timshel on fender rhodes and farfisa. They sold over 400 copies of a self-released cd of demos in 2000 on consignment at Chapel Hill's SchoolKids Records, and signed to Trevor Pryce's Outlook Music Company in October 2001. When they signed their first record deal, Skip and Timshel were working in Portland Oregon as a forklift driver and a dishwasher at an art college (respectively).
Their record "Says Pop" was released by Outlook in May 2002. The band toured across the U.S. in support of Says Pop, gathered an enthusiastic fanbase, and were named in Rolling Stone magazine, as Chapel Hill's "darling" band on the rise. During this time they met producer Chris Stamey (The db's, Yo la tengo, Ryan Adams, R.E.M.), and signed to Hollywood Records' fledging college music division (also signed, were The Polyphonic Spree and Patrick Park). Hollywood recruited Stamey to rework the songs on Says Pop, for a major label release, re-titled "The Wee Hours Revue" in 2003. However, Hollywood, uncertain about the "college division" of their label, decided to shelve Roman Candle's album for 2 years.
During this time, the band continued to tour, write and record music, and became a part of Chris Stamey's "mod squad," a famed group of studio / touring musicians around Stamey's studio, Modern Recording. Roman Candle band members toured in support of Stamey's records, "A Question of Temperature" (with Yo la Tengo) and "Travels in the South". The band became known for their live shows (described as "Jaw-Dropping",), and after opening up for The Soundtrack of Our Lives, lead singer Ebbot Lundberg called them from the stage "the best opening act he'd seen in years."