Candid (band)
Candid are an English indie rock band from Coventry formed in 2016.
The band consists of Rob Latimer (lead vocals, guitar), Dan Latimer (guitar, backing vocals), Sam Baines (bass guitar) and Alex Bonsor (drums).
Candid have recorded several critically acclaimed singles and had two limited edition physical releases. They have featured on a number of radio stations, been BBC Music Introducing band of the month and played several UK festivals. They have performed on Raw Sound TV and their music has featured on Channel 4 Television.
History
2016
The original members of Candid (including brothers Rob Latimer and Dan Latimer) attended secondary school at Coundon Court in Coventry and had been friends since their school days. The first line-up featured Dan Latimer on bass guitar and Sam Greenwell on guitar. They recorded and released their debut single “Moving On” on November 4th, 2016 and performed casually at a small number of venues in Coventry. Shortly after playing a support slot in well-known Coventry venue, the Kasbah, Sam Greenwell left the band. Dan replaced him as guitarist and Sam Baines joined the fold to replace Dan on bass. The band closed out 2016 with two live performances - a second appearance at the Kasbah and a support slot to the Commonjets at Coventry venue The Tin.
2017
2017 saw Candid branch out into the Birmingham music scene as well as playing gigs in London and nearby Leamington Spa. The band played their first Kasbah headliner – a rite of passage for many Coventry bands – in April. The release of their second single, "Rumours" on May 12th introduced the band's followers to a song that showcased their talents as songwriters and would go on to become a live favourite. Reviews of "Rumours"..[1] described Candid's sound as dynamic and mentioned catchy melodies, outstanding guitar work, wicked percussion and commanding vocals.
The band developed a reputation as a solid live act with a devoted following which gave rise to support slots with The Hoosiers, The Model Airplanes and Runaway Hounds, among others. Candid released a further two singles in 2017 – "Lay Me Down" in August and "Breathless" in December. These two singles were very well received by reviewers and fans of the band and evidenced progression for the band in the areas of studio production and song writing. A review of "Lay Me Down" by Eclectic Music Lover[2] identifies Candid as one of the most exciting bands on the indie music scene and references the track's scorching riffs and thunderous percussion - attributes which have made it the perfect set closer for Candid's live performances. "Breathless" also features prominently in Candid's live set. Music Magazine Hey Nineteen [3] compared the recording to early White Lies and commended the band for creating an indie rock recording that is polished enough to cross over to mainstream radio.
2018
Candid started 2018 with gigs in the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham as well as The Tin and the Kasbah in Coventry. Their second hometown headline show took place in the Kasbah on February 2nd. To mark the occasion the band made available a limited batch of CDs compiling their first 4 singles - "Moving On", "Rumours", "Lay Me Down" and "Breathless" - and including bonus acoustic versions of "Breathless" and "Rumours". The individually numbered CDs sold out quickly and the show was a success, attracting the interest of the Coventry Telegraph newspaper and the online Coventry Observer [4].
Candid participated in Coventry's Moto Fest on Saturday On June 1st 2018, headlining the Galliford Try Stage.
On June 16th 2018, Candid participated in a heat of the Godiva Calling competition and won first place. The band went on to win the final of the competition on June 30th. Their prize was a main stage performance at the Godiva Festival on Saturday September 1st. Candid made the most of the sunshine and the crowd and put on a memorable performance. In between songs Rob told the crowd that he and his brothers had been coming to the Godiva Festival for years and that one year they had such a good time that Rob broke his collar bone.
In between winning the Godiva Calling competition and performing at the Godiva Festival the band had an eventful few months, participating in a number of other festivals and performing concerts for charity. The band squeezed in a successful Headline show at Birmingham's Sunflower Lounge on July 21st followed up by their debut performance at the Lunar Festival on 28th July. Candid performed on the New Breed stage and later in the day also did an acoustic performance that was captured on video by Raw Sound TV. On the weekend of the 25th August, Candid participated in 3 festivals – Oxjam in Coventry (in support of Oxfam), the Kenilworth Street Festival and Bewdley Music Festival. Raw Sound TV were also present at Bewdley. They produced a live video of "Rumours" which debuted, in October of that year, on YouTube.
September saw Candid headline Fresher Fest in Coventry. This was the second of 3 events hosted by Live Loud Cov that Candid participated in during 2018. The first was in Coventry's Ivy House and the third was Candid's biggest headline show to date in Square One at Coventry University. Taking place on 24th November, the night served as launch for the band's new logo, new brand and a range of new merchandise. Footage from the sold-out concert featured in Series 4, Episode 4 of Raw Sound TV show on YouTube including a rare video of the unreleased “Retrospect” and a performance of their most recent single “Time Will Tell” which had just hit 20,000 streams on Spotify.
Other highlights of 2018 included the band's first performances in Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton and a high-profile support slot to Scouting For Girls in a sold-out Kasbah.
2019
Candid performed at a large number of festivals in 2019 including the Y Not Festival, Shoot Festival, Leamington Peace Festival, Sonic Gun Weekender, Worcester Music Festival, Fight Strong Festival, and Uplift Weekender. Candid headlined the Saturday night of The Future Sound of Coventry on October 26th. The band were invited to participate in the Spirit of 2 Tone Gig Village in July – a musical event that preceded performances in Coventry Cathedral by The Specials. Candid supported Slothrust in the Sunflower Lounge in January and The Pale White at The Tin in March. The band's first headliner of 2019 was a special acoustic performance - also at The Tin - on 23rd March. The event was a sell out and produced some video output including a cover of " Slide Away" by Oasis which was later endorsed by Oasis themselves when it was included in a list of approved covers on the official Oasis YouTube channel as part of their Slide Away Challenge[5]
Candid released the single “Where Do We Go” in February 2019. This track had been included in the live set for some time under the working title of “Seventeen”. The recording shows further progress in the area of studio production for the band and had been named song of the week by BBC Introducing Coventry and Warwickshire when they got a sneak preview[6] on December 15th 2018. The differences between the live version and the studio version of the song highlighted the band's desire to break new ground and explore new ideas. The single was reviewed favourably[7] and described as the next step in band's evolution.
On June 27th 2019, Candid released “Concrete Jungle” – another single that received very favourable reviews from Born Music[8], Indie Midlands[9] and Counteract [10] - who described the release as stunning and groundbreaking - among others. The video for Concrete Jungle – Candid's first music video – was premiered on July 19th.
The band had secured an opening slot on the main stage of the inaugural Coombe Weekender Festival in Coventry's Coombe Abbey on 3rd August 2019. Due to logistical issues, there was a delay in getting the festival started. As a result of this Candid and two other bands were unable to play their allocated slots. Later that day, headliners Reverend And The Makers acknowledged Candid and the other bands from the main stage.
On August 10th Candid launched a limited edition 2 track CD with an instore performance and signing at HMV Merry Hill. The double A-side CD featured the recent singles “Concrete Jungle” and “Where Do We Go?”. The event was organised in conjunction with HMV and Raw Sound TV. Three of the songs performed by Candid – “Concrete Jungle”, “Numbers Game” and “The Fire” - were later released in Raw Sound TV's The HMV Sessions #3[11]
On September 23rd 2019, "Concrete Jungle" was featured in an episode of the Channel 4 television show Made in Chelsea. In Series 18, episode 4, the chorus of the song was used as transition music [12] between scenes 3 minutes into the programme.
Candid took their acclaimed live show to new areas in the latter half of 2019 with gigs in Southampton, Shrewsbury and Worcester. In October the band participated in their first UK Tour as special guests of Offshore and The Verse, taking them to Nuneaton, Liverpool and Glasgow. They were invited to perform at the Birmingham Music Awards on 17th October in Mama Roux's.
During their lively, sold-out headline performance at the Future Sound of Coventry festival on October 26th, Rob announced that Ben would be parting ways with the band and that that night would be the last time he would perform live with Candid. Alex Bonsor took on drumming responsibilities for Candid's high-profile support slot to Tom Clarke in the Coventry Empire on December 14th and was announced as Candid's new drummer via social media 3 days later. The new line-up provided support to The Clause in Birmingham's O2 Academy 2 on 21st December.
2020
Candid spent the first couple of months of 2020 recording new material and promoting their biggest concert to date - a headline slot in the 900 capacity Coventry Empire[13]. It was reported on February 16th that 75% of tickets were already sold - a situation described by Gig Soup [14] as historical. On March the 3rd 2020 the Coventry Empire announced that the show had sold out [15]. Later that month, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concert was rescheduled to September 26th 2020. The band discussed these events during an interview with Brody Swain on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on March 21st [16]. On April 1st 2020 Candid were named BBC Music Introducing band of the month. [17]
References
- ↑ "CANDID – Single Review: "Rumours"". May 21, 2017.
- ↑ "CANDID – Single Review: "Lay Me Down"". August 11, 2017.
- ↑ "Hot Shit: Candid's 'Breathless'". December 15, 2017.
- ↑ "Want to be in a music video?". February 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Oasis". www.facebook.com.
- ↑ "BBC Introducing". https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7g0. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "Hot Track: Candid – 'Where Do We Go?'". February 6, 2019.
- ↑ "Set in stone, "Concrete Jungle" is becoming a foot stomper in Candid's discography - Born Music". www.bornmusiconline.com.
- ↑ "Candid – Concrete Jungle – INDIE MIDLANDS".
- ↑ Lambeth, Samuel (June 28, 2019). "Premiere: Candid unleash groundbreaking new single Concrete Jungle".
- ↑ "The HMV Sessions - #3 - The Verse & Candid Live in-store Performances - RawSound TV" – via www.youtube.com.
- ↑ "tunefind" – via https://www.tunefind.com/.
- ↑ "Coventry Empire".
- ↑ Francis, Simon (February 28, 2020). "Candid on their biggest date yet".
- ↑ "Coventry Empire Candid".
- ↑ "Candid interviewed by Brody Swain".
- ↑ "Candid - April Band of the Month".
This article "Candid (band)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Candid (band). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
