Photo By Sgt. Cassandra Monroe | Candlebox guitarist Peter Klett plays alongside his band mates for service members and...... read more read more
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CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Guitar riffs sliced through the air as servicemembers and civilians lined up against the main stadium stage to see the rock band Candlebox perform at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, near Tikrit, Iraq, Aug. 12.
As this is the band’s debut trip to the Middle East, they’ve played shows in Kuwait, Joint Base Balad, Iraq and COB Speicher, and are scheduled to play at bases in Baghdad and Basra.
“[This performance is] pretty special to us,” said Candlebox lead singer Kevin Martin. “We’ve been trying to get over here for a long time, so it’s great to meet the troops. It’s probably one of the greatest things we’ve gotten to do as a band.”
The band played a myriad of songs, from fast-paced rock hits to love-torn ballads. The crowd cheered and sang along with each lyric, and bobbed their heads to the beat.
“I think that people in the states are jaded,” Martin said. “They have the conveniences and luxuries of home. Here, there’s a real appreciation. When we played at Joint Base Balad, we told the crowd ‘Hey, you don’t have to sit down. There’s no commanding officer here that will tell you to sit,’ and the troops all stood for an hour and a half. The crowds don’t do that in the states. [The troops] respect and are appreciative of us being here, and we want to make sure that they have a good time.”
With the constant demands of the work environment and sometimes little to no days off, many service members do look at concerts as a good time and a chance to relax and escape the office and the constant drive of missions.
“Troops… get away from the office and congregate with their friends and with people they don’t get to see on a regular basis by going to these concerts,” said Sgt. Joseph Hudson, an information systems technician with 3rd Signal Company, Division Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, and a Douglas, Wyo., native. “They get to [relax] where people can just enjoy themselves and watch a good show.”
All in all, the members of Candlebox received a warm, appreciative ovation from the concert-goers.
And for Martin, being here with the troops hits close to home, because his father served in World War II. The song “Miss You” was inspired by his late father who would call him every year on D-Day, June 6, to tell him another story on how he survived the war. The song is about how he got to know his father through the stories he was told.
“It’s been a very humbling experience and it will be something that will be in the back of my mind when I write a song,” Martin said. “We take for granted our lives and what we do at home. I think now how much our lives will change as musicians when we go home and realize the effect this experience has had on us, and how it will affect our musical writing and our characters.”
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2010 04:46 |
| Story ID: | 54572 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 324 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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