Candy Golde Newest ‘Band Within a Band’ to Strike a Powerful Rock Chord

Jane’s Addiction, Tinted Windows, Audioslave, and Queens of the Stone Age are just a few side projects by members of huge bands that have thrived over the past decade. Candy Golde, one of the newest band to prescribe to this formula, consists of Bun E. Carlos [Cheap Trick], John Stirratt [Wilco, Autumn Defense], Rick Rizzo [Eleventh Dream Day] and Nick Tremulis [Nick Tremulis Orchestra].

Unlike many of the other All-Star bands, which try to incorporate the sounds of their past work into something new, Candy Golde is eclectic and experimental. Carlos, the drummer for classic rock gods Cheap Trick for almost four decades, has adapted his style and plays more like a garage band bammer on the band’s LP. This type of heavy percussion work that hasn’t been heard from him in decades.

“I had so much fun putting this together,” said Carlos. “It’s different not being on the road and being able to experiment. I loved making this LP.”

Tremulis, known more for his song-writing and love of experimentation with rock and soul blends, was able to play the part of hard rock singer and do more than hold his own. Stirratt, a member of an alternative powerhouse the likes of Wilco, speeds up his bass playing in Candy Golde and does more than support the percussion. Rizzo, known for his excellent guitar work, song-writing ability and vocal stylings, plays some of the hardest tunes in his career with this quartet.

The end result is something unlike anything you’ve heard before from a band created from bits and pieces of other successful groups.

That may have something to do with the way they came together.

“We’ve all known each other for quite some time,” said Tremulis. “We’ve played together on tours and just because we grew up in the same area, it just made it easier than it should have been. We all jammed together and right away, we knew we had something. Everything was easier.”

Always eager for side projects, Carlos, who is also the drummer for Tinted Windows,  acknowledged that this project would have never gotten off the ground a few years ago.

“Ten years ago, we would have had to call all our lawyers,” Carlos said. “It’s just so much easier now.”

Playing at SXSW on March 18, where they will be making their live debut, the band is ready to show their fans how easy it’ll be to jump on their bandwagon.

“We’re going to bring it,” said Tremulis. “These are some pretty hard tunes and the only way to play them is with a lot of energy, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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