MindCandy

"Outstanding Rock Recording" - "Recognize" - MindCandy - DMA/MCMF

Weblink: http://bands.goanddomichigan.com/riffs.asp?ID=1

Who's RIFFing: MindCandy is vocalist Rudy DeSantis from Livonia, guitarists Rob Correll of Sterling Heights and Cyamak Ashtiani from West Bloomfield, Frank Kruckel from Clinton Twp. on bass and drummer Aaron Novak from Clinton Twp.

The story behind the RIFFs: Formed in June 2000, the beginnings of MindCandy arrived with Novack and Kruckel’s meeting at a concert. Novack had known frontman DeSantis for years, and the band’s voice was found when he accepted the duo’s invite to join. After struggling through a couple guitarists, auditions in May 2004 led to the completion of the current line-up with axemen Correll and Ashtiani.

Explain the name: “The name ‘MindCandy’ was discovered by a friend of ours,” said Ashtiani. “She saw it as a trivia game on a Web site and brought it to the table.

“We liked it, and the name stuck because it really makes you think what the lyrics and the music are truly about.”

The sound of these RIFFs: Drawing on influences like Stone Temple Pilots, Black Sabbath and Godsmack, the group describes its sound as a “sonic assault” including its share of melodic sensibilities.

Ashtiani adds that, though all artists have influences, his band hopes to be something unique within “Detroit Rock City.”

“We don’t try to sound like anyone in particular,” he said. “We try to sound like who we are — MindCandy.”

Got RIFFs on the record? MindCandy dropped Recognize in October, celebrating to a sold-out Magic Bag for its release party.

“Recognize is our best CD to date,” Ashtiani said. “It spawned our most popular song, the title-track, and earned us a 2005 Detroit Music Award for ‘Outstanding Pop/Rock Recording.’”

To purchase a copy of Recognize, check out one of the quintet’s shows or order the disc through MindCandy’s official Web site found at www.mindcandyrock.com.


Your RIFFs outlook: Aside from acting as official band of “Pride Fighting,” a pay-per-view venture similar to the “Ultimate Fighting Championship,” MindCandy hopes to record another disc in August.

“They want more music, and the public demands more MindCandy so we are going to accommodate them,” said Ashtiani, adding the band’s music has been featured on In Demand “Pride Fighting” events worldwide. “Ultimately, we want a major record deal, I think we have talent to blow up.

“We just need the right person to believe in us, so until we find that person we will continue to work our asses off and put out quality records.”

Ashtiani’s vision is for MindCandy to be synonymous with great albums, not just good songs.

“I don’t want to record a CD that people can skip through to find their one favorite song,” he said. “I want to put out CDs like Appetite for Destruction and Nevermind, CDs that people can listen to from track one all the way through and not skip a song.”

Where will you RIFF next? MindCandy will be in concert Saturday, June 4 at The Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit — this WRIF-sponsored show will also include Ray Street Park, South Normal and Stitch, and is $10 for 21 and older, $15 all other ages.

The band will also play a Motor City RIFFs local music night Thursday, June 9 at US-12 in Wayne and Saturday, June 18 at the annual Harley Fest at Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights.

Website: www.mindcandyrock.com


- By Nick Brandon of Go & Do Michigan Magazine

Detroit's MindCandy celebrates new double-album at The Magic Bag
Led by local radio personality Rudy DeSantis, Detroit's own MindCandy has taken a huge leap with its fourth release, a double album called Revelations.

Joined by guitarists Rob Correll and Cyamak Ashtiani, bassist Frank Kruckel and drummer Aaron Novak, the group is following Recognize, a disc that received a Detroit Music Award. Revelations sees the quintet push its guitar-driven, grungy style into new territory, including reworked acoustic versions of some of its old favorites.

MindCandy, who is endorsed by and provides music for Pride Fighting, will celebrate the release of its new record with a show at The Magic Bag in Ferndale Friday, Oct. 14. Nick Brandon spoke with DeSantis, known from his work on the Deminski & Doyle show on WKRK-FM 97.1, to discuss Revelations.

NB: I was pretty impressed just that you guys were ambitious enough to do a double-album. It's pretty rare for a local-based band to do that.

RD: There are two reasons why we did a double album. Even though Recognize is a great album and we're proud of it, it won us a music award and spawned one of our most popular tunes to date ... there were only six songs on there. We felt like we cheated the fans by giving them a six-song EP, so we wanted to do nine brand-new songs, and wanted to, as a treat to the fans, record some of the older ones acoustic(ally). We're a hard-rock band, and some bands can pull off acoustic songs and some can't. We wanted to give it a shot and see what it sounded like.

NB: This album has a countless number of differences from Recognize, or anything else the band has ever done. What are the greatest progressions you guys have made as a band?

RD: I think Rob and C-Mak stepped up the writing process for this album. I think the rhythms are a little more complex. The lyrics are much more mature; the whole album is much more mature than anything we've done before. The earlier albums, it's a Nirvana-based song structure — it's kind of repetitive. We tried to come into our own a little bit. We tried to sound like MindCandy this time.

NB: Why was the timing right to take that next step?

RD: We didn't want to keep regurgitating the same music. We wanted to try a Beatles-esque approach. You listen to "Please Please Me" and you listen to Sgt. Pepper, and it's a world of difference. We wanted to try that, I think, because the popularity is on the rise for us a little bit more than it was two years ago. We wanted to try and get new fans that maybe weren't as interested before because it sounded like the same regurgitated things they hear on the radio.

NB: Do you find, with current hard rock, things are starting to run together? Is it a scene that needs a kickstart?

RD: I'm always a firm believer in the saying that history repeats itself. I think combining what we combine with our different influences, maybe rock radio and mainstream people are going to be interested in what we have to offer now. I think us combining hard rock with a touch of grunge, maybe the time is right now. Maybe the world is ready for us.

NB: Grungewise, I hear a lot of that in Revelations. Also, with "Hand of God" and "Road to Babylon," it seems like you're doing some things, lyrically, that are spiritual, especially with the album title.

RD: We didn't want to come off as preaching. We didn't want to come off as a Jars of Clay or Creed, where they label us as religion being involved. The lyrics are more about death and destruction and history, more of a storytelling aspect, than Tom Cruise going around on a Scientology promotion to recruit people. I just think it's interesting storytelling. Babylon is not a fictional place. Revelations and destruction, it happens.

NB: Did you dive into some of the stories that come out of that particular book for inspiration?

RD: I did. Listening to the music, I thought (it didn't) sound like a girl screwed me over, or a love song. It sounded like the riffs are heavier, like going to war. That's where the ideas for those songs came about.

NB: There's a few other ass-kickers that MindCandy has become known for. Does that have to do with Pride Fighting?

RD: Pride is cool because they promote the band, and we get worldwide recognition for giving them their music. "Face the Anger" is straight-up written for Pride. It's basically the mental preparation a fighter is going through backstage before he makes his way out to the ring.

NB: Revelations might be the most comprehensive thing you guys have done. It touches on every style and thought you guys have done to this point.

RD: Yeah, absolutely. It definitely all ties together. If people want to make a story out of the whole thing, they're more than welcome to. We looked at this as our revelation because everything's different. It's a different sound; it's a thing that all of a sudden hits you. I just want to unleash this album on the world.

NB: How has your other - By: Nick Brandon Go & Do Michigan Magazine

It’s inevitable to have heard the band Mindcandy if you’re into MMA. Who, you ask? Mindcandy, the band that over the past few years has been the soundtrack for Pride FC. Every time you’ve seen a TV spot or watched a PPV, this Detroit band’s hard rocking sounds have accompanied the frenzy of Pride’s action.Currently the band are about to release their new album, Revelations, a collection of songs that showcase a heavier and more aggressive sound while still retraining the band’s signature style of melody and rhythm. Mindcandy vocalist Rudy DeSantis recently spoke to MMA Weekly to discuss the new album and how a band from the Midwest USA became involved with the biggest MMA promotion in the world.“We became involved with Pride because of Jerry Millen (Pride’s American PPV Producer),” said DeSantis. “He was hosting countdown shows and asked if we’d contribute some music. We knew him from Detroit, but we didn’t know what Pride was (at the time). He told us about it we said ‘hell yeah’ we’d give him some music because who doesn’t like watching two guys beat the hell out of each other?”Initially Rudy thought that the band’s involvement with the company would be minor, but as he quickly learned, the band’s music would become an intricate part of Pride’s promoting efforts.“After we gave him a CD we noticed that our music was being used on previews and PPVs. After we started getting emails from all over, like from buddies of mine and my cousin in Dallas, we were like ‘wow, this has the potential to get a lot bigger.’ We thought he was just going to use it for a minor thing, so we were surprised to be getting contact from all over the world because of it,” exclaimed DeSantis.While initially not familiar with Pride, DeSantis quickly became a fan of the company after seeing what MMA was all about. “The one thing I like about Pride fighting and MMA is that it’s not fake. I was kind of a closet pro wrestling fan growing up and I was devastated to find out it wasn’t real when I was younger. In Pride they go in there and beat the snot out of each other. It’s exciting, real, and not scripted. It’s like a car accident, you can’t look away.”Rudy has realized just how big of an impact getting the band’s music associated with the biggest MMA company in the world when they were not only getting contacted from fans in other countries, but that the band’s merchandise was beginning to go global as well.“Absolutely, it’s helped us out so much,” exclaimed Rudy. “It’s funny you bring it up because we just shipped off two shirts and cds to a kid in Denmark. Without Pride how would someone there have ever heard about us? I’m sure that people wouldn’t have stumbled across our website without Pride. Watching our traffic our hits are huge from places like Mexico, Canada, Denmark, Spain, all over the place. That’s a lot for a band from Detroit that’s not on a major label or doing major tours to get that kind of exposure.”Not only has Pride’s influence in the band’s exposure been major, but as Rudy says, the music has started to reflect many of the themes of the company and some lyrics are now being inspired directly by MMA. “There’s a track called ‘Face the Anger’ that’s specifically about some of the things I’ve heard in interviews and fights, it’s about preparing to go out to the ring and go to war. It’s about what the fighters experience backstage before they walk out, the crowd calling their name, calling them out to fight.”Rudy continued, “Songs we’ve done previous like ‘No Pain,’ ‘Bleed for Me,’ and ‘Going Down’ all apply to Pride. They’re about kicking ass and getting ready to throwdown. On the new album there are about five or six songs out of nine that are specifically written for Pride, you can hear it in the lyrics, it’s about going to war. It’s not overly blatant with references to Pride, but it’s about the battles these guys have, squaring off and doing what you’ve got to do.”According to DeSantis, the band’s recent success has allowed them to do something that’s rare even for bands on major labels to do. “The album’s called Revelations and it’s coming out on October 14th and it’s going to be a double disc. It has nine new electric and nine new acoustic songs on it and that’s a first for a band from Detroit to do. People are saying we’re getting pretty ballsy to release a double disc, but this is our chance, we’re shopping this around because nobody wants to punch the clock for a living.”Rudy closed out the interview by saying, “People can expect a more mature, heavy, complex and rhythm oriented album in Revelations. The best way to pick it up is by ordering it from the website because we like to be in control of getting our merchandise out and it gives us a chance to do stuff for fans. If people order like 60 bucks worth of stuff we throw in autographed stuff for free, we like to give a bit extra to the fans, they’re the ones that make it all happen.”Fans interested in checking out Mindcandy and the upcoming album Revelations - MMA Weekly