A couple of days ago, the Mountain Goats released "Candlebox," the latest single from their upcoming album Days. It's about a young band in the early '90s who thinks their whole life is about to change because they're heading out on tour with quasi-alt-rock hitmakers Candlebox, and it fucking rules. Candlebox are still a band; they did not leave that life far behind. Obviously, the next move would be for Candlebox to release a song called "The Mountain Goats." That could still happen. Before that, though, the Mountain Goats and Candlebox are at least teasing the idea of playing some shows together.
Today, the Mountain Goats posted an Instagram screenshot of what appears to be an exchange between Mountain Goats leader John Darnielle and Candlebox frontman Kevin Martin. It looks like Martin cold-texted Darnielle to say that he loves the song and that he'd like to play some shows together this fall. Darnielle believes that he's being pranked and that no way is this the real Kevin Martin. You know how it goes. Your friends just love to fuck with you, so they text you to say, "Hello, this is Kevin Martin from Candlebox."
Come on now. Nice try. You can't fool me. When "Candlebox" came out, Stereogum actually contacted Kevin Martin to ask about the song. He says that the Mountain Goats sent it to him before release and that he loves it. So this is not the first contact between Martin and the Mountain Goats. Also, it's a collab Instagram post from the Mountain Goats and Candlebox, so this is not simply a record of an awkward text conversation. We can only assume that those Mountain Goats/Candlebox shows are really going to happen, which honestly sounds pretty sick.
