What do you do when the new album you are set to release gets pushed back by a pandemic? Well, if you're Candice Night you create an EP of timeless Christmas classics designed to enlighten and revive the holiday spirit in all.
Night plays multiple medieval instruments and has been a stand-out in the medieval folk rock, folk rock, hard rock and new age genres over her career but it's her recent work with husband Ritchie Blackmore called "Here We Come A-Caroling" that has risen to the forefront.
A collection of four beautiful selections brought to life by Night's exquisite vocals and Blackmore's instrumentation; this well timed release is a breath of fresh air in a holiday music environment that has become rather stale; so how did this all come about?
"Well, as you know we are in a band called Blackmore's Night," explained an effervescent Night; "We've been around for about 23 years at this point. I've got my fabulous husband playing guitars and so many different kind of instruments on this as well but Christmas, holiday time is our favorite time of year. We went into the studio and we were recording our new CD which is, "Nature's Light" and we were all ready to release it and realized that we got slammed with this crazy COVID quarantine like everybody else in the whole entire world did and we were on lockdown. We couldn't release anything, all of our tours got cancelled, everything was shut to a halt and we thought; you know what? Since we can't release the album that was supposed to go out there, the next thing coming up in the grand scheme of things was Christmas time and holiday time and after everyone has been on lockdown and the unknown of the future with this pandemic for so long; wouldn't it be nice to bring people back to the magic of that time and just be able to enjoy the freedom of the holidays and the Christmas lights and the beautiful magic moments of the family? Do you know how many people can't even get together for family time this year? So, we thought it would be really inspirational and just a really nice thing to do to revisit some of the songs that we haven't done; we actually put out a couple of Christmas CDs prior to this. One was "Winter Carols" and the other one we added a whole bunch of new Christmas songs to back in 2017/2018; we put that out as a digital remastered and added a bunch of new tracks but we thought as a holiday gift to help people escape from the madness of what's going on today; it would be nice to put out some Christmas songs where we can all at least be on the same page, all be together, hopefully all celebrating even if it's just for this moment, forget about the troubles and stresses of the day and kind of get back to the magic of the season. So, we hope to be able to do that through our music and sending it out for people."
"Get back to the magic of the season," she said with exuberance as she alluded to simpler times. So, when asked if things seemed much simpler as a child, Night quickly agreed.
"Oh my gosh yes, absolutely! I think everything was easier when we were kids. When I was a kid I would just go outside and play in the mud, everything was pretend and there were no screens; everything has just kind of gone into this cyber-world. There is so much stress and pressure put on and even for kids the pressure to grow up really fast, I feel like it's just too much. Everything is over sensationalized constantly no matter what age group you are; for us it's really important to unplug everything, just to get back to nature, feel that wind in your hair, take the time out to look at a star filled sky. I know it kind of sounds corny but honestly it renews your spirit and kind of recharges your batteries. That fulfills us and makes us feel good; nothing is as good as walking through the woods on a crisp autumn day or a winter day and I feel like the magic and the innocence of the season gets so lost during the rest of the year. So, hopefully we can instill that innocence and bring everybody back to being a starry-eyed little kid again at Christmas time."
"We have a bonfire pit in our little backyard out here; we are so lucky to live on the water so we get this crazy array of different kinds of; we get owls in the middle of the night hooting from the woods next door to our house and the sun rises over the water or we'd be more going to bed when the sun is rising (laughs) but we get to see the sun set over the water and it's just a beautiful place to be; in nature. I feel like a lot of people have it in front of them all of the time but they get so used to it that they don't see it or they don't appreciate it. Our greatest inspiration is nature, so we try to channel nature and all of that through creativity and put that out there through music. I feel like we've kind of opened people's eyes again to appreciating what is right in front of them nature-wise; the sunsets and the stars and the moon. A lot of our songs are moon based, our first two albums "Shadow of the Moon," "Under a Violet Moon" and we have "Dancer In TheMoon;" the moon is very prevalent and it's a very strong creative force in our writing and inspiring us. So, we put that out there and hopefully people get to enjoy that and follow us down that path a little bit."
Night simply gushes when speaking of working alongside her husband. This is nothing new to them and is something they have done with others as well; one of those being William Shatner on his latest blues CD titled "William Shatner The Blues."
"We just work really well together, he has that true creative, leadership spirit. We have never had any airs about each other, I was in awe when I first met him and after that it just became incredible. I get to witness his creativity daily which never gets old; it's constantly amazing because he pulls from above. I always say he has this incredible improv; if you asked him to play the same thing twice he physically and mentally can not do that (laughs). He has to constantly play things differently; different solos, different intros, different interpretations of songs which probably drives a lot of other musicians crazy (laughs) because they learn it a certain way and they stick with it but if you can just appreciate watching him fly; that creative freedom is awe inspiring and it's amazing."
"That's the second time we've worked with Mr. Shatner. The first time we worked with Bill; if you get a chance check out "Space Oddity;" appropriately enough for Bill Shatner it's space themed album. His people came to us and asked us to do the album; I supply the background vocals and Richie is amazing on guitar and actually the new album has gone to number one on the blues charts and we got to do "The Thrill is Gone" so it's great!"
"Here We Come A-Caroling" is available on all the usual platforms and also on vinyl but Candice isn't stopping there; Blackmore's Night has another holiday gift as they preview their other new release.
"We have a green vinyl for the holly of the season but we also are previewing our next album "Nature's Light" and that will be released in March but on December 11 we gave everybody a track appropriately named "Once Upon December" and we're going to put that out there so people can preview "Nature's Light."
To discover more about Candice Night and Blackmore's night, please visit www.https://www.candice-night.com/home.
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
