Candiria are an American

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

band from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Formed in 1992, the band was part of the second wave of

New York hardcore New York hardcore (also known as NYHC) is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle associated with that music. New York hardcore grew out of the hardcore scene established in Washington, D.C., by ban ...

, but subsequently expanded its performance to also play

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, hip hop and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

. The band was founded by vocalist Carley Coma, guitarists Chris Puma and Eric Matthews, and drummer/bassist/keyboardist/trumpeter Kenneth Schalk.

History

Candiria was initially formed in 1992 by vocalist Carley Coma, guitarists Chris Puma and Eric Matthews, and drummer/bassist/keyboardist/trumpeter Kenneth Schalk. "Candiria" is supposedly the plural form of candiru, a parasitic fish found in the Amazon river. However, original member Kenneth Schalk stated that the band made up their name while unaware of the fish. The alleged plural is incorrect anyway: the name of the fish comes from the now extinct

Old Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to t ...

, from where it passed on to Portuguese and later to other languages; in Portuguese, the plural form is simply ''candirus''. The band formed in the second wave of

. Their first album ''Surrealistic Madness'' was released by Too Damn Hype Records in 1995. Chris Puma was replaced by John LaMacchia in 1997, just before their second album ''Beyond Reasonable Doubt''. The band then moved to M.I.A. Records, which released their third album '' The Process of Self-Development'' in 1999, and

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

released their fourth album '' 300 Percent Density '' in 2001. That album reached No. 44 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...

chart. On September 9, 2002, Candiria was in a serious accident near Cleveland, Ohio while driving their touring van. A tractor trailer rear-ended the band's equipment trailer, which then caused the van to flip over several times, eventually landing on its roof. Four members of the band were ejected from the vehicle, and all members plus their driver were hospitalized for serious injuries. Candiria then went through a long and painful recovery period. The band were rumored to be paid $29 million in compensation (pending appeal). Candiria reemerged in 2004 with the album '' What Doesn't Kill You...'', the cover of which features a photo of the band's van after the 2002 accident. The album indicated a more melodic direction for the band, which received varying amounts of criticism and praise from different sides. The album reached No. 47 on the ''

chart. John LaMacchia temporarily quit the band for personal reasons after the album's release. Their next album ''Kiss the Lie'' was delayed for several years as the band continued to recover from the 2002 accident. LaMacchia returned during the recording process, but guitarist Eric Matthews quit the band, due in part to the continuing effects of his injuries. Drummer Kenneth Schalk departed during this period as well. By March 2009, Carley Coma and John LaMacchia were the only remaining members of Candiria. Coma had stated that any future Candiria efforts would most likely be electronica-based projects as they were without a rhythm section. However, bassist Michael MacIvor had been helping out since 2007 and became a permanent member in 2009. Guitarist Eddie Ortiz also joined during this period, and original drummer Kenneth Schalk returned to the band. Their sixth studio album ''Kiss the Lie'' was released in 2009. Also starting in 2009, LaMacchia and Schalk created a series of albums titled ''Toying with the Insanities'' in which old Candiria songs are remixed in collaboration with notable DJs and producers. Original guitarist Chris Puma died of undisclosed causes on September 20, 2009. On April 29, 2014, Candiria released a two track 7-inch entitled ''Invaders'', their first new material in five years. In April and May 2015 Candiria made their first live appearances in New York City in a decade. Kenneth Schalk quit the band again due to family commitments in July 2016, and was replaced by Danny Grossarth. Guitarist Eddie Ortiz also quit the band during this period and was replaced by Julio Arias. Candiria signed with

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...

in 2015. Their seventh full-length album ''While They Were Sleeping'' was released in October 2016. They played on the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running tour ...

in 2017.

Side projects and other bands

Kenneth Schalk, Michael MacIvor, and John LaMacchia have been involved in a free-jazz side project named Ghosts of the Canal, who have released two full-length albums, ''Sessions from the Flats'' (1999) and ''Five Episodes from the Subconscious'' (2002). This project employs unconventional instrumentation like

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

and

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo wa ...

. MacIvor and LaMacchia also formed the classic rock band A Family Plot, and LaMacchia is a member of Spylacopa along with

Greg Puciato Gregory John Puciato (born March 27, 1980) is an American musician best known as the former lead vocalist and lyricist of the metalcore band the Dillinger Escape Plan. He is also the lead singer of the Black Queen and Killer Be Killed, in which ...

Jeff Caxide Jeff Caxide is an American bassist, best known for his time with post-metal band Isis, of which he was a founding member and present until its dissolution in 2010. He was also a founding member of Red Sparowes, but left after the release of the ...

, and

Julie Christmas Julie Christmas (born December 25, 1975) is an American musician from Brooklyn, New York. Christmas is her legal middle name; she was named so after the fact that she was born on Christmas day. She is the former lead singer of defunct Brooklyn-b ...

, which released the albums ''Spylacopa'' (2008) and ''Parallels'' (2015). Schalk was also a longtime member of the band

Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy b ...

. Carley Coma has performed with the

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly C ...

band Hope Kills Fear, which was formed to create "emotional, thought-provoking songs to spread a message of hope, faith, strength and perseverance." In 2011, Coma also released one album with the hard rock band Park Lane.

Musical style

The band's music frequently employs dissonance and unusual

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

s, traits more commonly associated with

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

, in addition to

polyrhythm Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music ( cross-rhyt ...

s, as well as sonic experimentation and genre-bending. The band has played bop jazz, swing,

post-bop Post-bop is a genre of small-combo jazz that evolved in the early to mid 1960s in the United States. Pioneers of the genre, such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Jackie McLean, crafted syntheses ...

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, hip hop,

rap metal Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock and alternative metal music which combines hip hop with heavy metal. It usually consists of heavy metal guitar riffs, funk metal elements, rapped vocals and sometimes turntables. History Origins and earl ...

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with me ...

, grindcore,

and

. The band describes their sound as "urban fusion".

Band members

Current *Carley Coma — vocals (1992—present) *John LaMacchia — lead guitar (1997—present) *Michael MacIvor — bass (1997—present) *Julio Arias — rhythm guitar (2015—present) *Danny Grossarth — drums (2016—present) Former *Chris Puma — lead guitar (1992–1997; died in 2009) *Eric Matthews — rhythm guitar (1992–2004), bass (1992–1997) *Robert Corbino — bass (Warped Tour; 2017) *Eddie Ortiz — rhythm guitar (2004–2014) *Kenneth Schalk — drums, keyboards, trumpet (1992–2016), bass (1992–1997) Timeline

Discography

;Studio albums * ''Surrealistic Madness'' (1995, Too Damn Hype Records) * ''Beyond Reasonable Doubt'' (1997, Too Damn Hype Records) ** '' The C.O.M.A. Imprint'' (2002, Lakeshore Records) * '' The Process of Self-Development'' (1999, M.I.A. Records) * '' 300 Percent Density'' (2001, Century Media Records) * '' What Doesn't Kill You...'' (2004, Type A Records) * '' Kiss the Lie'' (2008, Rising Pulse Records) * '' While They Were Sleeping'' (2016, Metal Blade Records) ;EPs * ''Subliminal'' (EP) (1994, self-released) * ''Deep in the Mental'' (EP) (1995, Devastating Soundworks) ;Other releases * ''Mathematics'' -inch(1999 Stillborn Records) * ''Toying with the Insanities Volume I'' emixes(2009, Rising Pulse Records) * ''Toying with the Insanities Volume II'' emixes(2009, Rising Pulse Records) * ''Toying with the Insanities Volume III'' emixes(2010, Rising Pulse Records) * ''The Invaders'' -inch(2014, Rising Pulse Records, Giant MKT)

References

External links

Candiria Candiria are an American progressive metal band from Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1992, the band was part of the second wave of New York hardcore, but subsequently expanded its performance to also play jazz, hip hop and progressive rock. The ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Candiria
on Myspace {{Authority control 1992 establishments in New York City American jazz-rock groups American progressive metal musical groups Century Media Records artists Earache Records artists Hardcore punk groups from New York (state) Heavy metal musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups from Brooklyn Musical quintets Rap metal musical groups Metalcore musical groups from New York (state)