"Sex and Candy," the catchy single off Marcy Playground's self-titled debut album, led the band to multiplatinum status and a record breaking 15 weeks at the top of the U.S. modern rock charts. Now, 13 years later, the band still embraces the track that made them famous.
"I still love that song. I know Woz (John Wozniak) still loves that song," said bass player Dylan Keefe during a phone interview. "John likes to joke that 'Sex and Candy' has its own accountant."
Recently featured on soundtracks including 2008's "Zack and Miri make a Porno" and an episode of the popular HBO vampire melodrama "True Blood," the song has a staying power Keefe attributes to a detachment from the sound of the late '90s.
That one song is not, however, the crowning achievement of the band -- the first act perhaps. What might be described as the second act began with their summer '09 release "Leaving Wonderland ... in a Fit of Rage."
The darker, more personal album, only the band's fourth full-length in 15 years, was the result of songwriter Wozniak's battle with depression. The critically acclaimed album is Keefe and Wozniak's favorite among the four, but it wasn't an attempt to get back into the spotlight.
"I really felt like it was a more of a personal therapy thing than writing a comeback record," Keefe said. "If you listen to the songs on the album you will see how personal it is and how it sounds like he is in a (expletive) place and at the same time he is trying to write himself out of it."
After a five year hiatus the band was moving onto other things. Wozniak was producing bands in Vancouver and Toronto. Original drummer Dan Reiser departed the band in 2002 and Keefe was working in public radio in New York City.
"Other things start to happen and then you lose your label and then your management. Then you look around and wonder," Keefe said.
He wondered if Marcy Playground had gone as far as it would go.
"I felt like I was waiting for Woz to realize this was what we were on the planet to do, and there were a few times where I wasn't sure if he was going to realize that," Keefe admitted.
Now, a year after the release of "Leaving Wonderland," the band has been touring with new drummer Shlomi Lavie and they are scheduled to release an album of remixes done collaboratively through indabamusic.com. Things are good, even if the band may never regain its multi-platinum status.
"We are from an era where you could write one hit on a record and then people would go out and buy the whole record. Now people can just buy the song. And so the goal has always been to get people into the band," Keefe said.
Still fans who might be coming to Chilkoot Charlie's tonight to hear "Sex and Candy" won't be disappointed.
"There are definitely those that come to hear "Sex and Candy," which is fine. That song has been good to us, but they are then surprised by a very aggressive rock trio."
By Paul Flahive
Daily News correspondent