Scott Mercado was born on November 11, 1964. As Candlebox’s co-founder and original drummer, he played on the band’s 1993 debut, Candlebox, including “Far Behind.” His work with the group began with musical connections formed in Seattle well before the album arrived.
Mercado grew up in Seattle and began playing drums at 11. His interest in jazz became part of what attracted Kevin Martin to his playing. Speaking to Cryptic Rock in 2013, Martin recalled watching Mercado perform before inviting him into the project that became Uncle Duke. Mercado knew Martin as a drummer, so Martin had to explain that he would be singing. When Uncle Duke needed a guitarist, producer Kelly Gray introduced Peter Klett. According to Martin, the musicians wrote two songs during their first afternoon jamming together.
Some of that early playing survived all the way to Candlebox’s debut. In a 2026 interview with Guitar World, Klett explained that the album versions of “You” and “Far Behind” came from demos recorded at Robert Lang Studios. After signing a record deal, the band couldn’t reproduce the feel of those recordings. They remixed the demos for the album, preserving the performances made before the recording contract rather than replacing them with later attempts.
On the follow-up, Lucy, released in 1995, Mercado’s contributions extended beyond the drum kit to dulcimer and percussion. Making the second album also brought pressure that hadn’t existed when the band was recording its first demos. “It was scary,” Mercado told Scott Iwasaki in a December 1995 interview for Deseret News. His response was to concentrate on making the music the band wanted to make. He acknowledged hearing things he might have changed after the record was finished, but said those ideas could find a place in live performances. Candlebox varied its set lists, and Mercado described the shows as different from the recordings. For him, releasing an album didn’t mean every musical choice had become permanent.
Mercado left Candlebox in 1997 to pursue jazz and returned for the band’s 2006 reunion. The time apart became part of the writing process for Into the Sun, released in 2008. Martin explained to Cryptic Rock that the musicians had to reconnect after developing their individual approaches in other projects. Writing began in 2006, with breaks before recording started in January 2008. The reunion required them to work out how those experiences outside Candlebox would fit together when they returned to making music as a band.
Mercado’s partnership with Klett also continued in Lotus Crush, alongside singer Terry McDermott. That group’s roots reached back to Candlebox touring with McDermott’s band Driveblind in 2006. Lotus Crush released Half Light Morning in 2011, then reunited in 2014 for what had been intended as a single show. The reunion led to more work together and a second album, Rabbit Hole, recorded at Robert Lang Studios and released on April 14, 2015. Mercado played drums and percussion on the record.
In July 2015, Mercado and Klett’s departure from Candlebox was announced as they focused on Lotus Crush and other projects. Their collaboration had carried them from Candlebox’s early recordings into another band’s studio sessions, with Rabbit Hole giving that continuing partnership a separate recorded chapter.
