LIVE`S ED KOWALCZYK REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOOKS AT LIFE

By Tom Popson
Chicago Tribune
Apr 10, 1992 at 12:00 am

Some lead singers in rock `n` roll bands consider it a day well spent if they can get their audiences to throw their fists in the air and make noises resembling the cry of the loon.

Ed Kowalczyk, on the other hand, would be greatly gratified if he could lead his listeners to (a) confront the problems of the world, (b) perceive that those problems are extensions of conflict within the individual and © come to the conclusion that the root of much of that individual conflict is fear.

Which is not to say that he wouldn`t also be appreciative if you bought a ticket to his band`s shows and plunked down some cash for their record. But Kowalczyk, vocalist and songwriter for a Pennsylvania-based foursome called Live-and an individual who is unlikely to ever, ever be described as flippant or frothy-is very serious when it comes to his band`s lyrics.

That earnestness is more than evident on ''Mental Jewelry,'' the recently released debut album by Live (rhymes with drive). A 12-track recording produced by former Talking Head Jerry Harrison, the album-with the bulk of its lyrics penned by Kowalczyk-offers musings on what is and what seems to be, on misperceptions that divide people and on other matters of weight. It also contains repeated allusions to pain (in four songs and two song titles) as well as anger, fear and war.

Despite the potentially ponderous concerns at the album`s core, however, the package is an engaging one, thanks to some sharp, forceful playing by the band and Kowalczyk`s emotive, experienced-beyond- his-20-years vocals.

''I think the album is a calling to absolutely confront, for once, the problems we have, really question them, observe them clearly,'' says Kowalczyk. ''If I listen to the record, it`s pretty relentless. It`s not the type of record where you get an enjoyable-listening break here and there. But that`s just the way we do it, the way we write.

''For me, at least, lyrically it was like a well-it just kept flowing out. What I was trying to get across is that all the problems in the world seem to me to be just an extension of individuals` inward conflict-like in the song `Take My Anthem,` where it says `War in me/ War overseas/ There ain`t no difference between.` We make up the world. If you see that our consciousness individually and collectively makes this whole thing up, this whole mess, then you realize that to join a movement, to rally behind a cause, to try to solve a problem with a vote is really just cosmetic.

''Until you solve problems like fear individually, resolve why individuals feel the need to believe in whatever, there`s really no point in organizations, in things that turn the world into a concept rather than an individual fact. That`s really what the album is trying to get at.

''There are some things that obviously need to be done immediately. If, in the state the world is in right now, it`s going to take a vote this way or that way to ensure the environment stays clean or whatever. . . . But I really feel that for a lasting, fundamental change to occur, it has to happen individually. It has to be people realizing that they make up the world-and therefore not relying on organizations to solve its problems.''

Although it might be a bit difficult to believe now, there was a time when Kowalczyk and his bandmates-guitarist Chad Taylor, bass player Patrick Dahlheimer and drummer Chad Gracey-were playing tunes like ''Wooly Bully.''

The four have been together as a band since 1985, first calling themselves Public Affection, then Live. Their early days around their hometown of York saw them playing ''all the favorite party songs,'' says Kowalczyk, and making the half-hour drive to perform at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster.

Public Affection recorded an indie album in 1989 that contained the song

''Good Pain,'' which is also on ''Mental Jewelry,'' and that song, says Kowalczyk, marked the point where the band began developing its own sound, writing more of its own material and grappling with the way things are.

''When you accept the way things are,'' continues Kowalczyk, embellishing the theme, ''there`s really no other way to operate than the way you`ve been conditioned to. You live in America, you`re free to vote, you go vote and you continue to see the problems of being a nationalistic society. You don`t really know what to do because you`re conditioned to feel that`s just the way things are. War just happens. When you`re a country and you have other countries in the world, war just happens. But when you stop accepting that for even a moment and really start to grapple with it, I think there`s power in that.''

At the root of many of our problems, says Kowalczyk, is individual fear.

''To realize that is such an immense thing,'' he says. ''It really clears things up. I don`t know if there`s a way to end fear. Maybe that`s an innate part of our existence. But to realize it, there`s power in that. Not only power, but the ability to deal with fear-and see that if you act from fear, you`re only creating more problems.''

A call to individuals to shun organizations and established beliefs could, of course, be countered by someone in the fourth or fifth row of the audience bellowing back at the stage: ''Have a nice trip-you`re on the road to anarchy.''

''I don`t agree with that argument,'' says Kowalczyk. ''Anarchy would be a world that nobody felt responsible for, that nobody felt any sort of love for. When there`s real intelligence happening, when there`s real love happening, there`s a sense of responsibility: Hey, we`ve got to take care of this place and each other. Then there`s a politics that goes beyond just voting, beyond just organizing. There`s a politics of the individual then, of actually being part of a world where we are responsible for each other, for ourselves.''

It was only last year that Radioactive Records president Gary Kurfirst heard a demo tape from Live, saw the band at a showcase performance and signed them. Now, having cracked the Top 100 on Billboard`s album chart, Live is out on tour with two major alternative acts, Big Audio Dynamite II and Public Image Limited, as part of the MTV ''120 Minutes'' tour (the tour arrives at the Aragon for a Friday show open only to Northwestern and University of Chicago students and a Saturday general-public show that is sold out).

Kowalczyk says it seems ''a little strange'' to be part of a major tour, but even more noteworthy than the company the band is keeping, he adds, is the fact that ''when we get up onstage, there are 3,000 people out there.''

The band, says Kowalczyk, has been getting indications at those shows and also through the mail that there are people receptive to Live`s views.

''We get a lot of letters,'' he says. ''I always thought of this music as a catalyst, and there are people actually writing in and saying thank you for just bringing things like this to everyone`s attention, thanks for not being a typical rock `n` roll band. Of course, then there are people who are completely turned off by it and want us to shut up and play some heavy metal.''

But while the band might be receiving positive feedback, Kowalczyk remains more than dubious about the ability of music-his or anyone else`s-to make any changes in the world.

''I think there`s a lot of fantasy in that,'' he says. ''I consider our music a catalyst, something that might spark a thought or a question. But that`s it. As soon as you give responsibility to music to change the world, you`re living in a fantasyland.''

Who: Big Audio Dynamite II, Public Image Limited, Live, Blind Melon

Where: Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence Ave.; 312-561-9500

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

How much: Sold out