Exclusive Blog: Chad Taylor talks The Gracious Few and Live
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Karen Van Hoff

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Chad Taylor, founding member of Live and The Gracious Few, talks about the future of both groups and why this is the best musical year of his life.

It’s been nearly a year since we released The Gracious Few and it feels like it’s time to write and record some new material. We worked on a new song at rehearsals last week – sort of the darker side of the Cure meets Perfect Circle. I want the new TGF material to stretch out beyond the conventional pop arrangements that have dictated the flow of modern music.

I think, with our musicianship, we can allow ourselves to journey through multiple interludes within a single song. In the early days of recording, the song arrangements and lengths, were often dictated by the distribution media. For example, you could barely fit a three-minute song onto one side of a 45rpm. CDs had their limits too but in today’s market, podcasts can stream for hours at a time.

I don’t see why we have to conform a media standard these days. So expect the new recordings to jam out a bit more. I think the days of concept albums have come and gone too. In the late fifties and early sixties, artists would release single after single and only after they achieved several hit songs with they assemble a compilation “album.” The Beatles and a few of their contemporaries began to write songs that were intended to appear in a grouping, just as classical composers had assembles suites of material intended to be performed in order, in concert. Maybe only “Throwing Copper” in my career was thought out well enough to stand up like this? I just don’t think people have the time to dedicate to listening through an albums entirety. Then again, I do.

The Candlebox boys will be playing shows this summer and recording new material. Chad, Patrick and I will journey to Nashville to begin working on new Live material in early July. This is how it works when you have three bands between five guys. I’ve got to admit it feels so incredibly refreshing to always have the possibility of working on something new and diverse in front of me.

Don’t fret – fans of The Gracious Few won’t have to wait too long for a full tour schedule coming in the fall of 2011.

It’s slightly more complicated on the Live side of things, as we’ll have to begin addressing the hole left by our singer’s departure. Most important, we’ll have to begin with fresh creativity – we’re not interested in rehashing the hits of the past. No doubt we’ll want to play the new material in concert and in my opinion the show will need to take its production to another level. It’s a tall order given the high expectations of Live fans.

There are a number who would rather see Live sail off into the sunset without the original lineup in tact. I certainly understand their position and have my own concerns. On the other hand and from a personal level, I need to feel Live once again without the constraints that were placed on it over the last few years. Chad, Patrick and I invested most of our lives to writing, recording and performing the songs of Live. We deserve a chance to reconnect with the fans to say goodbye to the old era and hello to the new.

One thing is certain, 2011 will go down as one of the best musical years in my life and that’s one hell of a statement.