Thank You
by LIVE on Tuesday, 19 July 2011 at 12:29

First and foremost, I would like to thank the many of you who took the time to compliment the band and I for our devotion to creating music. We often deflect these comments trying to seem humble or gracious but we do care and we do work hard to be good at our craft. It feels great to have recognition from all over the globe for our efforts. Thank you.



Patrick, Chad and I spoke earlier today about the general good vibes following yesterday’s Facebook posts. We can feel the +LIVE+ community coming together although there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to grow even further. Chad, Patrick and I have made a commitment to resume working on +LIVE+. This means we will be launching creative projects that will take a great deal of energy and time to develop. We would like your support and patients in our efforts. We would like your contributions and thoughts too! Please see that there is no set path to follow to reach our goal. As with all creative processes, we must be willing to journey to all ends to reach our desired vision (insert rock n’ roll mayhem).



With our MCA/ Universal contract long behind us, +LIVE+ are permitted to rerecord any song under our considerable catalog. Yes, this would include rare gems such as “Hold Me Up.” This means that +LIVE+ would control the master rights, meaning we could finally set a release schedule without consideration from a major label. There is a ton of demand for these recordings, so we’ll be back in the studio by late August to track these. This also means we could come up with some pretty amazing packages for the fans that weren’t previously possible and/or available.



Most important, we’ll have to go through a process of learning and connecting with the early feel of what made a Live song sound like +LIVE+. As musicians, there are many sides to our characters and through the years we’ve had an opportunity to explore them. Some elements were hugely successful and some just fell flat. It was the +LIVE+ community that allowed us the creative freedom to stray from the successful formulas of Mental Jewelry or Throwing Copper. Secret Samadhi was a deeply personal and creative indulgence. The world embraced the band who delivered “Lightning Crashes” yet we returned with “Lakini’s Juice” and “Freaks”! Maybe we were drunk on our own success but there was absolute creative freedom in that moment. We could have cared less about commercial validation. We wanted to take our community on a ride through the conscious mind and into the subconscious. It’s a great example of how diverse one group of musicians can be.



+LIVE+ at its best operated without pretense. There were no discussions about what had worked or what didn’t. This attitude encompassed all elements of the band; for example, how we dressed or presented ourselves. It was always changing and evolving without consideration for those who had to drum up marketing plans and promotional efforts. We were a nightmare for anyone who wanted to put us in a box and sell widgets. I was skinny then I got fat then skinny again. Ed had hair then he shaved his head; was he a Hare Krishna with that pony tail “thing”? Trust me, we heard it all.



The thing that made +LIVE+ so willing to just simply float into the creative was this very community. You seemed so excited and enthused every time we journeyed to new ground. You added fuel to a fire that was already burning bright and the band found new dynamics within itself and its music. We were not alone in that space. You were there to bear witness.



Despite the record company’s attempts to change the title of “Lakini’s Juice” and “Secret Samadhi” you gave us the faith to tell them to fuck off! We said that +LIVE+ fans don’t want a safety net, they don’t want “Throwing Copper part II” they want a revolution and we’re going to deliver it! I wish you could have seen their faces when “Lakini’s Juice” went straight to #1 on the Modern Rock Charts. To make things even better, “Secret Samadhi” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts. To be clear, +LIVE+ didn’t do that, YOU DID!



Our sense of internal confidence was at an all-time high. We felt incredibly rewarded as artists. We knew we had built a fan base like no other band at the time. A +LIVE+ fan was about something bigger than just music. You are smart; you are brave; you are compassionate; you are willing to address your own limitations; you are revolutionaries. The only bands I know who could have said the same thing came in the shape of Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Perfect Circle or Nine Inch Nails. Their core fan bases seem to also propel them into new uncharted waters. +LIVE+ was so lucky to have your support.



At some point following The Distance To Here, our industry began to collapse. The MP3 was the new media and radio had gone from supporting independent artists to a consolidated commercial industry. The once daring, were forced to submit to corporate policies or move out of the format. MTV stopped airing 120 Minutes and went into programming reality television. It turns out that revolutionaries like +LIVE+ fans are too hard to predict so the billions of dollars spent in entertainment marketing were focused on pre-teens. Enter the era of Britney, Avril, Miley, Pink, Bieber, etc. To those marketers credit, it worked very well but we all know this doesn’t have much to do with music and most certainly had nothing to do with +LIVE+.

There was no Facebook or Twitter and no way to connect on a personal level. Some of the disconnect took the air out of our sails. We were also disconnecting as a group of men. I began to focus on being a father and the rest of the guys were just beginning to get married or divorced. The once childlike creative environment around us began to change. The band experienced its first commercial failure with “V”. I won’t go into details as I’ve written about that in the past. The end result was a band searching to find itself without the support of its label, management or fans. Don’t get me wrong, there were millions of +LIVE+ fans but our direct connection to you was limited. The very thing that made +LIVE+ so incredibly willing to be creative and free was the very thing pulling us apart. We all agreed to disagree on the next vision of +LIVE+ and soon it fell apart.



The +LIVE+ that you find today is once again connected with its community. It was simple to find our ground. We had to start back at the beginning. We had to “let it go” to get it back together. Who knew those words from “Operation Spirit” would be the foundation of our rediscovery and rebirth?

On day one, we had to struggle to find our way back into playing +LIVE+. Patrick and I spent a day just listening to Mental Jewelry. We laughed our way through trying to recall how and what we played when we were 18 year olds. Each verse and each chorus were exactly the same chords. We just got louder for the chorus; think “Louie Louie” or “Wild Thing.” We gave so much room for those incredible lyrics Ed was bringing to the table. Everything was inspired by our reading of Krishnamurti and our youthful take of questioning what was. I suddenly felt inspired to write and play those types of songs and the vault of my +LIVE+ demos grew by leaps and bounds. Next up was “Throwing Copper” and more than ever we began being inspired by ourselves. When we finally put on our instruments we had to carefully consider how we performed the songs when they were recorded. I heard parts I hadn’t played in years. The years of touring and adaptation were stripped away and we had a more raw version of where we left off. We recorded the session and listened back. Everyone was moved to do more and we soon realized that the old spirit of +LIVE+ was back; odd that we employed the formulas from Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper to find our footing. It sounded fucking amazing!



We invited a longtime friend into the fold. He is a vocalist who is a friend of the +LIVE+ community who was sensitive to our emotions surrounding these songs. I asked myself how it would feel to even perform these songs without Ed. I for one was more hesitant than any fan. I had worked arm in arm with Ed for so many years, I couldn’t imagine that it would feel okay without him. I knew I couldn’t let my filters into the room. I had to be open to the experience. Surprisingly, I was paying little attention to the vocals as I was working hard to recall how to play my own parts. Gracey and Dahlheimer were doing the same. At some point, I began to sing background vocals and I realized, it felt exactly the same. The music was rising above the individuals and it sounded and felt youthful and strong. It is +LIVE+.



I asked Matt Gracey to drop in to rehearsals. Matt’s a no bullshit kind of guy who would speak the truth no matter if it hurt. When I saw his subtle head shake at the back of the room, I knew the band was being reborn. The +LIVE+ I fell in love with was blasting through the walls filling the air of York, PA with the music it helped to birth. Just like the garage on Newberry Street, there would be very few witnesses, there would be no autographs or fan photos but I knew we were back.



I’ve learned over the last few years that the real voice of +LIVE+ is with you the fans. In concert you would often overpower the PA system. I know we should honor and respect our history with each other and that includes Ed’s contributions. We too should respect Ed’s wishes to remain a singer/songwriter. I’ve come to a place where I totally understand his wishes to work outside of the boundaries created by Chad, Patrick and myself. Despite our creative differences, we will always be linked and bound to our history with each other and the brotherhood of our youth. Ed Kowalczyk, Chad Gracey, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Taylor would never want you to divide yourselves or cut each other down over choosing sides. In the new era, we have a +LIVE+ community that can embrace The Gracious Few, Ed & Adam Kowalczyk and anyone else who may join the fold.



As I said previously, there will be no exclusions. The +LIVE+ community will take the time to listen generously to each member of the band and its fans. We will reward and acknowledge each other for our efforts. Most important, we will return to making the music that set so many of us free.



- Chad Taylor

I just got chills. Bring this shit on!!!

Me too possum! Chad Taylor is unbelievable! I am really, really curious about who the vocalist is!!!!!! I wonder what old friends they have that are vocalists???? I didn't know anything of their friendship with Kevin before TGF. Regardless of who it is, I am stoked to hear all the stuff they are working on.

So, did I understand him to say they are going to rerecord some of the outtakes from over the years....like Hold Me Up?



This post has been edited by deepenoughtodive: Jul 19 2011, 11:41 am

yes, that or recording some additional elements that were missing from the demo's so they can finish all unfinished songs? Something like that?

I'm really curious about the singer too, but it was a very good read. Matt Gracey liked the new Live. I hope we do as well!

Chills

I hope that this year is the year of TRUTH.
The words from Chad are direct from the heart.
Let's embrace his thoughts and wait (im)patiently for the material to be released.
To be honest: I can't hardly wait for this "new" material.

BERLINONE

Wow, got to love this man's ability to communicate to us fans. Chills...big time. Big.news here......re-record rights!!!! Chills....

so fully new recorded? No Ed vocals allowed to be used on the tracks?

i was thinking the same thing. that is how i took what ct wrote. are they taking requests because i would love to hear change, new city, and dont wait.

I second the request for Change and add a request for full band Overcome! I know we have a version of that already but it didn't match the Tibet House clip I saw on MTV back in the day!

huge

This is an amazing letter to fans. It's too bad the other member of the original Live can't connect to fans the way Chad Taylor does. I think this is one of the main reasons why 90% of original Live fans can't stand Ed!

A re-recorded Hold Me Up would be sweet but I really want a good copy of the original!

agreed! Don't know about the other outtakes, but Hold Me Up really need the Ed vocals!

awesome stuff. Just to have CT say they are getting the old +Live+ sound back is enough to get my dick hard! Bring this shit on!

Yeah it's great news all the way around.

I think with Ed and their old management out of the fold, we can truly feel optimistic about these guys restoring that old Live sound and not releasing some more of that pop-rock crap that Ed was writing.

It sounds like most of us real +LiVE+ fans are getting what we wanted! No more SFBM-sounding garbage while the band goes back to the musical roots we all fell in love with!