Promo article circa 1992 Options

[jclive]

I came across a copy of this text, but I don't remember its exact origin. Something related to a MJ Promo I think. Anyone?

Here it is. Enjoy!

Live.

Recently, a journalist asked 20 year old Ed Kowalczyk, vocalist and lyricist of Pennsylvania quartet Live, how someone so young could sing so convincingly about pain in all its forms.

"I am 10,000 years old at least," replied Kowalczyk. "We are all products of 10,000 years of recorded history."

There are many songs on Live’s Radioactive Records debut album, Mental Jewelry, that enlighten us to Kowalczyk’s startling answer and within some of these songs is the underlying fact that 10,000 years of ideology has ruled and certain forms of pain (i.e. war) are deemed justifiable, leading inevitably to a situation where people recognize what divides them rather than what unites them.

The first featured single from Mental Jewelry, "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)," is about how the past rules people in the present. The lyrics then invite us to simply release this burden for a quality of human nature that is more binding. ("Heard a lot of talk about my spirit," sings Kowalczyk. "Heard a lot of talk about by soul/But I decided that anxiety and paid were better friends so I let it go.")

The song titled "10,000 Years (Peace is Now)" is a specific example of Kowalczyk’s opening statement. "The key line is 'poets, preachers and politicians, they've all had their say," explains Kowalczyk. "They've been saying what they've been saying for 10,000 years and nothing has changed. You can replace communism with democracy or capitalism with socialism and it won't make any difference. Setting up another theory or preaching another cause is just a form of division. The song is not a call to anarchy but it is a call for people to stop relying on outside agencies to solve internal problems."

There's seriousness about Live that is a welcome antidote to the frivolous nature of much contemporary popular music. This willingness to think big thoughts and tackle important philosophical issues through the medium of guitar driven rock n' roll is an audacious move for a band whose oldest member is 21. Live urge their audience to approach the music with an open-minded attitude; not to cynically dismiss it or to rally behind it, but to question what they hear. While Live firmly believe that rock n' roll can be so much more than merely global light entertainment or baby-boom nostalgia, they're wary of the easy assumption that music can change the world.

"Music has a way of moving people," claims Ed Kowalczyk. "In the 60's music was a big channel of awareness – awareness of the war in Vietnam or the environment, for example. But Live endeavors to go beyond that. I don't think that the responsibility for changing anything lies with the music. I think music can be a calling to individual seriousness but it can’t in itself do anything. The only thing that can change the world is the people who make up the world."

Mental Jewelry features Chad Gracey on drums, Patrick Dahlheimer on bass, Chad Taylor on guitar with Kowalczyk providing vocals. Powered by Gracey's aggressive drumming and Dahlheimer’s live and fluid bass playing with Taylor's rhythmical guitar style providing color, Mental Jewelry successfully captures the passionate intensity of Live's in concert performances.

It is exactly the essence of the band's name, Live, that inspired Radioactive Records' President, Gary Kurfist, to follow his gut instinct and move quickly to have the band record. After hearing quality songs on Live’s demo tape, Kurfist arranged for Live to perform at CBGB's in New York City. Kurfist then called Live to the attention of Talking Head’s keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, a management client of his for 15 years and producer of such acts as the Violent Femmes, Bodeans and Fine Young Cannibals. Harrison was so inspired that Kurfist flew the band to Harrison's studio in Minnesota to capture the freshness and excitement of Live’s sound. A mere 30 days from the moment the band's demo hit Kurfist's desk – and before the band was even signed to the label – Live had a completed album, recorded and produced by Harrison.

"Working with Jerry (Harisson) turned out really well," says Kowalczyk. "Because he had already been a successful recording artist, he wasn’t one of those producers who try to impose their thwarted musical ambitions on the band they’re working with. He let us to what we do."

Mental Jewelry contains 12 songs, including "You Are the World," a title taken from a book by the Indian-born religious philosopher Krishnamurti. "There are cultural differences in the world," explains Kowalczyk. "But they’re all pretty trivial when it comes down to the major factors of being a human being. People feel their differences outweigh their similarities but they don't. The common denominators like sorrow, fear and anxiety unite us all."

"Pain Lies on the Riverside" encourages one to keep like open-spirited and open-minded as the song celebrates an emotion that we all share at different times in our life.

"Mirror Song," with its refrain, "What about my bank account?," was inspired by the appearance of Dustin Hoffman on the Phil Donahue show where the actor, in attempting to drum up money for Leukemia patients, said, "I don't understand what it is that stops people from giving to something like this." The answer to Hoffman's question is provided in this sentence.

"Waterboy" is a plea to parents not to indoctrinate their children with pre-conceived ideas about the nature of the world. "The song is saying, 'Don't feed them your ideaologies,'" says Kowalczyk. "The world is full of second hand human beings, don’t create another one. Keep him fresh, keep him clean, make him waterboy."

Mental Jewelry is a surprisingly mature and accomplished work, a composition of the six years that Live spent honing its musical vocabulary in York, Pennsylvania. Now the group is ready to face the world with its ambitious songs about pain, love and what it means to be human.

1/92

[Wambangalang]

great article. Shows you the depth and imagination that went into mental jewlry. but its ok, edward now hears soul whispers.

[dangum]

I came across a copy of this text, but I don't remember its exact origin. Something related to a MJ Promo I think. Anyone?

Yeah, this was distributed when Mental Jewelry was released. It came with a 8 x 10 inch promo photo of the band. I purchased a copy of this on eBay a few years ago.

I think this pic came with it...

[OutToDry]

Gosh those were the days were were drinking from the Live fountain and getting drunk!!!

[Infrequent Poster]

MJ was an amazing album.

[+Ed+]

MJ was an amazing album.

Still is, my friend

[Merica]

Damn, that's a good article. How things change, eh.

[Sakhmet2]

Damn, that's a good article. How things change, eh.

I have a couple of rare articles somewhere from 92-93 era. One from Spin and one from Musican(?). I don't think I've ever seen then online anywhere (although maybe Spin could be by now)
There's some good stuff in them about the recording of MJ and some real insights

This post has been edited by Sakhmet2: Jul 16 2010, 7:12 am

[+Ed+]

Good for you!


Willing to share them?

[Sakhmet2]

I found the Spin 1992 article online:
Spin April 1992
In it, CT is described as the "band's spokeman", Ed "chooses his words with care", and Pat and Gracey seem bored and say little.
And Peter Freedman says he's "never seen them bicker".
Lots of good stuff.

I'll see if I can find that copy of Musician or whatever it was. I only had a photocopy, though, so it might not scan well.
Also, I won't have time for a week or so since my scanner access is about to be severely limited for 10 days. Sorry about that.

This post has been edited by Sakhmet2: Jul 16 2010, 7:41 am