Why Have a Touring Guitarist?, Christopher Thorn, then Adam Kowalczyk and now Zak Loy. Options

[LiveForNow]

Why did Live add a touring guitarist to the lineup? Looking at live videos from the early days, it seems like they sounded great before adding Christopher Thorn, then Adam Kowalczyk and now Zak Loy. They also sounded great to me as a foursome with Chris Shinn. So why the fifth member?

Also on a related note, does anyone else wonder about the dynamic with Zak and the rest of the band? On paper it seems like it'd be pretty awkward - Zak essentially played Chad T's role for Ed, under Ed's direction, during an ugly period between ECCP. You'd think with no mention of Shinn, Live would also want to distance themselves from Ed's solo days as well. I can see that if Adam was no longer interested in the role it would make sense to add someone already familiar with the material, but the whole thing makes me wonder.

I've never met Zak but the Ed camp really seems to love him. I'm sure he's a talented enough musician to play the role. He also comes across as a really nice guy on social media and answers fans' questions. But I wonder how he ended up being added and whether everyone was on board with him from the start.

[Holy Slime]

Another thing that's important to note is that supposedly one of the mandates for Ed returning is that he give the best vocal performances he possibly can. It's possible that CCP wish to have a second guitarist so Ed could give 100% to his vocals, so even if Ed didn't bring Loy in we'd probably have a second guitarist anyway.

This post has been edited by Holy Slime: Jan 9 2017, 2:13 pm

[LiveForNow]

Another thing that's important to note is that supposedly one of the mandates for Ed returning is that he give the best vocal performances he possibly can. It's possible that CCP wish to have a second guitarist so Ed could give 100% to his vocals, so even if Ed didn't bring Loy in we'd probably have a second guitarist anyway.

What's the complete list of mandates and what are your sources?