Live back in Hershey!!, 8/1/08 Options

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Live, Collective Soul and Blues Traveler will be at the Giant Center on August 1st! More info TBA!

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Intelligencer Journal
Rolling with the changes
Returning to the area for a show in Hershey, Live frontman talks about a shifting industry
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/225312

The music industry now demands that musicians think creatively not only about their songs but also about their careers.

The industry, shaken by the digital revolution that has replaced the brick-and-mortar marketplace with a bazaar that exists in the thin wire of computer lines, is changing so quickly that it's hard for musicians to keep up.

It has forced musicians like Ed Kowalczyk, the lead singer for Live, which got its start at the Chameleon Club, to consider the band's career in an entirely different light.

"A big part of the transition for me personally over the last few years is to think about the music business and think about music in a whole different way," he said before a recent concert in Seattle. "Nobody's really had to do that before, especially in the middle of a career. It's pretty crazy but it's also really exciting."

Live, one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, built its career on the strength of its second album, "Throwing Copper" (1994). The phenomenally successful album sold millions and millions of copies, yielded hit single after hit single and landed the four band members, all natives of York, on the cover of Rolling Stone.

It's inconceivable to even consider that Live, which will perform tonight in Hershey, could repeat that success 14 years later. Actually, it's inconceivable that any artist could enjoy that kind of success as the album, the essential building block of music careers for the past 40 years, is no longer the dominant vehicle for delivering music. Many go as far as to predict the imminent demise of the album.

"I was always a big believer in the album because the album was the thing," Kowalczyk said. "You didn't really write singles, you took people on a journey through 12 or 13 songs. That, in and of itself, has kind of disintegrated to some degree. People are buying songs one by one and the whole thing is broken up in a million pieces.

"It's a breakdown in the way I thought about albums and bands forever and ever, but it's also an opportunity to move into the future."

Kowalczyk and his band mates — Chad Taylor (guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums) — haven't settled on a strategy as they move forward. The band is currently without a recording contract and has the freedom to dictate its direction.

Kowalczyk said he's intrigued by the notion of releasing EPs consisting of four or five songs on a more frequent basis than albums. He said he's excited by the immediacy of music these days, the ability to record a song and deliver it over the Internet almost instantaneously.

The singer-songwriter, however, believes a veteran band like Live, which will release its first live DVD/CD in October, needs to first make sure its creative juices are still flowing and then worry about how to deliver its music.

"How I feel about being in a band is that you keep growing," Kowalczyk said. "It's a growth mechanism. The status quo gets real nasty real fast and you just get bored. It doesn't jibe with who I am as a person. And I know I speak for all of us."

Though the members of Live have been together for more than 20 years, Kowalczyk, who now lives in California, said it's still meaningful to return to central Pennsylvania and play for its fans here.

"It's still special, a lot of memories," he said. "There's a lot of places we don't get to see as often as we used to. It's still special, something I look forward to. It puts everything in perspective — where we're from, where we've been, where we're going."

Live, Collective Soul and Blues Traveler, today, 6:30 p.m., Giant Center, Hershey, $29.50-$40, 534-3911.

E-mail: jferguson@lnpnews.com