Another Ed interview ..... Lancasteronline.com Options

[livefan1999]

I know there has been at least one post saying that there are too many boring, same old, same old interviews with Ed posted. I post them when I think there is even a sentence or two more than what has been said elsewhere. There are many more that I don't even bother to post as they really are either publicity-released type interviews or truly do have word for word the same as the others posted.

This one offers a little more on the breakup and the lawsuit. Also a plug for TGF playing at Chameleon Club.

Lancasteronline.com

Life After Live
Ed Kowalczyk to play solo show at Chameleon

If Ed Kowalczyk misses his former band mates, he's not letting on.

Kowalczyk, Live's lead singer for about two decades, returns to the Chameleon Club Friday night, but this time as a solo artist.

"I'm over it," Kowalczyk says of any difficulties he had adjusting to life on-stage without Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey. "And I'm so enlivened with this incredible energy on-stage, and the music is so amazing.

"I'm just lost in it, as I think I'm supposed to be. That's what we do, we get lost in what we're doing. We get caught up in the beauty of it and the power of it, and it feels great."

The members of Live, who grew up together in York and rose to the top of the rock heap on the strength of the 1994 album "Throwing Copper," had announced in 2009 that they were taking a two-year break.

The break, however, turned into a chasm and now appears permanent.

Rock bands break up all the time; some partings are amicable. Some are not.

This one appears to fall in the latter category. Guitarist Taylor made some serious accusations against Kowalczyk in his blog. Taylor, bassist Dahlheimer and drummer Gracey also have filed suit against their former singer, claiming he owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars in publishing royalties.

"There is a (court) case that is pending," Kowalcyzk says from his California home, "which is why, you know, I really don't want to get into it."

Kowalcyzk also is not interested in talking about his former band mates or responding to the nasty things Taylor said about him.

"I don't get into it," he says. "Honestly, I'm so busy at this point, you know, my antennas are completely down and I'm focused. I definitely got a tunnel-vision thing going on."

Kowalcyzk, 39, is focused on his solo career, which began in earnest in July when he released the album "Alive," which he recorded in Austin, Texas.

His former band mates also are making new music as they formed a band called the Gracious Few with former Candlebox members Kevin Martin and Sean Hennessy.

The Gracious Few will perform shows at the Chameleon and the Ephrata Main Theater at the end of October.

Kowalcyzk's touring band consists of the same musicians who play on his album -- drummer Ramy Antoun, guitarist James Gabbie and bassist Chris Heerlein, augmented by his brother, Adam Kowalcyzk, on rhythm guitar and background vocals.

"It's a great band," says Kowalczyk, who recently returned from a European tour. "Every show just gets better. It started out pretty darn good and just gets better every night."

He says he's playing 10 songs from the solo album and 10 others from the Live catalog, including hits like "Lightning Crashes," "I Alone" and "Selling the Drama."

"It's a pretty robust show," he says. "It gets to all the places."

By the time Live was winding down its tour in support of the 2006 album "Songs from Black Mountain," Kowalczyk says he was feeling a need to strike out in a new direction.

He says touring as a solo act, armed with just a guitar and his voice, convinced him of the need to break from the past.

"I was in this period of my life where I was in this malaise about music in general, and just not feeling inspired," he says. "I kind of looked at the fact that I had been doing it, really, in the same way for many years and needed to shake it up and really push myself in a new direction that would challenge me and open new doors."

"Alive" isn't much of a departure from the music he made with Live. The music is loud and anthemic and his lyrics, which have always had strong spiritual underpinnings, tackle the important issues.

The album has crossed over to the Christian music charts, making it all the way to No. 6.

"I've always been someone who is passionately interested in Scripture and I've always throughout my life been very interested in truth-seeking and going after the big questions.

"I'm a Christian and how this has evolved is unique. The music is being accepted and consumed by a different audience now that was aware of what I was doing before but now has a different relationship with it, of course."

Kowalczyk, who hasn't lived in Pennsylvania for many years, says he's looking forward to returning to Lancaster and the Chameleon, where Live got its start.

He says he's anxious to reconnect with old fans and make some new ones.

"A lot of fans are saying 'better than ever' on this record," he says. "That really validates for me and for them all the decisions I've made to move in a new direction."

Ed Kowalczyk with Thriving Ivory

Friday, doors at 7 p.m. 18 to enter

$20 advance, $22 show day

Chameleon Club, 223 N. Water St.

393-7133. www.chameleonclub.net





Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/...2#ixzz0zoo8X0Mj

[jaybb]

He's a little like the Rock and Roll Sarah Palin. Let's stick to the talking points I've rehearsed and not get into anything of substance.