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[Aitkens]

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Exclusive Blog: Chad Taylor talks The Gracious Few and Live
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Karen Van Hoff

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Chad Taylor, founding member of Live and The Gracious Few, talks about the future of both groups and why this is the best musical year of his life.

It’s been nearly a year since we released The Gracious Few and it feels like it’s time to write and record some new material. We worked on a new song at rehearsals last week – sort of the darker side of the Cure meets Perfect Circle. I want the new TGF material to stretch out beyond the conventional pop arrangements that have dictated the flow of modern music.

I think, with our musicianship, we can allow ourselves to journey through multiple interludes within a single song. In the early days of recording, the song arrangements and lengths, were often dictated by the distribution media. For example, you could barely fit a three-minute song onto one side of a 45rpm. CDs had their limits too but in today’s market, podcasts can stream for hours at a time.

I don’t see why we have to conform a media standard these days. So expect the new recordings to jam out a bit more. I think the days of concept albums have come and gone too. In the late fifties and early sixties, artists would release single after single and only after they achieved several hit songs with they assemble a compilation “album.” The Beatles and a few of their contemporaries began to write songs that were intended to appear in a grouping, just as classical composers had assembles suites of material intended to be performed in order, in concert. Maybe only “Throwing Copper” in my career was thought out well enough to stand up like this? I just don’t think people have the time to dedicate to listening through an albums entirety. Then again, I do.

The Candlebox boys will be playing shows this summer and recording new material. Chad, Patrick and I will journey to Nashville to begin working on new Live material in early July. This is how it works when you have three bands between five guys. I’ve got to admit it feels so incredibly refreshing to always have the possibility of working on something new and diverse in front of me.

Don’t fret – fans of The Gracious Few won’t have to wait too long for a full tour schedule coming in the fall of 2011.

It’s slightly more complicated on the Live side of things, as we’ll have to begin addressing the hole left by our singer’s departure. Most important, we’ll have to begin with fresh creativity – we’re not interested in rehashing the hits of the past. No doubt we’ll want to play the new material in concert and in my opinion the show will need to take its production to another level. It’s a tall order given the high expectations of Live fans.

There are a number who would rather see Live sail off into the sunset without the original lineup in tact. I certainly understand their position and have my own concerns. On the other hand and from a personal level, I need to feel Live once again without the constraints that were placed on it over the last few years. Chad, Patrick and I invested most of our lives to writing, recording and performing the songs of Live. We deserve a chance to reconnect with the fans to say goodbye to the old era and hello to the new.

One thing is certain, 2011 will go down as one of the best musical years in my life and that’s one hell of a statement.

[Hoodstock]

In case anyone was wondering - Ed left Live, high and dry. Live did not get rid of him. Right there in Chad's words.

Live as we knew it will never be again. If Live respawns I hope it's with an unknown singer, not a retread. Problem is, if it goes well the singer might also look to go solo and make it big because he's not really tied to the band by history.

I'd actually be interested if they went the Santana route and had songs that they wrote with various "guest" singers, and had one singer who toured with them and sang it all in concert (will never happen though).

Either way it will be more like Live (Version II) to me.

This post has been edited by Hoodstock: Jun 8 2011, 5:07 pm

[SJN1279]

In case anyone was wondering - Ed left Live, high and dry. Live did not get rid of him. Right there in Chad's words.

No but they publicly ripped Ed, and started a lawsuit with him. In the process they shot themselves in the foot. LIVE without Ed, will very likely be a huge fail.

[FishOutaWater]

No but they publicly ripped Ed, and started a lawsuit with him. In the process they shot themselves in the foot. LIVE without Ed, will very likely be a huge fail.

I define the success of a musical artist (or any kind of artist) by the quality of the art. Nick, you clearly define the success of an artist by the number of dollars the artist can reap from his audience by selling the art and miscellaneous sundries that are sold off of the artist's name.

So "fail"? By your standards, yes. TGF is a fail. Ed is a fail. Live since 1999 is a fail. Besides Overcome and Heaven, there has been nothing even remotely resembling commercial success coming from Ed, Chad, Chad or Patrick in over a decade. I don't expect Live without Ed to fill venues bigger than a small bar or to sell more albums than TGF. Realistically, it won't happen. Beyond the walls of our little village of Live superfans, people don't even care about Live anymore. Few people care about the ex-lead singer of Live playing his old hits from the 90's with an acoustic guitar in a coffee shop. I saw the Open Wings Broken Strings tour, with three lead singers of formerly popular bands including Ed, in a 1,200 seat theater, with about 100 people in attendance. Generally speaking, even fewer people cared about TGF. And no one is going to care about Live without Ed. That's realistic.

But by my definition of "success" of a musical artist, TGF is more successful than Ed or anything that Live has done since 1994. They've created a debut album that is a creative masterpiece. They succeeded as artists, even if they didn't sell 2 million albums. Period.

Certainly, Ed is working harder at your definition of "success". He is hocking his songs for movie soundtracks. Interviewing on Christian Rock websites. Playing free radio shows all over the country. Doing childrens shows for Kids Place Sattelite radio stations. Selling coffee and stick figures. Pretending to give a crap about his fans - now that he has to. He even has an "Admin" doing his Tweets and Facebook for him to promote all of his stuff. Even Steve Martin and Hoaward Stern and The Rock tweet all their own tweets, but Ed has a promoter in chief (that makes me feel cheap). He is working every angle to make success by your standards. Trying to reap every dime out of his audience that he can to support his family and his Porsche 911.

TGF is working very hard to attain success by my standards. Raw, gritty music, borne from sweat and tears. Getting together and working out material. Playing before crowds in small bars. Giving away tickets for $10. Breaking down conventional rules about what music needs to sound like. They are hoping that success by my standards - great, creative art - turns into a commercial success that can support them and become self-supporting fo rthe band itself.

There's a big philosophical difference here.