Live reveal new EP title - "Local 717" Options

[SecretInsomnia]

Let’s hope 10.000 cups and Brother are both from that early writing process and representing a sound that we’ll hear again on the LP.

[Bremang]

Couldn't disagree more on Zak. The new guitarist was the only thing good about the live show that I saw recently and the only thing good in the other 2 songs released so far. He brings energy to the band and I really appreciate his contributions. He should be made a full member in my eyes before he leaves and goes to a different band. He has a website and it's clear that he's quite accomplished and proud to be in the band

You're right, if you want a band to sound good just make sure musicians other than Live are playing music.

[OutToDry]

Let’s hope 10.000 cups and Brother are both from that early writing process and representing a sound that we’ll hear again on the LP.

Cups is from 2016. Brother is early 2017 I believe

[SecretInsomnia]

Cups is from 2016. Brother is early 2017 I believe

Thanks for the (inside ) info!

[Possum Kingdom]

Thanks for the (inside ) info!

So if Love Lounge and Giver or more recent then they're heading in the wrong direction...at least for my taste.

Regardless, it's cool that they're writing a lot and together. Release music on their terms.

This post has been edited by Possum Kingdom: Oct 11 2018, 4:07 pm

[Bingy]

After a few listens to the Ep, I have ordered best to worst....in my own opinion.

01 Brother

02 Venus in Furs (sounds like an REM song) which isn't a bad thing.

03 Be a Giver, Man

04 Love Lounge

05 Waterfall

[SecretInsomnia]

After a few listens to the Ep, I have ordered best to worst....in my own opinion.

01 Brother

02 Venus in Furs (sounds like an REM song) which isn't a bad thing.

03 Be a Giver, Man

04 Love Lounge

05 Waterfall

I think I'm with you on that. Well maybe switch 2 and 3, don't know yet.

Venus sounds oke. It's laid back and Ed's not pushing too hard. I hoped there would happen a little more in over 5 minutes, but I understand they respect the original. I like the sound tho. Yeah, REM.

Waterfall, in all honesty, doesn't have anything to do with LIVE for me. You may like it for what it is, as it sounds fresh new Ed pop (although at some point SFMB- and Alive-ish), but for me this song is not why they reunited.

If you listen to the whole EP, you almost cannot understand how they recorded Waterfall and Brother too. Weird combi.

This post has been edited by SecretInsomnia: Oct 11 2018, 6:17 pm

[Wambangalang]

Yes, waterfall is very Ed solo Alive unfortunately. I had different expectations from the short clip. Oh well. Brother is pretty killer. Venus in Furs is a bit strange but different enough to be interesting.

[Hoodstock]

Here's the Local 717 EP Bio



+LIVE+
LOCAL 717
(EP out 12 October 2018 through Liberator Music/Kavalry Records)

1. Love Lounge
2. Be A Giver, Man
3. Waterfall
4. Brother
5. Venus In Furs

+LIVE+’s new EP Local 717 is the first collection of new material from the original line up of +LIVE+ in over a decade. Produced by +LIVE+ guitarist Chad Taylor and recorded at Think Loud Studios in the band’s hometown, with additional recording completed in Los Angeles at the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606, +LIVE+ bring raw energy and renewed creativity on Local 717 which comes following the band’s 2017 reunion. The EP contains four original songs and a cover of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Venus In Furs’ from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico.

The reunited original line-up of +LIVE+ returned triumphantly in 2017. Even stronger than before, Ed Kowalczyk (vocals, guitar), Chad Taylor (guitar, backing vocals), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums, percussion) performed with both fire and emotional heart. They reminded music audiences worldwide how potent they are as a live act, playing songs from albums that have sold over 22 million copies worldwide (including two number one albums, Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi). +LIVE+ has returned to the road in 2018, with a massive summer outdoor amphitheatre tour of North American on tap with Counting Crows.

In 2017, the multi-platinum band performed 26 shows, including major festivals such as Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Arroyo Seco; a run of arena dates with Guns N’ Roses; and solo headlining shows, all in five different countries.

+LIVE+ garnered praise at Lollapalooza from writers such as Randall Colburn of Consequence Of Sound, who noted, “A packed set from a recently reunited +LIVE+ at one of the country’s foremost music festivals…‘All Over You’ kicked off the proceedings, with ‘Selling the Drama,’ ‘The Dolphin’s Cry,’ and ‘I Alone’ ushering us towards the glorious climax that is ‘Lightning Crashes.’” Jessi Roti of the Chicago Tribune backed up the sentiment noticing “the drama is still there.”

“[2017] was such an amazing year full of so many wonderful moments,” reflects Ed Kowalczyk. “I would have to say it absolutely exceeded everyone’s expectations. We are really sounding better than ever and our chemistry on and off stage is just at another level. We can feel it and I’m sure the fans can sense that this isn’t some one-off ‘reunion where everyone sort of phones it in and then goes about their business. +LIVE+ is back and better than ever at every level.”

“By the time LIVE hit the stage at Lollapalooza,” says Chad Taylor, “we were performing at our very best. Something about the reunion renewed our energy and spirit. The band and our fans have been on fire, like nuclear hot sauce. I’m blown away with how passionate our fan base is. Now I can’t wait to elevate things to an even higher level with new tunes.”

Kowalczyk adds that “the festivals were so amazing. During every show there was a palpable sense of joy in the audience. People were just so happy to see us come full circle, reunited and sounding so strong. Highlight for me was watching Dave Grohl in my periphery rockin’ out to our set at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans. I hadn’t seen Dave in years and by the smile on his face, I could tell he was catching a good bit of the “+LIVE+-joy” as well…it’s contagious!”

“Most important,” says Taylor, “we’re having so much f**king fun being in and enjoying our band!”

LOCAL 717 EP OUT 12 OCTOBER 2018 THROUGH LIBERATOR MUSIC/KAVALRY RECORDS

freaks4live.com | facebook.com/THEBANDLIVE
Twitter @freaks4live | Instagram @freaks4live
youtube.com/LIVE

liberatormusic.com.au

[Bremang]

https://soundvapors.com/interview-review-ch...live-local-717/

Live – Local 717

Release Date: 12 October 2018 via Kavalry Records

The band Live is about to release its first new material with all four original members since the 2006 album, Songs from the Black Mountain. Let me tell you something..

It was worth the wait.

These guys storm back with Local 717. An EP that includes five brand new songs that feel a little harder than some of the previous albums while retaining the classic Live sound that made them famous to begin with. Ed Kowalczyk's voice shines on the first single Love Lounge and he delivers that familiar tone and mood on Venus In Furs. A song that gave me the Secret Samadhi chills. It's that good. Chad Taylor, sounds like he is getting out years of pent up.. something.. on these songs. His guitars are aggressive, both on tone and performance. The guitar riff on Be A Giver, Man, announces the bands return with a burst of energy.

The drums on this record are big. Just the way I like them. When I say big, I don't mean cavernous. They are ultra-present, not only production-wise but also by technique. Chad Gracey's toms sound monstrous on Waterfalls and his always terrific sounding snare did not let me down on this record. Patrick Dahlheimer provides a nice thick bottom end to the album. On the song Brother, the bass combined with Gracey's toms in the pre-chorus rock the speakers with some serious thump.




The only real complaint I have is that it is only a five song EP. But to be honest, after listening to it a dozen times this week, it has lit that fire. The fire that lives inside of all fans of music. When you follow a bands career, you will sometimes see the highs and lows that happen when a band is together for a long period of time. Sometimes that fire seems like it's just about to flame out and then.. they find their way back to one another and begin writing and recording. They find the spark that drove them to release chart topping albums like Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi, and the journey you watched comes back full circle and the fire burns hotter than ever.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's special. This feels special.

When I was talking to guitarist, Chad Taylor, it sounds like it feels special to him too. When I mention Local 717, Chad says excitingly, "Yeah! I can't wait for people to be able to listen to the body of work from front to back. And you're right. It is a little short. I know that, but I also think that in the time span that people have now to devote to music, it's better in its own weird way. They'll get this EP and at the rate that Ed and I are writing songs, we'll have another five ready to go before you know it." You can feel the energy and excitement in Chad's voice. He sounds like a man that has the "newness" feeling and wants to play music but has the knowledge of having been through many years of a highly successful band.




I asked Chad to walk us through his thought process of writing these songs and ultimately going into a studio situation and recording them. Chad says, "Live is such an interesting band at this point. I almost say that there was Live 1.0, which was the early days of establishing ourselves all the way through Throwing Copper and all of those things. Live 2.0, I call the break up period. Live 3.0, put it back together and not have it be revisionist but be more forward thinking. Well how does that band, where fans still want to hear you play I Alone or Lightning Crashes, how does that band, where all of the members have experienced Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal and, like, all of these great bands. And we love that stuff, but how do we assimilate that theme into our music while still sounding like Live? So the first rule is, that as long as the four members from Live play on it, it always sounds like Live. We can play a Blues song and it sounds like Live. We can play a Jazz song and it's going to sound like Live. But then the writing. How does that feel and how does that work?"

Chad pauses and says, "For Ed and I, that was really honing in on how we wanted the band to feel. So we probably wrote, I'm gonna go high and say fifteen songs before we hit on Love Lounge. And then went, whoa, this is a different gear. This is a new feeling for the band. Then there was Be A Giver, Man and Waterfall. All of these songs started popping up that had this immediate energy and urgency to them. To me, I was like, "these are going to be fun songs to document", rather than think about them as songs that are going to make an album. Just capture that raw energy of the band and get that down on tape. Get good mixes on it and make it sound like a band you want to come and see in concert. I think in that really simple way, we accomplished the goal."




I tell Chad that I feel that Love Lounge was a great choice to comeback with and Be A Giver, Man is the gem of the record and my personal favorite. He tells me that it is also his favorite. Chad explains the two, "Be A Giver, Man was recorded and already in the can as we were coming out with Love Lounge. Ed and I kind of felt all along that Love Lounge was a nice, introductory offering and Be A Giver, Man was like, if you're a boxer, Love Lounge is the jab and Be A Giver, Man is the knockout uppercut. And I think that Live fans, new Live fans and old ones, will relate to that. And when I say old, the people that love the Secret Samadhi era and that kind of stuff will instantly get where that comes from."

I wondered how long this process took. Not only the actual recording but everything that has happened to the band since it reunited and started recording these songs. I also wanted to know where this album was recorded at since I'm borderline obsessed with sonic quality. And while many things go into that, a good base of having recorded in a solid environment can go a long way to achieving that quality. Chad tells me, "A few years ago, I built my own recording studio. Which is called Think Loud Studios, located in our hometown of York, Pennsylvania. We really started writing way back in 2016, as soon as the band started communicating with each other. Ed and I grabbed acoustic guitars and we'd just woodshed on weekends. He's not that far, he's in Connecticut, so it's a relatively close drive. We just kind of like woodshed, no pressure. We kept thinking, well look in 2017, we already came up with a plan that we weren't going to release any new music. Just go out, celebrate the reformation of the band and take it easy on ourselves. Just enjoy that, with no pressure. But we knew that pressure starts the build, the longer you wait to get creative. So then we jumped on the creative. So that's why I was saying earlier that we went through fifteen different songs. There's a whole different record sitting in the can but it wasn't what we wanted to come back with."


So what was it that put the writing process over the top? Chad says, "It wasn't until we played Lollapalooza in 2017 and we walked off the stage and Ed looked and me and said, Man, I gotta talk to you. I said to him, ohhkay? And Ed says, on stage tonight, I could hear the sound of this band in the future. I know what I need to write. I know the song I need to write. At that point, Love Lounge, didn't exist. After that moment he was super motivated. We have two side members that play with us, Robin Diaz and Zak Loy, and we were joking around and we called it the super band. Ed says, there's this sonic thing we're doing, that we haven't done before. It's new and I want to write a song that showcases that. So one day Ed is standing in one of the lounge kitchens with some music blaring from his iPhone and sang just a little bit of it to me. I was like, Whoa hold on, stop, we need to record this right now! That's how quickly something like this is birthed. So you asked how long. This thing got started back in 2016 but the focused recording was probably a little less than a month."

After hearing the backstory to this record, it's understandable why Chad is so fired up. I'm fired up hearing him talk passionately about not only the music but the brotherhood of this band.

The Freaks for Live are sure to be thrilled with this EP and the reunion tour that has been running the last two summers. While Chad didn't have any specifics to give us, I'm hoping we get to see a headlining tour in 2019 and hear these new songs played live. The other benefit to a headlining tour is that there's a greater chance of hearing some deeper cuts from the bands catalog. Either way, I, along with the other fans of Live are excited they are back and rolling like thunder.

Finally, Chad has a message for the fans of LIVE: Relax. Enjoy the moment. Don't worry, Live is back.

-Tommy Marz

Follow Tommy and SoundVapors on Twitter.

Track list for Local 717:

Love Lounge 3:17

Be A Giver, Man 3:24

Waterfall 4:05

Brother 4:43

Venus In Furs 5:11

Ed Kowalczyk – Vocals, Guitar / Chad Taylor – Guitar, Backing Vocals / Patrick Dahlheimer – Bass / Chad Gracey – Drums, Percussion

Produced and Engineered by Chad Taylor

Mixed by Tim Palmer

Recorded at Think Loud Studios – York, PA

For More On LIVE Visit:

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

[Bremang]

So the first rule is, that as long as the four members from Live play on it, it always sounds like Live.

If only they stuck to rule #1.

This post has been edited by Bremang: Oct 11 2018, 10:00 pm

[Bremang]

They'll get this EP and at the rate that Ed and I are writing songs, we'll have another five ready to go before you know it.

Maybe they're putting out EP's from now on

This post has been edited by Bremang: Oct 11 2018, 10:01 pm

[san_sao]

Maybe they're putting out EP's from now on

Nine Inch Nails put out 3 EPs in a row. So it wouldn't be unheard of.

[Bremang]

After the first listen, I would say this is a fair outcome for Live with self production, guest appearances, as they approach their 50's. It feels like a cohesive EP, and the quality of songwriting is right where they left off in 2009 in the ballpark of Zion and Believe. We were all hopeful for the magic of the past, especially since there were glimmers of brilliance when Ed and CCP were separated. I think there is still a chance for better recordings in the future if they get a producer, drop the side shows, and continue to write songs. I know Hoodstock would disagree, but I felt like TFATM was miles better than Alive, so it wouldn't be the first time Ed had improved. I'd like to see Peter Buck and Jerry Harrison in the room the next time they put something together because I think they were instrumental in putting out the best from Ed and CCP.

[+Ed+]

"Chad pauses and says, “For Ed and I, that was really honing in on how we wanted the band to feel. So we probably wrote, I’m gonna go high and say fifteen songs before we hit on Love Lounge... So that’s why I was saying earlier that we went through fifteen different songs. There’s a whole different record sitting in the can but it wasn’t what we wanted to come back with.”"

WOW...

Lolwut

A hip-hop recording?