Press Release for "Alive" Options

[SJN1279]

ED KOWALCZYK TO RELEASE
DEBUT SOLO ALBUM, ALIVE, ON JULY 6


Ed Kowalczyk, legendary lead singer and songwriter of the multi-Platinum rock band Live, is proud to announce the release of his first solo album, Alive, set to be released through Sony RED/Provident on July 6. The album was recorded in Austin, TX at Wire Recording Studios with producer CJ Eiriksson (U2, Blue October, Matchbox Twenty) and Kowalczyk’s new band – Ramy Antoun on drums, James Gabbie on lead guitar and Chris Heerlein on bass.

"During the last two years, I found myself at a new level of personal inspiration and creativity. I am so excited that my long time fans, as well as new ones, are about to experience the fruit of my labor of love! This album is a gigantic achievement for me and I couldn't be more thrilled at the prospect of finally sharing it with the world,” he says.

The 12-song album features Ed Kowalczyk at his best – ferocious yet passionate, while retaining the anthemic and spiritual songwriting he’s always been known for. Fans both old and new will be immediately drawn to the first single “Grace” – a soaring, hard-hitting song destined to be a rock radio staple. Alive also features a songwriting collaboration with friend Chris Daughtry on the driving rock track “Drink (Everlasting Love).”

Along with friends Art Alexakis of Everclear and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer, Kowalczyk recently completed a series of dates as “Open Wings, Broken Strings,” a tour that he both produced and created. Stripped down, storyteller-like acoustic versions of their music offered the audience a unique, compelling and intimate way to experience the songs they know and love and hear the stories behind them.

Ed Kowalczyk built an impressive résumé with LIVE that includes eight full-length albums, total CD sales exceeding 20 million, a huge international fan base and extensive touring all over the world. LIVE has been one of the most successful and enduring alternative rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s.

2010 Tour Dates:
Saturday, June 12th - Civic Center Park - Fort Collins, CO
Thursday, July 1st - Thursday at the Square - Buffalo, NY
Friday, July 2nd - Higher Ground - Burlington, VT
Saturday, July 3rd - Woodstock en Beauce - Beauce, Quebec, Canada
Tuesday, July 6th - City Winery - New York, NY
Wednesday, July 7th - Northern Lights - Clifton Park, NY
Thursday, July 8th - The Chance Theater - Poughkeepsie, NY
Friday, July 9th - Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ
Saturday, July 10th - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom - Hampton Beach, NH
Thursday, August 26th - Koko - London, UK
Saturday, August 28th - Bavaria Open Air Festival - Lieshout, Holland
Sunday, August 29th - Music Centrum - Utrecht, Holland
Monday, August 30th - Ubel & Gefahrlich - Hamburg, Germany
Wednesday, September 1st - Paradiso (Sold Out) - Amsterdam, Holland
Friday, September 3rd - Parkstad Limburg Theater - Heerlen, Holland
Saturday, September 4th - Rottepop Festival - Lansingerland, Holland
Sunday, September 5th - Oosterpoort - Groningen, Holland
Tuesday, September 7th - Klubben - Stockholm, Sweden
Thursday, September 9th - Little Vega - Copenhagen, Denmark


For more information, please contact:
Sandee Fenton / Fresh and Clean Media
310.313.7200 / sandee@freshcleanmedia.com

[LivesMeltdown]

Is it 11 songs or 12?

[SinfulEyes]

Is it 11 songs or 12?

Does it really matter?

[LivesMeltdown]

Does it really matter?

I know some people have no interest, but I'm looking forward to his album.

[janine5683]

I know some people have no interest, but I'm looking forward to his album.

Me too.

[Pokey]

Driving rock track drink? Legendary singer? Rock radio staple? ... These statements just aren't true. Oh well, best of luck to Ed with his fantasy of playing rockstar.

[SinfulEyes]

You guys remember that album cover to "V" right? I just couldn't look at Ed the same way after seeing that. Nothing but a pure wannabe.

[Existentialist]

Ed is a nutcase. When he realized LIVE was losing popularity in the very late 90s, he lost it and started desperately trying to regain the spotlight. Fred Durst, Dennis Rodman..... then came the release of V, which was awful and a horrible, horrible attempt at trying to match the Linkin Parks of the world. I remember seeing him in May 2001, their first show since V was finished, and it was obvious he was trying to be as cool as possible but failing miserably. It was embarrassing. When he realized that didn't work and it became abundantly clear LIVE was no longer relevant, he figured he couldn't compete with the Linkin Parks so he'd try to recreate TC, but was so nuts by this point it just wasn't possible. BOP is decent, and somewhat worthy, but nothing like TC and his comparison of BTPT to Stage is fucking laughable. When this didn't work, he chalked it up to alternative being out of style and tried to hit a different market with SFBM. Another fail. When that didn't work, he chalked it up to needing to take his show solo, because obviously his band was holding him back. In fact they were holding him back so much, he deserved all the money for their work.

In case you didn't notice, the theme is that since they lost the spotlight, each "album" has featured drastic changes all aimed at hitting a new market and trying to reinvent himself. He will keep trying until it works. And it won't, ever. It's sad. He's desperate. And I will not buy his shiteating album which is about as rocking as a tree fucking sesame street soundtrack. Fuck Ed. Fuck his album. And fuck you all for supporting this egotistical, hypocritical, Adam Lambert wannabe polesmoking hipster doofus. Fuck you.

[Pokey]

Ed is a nutcase. When he realized LIVE was losing popularity in the very late 90s, he lost it and started desperately trying to regain the spotlight. Fred Durst, Dennis Rodman..... then came the release of V, which was awful and a horrible, horrible attempt at trying to match the Linkin Parks of the world. I remember seeing him in May 2001, their first show since V was finished, and it was obvious he was trying to be as cool as possible but failing miserably. It was embarrassing. When he realized that didn't work and it became abundantly clear LIVE was no longer relevant, he figured he couldn't compete with the Linkin Parks so he'd try to recreate TC, but was so nuts by this point it just wasn't possible. BOP is decent, and somewhat worthy, but nothing like TC and his comparison of BTPT to Stage is fucking laughable. When this didn't work, he chalked it up to alternative being out of style and tried to hit a different market with SFBM. Another fail. When that didn't work, he chalked it up to needing to take his show solo, because obviously his band was holding him back. In fact they were holding him back so much, he deserved all the money for their work.

In case you didn't notice, the theme is that since they lost the spotlight, each "album" has featured drastic changes all aimed at hitting a new market and trying to reinvent himself. He will keep trying until it works. And it won't, ever. It's sad. He's desperate. And I will not buy his shiteating album which is about as rocking as a tree fucking sesame street soundtrack. Fuck Ed. Fuck his album. And fuck you all for supporting this egotistical, hypocritical, Adam Lambert wannabe polesmoking hipster doofus. Fuck you.

Nick: Well that's just your opinion.

[Costakoui]

Ed is a nutcase. When he realized LIVE was losing popularity in the very late 90s, he lost it and started desperately trying to regain the spotlight. Fred Durst, Dennis Rodman..... then came the release of V, which was awful and a horrible, horrible attempt at trying to match the Linkin Parks of the world. I remember seeing him in May 2001, their first show since V was finished, and it was obvious he was trying to be as cool as possible but failing miserably. It was embarrassing. When he realized that didn't work and it became abundantly clear LIVE was no longer relevant, he figured he couldn't compete with the Linkin Parks so he'd try to recreate TC, but was so nuts by this point it just wasn't possible. BOP is decent, and somewhat worthy, but nothing like TC and his comparison of BTPT to Stage is fucking laughable. When this didn't work, he chalked it up to alternative being out of style and tried to hit a different market with SFBM. Another fail. When that didn't work, he chalked it up to needing to take his show solo, because obviously his band was holding him back. In fact they were holding him back so much, he deserved all the money for their work.

In case you didn't notice, the theme is that since they lost the spotlight, each "album" has featured drastic changes all aimed at hitting a new market and trying to reinvent himself. He will keep trying until it works. And it won't, ever. It's sad. He's desperate. And I will not buy his shiteating album which is about as rocking as a tree fucking sesame street soundtrack. Fuck Ed. Fuck his album. And fuck you all for supporting this egotistical, hypocritical, Adam Lambert wannabe polesmoking hipster doofus. Fuck you.

Wow, it sems you are very pissed off. If you do not like Ed's music then drop him and buy what you like. Ed's music is not bad in itself. It is bad campared to early Live sound and early Ed's singing and voice. As christian pop-rock, the music is ok, perhaps decent. I do not like his music, though i enjoy Grace and Zion, and i am thus not buying his album. End of story.

[Pokey]

Wow, it sems you are very pissed off. If you do not like Ed's music then drop him and buy what you like. Ed's music is not bad in itself. It is bad campared to early Live sound and early Ed's singing and voice. As christian pop-rock, the music is ok, perhaps decent. I do not like his music, though i enjoy Grace and Zion, and i am thus not buying his album. End of story.

The music is bad compared to what we know Ed is capable of. I think that's the thing that pisses me off the most. This guy is actually shown to be very talented and very creative, and he's just put that aside.

Actually on an unrelated note, with Ex mentioning Bring the People Together vs Stage and just BOP in general .. I was looking for a CD before and came across BOP and on the front cover it had a sticker "Warning: 18+ Extreme offensive and impact bad language" or something. I find that hilarious now. I know it has absolutely nothing to do with BOP because the only swear word on the whole album was Shit in BTPT, but BOP came out right after a murder case here in Australia where it came to be that Selling the Drama I believe was either the murderers favorite song, or he played it while committing the murder, or something like that. So BOP was just automatically branded as a highly offensive album. I just find that funny on 2 levels because so many die hard old school Live fans found it offensive for other reasons.

[Existentialist]

It is bad campared to early Live sound and early Ed's singing and voice. As christian pop-rock, the music is ok, perhaps decent.

GO BUY THIS ALBUM FULL OF PERHAPS DECENT CHRISTIAN POP-ROCK!!!!! IN STORES JULY 6!!!!

[FishOutaWater]

Ed is a nutcase. When he realized LIVE was losing popularity in the very late 90s, he lost it and started desperately trying to regain the spotlight. Fred Durst, Dennis Rodman..... then came the release of V, which was awful and a horrible, horrible attempt at trying to match the Linkin Parks of the world. I remember seeing him in May 2001, their first show since V was finished, and it was obvious he was trying to be as cool as possible but failing miserably. It was embarrassing. When he realized that didn't work and it became abundantly clear LIVE was no longer relevant, he figured he couldn't compete with the Linkin Parks so he'd try to recreate TC, but was so nuts by this point it just wasn't possible. BOP is decent, and somewhat worthy, but nothing like TC and his comparison of BTPT to Stage is fucking laughable. When this didn't work, he chalked it up to alternative being out of style and tried to hit a different market with SFBM. Another fail. When that didn't work, he chalked it up to needing to take his show solo, because obviously his band was holding him back. In fact they were holding him back so much, he deserved all the money for their work.

In case you didn't notice, the theme is that since they lost the spotlight, each "album" has featured drastic changes all aimed at hitting a new market and trying to reinvent himself. He will keep trying until it works. And it won't, ever. It's sad. He's desperate. And I will not buy his shiteating album which is about as rocking as a tree fucking sesame street soundtrack. Fuck Ed. Fuck his album. And fuck you all for supporting this egotistical, hypocritical, Adam Lambert wannabe polesmoking hipster doofus. Fuck you.

I don't have the same anger as you, and I will buy Ed's album because I seem to have some sort of disfunctional inability to quit him, but this was one great, insightful post. I haven't been able to express it as clearly, but this is exactly what has happened. You hit the nail on the head. It doesn't make me angry, but sort of sad. Ed lost his compass and he seems like a frustrated writer with writers block and a big ego who can't find his way back for a decade and he is doing many wrong things to his friends, business partners, fans and the music in his struggle to try and obtain what he thinks he wants. It's ironic. but if he would just stop chasing what he thinks he needs to do to get fame, fortune and commercial popularity and just look inside and create with authenticity, he might get what he wants. The problem is, I doubt he has in him what he had from the ages of 18 to 25. He's changed, his life has changed, his views have changed. I think it's gone.

What many of us love about TGF, is that those guys still possess, and have found, that musical soul they had at age 18. They are sitting in York mining pure creative Gold. And while they will try to market it to try and spread the music, the music isn't carefully crafted to try and achieve popularity. They love the music and are proud of it and it satisfies them creatively. You can hear that in the music. It's not just a product that is trying to be sold to us. It's just their music. TGF says: This is what we've got, come to us and see if you like it. Ed seems to be saying: I think this is what everybody likes right now, I'm going to try and make some of it and sell it to as many buyers as I can.

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Jun 5 2010, 5:01 am

[Sakhmet2]

And I will not buy his shiteating album which is about as rocking as a tree fucking sesame street soundtrack. Fuck Ed. Fuck his album.

Okay, whoever is pointing the gun at Exi's head to make him buy Ed's album, just take it away now.

And fuck you all for supporting this egotistical, hypocritical, Adam Lambert wannabe polesmoking hipster doofus. Fuck you.

Why thank you!

[SJN1279]

The music is bad compared to what we know Ed is capable of. I think that's the thing that pisses me off the most.

I think Ed's music is awesome, but that's just my opinion.

You think TGF are reaching their potential? You bring Live and Candlebox together and you get retread 70's rock? They are a total disappointment to me personally in the direction they chose sonically.