"Live Plans New Album", New Article Options

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Perhaps what is most notable about Live's brand new CD/DVD, Live at the Paradiso - Amsterdam, released earlier this month, are the two brand new songs that lead singer Ed Kowalczyk says are representative of what the band's next album will sound like.

"[Those two songs] really point to where I feel the band wants to go, [and] where I am coming from lyrically," Kowalczyk told Alternative Addiction in a recent interview. "It's just a good direction point of where we are headed sonically, production wise, everything. It's sort of the re-ignition of the band on certain levels."

The two songs, titled 'Forever' and 'Purifier', were finished at the eleventh hour by the band in the studio, just before the album was to be completed. With a sense of urgency due to the deadline they faced, Kowalczyk says the songs have a unique energy to them. "Both songs kind of have this urgency about them, where we almost missed our deadlines. You can feel the urgency and the energy of the session in the songs," said Kowalczyk. " 'Purifier' was actually written in the studio, like literally in my hotel room the night before, and then we tracked it the next morning."

The new songs were released as bonus tracks on a live album that the band recorded in Amsterdam earlier this summer. Kowalczyk said he knew that the location was perfect for a live recording."We've been talking about it for a long time," said Kowalczyk. "It seemed like for us, our Dutch fans are really into our music, and the venue is really cool, we just knew it was going to add up to a great night."

In fact, it added up to such a great night that the band had a hard time figuring out what parts of their two and a half hour set they should cut out for the recording. "It was hard. We had to cut the encore way back and inevitably eliminate somebody's favorite song," explained Kowalczyk. "It was just part of the process, but I think we did a pretty good job."

The album was released on Vanguard Records, Live's first recording on the independent record label. After releasing their last six studio albums on majors, Kowalczyk said that it felt refreshing to be back with an indie label. "It feels more like when we first started on Radioactive," said Kowalczyk. "It just has a real indie feel to it and I love that."

The label the band is working with may not be the only way that the band has come full circle. Kowalczyk says that they may be returning to the more aggressive style that broke them into the spotlight in the mid-90s.

"When I listen to Throwing Copper and play the songs, I still feel the same passion. I think what's changed is not so much the passion, but the angst aspect of the songs," says Kowalczyk of the band's early sound. "On 'Purifier' I think I have found subject matter that I want to sing really aggressively about again, but with an angst that's driven towards finding spiritual truth. It's interesting how the band has sort of mellowed over the years and now exploded again with a song like 'Purifier'."

The result creates high anticipation for Live's next release, which Kowalczyk says they hope to have out in the summer of 2009. In addition to a new release, Live has a spring tour planned in Australia and a summer tour in the US expected to be announced next year.


Direct Link:

http://www.alternativeaddiction.com/musicn...cle.asp?id=1237