Ed Kowalczyk Rejuvenated By Solo Career (article) Options

[LivesMeltdown]

Ed Kowalczyk Rejuvenated By Solo Career

After recording music as the front man for Live for nearly 15 years, songwriter Ed Kowalczyk said that he knew a change was necessary to continue on as a musician.

“For me as an artist, I had been doing it the same way for so long, it just came to a point a couple years ago where I needed a change,” Kowalczyk told Alternative Addiction during an interview this week. “I needed to enter a new chapter in my life. If anything, I kind of lost the spark, I was just kind of doing the same thing over and over. I needed to get out of that and become a creative individual again.”

Kowalczyk said he wasn’t sure what that next chapter was going to be, but he knew that a change was needed to re-inspire musically and lyrically. About a year and a half ago, Kowalczyk said he began kicking around the idea of writing some solo material, but instead of jumping directly into the studio, he decided to head out on the road for the first time in his career as a solo artist.

Joining with Art Alexakis of Everclear and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer, Kowalczyk started the “Open Wings Broken Strings Tour” in the fall of 2009. Initially, Kowalczyk said playing songs completely by himself definitely took some getting used to.

“About halfway through the show you realize you’re the whole show,” Kowalczyk explained. “You can’t throw to a big band jam or something like that. You are just there with the people in a different sort of way.”

Even though his solo shows were completely different than playing with a band, Kowalczyk started to realize that playing solo was also an incredible opportunity to connect with his fans in a more intimate way than he had as a part of Live.

“I think a lot of people were surprised with the voice and clarity that my songs had without the production and [a full band],” explained Kowalczyk. “That kind of started a whole process of reconnecting with the fans, inspiring new material, and re-inspiring me as a person.”

Entering the studio earlier this year, Kowalczyk began the process of recording his solo album, feeding off the energy he picked up out on the road last fall. The result is an album that Kowalczyk says is somewhat experimental from albums he’s record in the past with Live, although it maintains the core of the type of rock music he’s known for throughout his career.

Despite the uniqueness of the album, Kowalczyk says the writing process for the new album wasn’t much different than how he approached writing albums for Live.

“I didn’t really approach it differently at all. I sat down with an acoustic guitar and started writing out the lyrics and melodies that moved me,” said Kowalczyk. “The process it really wasn’t any different for me at all.”

Titled, Alive, Kowalczyk’s new album is due out July 6th. A full tour is planned to kick off in Buffalo on July 1st, with opening act Alex Band planned for the first leg of the tour. Kowalczyk has dates currently slated through mid-October, including a short run through Europe in late August and early September. Kowalczyk also says that an additional run of the “Open Wings Broken Strings Tour” is being planned for late this year.

As for Live fans who are upset with Kowalczyk for leaving the band, he hopes most will understand that the change was necessary for this new chapter in his musical career.

“You can fake inspiration as an artist, you get it where you get it,” says Kowalczyk. “I think the most important thing is that I have re-found that inspiration. It’s a really exciting time for me, and the response to the music has really been pretty awesome.”

http://www.alternativeaddiction.com/musicn...-By-Solo-Career