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The Latest News |
Ed was interviewed by Poncho Parker on Canadian radio (Rock 105.3) yesterday. A recording of the interview can be found at the following links: www.soundcloud.com/rock1053/interview-with-ed-from-live http://www.mediafire.com/?z4a4pr3enyn1280 • posted by dangum on january 21st, 2012 |
Ed has revealed plans to visit Europe. When asked on Facebook whether he will be touring Europe, Ed replied that he will be in Belgium and Holland in the summer of 2012. Ed's post can be read here: www.facebook.com/edkowalczyk/posts/10150560137518081 • posted by dangum on january 21st, 2012 |
Live band members buy York property, plan millions in renovations By LAUREN BOYER and SEAN ADKINS Daily Record/Sunday News Updated: 01/18/2012 08:19:52 PM EST Former members of the rock band Live toured the world, but never filled a venue like this. It is an enormous empty hulk of a building, majestic brick on the outside, decrepit and moldering on the inside. Three bandmates who were part of Live want to fill it - not with fans, but with a high-tech business, more than 140 modern residential units and a peaceful, family-friendly courtyard. And the fact that it is in the heart of Reading only strengthens their sense of mission. York connections Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey are, as Taylor put it, "sons of Pennsylvania." They formed their first band in Gracey's garage in York, perhaps 50 miles from the 110-year-old building at 801 N. Ninth St. in Reading. They like the idea of boosting an impoverished city in their home state with a successful business venture. Their Lancaster-based company, Think Loud Development, also purchased a 47,000-square-foot building in York in December. The structure, at 210-236 York St., is a former factory that has one tenant lined up, a high-tech company whose name is not being disclosed. The purchase price in York was $164,000, said Bill Hynes, a Northampton County-based real estate developer. The cost of preparing the building for occupancy by the high-tech company will be about $10 million, he said, with $4 million likely to come from Think Spot and $6 million from the tenant. Taylor said the pursuit of rock music success and business success are similar. "Both practices take discipline and hard work and tons and tons of energy, with a little bit of luck," he said. Taylor, Dahlheimer and Gracey, along with Ed Kowalczyk, formed the rock band Live in York, where all four grew up. They soared to fame in the 1990s, with a string of platinum albums and world tours. Their hits included "Lightning Crashes" and "I Alone." Then, in August 2009 - after nearly a quarter century of making music - the band announced a hiatus. In the fall of that year, band members communicated with fans through their personal websites and social media sites that the hiatus could be permanent. Kowalczyk pursued a solo career. Taylor, Gracey and Dahlheimer started the band The Gracious Few with Candlebox members Kevin Martin and Sean Hennesy. During a May 2010 interview, Martin and Hennesy said they moved from the West Coast to live with Taylor in Lancaster. Gracey moved in with Dahlheimer, who lives in York County. The said they rehearsed in a York studio they dubbed "The Spot." The band released a self-titled debut Sept. 14. on the its label Questionable Entertainment. Taylor was involved in the Lancaster-based company Aurora Creative Group, which produced radio and TV commercials, web sites, digital communications, publishing, TV programs and feature films. Reading development The downtrodden structure in Reading at the heart of Taylor, Dahlheimer and Gracey's latest business venture is Reading Outlet Center Building No. 1. The three band members teamed up with Hynes and purchased the building a few months ago for $1 million. Working through their Lancaster-based company, Think Loud Development, they said they plan to spend more than $36 million to make the project happen. A crucial, formative piece was securing a major corporate tenant. Hynes said Think Loud, formerly known as Think Spot Development, has signed an agreement with the undisclosed high-tech company that will occupy at least 50,000 square feet of the 320,000-square-foot structure. Hynes said a confidentiality agreement prohibited Think Loud from revealing the identity of the company. It will be disclosed in the next few months, he said. Taylor said Live's prominence has brought band members into contact with high-profile people such as Ellen DeGeneres and David Letterman, and with companies such as Google, Microsoft and Andretti Autosport. "The band Live has a lot of connections," he said. The band often defers to Taylor, the guitarist, as their "numbers guy" in business dealings, according to Hynes. He said Taylor has a gift for approaching people and making things happen. Taylor is chairman of Think Loud. His ability to call a company and say, "Hey, will you take a look at this?" has opened doors for Think Loud, according to Hynes. The rundown interior of the massive structure at 801 N. Ninth St. belies a rich history. When the band members walked through it in December, windowless openings gaped from the upper floors of the five-story facade. Aging wood floors were holed and scattered with broken glass. An old, graffiti-marred sign outside showed names such as Eddie Bauer and Bugle Boy and Florsheim. Aside from that, there was little evidence that 30 or 40 years ago, Building No. 1 was a major part of an outlet complex that drew thousands of shoppers to Reading. "The buses came to Reading in droves," said Berks County historian George M. Meiser IX. "It looked like the World's Fair, with people walking up and down the street. It was unbelievable." Hosting outlet stores was the second incarnation of 801 N. Ninth St. The first was its original use, as a factory making seamless hosiery. The structure retains an appearance of factorylike sturdiness, with massive wood beams and high ceilings. For Dahlheimer, it has visual appeal. "Once we started to tour the world, architecture started to grab my attention," Dahlheimer said. Bringing it together Hynes, 39, said he has multiple business interests, including ownership of BKS Technologies of Nazareth, a maker of mobile phone applications. BKS made an app for The Gracious Few. He met the band members when a mutual friend suggested they do business together. The link to Building No. 1 came, Hynes said, when an email from Alan W. Shuman, the building's previous owner, arrived while Hynes was having a conversation with Gracey. The Live drummer took the idea of transforming Building No. 1 to Dahlheimer and Taylor. "They thought it was a great idea," Gracey said. Think Loud's interest in the project grew through the latter half of 2011. In late September, when The New York Times published a story that told how Reading had more residents living in poverty than any other mid- to large-sized city in the country, the band members' desire to go forward only increased. "We are humble Pennsylvanians," Taylor said. "We figured out a way to work through adversity when we were young." In Reading, Hynes said, Think Loud has occupancy commitments from the high-tech company, a Laundromat and a fresh-food market operator. Their plan also calls for a parking garage. The residential units, the Think Loud principals said, will be of various sizes, including three-bedroom units. They have retained Shillington architect David M. Kleckner to design the complex. Kleckner renovated a former silk mill building in Shillington into the office he now occupies. Taylor has faith that the outcome of the project will be worthy of attention. "Live will bring The New York Times here," Taylor said. "I will call them myself." www.ydr.com/ci_19755299 [Credit: Aitkens] • posted by dangum on january 18th, 2012 |
The Gracious Few will be performing in Austin, TX on March 17 2012 as part of the SXSW festival. March 17th, 2012 Austin, TX - Antone's "LIVE fans, Chad, Patrick and Chad will be performing at SxSW on March 17th as part of Microsoft's Big App on Campus party. The show at Antones is free to the public and anyone who's ever been to SxSW knows anything could and will happen. The Gracious Few, Candlebox and some special guests will be joining the boys for one amazing night of music. See you there and remember to keep music weird." www.facebook.com/THEBANDLIVE/posts/10150537104753909 Chad Taylor Posted the following on his personal Facebook page: "I'd like to invite all of my friends on here to a great night of music at this years SxSW. The party on March 17 will be hosted by Microsoft's Big App on Campus and it's free to the public. Chad, Patrick and I will be performing as THE GRACIOUS FEW. We'll be joined by CANDLEBOX and maybe some special guests we find roaming the streets at the festival." www.facebook.com/theycallmechuck/posts/310904782278625 There are numerous rumors on who the special guests will be. Keep up to date with the latest information by following these threads on the FansOfLive message board: LIVE Concert Announcement, New Facebook Posting Live and The Gracious Few show? Antone's Austin Texas 3/17/2012, SxSw Show [Credit: Aitkens / Good Pain / OutToDry] • posted by dangum on january 17th, 2012 |
After having his show recheduled twice in the past few months, it seems that it's going to be 3rd time lucky for Ed Kowalczyk's tour of the Philippines. Ed will be performing at the "Smart Araneta Coliseum" on the 28th of April 2012. Supporting Ed will be band "Vertical Horizon". For ticketing and the latest information, please visit the Ed Kowalzyk Philippines Facebook site: www.facebook.com/EdKowalczykPhilippines • posted by dangum on january 15th, 2012 |
Pollstar is reporting a string of Ed Kowalczyk tour dates in the state of Minnesota. According to Pollstar, Godsmack vocalist Sully Erna will also be appearing on the bill for select dates. These dates are currently unconfirmed: March 08, 2012, Tower, MN Fortune Bay Resort Casino March 09, 2012, Tower, MN Fortune Bay Resort Casino March 10, 2012, Walker, MN Northern Lights Casino March 11, 2012, Tower, MN Fortune Bay Resort Casino www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=200522 • posted by dangum on january 12th, 2012 (updated january 17) |
During a recent visit to New Hampshire, Chad Taylor joined band "Prospect Hill" on stage to perform the classic Live track "White, Discussion". Fortunately footage of the perofmance was captured and the entire song can be viewed on the YouTube link below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb56HbmCy9c [Credit: zmanpga] • posted by dangum on january 10th, 2012 |
Producer Drew Money tweeted that he has been working on tracks with Ed Kowlaczyk for his forthcoming solo album. ItsDrewMoney:"Wow knocked out some tunes with @EDDIEKLIVE ...#noautotuneneeded" https://twitter.com/#!/ItsDrewMoney/status/154677967988080640 When asked whether the tracks were to appear on Ed's upcoming album, Drew replied: ItsDrewMoney:@sjn1279 yeah I think so! https://twitter.com/#!/ItsDrewMoney/status/155139316639735808 • posted by dangum on january 5th, 2012 |
Pollstar has announced a summer 2012 date for Ed Kowalczyk. Ed will be performing in Uncasville, CT on the following date: July 19, 2012 - Uncasville, CT. (Wolf Den @ Mohegan Sun) Date has yet to be officially confirmed, but keep an eye on the following sites for the latest details: http://www.mohegansun.com/entertainment/wolfden.html http://www.pollstar.com/event/1801105&source=psartist • posted by dangum on december 29th, 2011 |
Live have updated their Facebook page with a recent rehearsal recording of a Live classic with their new vocalist. Click on the links below to listen to "All Over You" on Live's Facebook or if you'd prefer an MP3 then a link to download it is also provided. http://www.facebook.com/THEBANDLIVE?v=app_178091127385 http://www.mediafire.com/?27202zutannxocr [Credit: photogra] • posted by dangum on december 22nd, 2011 |
Ed Kowalczyk has announced a 6 date tour of Canada for February 2012. Ed will be performing with his band on the following dates: Febryary 09, 2012 - Better Than Freds Grande Prairie, AB February 10, 2012 - Edmonton Event Centre Edmonton, AB February 11, 2012 - The Kooler Lloydminster, AB February 13, 2012 - Esplanade Medicine Hat, MB February 14, 2012 - Odeon Event Centre Saskatoon, SK February 15, 2012 - Cowboys Winnipeg, MB Ticketing information will be made available in the new year. [Credit: Hoodstock] • posted by dangum on december 22nd, 2011 |
As part of the promotion for Ed Kowalczyk's New Year's Eve show in Atlanta, Ed was interviewed by Ange Alex of The Backstage Beat. The interview can be streamed from The Backstage Beat site: http://atlanta.thebackstagebeat.com/2011/12/downtown-countdown/ or you can download an MP3 from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?99ljd78h85dzljy • posted by dangum on december 18th, 2011 |
Fans Of Live is now on Twitter! Follow @FansOfLive and keep up to date on any new bits of Live, The Gracious Few, Ed Kowalczyk and Adam Kowalczyk information that surfaces. Any time a new tour date is announced, a bootleg recording is made available or an interesting topic is started in the forums then I'll tweet the info and post a link. Check it out here: www.twitter.com/FansOfLive • posted by dangum on december 15th, 2011 |
A new tour date for Ed has been announced. Ed will be performing in Canada on the following date: February 10, 2012 - Edmonton (Alberta) Canada. (Edmonton Event Centre) Ticket cost ranges between CA $28 - CA $45. This is a 18+ show and tickets are available from: Ticketmaster [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on december 15th, 2011 |
In an interview with Lancaster Online, Jars of Clay revealed that they will be touring with Ed Kowalczyk in early 2012. No tour dates have been announced as of yet, but keep an eye on Fans Of Live for any updated info. A copy of the article can be read here. [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on december 14th, 2011 |
A new tour date for Ed has been announced. Ed will be performing a solo acoustic set on the following date: January 1, 2012 - Miami, Florida (Ricochet Bar) Tickets cost $25. This is a 21+ show and tickets are available from: ricochet.tunestub.com/show.cfm?id=71023&cart • posted by dangum on december 8th, 2011 |
A website promoting Chad Taylor's, Patrick Dahlheimer's and Chad Gracey's radio show has been unveiled at thinkloudwithlive.com Think Loud With Live is a weekly radio show where the aforementioned Live members interview the biggest alternative bands from the 90's. "What happens when you take multi-platinum recording artists backstage to interview other internationally known rock bands and artists? Think Loud With Live! With just one episode you’ll hear why Think Loud With Live is the hottest syndicated rock show in the World as members of the band Live hang out backstage with a different artist or band each week, interviewing the biggest names in rock as they share compelling true stories of touring during the Alternative rock movement in the 90’s and tell us where the music scene is heading as they turn us on to new emerging artists and bands. Nobody listens to more music than musicians on the road and now fans can get turned on to new music each week as our superstar guests share their iPods on Think Loud with Live. Each week its musician on musician, bringing out the emotion and backstage stories you’ll never hear from any other source. Unless you’ve actually lived the life, you’ll never understand or relate to fellow musicians, that’s why Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey from the band Live pull off the most compelling interviews you’ve ever heard from the rock stars that changed the way we listen to music. Every week for 2-hours you’ll be given a backstage pass to experience another sound check interview with the biggest names in rock and hear them open up with never before heard stories that will blow your mind! Within the first few minutes you’ll understand why Think Loud with Live is the only syndicated radio show that dares to gives listeners what they want, uncensored insight and raw emotion from the biggest names from the 90’s Alternative rock movement, one-of-a-kind fan interaction and we’ll drop the needle on the best new rock suggested by our weekly guests. Now you can give your listeners and clients the only syndicated rock show that features rock stars interviewing rock stars and open your ears to the future of rock music each week on Think Loud with Live!" [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on december 7th, 2011 |
Chad Taylor posted the following message on his Facebook account today: "I'm a bit frustrated by the need for instant gratification when it comes to music. I feel at times like the fans would prefer a fast food menu rather than a five-star meal from scratch. Conversely, I strive to not over think or overproduce my efforts (it's a delicate balance). The information and interactivity of social media can often times get ahead of an artists actual ability to produce new, relevant material. Somehow, the actual time and energy it takes to write a song, record an album or tour the globe is lost in the convenience of instant communication. So sure, I'm always excited to share with you the various projects and artistic endeavors I am working on. This doesn't mean that they're ready for public consumption. Just like in a five-star restaurant, it's best to start with drinks and appetizers. You can't simply walk in and sit down, expecting the main course to be delivered. I am hopeful that you will remain patient and faithful as it's going to take some time to realize the vision I have for this sonic repast. - CT" Source - http://www.facebook.com/theycallmechuck/posts/277185658983871 [Credit: MrSheptical] • posted by dangum on november 17th, 2011 |
As part of an auction being run by 105.7 The X, Live are offering a signed guitar that the band will personally deliver to you. All proceeds of the auction will benefit Children's Miracle Network. To place a bid, visit: www.onlineauction.com/index.php?page=auction%3Aview_item&auction_id=1461000. More information can also be found on Live's Facebook page. [Credit: Hoodstock] • posted by dangum on november 17th, 2011 |
An audio recording of "Selling the Drama" has been posted to Live's Facebook page. A direct link to the audio can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=128265377282753 It is unclear who the vocalist is and there is much speculation and debate. Have a listen and let us know what you think. [Credit: SecretInsomnia] • posted by dangum on november 15th, 2011 |
Ed Kowalczyk will be performing at Gypsies in the Mount Airy Casino in Mount Pocono, PA on Saturday February 18, 2012. Tickets start at 25 dollars and are on sale now at this link: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=4090745 [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on november 14th, 2011 |
Ed Kowalcyk will performing at Sycuan Casino in San Diego, CA on Saturday January 7, 2012. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased from: sycuan.ticketsunplugged.com/event_details.php?show_id=791 [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on october 29th, 2011 |
Chad Taylor has posted a couple of messages on his Facebook account from the recording studio where Live are recording tracks for their upcoming album. Chad Taylor: "Drums and bass sound incredible. Can't wait to start laying down some guitar." Chad Taylor: "It's 2:46 am and I'm just about to shut down. Long day but so much great rock n' roll. I can feel this band coming back together. Can't wait to share. - CT" [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on october 6th, 2011 |
Ed Kowalczyk posted the following message on his Facebook account "(Ed K.) Atlanta! I'll be performing and ringing in 2012 with you this year at Downtown Countdown, see you 12/31/11 :-)" Ed will be performing at the Downtown Countdown 2011 in Atlanta on New Years Eve. He will be on stage from 10:15-11:45 right before the midnight countdown to the ball drop. He will be followed by Naughty By Nature who will take the stage at 12am. December 31st, 2011 Atlanta, GA (Downtown Countdown - Hyatt Regency) [Credit: Hoodstock] • posted by dangum on october 4th, 2011 |
Ed will be performing two concerts with his band on Octotber 8 and 9. October 8th, 2011 Raleigh, NC (Raleigh Amphitheater) - Order tickets October 9th, 2011 Washington, DC (Taste of DC) - Order tickets See Ed's tour page for the latest tour information: http://edkowalczyk.com/tour-dates [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on september 28th, 2011 |
Ed Kowalczyk made an appearance on radio station 95 WIIL Rock (95.1 - Kenosha, Winsconsin) earlier this week. A brief interview along with a solo acoustic performance of I Alone, Stand and Lightning Crashes can be viewed on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-AIFfO91A - Interview + I Alone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taeSMNt4Wr0 - Lightning Crashes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrFRdqU2eNc - Interview + Stand • posted by dangum on september 1st, 2011 |
In Chad Taylor's latest blog post for The Comet, he talks about the future of Live and The Gracious Few as well as some of the cool stuff that is heading our way. A copy of Chad's blog post is reproduced below: Exclusive Blog: Chad Taylor on LIVE, The Gracious Few, and Fearless Creativity Chad Taylor, founding member of Live and The Gracious Few, blogs about Live's 8th studio album, the future of The Gracious Few, a new syndicated radio show and his record label. Most importantly, he says, "I'm not going to let anyone dictate the terms of my creativity." I was in a rhythm writing frequently but so many exciting things started happening that I was having a hard time getting to the blog. I'm back and I have a ton to share with you. My great friend Dennis Rodman was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I think I cried more than D when he was giving his speech. D is a character like no other but the guy has the warmest heart and is so passionate about music. I would watch him play basketball and I would want to equal his energy on stage. I would go all out, just like he did. I just had a better haircut (I'm laughing). t was great to see someone who worked as hard as he did get the recognition he deserved. I spoke to Dennis that morning and I could tell he was going to be emotional and honestly, I wanted the world to see the guy I know - and I think they did. Just like D, I too often wear my heart on my sleeve. I talk too loud, laugh too much and even find myself crying at the smallest things. I'm like a big raw open spectacle. I've got a tough temper too. I would sooner punch you than debate. All of these things have gotten me into trouble throughout my life but they've also fueled my songwriting and performance. I wonder how I would have ever survived a normal day job? I've worked hard to find some balance and at times find it but I live on the edge. I feel like the fans of LIVE and The Gracious Few have afforded me this incredibly rich life and I owe it to them to take my own emotions to the limits. It's not all fun. There has been serious fallout in my life because of this irrational love for playing music. It's what I love and it's what I'll do for the rest of my days. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret a fucking thing. I love our fans and I've really dedicated my life to you. So LIVE are beginning to work again. We dusted off a few of the old tunes only a few weeks ago and man it felt great. The raw energy of The Gracious Few helped bring a much needed new spark to the tunes. I've got to be honest, I didn't know how I would feel about playing those songs but in the end, the chemistry is so strong, things just fell into place. I've got to admit I was shocked at the power of our music after such a long break. LIVE fans are going to be amazed at what we roll out and that's no bullshit. This is the real "White Discussion" bombast that we've all wanted to return.. Yeah, enough talk, I'll let the music speak for itself. LIVE launched its new fan community called www.freaks4live.com. We're giving away a previously unreleased LIVE track for anyone who drops in and registers his or her email address. For those who promote on social media, we're giving away some pretty amazing prizes. Maybe my mom will cook you dinner? We've also recorded our pilot for THINK LOUD with LIVE, a syndicated radio show that will showcase many of our peers from the 90s. The pilot features Peter Klett and Kevin Martin of Candlebox fame. There will also be several previous unreleased LIVE tracks played throughout the pilot! The show just has tons of killer music and we'll be recording shows from all over the world. This is certainly a really exciting look into LIVE music from a brand new perspective. I said I was loud.ha. Kevin Martin and Sean Hennesy are playing shows with Candlebox, so The Gracious Few are on hold for a bit. We're talking about recording some new material before the years end. We're even going to release some things through social media in the next few weeks. I'm sure I'll post more here on the blog. I miss these boys so much and I can't wait to see them in the fall. Everything has a season. Questionable Entertainment, the record label founded by Chad Gracey, Kevin Martin, Patrick Dahlheimer and I is going strong. We're just about to sign our next artist but I can't say who just yet. Anyone who might what to invest and come into the inner circle can contact brian.smith@questionableentertainment.com This really is a chance to help discover authentic musicians and songwriters. We're just so excited to be able to give back and share our experience with other artists. We've got a few other big announcements but the guys might kill me if I drop it too soon. On a deeply personal front (just got to get this off my chest) - I'm not going to let anyone dictate the terms of my creativity! Music is my great freedom and from it I truly derive a great understanding of my higher self. No person should ever think they can take that away from me. For that, I would throw any balance or safety to the side. If you want what was, then buy the old records and have at it. I'm moving down the line in a fucking rocket ship fueled by LIVE, The Gracious Few or who knows what else. Hopefully, you'll be right there with me. but don't think I'm going to look for your approval - that just wouldn't be very rock n' roll of me. On a closing note - the music community lost out over the last two weeks with the Sugarland stage collapse and now the tragedy Pukkelpop. My prayers go out to the friends and families of those music lovers. It's a pointed reminder to live each day like it's our last.. might be time to pick up that old guitar. http://thecomet.com/posts/exclusive_blog_chad_taylor_talks_the_future [Credit: Aitkens] • posted by dangum on august 24th, 2011 |
A brand new studio track from The Gracious Few was made avaialable last night to all fans. To receive your free MP3, simply visit the following address, submit your email address and a link to "Great Houses" will be sent to you: http://www.thegraciousfew.com/greathouses/ Chad Taylor had this to say about the song: At Some level, I've always been a blues guitarist. I wrote the riff to "Great Houses" stoned on the music of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. The great thing about The Gracious Few is that our band can fully embrace the dark underbelly of a song like this. Dana Colley, saxophonist for the incredible group Morphine added his soulful baritone and the recording went to another level. Kevin Martin and I shared a few emails about the turmoil in Haiti following the earthquake and how the problem seemed so looming. We wanted to help but didn't know how. In my reading, I stumbled onto a story of Haitian folklore and sent it Kevin. Somehow, he birthed these mystical lyrics mirroring the theme in the story and the sorrow we felt for the people of Haiti. - Chad Taylor The track is self produced, recorded at SPOT, engineered by Patrick Dahlheimer & mixed by Karl Derfler (Tom Waits) Kevin Martin - Vocals Chad Taylor - Guitar Patrick Dahlheimer - Bass Chad Gracey - Drums Sean Hennesy - Slide Guitar Dana Colley - Baritone Saxophone The dowload is free and we encorage you to share the link with anyone who might enjoy The Gracious Few! [Credit: MrSheptical and rodrigolll2] • posted by dangum on august 23rd, 2011 |
Courtesy of Fans of Live forum member ridley, a DVD of Live's performance at Much Music's Intimate & Interactive is now available for download. The DVD contains the full pro-shot performance from the 4th of November, 1997. Instuctions on how to download the DVD can be found in the link below: [DVD] Live - Intimate & Interactive 1997, Newly surfaced superior source, VHS rip [Credit: ridley] • posted by dangum on august 22nd, 2011 |
After a recent show in Las Vagas (Boulder Station / 13th August 2011) Ed was interviewed by Brian Shapiro. Topics include the success of Throwing Copper, the story behind Lightning Crashes, Secret Samadhi, The Distance to Here, Alive, the relationship between Ed and the members of Live, previous visits to Las Vegas and finally whether he will ever re-unite with Live. The interview can be viewed at the following link http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2011/08/16/backstage-wbrian-shaprio-ed-kowalczyk/ - some people have experienced issues streaming the video so a downloadable version can be obtained from here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nesfdcfgbqv1qrq [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on august 16th, 2011 |
Ed was recently interviewed by Arthur Kade. Topics that are discussed include Ed's new band, Throwing Copper, Ed's solo album, fans, bands that influenced him, current state of music, the meaning behind Lightning Crashes, being mistaken for Andre Agassi as well as what's in store for Ed's next album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQwZviQ77xk [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on august 15th, 2011 |
A new Live website has been launched by the remaining members of Live. The site is currently under construction but can be viewed here: http://www.freaks4live.com The following message was posted on Facebook. Freaks4Live is launching right now! +LIVE+ are proud to announce the launch of our new official headquarters http://www.freaks4live.com +LIVE+ are preparing to enter the studio to write and record their 8th studio album. F4L will be the epicenter of breaking news, advance ticket offerings, band photos and most important new music. Be the first in line for the launch and join now! Freaks4Live was named by Kevin DeBauch through a community contest on the bands Facebook sight. Kevin is one lucky guy as he won (2) lifetime passes to any +LIVE+ show worldwide! But the fun doesn't end here. +LIVE+ will be awarding exclusive prizes to those members who join F4L and promote & capture the most sign ups! Some early prize ideas include: an exclusive tour of the studio while the band are recording; dinner with the band and their mothers; a personally guided tour of York, PA including their childhood homes and the garage where it all began; exclusive F4L T-shirts -- oh, and an exclusive preview party of the bands new album....and we're just getting started. So how many friends and family members can you get to join you at F4L? Don't forget to use your unique URL code on all of your emails and social media posts. This information will be provided once you sign up and you can check in on your status. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED LOVE AND SUPPORT +LIVE+ www.facebook.com/notes/live/freaks4live-is-launching-right-now/10150262041212830 • posted by dangum on august 2nd, 2011 |
Ed was recently interviewed on X107.5 Las Vegas. Ed answers questions about the breakup of Live as well discussing an upcoming concert in Las Vegas. The interview can be streamed from www.x1075lasvegas.radio.com/2011/07/26/interview-former-live-singer-ed-kowalczky/ or you can download an MP3 from the following link: www.mediafire.com/?ld1e25i6i565s12 • posted by dangum on july 28th, 2011 |
Chad Taylor posted a message on behalf of the band where he discusses Live's past and reveals important information on thier future. Thank You by LIVE on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 9:29am First and foremost, I would like to thank the many of you who took the time to compliment the band and I for our devotion to creating music. We often deflect these comments trying to seem humble or gracious but we do care and we do work hard to be good at our craft. It feels great to have recognition from all over the globe for our efforts. Thank you. Patrick, Chad and I spoke earlier today about the general good vibes following yesterday’s Facebook posts. We can feel the +LIVE+ community coming together although there is a tremendous amount of work to be done to grow even further. Chad, Patrick and I have made a commitment to resume working on +LIVE+. This means we will be launching creative projects that will take a great deal of energy and time to develop. We would like your support and patients in our efforts. We would like your contributions and thoughts too! Please see that there is no set path to follow to reach our goal. As with all creative processes, we must be willing to journey to all ends to reach our desired vision (insert rock n’ roll mayhem). With our MCA/ Universal contract long behind us, +LIVE+ are permitted to rerecord any song under our considerable catalog. Yes, this would include rare gems such as “Hold Me Up.” This means that +LIVE+ would control the master rights, meaning we could finally set a release schedule without consideration from a major label. There is a ton of demand for these recordings, so we’ll be back in the studio by late August to track these. This also means we could come up with some pretty amazing packages for the fans that weren’t previously possible and/or available. Most important, we’ll have to go through a process of learning and connecting with the early feel of what made a Live song sound like +LIVE+. As musicians, there are many sides to our characters and through the years we’ve had an opportunity to explore them. Some elements were hugely successful and some just fell flat. It was the +LIVE+ community that allowed us the creative freedom to stray from the successful formulas of Mental Jewelry or Throwing Copper. Secret Samadhi was a deeply personal and creative indulgence. The world embraced the band who delivered “Lightning Crashes” yet we returned with “Lakini’s Juice” and “Freaks”! Maybe we were drunk on our own success but there was absolute creative freedom in that moment. We could have cared less about commercial validation. We wanted to take our community on a ride through the conscious mind and into the subconscious. It’s a great example of how diverse one group of musicians can be. +LIVE+ at its best operated without pretense. There were no discussions about what had worked or what didn’t. This attitude encompassed all elements of the band; for example, how we dressed or presented ourselves. It was always changing and evolving without consideration for those who had to drum up marketing plans and promotional efforts. We were a nightmare for anyone who wanted to put us in a box and sell widgets. I was skinny then I got fat then skinny again. Ed had hair then he shaved his head; was he a Hare Krishna with that pony tail “thing”? Trust me, we heard it all. The thing that made +LIVE+ so willing to just simply float into the creative was this very community. You seemed so excited and enthused every time we journeyed to new ground. You added fuel to a fire that was already burning bright and the band found new dynamics within itself and its music. We were not alone in that space. You were there to bear witness. Despite the record company’s attempts to change the title of “Lakini’s Juice” and “Secret Samadhi” you gave us the faith to tell them to fuck off! We said that +LIVE+ fans don’t want a safety net, they don’t want “Throwing Copper part II” they want a revolution and we’re going to deliver it! I wish you could have seen their faces when “Lakini’s Juice” went straight to #1 on the Modern Rock Charts. To make things even better, “Secret Samadhi” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts. To be clear, +LIVE+ didn’t do that, YOU DID! Our sense of internal confidence was at an all-time high. We felt incredibly rewarded as artists. We knew we had built a fan base like no other band at the time. A +LIVE+ fan was about something bigger than just music. You are smart; you are brave; you are compassionate; you are willing to address your own limitations; you are revolutionaries. The only bands I know who could have said the same thing came in the shape of Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Perfect Circle or Nine Inch Nails. Their core fan bases seem to also propel them into new uncharted waters. +LIVE+ was so lucky to have your support. At some point following The Distance To Here, our industry began to collapse. The MP3 was the new media and radio had gone from supporting independent artists to a consolidated commercial industry. The once daring, were forced to submit to corporate policies or move out of the format. MTV stopped airing 120 Minutes and went into programming reality television. It turns out that revolutionaries like +LIVE+ fans are too hard to predict so the billions of dollars spent in entertainment marketing were focused on pre-teens. Enter the era of Britney, Avril, Miley, Pink, Bieber, etc. To those marketers credit, it worked very well but we all know this doesn’t have much to do with music and most certainly had nothing to do with +LIVE+. There was no Facebook or Twitter and no way to connect on a personal level. Some of the disconnect took the air out of our sails. We were also disconnecting as a group of men. I began to focus on being a father and the rest of the guys were just beginning to get married or divorced. The once childlike creative environment around us began to change. The band experienced its first commercial failure with “V”. I won’t go into details as I’ve written about that in the past. The end result was a band searching to find itself without the support of its label, management or fans. Don’t get me wrong, there were millions of +LIVE+ fans but our direct connection to you was limited. The very thing that made +LIVE+ so incredibly willing to be creative and free was the very thing pulling us apart. We all agreed to disagree on the next vision of +LIVE+ and soon it fell apart. The +LIVE+ that you find today is once again connected with its community. It was simple to find our ground. We had to start back at the beginning. We had to “let it go” to get it back together. Who knew those words from “Operation Spirit” would be the foundation of our rediscovery and rebirth? On day one, we had to struggle to find our way back into playing +LIVE+. Patrick and I spent a day just listening to Mental Jewelry. We laughed our way through trying to recall how and what we played when we were 18 year olds. Each verse and each chorus were exactly the same chords. We just got louder for the chorus; think “Louie Louie” or “Wild Thing.” We gave so much room for those incredible lyrics Ed was bringing to the table. Everything was inspired by our reading of Krishnamurti and our youthful take of questioning what was. I suddenly felt inspired to write and play those types of songs and the vault of my +LIVE+ demos grew by leaps and bounds. Next up was “Throwing Copper” and more than ever we began being inspired by ourselves. When we finally put on our instruments we had to carefully consider how we performed the songs when they were recorded. I heard parts I hadn’t played in years. The years of touring and adaptation were stripped away and we had a more raw version of where we left off. We recorded the session and listened back. Everyone was moved to do more and we soon realized that the old spirit of +LIVE+ was back; odd that we employed the formulas from Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper to find our footing. It sounded fucking amazing! We invited a longtime friend into the fold. He is a vocalist who is a friend of the +LIVE+ community who was sensitive to our emotions surrounding these songs. I asked myself how it would feel to even perform these songs without Ed. I for one was more hesitant than any fan. I had worked arm in arm with Ed for so many years, I couldn’t imagine that it would feel okay without him. I knew I couldn’t let my filters into the room. I had to be open to the experience. Surprisingly, I was paying little attention to the vocals as I was working hard to recall how to play my own parts. Gracey and Dahlheimer were doing the same. At some point, I began to sing background vocals and I realized, it felt exactly the same. The music was rising above the individuals and it sounded and felt youthful and strong. It is +LIVE+. I asked Matt Gracey to drop in to rehearsals. Matt’s a no bullshit kind of guy who would speak the truth no matter if it hurt. When I saw his subtle head shake at the back of the room, I knew the band was being reborn. The +LIVE+ I fell in love with was blasting through the walls filling the air of York, PA with the music it helped to birth. Just like the garage on Newberry Street, there would be very few witnesses, there would be no autographs or fan photos but I knew we were back. I’ve learned over the last few years that the real voice of +LIVE+ is with you the fans. In concert you would often overpower the PA system. I know we should honor and respect our history with each other and that includes Ed’s contributions. We too should respect Ed’s wishes to remain a singer/songwriter. I’ve come to a place where I totally understand his wishes to work outside of the boundaries created by Chad, Patrick and myself. Despite our creative differences, we will always be linked and bound to our history with each other and the brotherhood of our youth. Ed Kowalczyk, Chad Gracey, Patrick Dahlheimer and Chad Taylor would never want you to divide yourselves or cut each other down over choosing sides. In the new era, we have a +LIVE+ community that can embrace The Gracious Few, Ed & Adam Kowalczyk and anyone else who may join the fold. As I said previously, there will be no exclusions. The +LIVE+ community will take the time to listen generously to each member of the band and its fans. We will reward and acknowledge each other for our efforts. Most important, we will return to making the music that set so many of us free. - Chad Taylor Chad's post can be found here: www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150250454422830 • posted by dangum on july 19th, 2011 |
In the past couple of days Chad Taylor has posted two notes on Live's Facebook site. They are reproduced below. The spirit of +LIVE+ by LIVE on Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 10:11pm Many years ago, +LIVE+ transitioned from four individuals into a collective community that includes without limitation, all human beings. Our music, first and foremost, is intended to celebrate the wide range of dynamics experienced by our human condition. +LIVE+ is your band and the music reflects the beauty and spirit so many of you have shared with us throughout our career. The spirit of +LIVE+ is one of contemplation, generous listening and inclusion. All thoughts and opinions will be welcome. For over twenty-five years the music of +LIVE+ has ebbed and flowed. We've seen many changes in those years but without question, our love for you, our most loyal fans, has never wavered. I know many of you are excited to hear new music. The hiatus is over & we've returned with a renewed energy to create. It will be our communal duty to hold +LIVE+ and its fan base to the highest possible standard. "You Are The World" and only you can bring about the full potential of this community. Let's be about something bigger than ourselves. Your humble guitarist, Chad Taylor with LOVE and respect by LIVE on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 9:40am Good morning. I'm proud of the +LIVE+ family for being able to have a healthy debate without cutting each other down. I can feel your passion and encourage you to continue in healthy dialog with an ear towards listening generously and inclusion. There is no right or wrong, so we need not take a position that results in more pain or sorrow, there is already too much of this. Some fans may choose to leave +LIVE+ based on many parameters. Some will stay but this has always been the case as I've seen millions of you come and go. Regardless, when we need our +LIVE+, it is there for us in recorded format, preserved just as it was. There will also be many of you (like me) that want to hear +LIVE+ music in concert. I agree once again that trying to replace a soulmate like Ed is impossible but it is possible to replicate the intention of the music and lyric and hold high its value. The fact is that we, the band, haven't mentioned who will be singing (read the original post). Many of you have jumped to conclusions. The power of your language and the thoughts you choose to share will have a deep impact, so we must choose wisely. I for one, do not need your defense, nor does Ed, Chad or Patrick. We are well aware of our intimate relationship to +LIVE+ and our contributions. I agree 100% that Ed is a pillar of +LIVE+. This band and its music are forever indebted to his creativity and devotion to making +LIVE+ music. The fact again is that +LIVE+ music will outlast and outlive the original band. There will come a day when we have all passed but "Lightning Crashes" or "Peace Is Now" will continue to have new listeners. Many artists world wide perform and record +LIVE+ songs and they too are an extension of our lives work. Many players/musicians have contributed to our lineage of music. Woody Jackson for example was part of the band in high school followed by Christopher Thorn, Adam Kowalczyk, Michael Railo, Lloyd Maines, Jerry Harrison and even the New York Philharmonic. I haven't begun to list the many managers, agents, lawyers, publicists, video directors, art directors, touring crew and label workers who collaborated with the band to deliver the music as +LIVE+. Even when +LIVE+ was learning to play our instruments in the garage on Newberry Street, we had Rodney "Butch" Seifert, Matt Gracey, Bernard Rudolph and Robbie Landis working in the shadows. It was always bigger than Chad, Patrick, Ed or myself. We cannot afford to act or think in a precious manner when it comes to this music. +LIVE+ to me and many others is so much more than a rock band. We worked without regard to typical rock band dynamics to help set the human race free; to negate racism and to negate nationalism and the religious boundaries that have only served to divide mankind. +LIVE+ remains an instrument of the people. Ed Kowalczyk's contribution to +LIVE+ cannot end - he brought to light many of the very ideals and concepts that fueled a global community of music lovers who wanted more that "we got it on" lyrics within your average pop tune. This cannot be overshadowed and there will be no attempt to dishonor Ed or any member of +LIVE+ past or present. Ed is welcome to contribute to +LIVE+ as many other have in the past and will in the future. There will be no exclusion under my leadership. All voices do matter to me and this is why I have asked for your many incredible thoughts. I am overjoyed to see that many of you can see the value in continuing this musical spirit! Chad, Patrick and myself have announced our intention to make +LIVE+ music once again. This was not an easy decision and one we wrestle with every day. We care very much for our history and care very much for our relationship with you. After all, a band is nothing but relationships. As I have written previously; Ed, Chad, Patrick and myself are working hard to mend any issues that may have come between us. Our greatest collective accomplishment has been +LIVE+ and it may be the very reason we continue to work towards a healthy relationship with each other but once again, those dynamics are not for public consumption (I clearly made that error previously and have learned a valuable lesson). These are private matters between brothers. +LIVE+ on the other hand is for the people. Regardless of wether you choose to remain a fan of the band is your choice but as long as +LIVE+ remains in my care, we are ambitiously moving forward. With any luck, you'll hear the intensity I heard last week when we began to dust off the old material. It sounded so amazing right out of the box. +LIVE+ music has a feel all of its own and I can't wait to perform it for as long as I possibly can; even if its for a room a one, its well worth the effort. Please do not abuse each other over the politics and propaganda of those who would will division or fear. Please try and value each members thoughts regardless of your position. This is our community and I am very proud to have an association with members who are drawn to higher principles of the world - oh yeah, and really loud rock n' roll. with LOVE and respect, Chad Taylor Chad's posts can be found here: www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150248433852830 www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150248743297830 • posted by dangum on july 17th, 2011 |
Earlier this year, Ed Kowalczyk performed at 'Infinity Hall' in CT during his 'Open Wings, Broken Strings" tour. Joining him on the tour were Emerson Hart (Tonic) and Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer). The March 2nd performance was recorded and will be broadcast as part of the television series 'Infinity Hall Live' on CPTV. The series starts this Friday at 11pm, and over the next 8 weeks will feature performances by Ed Kowalczyk, Rusted Root and Shelby Lynne. The complete schedule can be seen below. Join us this summer for a new concert series unlike any that the public television network has ever produced, because it has a special connection to the Nutmeg State: Each episode is taped at Infinity Hall, a stunning 19th century music venue located in Norfolk, Connecticut. The eight-part series showcases a variety of musical genres and styles, from indie rock to folk and country. This summer, Infinity Hall Live features an exciting line-up of artists:
• posted by dangum on june 16th, 2011 |
The past couple of days have seen some clarification on the future of Live. Firstly an interview with Ed was published in the "Salt Lake Tribune" where Ed states that he has no plans to rejoin Live. Q. What is your side of the story about why Live disbanded? Do you ever foresee working with your former band mates again? A. I had simply come to the end of a chapter in my life and wanted to spread my wings and move beyond what I had been doing, in the same way, for almost 20 years. As far as the allegations that were leveled at me and purported as the reason for the breakup, they were all absolutely untrue. I have no plans to work with those individuals again. The spirit of Live is alive and well in my performances and my new material - come and see for yourself. Link to full interview. And today Chad Taylor posts a blog entry on "The Comet" website stating that Live will continue on touring and making new music with Chad Taylor, Chad Gracey and Patrick but without Ed. Exclusive Blog: Chad Taylor talks The Gracious Few and Live 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. Link to Chad's blog. • posted by dangum on june 8th, 2011 |
Ed has posted a photo of a vinyl version of his debut solo release 'Alive' on his Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150188201798081 It appears as if the vinyl version comes with a bonus clear vinyl - there's no word on what it contains. The album will be available for purchase from Ed's personal site at www.edkowalczyk.com as well as being avaialble for pre-order at Amazon. • posted by dangum on april 23rd, 2011 |
A video interview with Kevin Martin and Chad Taylor has been posted on the Rockinvasion website The interview was recorded earlier this year while The Gracious Few were touring Europe. The 10 minute interview can be streamed from: http://www.rockinvasion.de/video/gracious-few • posted by dangum on april 21st, 2011 |
After only a few weeks with the band, Adam has recorded two new tracks with 'The Mint'. 'Start Over' and 'Mirrors Don't Lie' are being streamed from: http://www.reverbnation.com/themintusa • posted by dangum on april 8th, 2011 |
Ed has announced 3 tour dates in Brazil for June/July. Ed will be appearing with his band at the following dates: São Paulo - HSBC Brasil - June 30, 2011 Rio de Janeiro - Vivo Rio - July 1, 2011 Porto Alegre - Pepsi On Stage - July 3, 2011 Check http://www.edkowalczyk.com for the latest information. • posted by dangum on april 7th, 2011 |
Chad Taylor has posted an open letter to all Live fans. The letter is re-printed below: Dear Friends of LIVE: Chad, Patrick and I can feel your passion for our band and our music (has it really been twenty years)! It's a rush every time we hear from you! It still amazes me that our music found a worldwide audience that has remained loyal for so long. Now we can hear from you directly through social media and we've been paying attention. We've read your FB posts and know how much you want to see a new LIVE album and tour dates. We also know how much you want to see a reunion too and we made efforts to try and meet with Ed. Unfortunately, it's not the right time for the original lineup to come together. Ed remains committed to his solo efforts and we've been busy promoting The Gracious Few (all of us spending some much needed time with our families). At this point, everything remains positive between Chad, Patrick and I and we deeply appreciate your support throughout the hiatus. We can sympathize with your angst surrounding Ed's departure. His magical lyrics touched all of our lives for so many years. On many levels he can never be replaced. Only Ed can determine his future and right now he is unresponsive regarding LIVE; so we must move forward without him. We ask that our history with each other be respected and that no ill will be charged towards Ed for following his dreams. If you really are a LIVE fan, then you'll heed our emotional and spiritual right to be free and creative. I believe in Ed's right to pursue music on his own terms, just as I believe in my own. This doesn't mean that LIVE is through, in fact, I think the limitations of the band have been lifted and we can create without the confines of the garage. LIVE brought people together and uplifted spirits, all while rocking out! With any luck, nothing will tarnish this legacy and our music can continue to bring joy to the masses. LIVE can live on in many shapes and forms. Don't worry, there will be new LIVE music on the horizon! Recently, we have begun to focus on a new era of truly exciting projects surrounding our catalog of hit songs and even new recorded material! It may involve non-traditional LIVE tours, festivals, fan gatherings, mobile applications, outtakes, b-sides, rarities and a fresh take on many of the classic LIVE songs we all love. We will be back in the studio as LIVE before you know it! Truthfully, we're only beginning to get a handle on the numerous possibilities being presented to us. Please be patient while we dial in the right mix of new and old. It's our goal to keep the music of LIVE fresh and relevant. We know that there are many generations of music lovers who will also need the power and integrity of our music and we wish to share it with them. This transition hasn't been easy on our fans and we have always cared deeply for you. We're not looking to be the next Van Halen or Motley Crue but we do know we have an obligation to the millions of fans who have supported LIVE to carry on the flag. No one can appreciate your pain more than the band itself. It hasn't been easy to say goodbye to an entire era of our lives. Chad, Patrick and I have found great strength and faith in each other. Our ability to forgive and forge ahead as a unit is no doubt a credit to the support you've shown us since Mental Jewelry or even Public Affection. There is still a ton of rock n' roll to be made. That's what I know. Chad Taylor - guitarist for LIVE and The Gracious Few [Source] http://thecomet.com/posts/an_open_letter_from_chad_taylor_to_friends_of_live • posted by dangum on march 23rd, 2011 |
While The Gracious Few were in Europe, they stopped over at the '2 Meter Sessions' studio to record an acoustic set. The entire performance is available to be streamed on YouTube. Here are the links to the footage: Part 1 - Live feat, Anouk "Dance With You" + interview with Chad Taylor Part 2 - "Honest Man" and "Great Houses do Fall" Part 3 - "The Rest of You" and "What's Wrong" Part 4 - "Appetite", "Closer" and "Tredecim" [Credit: Wildman] • posted by dangum on march 3rd, 2011 |
Adam Kowalczyk recently Tweeted that he has joined band 'The Mint'. Adam has replaced their lead vocalist and has begun rehearsing rehearsing with the new band. The band will be performing at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA on March 11th, 2011. For more details on 'The Mint', check out their MySpace and Facebook sites below: www.facebook.com/Themintonline www.myspace.com/themintonline • posted by dangum on march 2nd, 2011 |
The first 'The Gracious Few' full audience recording from Europe has surfaced. The Cologne, Germany (2011-02-25) show was recorded by 'thatsme' and is available for download through a number of sites. The concert includes the Depeche Mode cover of 'It's No Good' as well as a new track called "Labor of Love". Details about the show and download links can be found in the following thread of the Fansoflive.com forum: [FLAC] The Gracious Few - 2011/02/25 - Luxor, Cologne, GER, Direct download link Be sure to check out the Multimedia forum for all your Live, Ed Kowalczyk and The Gracious few downloads. [Credit: thatsme] • posted by dangum on february 27th, 2011 |
The very first audience shot DVD of The Gracious Few is now available for download. Last year's Indianaoplis show (2010-11-11) was vidoe recorded by 'tst4eko' and synced up with his own audience audio recording. The final result can be downloaded from the Dimeadozen.org bittorrent site. Details on how to download the video can be found in this thread: [Video] The Gracious Few - 2010-11-11 - Indianapolis, IN, Torrent - Full Show - Audience Recording If you are unable to use BitTorrent, 'tst4eko' has provided a direct link to an AVI version of the show. YouTube links to each track are also included. Check the above thread for all the link. [Credit: tst4eko] • posted by dangum on february 26th, 2011 |
The Gracious Few have debuted a new track on their European tour. 'Labor of Love' was first performed in London on the 18th of February 2011. The first recording to surface comes from Amsterdam (March 23rd) at the Melkweg. The video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyHEK-dAS6Y [Credit: Wildman] • posted by dangum on february 23rd, 2011 |
The video for the followup The Gracious Few single has been released. 'Appetite' can be streamed from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfroujEM4X0 If you are located outside the USA, you may not be able to watch the video. Try the following link instead: http://www.xvideos247.com/video/6670 Alternatively, if you want to download the video, then click on the link below: http://www.mediafire.com/?p4g3yxbd03s5zfo [Credit: rock4adiference] • posted by dangum on february 21st, 2011 |
Chad Taylor and Kevin Martin of The Gracious Few appeared on Rockline with Bob Coburn on Monday the 14th of February 2011. An online stream can be heard at http://www.rocklineradio.com/replay/replay.php for the next 2 weeks. Alternatively, MP3s of the show can be downloaded from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?lej4ovj0co243 [Credit: OutToDry and tst4eko] • posted by dangum on february 15th, 2011 |
Chad Taylor was interviewed on breakfast radio (WZZO Allentown) on February 10, 2011 by morning crew Bearman & Keith. To download the 9 minute interview, click on the link below. http://www.mediafire.com/?nt41ed8mmddt1ns [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on february 11th, 2011 |
A pro-shot video of Ed Kowalczyk's Sydney show is now available to be streamed from the
Moshcam website. The video contains the full performance from the October 30th show at The Enmore Theatre. Click the link below to start watching: http://moshcam.com/ed-kowalczyk/enmore-theatre-832.aspx [Credit: Ridley] • posted by dangum on february 7th, 2011 |
The video for Ed's latest single 'Stand' has been released. The video consists of performance footage taken at the Enmore Theatre in Australia in October 2010 as well as video Sydney scenery and Ed meeting fans. The video can be viewed on Facebook and Youtube. Ed Kowalczyk - Stand (Facebook) Ed Kowalczyk - Stand (YouTube) [Credit: LivesMeltdown] • posted by dangum on february 4th, 2011 |
An in-depth video interview with Chad Taylor and Sean Hennesy of the Gracious Few has been featured in Fret 12 magazine. The videos can be viewed at the following site: Fret 12 - The Gracious Few Interview If you would like to download a copy of these videos, head over to the following link: http://www.mediafire.com/?ccatz9hp7f5a9 [Credit: myoung295] • posted by dangum on january 19th, 2011 |
The debut album by The Gracious Few is now available for purchase on vinyl! You can order a copy from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The Gracious Few - vinyl @ Amazon The Gracious Few - vinyl @ Barnes & Noble [Credit: icewaterike] • posted by dangum on january 17th, 2011 |
Due to the time it's taking for Chad Taylor to recupirate from surgery, The Gracious Few's January European tour has been pushed back a month to February. Tickets purchased for the orginal shows are valid for the rescheduled dates. The new dates are listed below: Feb 18, 2011 London, UK @ Barfly Feb 21, 2011 Groningen, NL @ De Oosterpoort Feb 23, 2011 Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg Feb 25, 2011 Cologne, DE @ Luxor Feb 26, 2011 Weert, NL @ De Bosuil • posted by dangum on january 14th, 2011 |
A complete video recording of Ed Kowalczyk's Perth(Australia) concert last year is now available for download. The video is a single cam audience shot and features an excellent sounding audience audio recording. For setlist, YouTube video samples and a link to download the DVD, click on the link below: [DVD] Ed Kowalczyk 2010-11-08, Perth, Australia (Metropolis Fremantle) • posted by dangum on january 8th, 2011 |
Ed is in the process of producing a Grace "Super Single" that contains a new version of Grace along with some concert tracks. All proceeds of the sale will go to World Vision in aid of building a well in an African village. The CD can be pre-ordered from Ed's site and all copies will be personally signed by Ed. https://edkowalczyk.com/store/autographed-limited-edition-cd-pre-order [Update: Jan 12, 2011] - Individual tracks from the single can be purchased through Amazon Grace (Limited Edition) - EP @ Amazon • posted by dangum on december 21st, 2010 |
Adam Kowalczyk will be performing a handful of solo shows next week in NJ and PA. Entry to the shows are free, details are below. December 9, 2010 North Bergen, NJ (Public Library) 7 pm (Free Admission) http://www.nbpl.org/ December 9, 2010 North Bergen, NJ (Antonia's by the Park Restaurant) 9 pm (Free Admission- Food and Drink is pay as you go) http://www.antoniasbythepark.com/ December 11, 2010 Fairless Hills, PA (Best Buy Oxford Valley) 2 PM (Free Admission) http://stores.bestbuy.com/577/events/ [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on december 3rd, 2010 |
A new collection on interview snippets with Ed Kowalczyk can be streamed at ListenIn.org The interview covers topics such as Ed's spirituality as well as background information on a number of tracks from his solo album 'Alive'. A zip file containing the individual tracks (as well as the full interview) can also be downloaded from: www.mediafire.com/?qzz22g4au009qn3 • posted by dangum on november 30th, 2010 |
While in Australia on his 2010 national tour, Ed Kowalczyk was interviewed by online music magazine Undercover.fm The 10 minute interview can be streamed from the following link: http://www.undercover.fm/news/12890-video-ed-kowalczyk-goes-from-live-to-alive An mp4 rip of the video can be downloaded from here: www.mediafire.com/?upyof8thy327i5l [Credit: LivesMeltdown] • posted by dangum on november 28th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few have annouced that a number of December shows will be professionally recorded by 'Abbey Road' and released on CD. "Surprise announcement! We are exited to let you know that TGF will be recorded on each stop of the band's upcoming tour leg, starting in Seattle and ending in Ventura , by Abbey Road Live. These are high quality, limited edition double-disc sets. Best of all, if you go to the show, you can pick up your CD set as you leave, encore and all! And if you are not going, you can still have it shipped home to you. Since these are so limited, we are offering these for pre-sale at www.abbeyroadliveus.com. Jump over and your copy today, as it is sure to become a collector's item!" Orders can be placed here: http://www.abbeyroadliveus.com/detail.cfm?artistid=45 • posted by dangum on november 22nd, 2010 |
At a Gracious Few show in Chicago (November 12, 2010), Chad Taylor fell off stage during the performance of 'Honest Man'. With the help of the crowd, he was able to get back up on stage and then proceeded to finish the song laying on his back. Unfortunely, the show didn't continue after the track as Chad was taken away by ambulance. There's some footage of the actual moment as well as Chad playing guitar lying on his back. Chad is absolutely fine (though he's using crutches) and even posted a video of his experience. Here are some links: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt3ooRBTc6c - Honest Man and Chad falling into the crowd. www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=454299767917 - Chad falling into the crowd www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=454307857917 - Chad playing 'Honest Man' on his back after the fall www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD-Ze1abUlc - Chad's alright! • posted by dangum on november 13th, 2010 |
An interview featuring Kevin Martin is featured on Billboard.com Kevin discusses the how the band got together, what drew him to music and what he thinks about the current state of rock. The interview can be streamed from here or an FLV file can be downloaded from here • posted by dangum on november 10th, 2010 |
An interview with Ed was recently featured on the Christian show 'The Merge'. Ed discusses why he decided to be a solo artist, the album 'Alive', and his spiritual journey. The video also contains 2 live performances with Ed and his new band at the 'Bavaria Open Air Festival' in Holland (August 28, 2010). The interview + performance can be streamed from: 'http://themergeshow.com/merge-outloud/edkowalczyk If you would prefer a hard copy, then an MP4 version can be downloaded from http://www.mediafire.com/?zom4hrrl1dl6q9m. [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on november 10th, 2010 |
Thanks to the dedicated taping skills of Charles Dewey Cole (live2cd) two recent The Gracious Few concerts have been recorded and are now available to download. The Cincinnati (October 26, 2010) and Columbus (October 28, 2010) shows are can be downloaded either through bitTorrent (FLACs via Dimeadozen.org) or MP3s via direct download. Both recordings sound fantastic are definitely worth downloading. The Gracious Few October 26th, 2010. 20th Century Theatre - Cincinnati, OH. Taper: Charles Dewey Cole, IV Location: 10ft back; directly in front of right stack on 8ft. stand. Source: HEB DPA4060 + Edirol R-09 (@48kHz) > Cep v.2.0 > (@44.1kHz) > Cd Wave Conversion: Charles Dewey Cole, IV Equipment: SanDisk 4GB SDHC Card > (USB) @ 48kHz > 44.1kHz > Cd Wave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc One: (53:34) 01. Appetite 6:13 02. The Few 4:39 03. Tredecim 6:02 04. The Rest Of You 3:54 05. Silly Thing 4:23 06. All I Hear 5:55 07. Crying Time 7:53 08. Guilty Fever 5:15 09. It's No Good ^ 5:08 10. Closer 4:12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc Two: (56:52) 01. Great Houses Do Fall * 8:43 02. Honest Man * 6:06 03. The Rest Of You * 6:09 04. Nothing But Love * 6:12 05. What's Wrong 4:40 06. Nothing But Love 8:38 07. Honest Man 8:19 08. Sing 8:05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: ^ = Originally Recorded By Depeche Mode. The *'s designate the "front porch" portion of the set, where they all took seats (like an unplugged performance) and broke down 4 songs. 3 songs were repeated, but were completely different versions, which did not detract from them being played again. Also note, I amplified the right channel by 0.8% due to it being slightly lower than the left. I gotta say, for a band with one record out (a terrific debut, at that), they put on one hell of a headlining set in Cincinnati. 110 minute show for $10, and they did not let up one bit for the 100 some people in attendance. Go out and see these guys, I cannot stress that enough. They are also open taping with any kind of gear you want to bring in! ************* The Gracious Few October 28th, 2010. Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH. Taper: Charles Dewey Cole, IV Location: 10ft back; directly in front of right stack on 8ft. stand. Source: HEB DPA4060 + Edirol R-09 (@48kHz) > Cep v.2.0 > (@44.1kHz) > Cd Wave Conversion: Charles Dewey Cole, IV Equipment: SanDisk 4GB SDHC Card > (USB) @ 48kHz > 44.1kHz > Cd Wave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc One: (53:42) 01. Appetite 6:03 02. The Few 4:53 03. Tredecim 5:29 04. The Rest Of You 3:55 05. Silly Thing 4:15 06. All I Hear 6:51 07. Crying Time 8:11 08. Guilty Fever # 4:58 09. It's No Good ^ 5:18 10. Closer 3:49 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc Two: (49:55) 01. Great Houses Do Fall * 7:27 02. Honest Man * 4:56 03. The Rest Of You * 6:05 04. Nothing But Love * 5:19 05. What's Wrong 4:50 06. Nothing But Love 7:27 07. Honest Man 6:19 08. Sing 7:32 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: # = Features a tease of "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh. ^ = Originally Recorded By Depeche Mode. The *'s designate the "front porch" portion of the set, where they all took seats (like an unplugged performance) and broke down 4 songs. 3 songs were repeated, but were completely different versions, which did not detract from them being played again. Also note, I amplified the right channel by 1.5% due to it being slightly lower than the left. You may notice a change in the recording starting w/ "Great Houses". I noticed the sound was a tad bit better if I moved the stand about 3 feet over to the left (weird, I know), so I did. I just waited for the break before the "front porch" to do so. The first 10 songs still sound good, but it will be noticeable. Go out and see these guys, I cannot stress that enough. They are also open taping with any kind of gear you want to bring in! Links to both recordings can be found in the Fans of Live forum Cincinnati, OH 10-26-10 -- short review & torrent Columbus, OH 10-28-10 -- short review & torrent [Credit: live2cd] • posted by dangum on october 29th, 2010 |
A video of Ed's performance on the 104.5 Streaming Radio Sessions has been posted online. Ed performed I Alone, Grace, Drink and Lightning Crashes is a solo acoustic setting in front of an intimate audience. Footage can be streamed here: www.radio1045.com/pages/promo/studio-sessions.html A downloadable version of the performance can be obtained at the following link: http://www.mediafire.com/?5xkgq6p63l1q447 • posted by dangum on october 19th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few visited the WMMR studios in Philadelphia today (1st October 2010) for what turned out to be an extended on-air interview. The entire band was interviewed by Pierre Robert and they also performed acoustic versions of 'Honest Man' and 'Closer'. Topics of conversation include: How the band name was selected, the story behind 'Honest Man', how the band was formed, the town of York, Jerry Harrison, 'Thank You' list in the album liner notes, Tom Lord Alge, the very first The Gracious Few concert at Fat Daddy's, setlist of a TGF show, situation with Ed and the breakup, whether any songs on the album are about Ed, the Candlebox situation, Kevin and Sean's visit to Iraq and more... The 3 part interivew and performance can be streamed from the following links: Part 1 - http://www.wmmr.com/music/mmarchives/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10145923 Part 2 - http://www.wmmr.com/music/mmarchives/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10145925 Part 3 - http://www.wmmr.com/music/mmarchives/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10145928 MP3s of the inteview can be downloaded from here: Part 1 - http://www.mediafire.com/?866ga65bymxyem6 Part 2 - http://www.mediafire.com/?2wqv8seot15oiv2 Part 3 - http://www.mediafire.com/?kc0kodhi5kk6s95 • posted by dangum on october 1st, 2010 |
Gibson.com has posted an interview with Kevin Martin, Chad Taylor and Sean Hennesy of The Gracious Few that was recorded earlier this month. This 10 minute interview covers how Kevin was chosen to be the vocalist, what inspired Kevin to switch from drums to singing, how band name was chosen, how Sean became involved in the band and finishes with an acoustic performance of Honest Man. The interview can be streamed from here: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/The-Gracious-Few-928 If you would like to download the video to your computer, then click on the following link: http://www.mediafire.com/?00qbqe2cw2a840k [Credit: LivesMeltdown] • posted by dangum on september 28th, 2010 |
Kevin Martin and Chad Taylor made and appearance on ABC News yesterday (September 21st, 2010). Following a reasonably in-depth interview, they performed an acoustic version of Appetite. Footage from the show can be streamed from the ABC News website. If you would like to download the video to your computer, then click on the following link: http://www.mediafire.com/?s15b7vrwtw2w5i4 An MP3 of the acoustic version of Appetite can be downloaded from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?co118gd16k2lt4p (the ending of the track is cut, but that's how it was broadcast) [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on september 22nd, 2010 |
September 14 marked the day The Gracious Few debut album was finally released. The 13 tracks on the album include: 1. Appetite 2. Honest Man 3. Guilty Fever 4. The Few 5. The Rest of You 6. Crying Time 7. Silly Thing 8. Closer 9. Tredecim 10. Whats Wrong 11. Nothing But Love 12. Sing 13. All I Hear The album is available in brick and mortar stores such as Best Buy, Borders and Target as well as online through Amazon and iTunes. • posted by dangum on september 18th, 2010 |
This morning Ed along with drummer Ramy and guitarist James appeared on the '10 Show', a mornng program broadcast on NBC Philadelphia to promote his upcoming US tour. Ed was briefly interviewed by the host and then the band performed an acoustic version of 'Grace'. The entire performance can be viewed here: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/shows/10-show/ Unfortunately, the video is unavailable to persons outside of the US so here is an alternative site to download it from: http://www.mediafire.com/?548agebmx91681h A media player such as VLC will be needed to play the file. [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on september 16th, 2010 |
A pro-shot video of an Ed's solo performance in Amsterdam (July 2nd, 2009 @ Melkweg) has recently surfaced on YouTube. This 3 camera production was filmed by Ray Slavenburg (who also edited the video), Ewoud Bon and Denise van Toor. Currently, two tracks from this performance can be viewed on YouTube. I Alone Overcome (featuring 3 violinists, a cellist and a keyboard player) [Credit: Ray Slavenburg] • posted by dangum on september 7th, 2010 |
Kevin Martin was interviewed by 'Elliot in the Morning' on radio station DC101 this morning. The 12 minute interview can be heard on YouTube and an MP3 of the interview can also be downloaded from here: www.mediafire.com/?6ies25aas6a2b4e • posted by dangum on september 2nd, 2010 |
Amazon has updated their site to include 13 audio samples from the forthcoming The Gracious Few album. According to Amazon the track listing is as follows:
[Credit: LivesMeltdown / Existentialist] • posted by dangum on august 29th, 2010 |
Ed appeared on couple of San Diego radio stations this morning to promote his first solo album Alive First stop for Ed was at 91x where sat in for a brief interview and performed an acoustic version of "I Alone" An hour later Ed was at the studios of Rock 105.3 where Ed performed acoustic versions of "Grace" and "Lightning Crashes" Both appearances can be downloaded from the links below: 91x - Interview and performance: www.mediafire.com/?hq1ijo0fja87jtc Rock 105.3 - Interview and perfomance: www.mediafire.com/?8uf55wy4idnne5y • posted by dangum on august 9th, 2010 |
Dates for Ed Kowalczyk's tour of Australia and New Zealand have just been annouced. Ed will be touring with his full band this October and November. Dates are below: October 28th, 2010 The Powerstation - Auckland, NZ October 31st, 2010 The Enmore Theatre - Sydney, Australia November 2nd, 2010 Hi Fi Bar - Brisbane, Australia November 5th, 2010 The Forum - Melbourne, Australia November 6th, 2010 Thebarton Theatre - Adelaide, Australia November 8th, 2010 Metropolis Fremantle - Perth, Australia Edit: new date added to tour October 30th, 2010 Newcastle Leagues Club - Newcastle, Australia Ticketing details can be found here: www.coppel.com.au/artists/EK • posted by dangum on august 9th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few have annouced tour dates for the first leg of thier US tour. The dates are below: Sep 24 Buffalo, NY - Tralf Music Hall Sep 25 Toronto, ONT - Mod Club Sep 26 Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall Sep 28 Boston, MA - Paradise Ballroom Sep 29 Baltimore, MD - Bourbon Street Ballroom Oct 01 Philadelphia, PA - Fillmore at TLA Oct 02 Falls Church, VA - State Theatre Oct 03 Richmond, VA - The Hat Factory Oct 05 Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre Oct 06 Greenville, SC - The Handlebar Oct 08 Charlotte, NC - Visulite Theatre Oct 09 Charleston, SC - The Music Farm Oct 10 Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade Oct 13 Houston, TX - The Warehouse Oct 14 Dallas, TX - The Loft Oct 15 Austin, TX - The Independent Oct 16 Little Rock AR - Revolution Music Room Oct 19 Memphis, TN - Newby's Oct 20 New Orleans, LA - Tipitinas Oct 26 Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theatre Oct 28 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall Oct 29 Flint, MI - The Machine Shop Oct 30 Lancaster, PA - The Chameleon -- Leg 2 (updated Aug 24) Nov 03 New York, NY Fillmore @ Irving Plaza Nov 04 Northampton, MA Pearl Street Nov 05 Asbury Park, NJ The Stone Pony Nov 06 Pittsburgh, PA Altar Bar Nov 09 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection Nov 11 Indianapolis, IN The Vouge Nov 12 Chicago, IL TBD Nov 13 Des Moines, IA People's Court Nov 14 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre Nov 16 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Nov 17 Council Bluffs, IA Whiskey Roadhouse Nov 19 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre Nov 20 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep Nov 30 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Dec 01 Seattle, WA Showbox Market Dec 03 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom Dec 04 Reno, NV Knitting Factory Dec 06 Sactamento, CA Harlow's Dec 07 San Francisco, CA The Independent Dec 09 San Diego, CA House of Blues Dec 10 Anaheim, CA House of Blues Dec 11 Ventura, CA Ventura Theatre By purchasing tickets directly through www.thegraciousfew.net/ you can take advantage of special pricing which also includes a free mp3 download of 'Tredecim', a tour laminate (mailed to you prior to the show) and a poster as well as early entry into the venue. • posted by dangum on august 4th, 2010 |
After many years of waiting, MP3s of Live's Divided Mind, Divided Planet tape, have finally surfaced. MP3s of the 5 tracks on this tape can be downloaded from here. The tracks included on the tape include: 1. "Pain Lies on the Riverside" 2. "Brothers Unaware" 3. "Waterboy" 4. "Operation Spirit" 5. "Peace Is Now" Each track differs from the version that appears on Mental Jewelry [Credit: NectarDan] • posted by dangum on july 31st, 2010 |
The Gracious Few's Facebook page reports that Yahoo! Music will be debuting the music video of 'Honest Man' this Sunday night at 9pm PT / 12am ET. Update: If you would like to download a high definition (1280 x 720) copy of "Honest Man", then click on the link below: http://www.mediafire.com/?4obx7lb44g4pjmf [Credit: OutToDry and dangum] • posted by dangum on july 30th, 2010 |
Amazon.com is now taking pre-orders for the debut album by The Gracious Few. The album is scheduled for release on September 14, 2010. [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on july 26th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few have released another studio track from their forthcoming self-titled album on their MySpace page. 'Crying Time' can be streamed at www.myspace.com/thegraciousfew If you'd prefer an mp3, then check out the Fans of Live forum. [Credit: Aitkens, Badman] • posted by dangum on july 21st, 2010 |
Dmitry Ed Pavlotsky July 19, 2010 Dear Chad Taylor, On behalf of your fans from around the world we want to sincerely thank you for the years of wonderful music you have given us, and for all that is still to come with TGF. We believe ourselves to possess nearly all of the recordings that you've taken part in, and do so with great joy and pride. However; since about 1996 we've heard about several songs that are either only available in obscure, low quality form - or appear to be myths, and we're not certain they actually exist to be heard! This is why we have decided to write to you today; we have a request. If they do exist, we're dying to know about them. We want to learn about the little known tracks like New City and Pop Vortex, the forgotten gems lost along the way. So whether you can tell us more information about them, or even be able to send us a version of these rare tracks - we'd be ever, ever so grateful. The members of the FansOfLive and WhereFreaksTalk message boards made a list of the songs we most desire. Here it is: New City -- We believe there's a version circulating, but none of us have ever heard it. It's SUPER rare! Wash the Blood Away -- Does it even exist? Change -- We know this exists, but only have a low quality version. Pop Vortex -- Once again we don't know if it exists at all, let alone if it's out there to be heard. Pat's SS demo -- This was mentioned in the FOL newsletter and has us licking our lips. Hold Me Up -- We love this so much; a studio cut must exist? DOAD Outtakes -- The other material you guys were kicking around; All Is Crazy On The Action Front, etc. We would be incredibly happy to receive anything that you may be able to offer us. We hope this does not sound too upfront, but you seem to be the only person in the world who can help us with this and we decided that now is as good a time as any to see what could be done. You don't get if you don't ask, right? Thank you very much for reading this, and in advance if you do decide you can help us in some way. Good luck with TGF. We can't wait for the record to drop in September! And please, greet the rest of the band for us. Faithfully yours, FansOfLive.com WhereFreaksTalk.com TheGraciousFans.com Merica (UK), thefunkyredcaboose (USA), donno (USA), Deku (UK), deepenoughtodive (USA), Bremang (USA), TheBeacon (USA), OutToDry (USA), Plive (Sweden), Nobody Knows (Netherlands), possum (USA), swami (King of Canada), SecretInsomnia (Netherlands), stuker (USA), Infrequent Poster (USA), drewgood (USA), dangum (Australia), ItchyTriggerFinger (USA), brandedwendy (Netherlands), Wildman (Netherlands), Lakini (Romania), +Ed+ (Russia), garadius (USA), Aitkens (USA), michael39 (Australia), Wambangalang (Australia), PurdueSteve (USA), janine5683 (Canada), Sonic Tonic (Canada), shave98765 (USA), zmanpga (USA), crazy1 (USA), sh4rpz (South Africa), Genres (USA), VoodooLady (USA), LivesMeltdown (USA), Heropsychosacha (Netherlands), jclive (USA), Sakhmet2 (Canada), Badman (Texas), Kite_Runner (USA), LiveFan92 (Tunisia), Bob (USA), NectarDan (USA), Dana (Israel), Pokey (Australia), Einnar Espinosa (México), brianblank (USA), mikkel (Netherlands), Hoodstock (USA), quaziemoto3 (USA), icewaterike (Canada), Good_Pain (USA) ... and the overwhelming masses of fans who have supported you and have petitioned to hear more of the music you've been inspired to create over the years. PS This letter was composed a couple of days before we saw your tweet of the Live stuff to be released soon. Have you read this letter already as it was published openly on the board? =)) ------------------------------------------ Dear Dmitry, Thank you (and the many) for writing such a wonderful note. Like each of you, I too am a huge fan of Live and promise to the best of my ability to keep it a living, breathing force for many years to come. The good news is that Live created so many works throughout our vast history. I’ll try and walk you through what I can remember, recording by recording. I’ve been working on a book that will chronicle in greater detail our incredible rise to fame from York, PA to the hiatus of last year… I want it to be spot on so I’m not rushing…in the meantime; here are some of my memories… MIKE COUCH SESSION, 1986 (York, PA) band age, 15 yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: AUDIO CASSETTE Our very first recording was a session with engineer Mike Couch in his parent’s basement. My mother paid for it and I think the budget was $400. We hadn’t adopted the name Public Affection, so we were most likely called First Aid, Rattle Box or Paisley Blue. We recorded Pretty In Pink (Psychedelic Furs), Begin The Begin (R.E.M.) and Boys Don’t Cry (The Cure). I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it was later in life to stand on stage with Richard Butler and play Pretty In Pink or meet Michael Stipe in Athens and later become his friend. Our lives always connected us with people through music and thankfully, it still does. In fact, we also covered The Simple Minds, “Don’t You Forget About Me” and would later co-headline Night Of The Proms with them. Mike Couch remains my friend and an amazing guitar player and we’ve talked about trying to restore the cassette demo (which is still in my possession). The audio quality on the “original master” is bad at best but you can hear the band that would become Live within. TEMPLE BETH ISREAL, “TEMPLE DANCE” 1987 (York PA) age, 16 yrs MEDIA FORMAT: DVD For nearly two hours, Public Affection entertained several hundred teenage kids with new wave cover material. The lighting on the video is poor and the camera work (by my cousin) is so-so. Regardless, this is the earliest know video footage of all four members performing together. Highlights include seeing Adam Kowalczyk sitting at the foot of the stage rocking out to his older brother, oh and lots and lots of hairspray! PROVERBS OF THE COMPANY, 1988 (Baltimore, MD) age, 17 yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: AUDIO CASSETTE & 1/8” MASTER The bands next recording session took place in Baltimore, MD. We recorded 8 original tracks and titled the demo “Proverbs Of The Company.” I just walked into my Live archive in my basement to find the actual cassette master. I was happy to see my mom’s writing on the packaging, she was also our bookkeeper and established the Taylor family archive. The songs included; The Return, Not Ready To Go, Father To Rain, With Love, A Brick In The Works, A Backwards Lullaby, Hold (A Tribunal Tribute To Hope) and In The Hands Of A Teacher. Frankly, this is my favorite collection of early material. It showcases the bands creativity and highlights just how young and innocent we really were. I have more than two-dozen rejection letters from record companies from all over the world turning down this early version of Live. The audio quality is still remarkably good for a cassette. I’m pretty sure this grouping of material would be the pinnacle to any collection of Live recorded material. DEATH OF A DICTIONARY, 1989 (Saylorsburg, PA) age, 18yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: AUDIO CASSETTE & 2” MASTER Nearly every die-hard Live fan knows about this cassette. We picked up the final mix and drove to Ocean City, MD to celebrate our graduation and had in hand the product to help propel us into a record deal (or so we thought). I met our producer, Benji King (Patti Smyth and Scandal) on a plane flight to Europe the summer prior and he put us in contact with our soon-to-be manager, David Sestak. This is the first product that took an entire team to put together. We sold junk bonds to our close friends and family and hit the studio with a well rehearsed set of songs. Kent Heckman engineered and Ed took his vocal performances to a new level with Bengi’s guidance. Saviour For A Day opens the album and highlights include Paper Flowers (a drum machine driven track), Who Put The Fear In Hear and Good Pain. Our clean cut, hairspray happy image was captured for the cover with careful art direction from Sestak. We were becoming a “real” band who would soon leave the comforts of high school for a stab at the big apple’s CBGB’s. In Ocean City, we listen to three albums on continuous rotation, Jane’s Addiction-Nothing’s Shocking, John Lennon-Imagine: John Lennon and Public Affection-Death Of A Dictionary. We also had our first run in with the law on that trip but I’ll save that for future liner notes.. DIVIDED MIND, DIVIDED PLANET, 1990 (Philadelphia, PA) age, 19yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: AUDIO DAT, AUDIO CASSETTE & 2” MASTER Jay Healy had been the engineer on several huge albums by artists including Michael Jackson, R.E.M., John Mellencamp and Billy Joel. Giant records asked for us to record a demo of new material with the up-coming producer. We jumped at the chance to work with a true industry veteran who could help us further showcase our musicianship and maturing songwriting skills. Jay found a recording studio just outside of Philadelphia, PA in an old bullet factory. We could only afford to record the “midnight” sessions, which went from 11pm until 9am. We literally worked through the night to record early versions of Pain Lies On The Riverside, Operation Spirit, Waterboy, Good Pain and Peace Is Now (10,000 Years). Giant passed on the demo deal and soon after, Gary Kurfirst would sign us to his new imprint, RadioActive Records where he was busy managing Jane’s Addiction, The Talking Heads and The Ramones. FOUR SONGS/MENTAL JEWELRY, 1991 (Milwaukee, WI) age, 20yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: VINYL, CD, AUDIO CASSETTE, DAT, 2”& 1/2” MASTER Our producer, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads/Modern Lovers) had a budget to record 12 songs but he loved all 15 of the tunes we had played him. He called Gary Kurfirst for help on deciding which tracks to cut and the plan was hatched to release an EP before the album. Negation and Heaven wore a shirt would find their place on Four Songs. The only outtake from that session was a track titled Born Branded. The other tracks make up Live’s debut album. Additionally, we have hundreds of hours of rehearsals, video footage (some truly hilarious stuff) and writing sessions recorded from this era. I can also recall one of the band name suggestions; Jumna. Mirror Song was originally called Mental Jewelry and we borrowed the song title for the name of the album. THROWING COPPER CHURCHBOX DEMO, 1993 (Columbia, PA) age, 23yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: DAT Jay Sorrentino and Ken Heitenmuller were the rhythm section for Suddenly Tammy as amazing trio out of Lancaster, PA. Ed was dating Beth Sorrentino, Jay’s sister and singer/pianist for Suddenly Tammy. They had purchased an amazing run-down church with the original organ still intact. They helped to record a raucous demo that includes; Iris, I Alone, All Over You, Selling The Drama & I Alone. After Gary Kurfirst took a listen, he told us that we didn’t have a song for the album! Jerry Harrison was brought in to rescue to album (he changed very, very little) and Gary finally released our recording fund. This demo clearly shows the bands growth from touring endlessly for Mental Jewelry. There is a new fire to each instrument. THROWING COPPER, 1994 (Cannon Falls, MN) age, 23yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: VINYL, CD, AUDIO CASSETTE, DAT, 2”& 1/2” MASTER I think enough has been written about the music of this era. We had our first “oh, shit, the band is going to break up” fight making the album. The fight interestingly enough was over publishing. Ed went as far as packing up his car to drive home and I though Chad Gracey would beat him down. Thankfully, cooler heads and a good negotiation prevailed and we finished the album. Random thoughts: The bass player from Hüsker Dü, Greg Norton cooked a few meals for us; I found a hypodermic needle under my bed (Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain last used the room) and my bath towel said PJ Harvey. Our favorite album at the time was Bob Moulds, Sugar EP titled Beaster; Lou Giordano who engineered Beaster was the engineer on Throwing Copper….Bob Moulds first band was Hüsker Dü. I told you music connected us. The outtakes included: Susquehanna, Hold Me Up & We Deal In Dreams. I have hundreds of hours of audio and video of us writing, rehearsing and recording this album (there are many songs we cut early in pre-production – some of these are also documented). Highlights include Ed and I writing All Over You, Lightning Crashes and Dam At Otter Creek on the second floor of 15 N. Prince St, Lancaster, PA. Lighting Crashes in particular is amazing as you can hear the entire song unfold in the recording. Ed and I sound so innocent but you can tell we were willing to go anyplace the music might take us. The DAT tapes from the writing sessions start as soon as we enter the room and don’t end until we leave. We talk about making coffee and smoking the cigars we bought on tour in Brazil. This is my best era of documenting the band; I clearly knew we were up to something and wish I had been this disciplined on other albums. I have no idea why we never returned to that style of writing. It was truly a once in a lifetime album and its no wonder it has stood the test of time. SECRET SAMADHI CHURCHBOX DEMO, 1996 (Columbia, PA) age, 25yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: DAT Throwing Copper changed the game. It was a massive success only overshadowed by the tour that surrounded it. PJ Harvey (don’t forget the towel), Veruca Salt, Weezer and Jimmy Chicken Shack were only a few of the openers to support us as we toured the globe for two years non-stop. I bought a house (with cash I might add) and moved into a swanky neighborhood in Lancaster, PA only a few blocks from where Ed had also purchased a home. We were in our early 20’s with way too much money & fame. We both wanted to chill out and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Gracey moved to Portland OR to marry his first wife and Patrick escaped to the party life of South Beach. The Lancaster clan continued with the high pace energy of the road while still living in a small town. The two didn’t mix well as we ate, drank and generally raised hell from bar-to-bar all in the spirit of celebration. I wrote the riff to Lakini’s Juice on the third floor of my house, passing out over several bottles of red wine but the vast majority of songs were assembled at The Chameleon Club. We had arranged with owner & friend Rich Ruoff to let us write, rehearse and record (still have the cassette) during the daytime hours when the club was closed. Ed brought in GasHed and I nearly died it was so good. The first recording, a board tape from The Chameleon is one million times better than anything on the album! Fuck, I just got chills writing about it. We were so excite, we called Ken and Jay at the Churchbox and booked some time to demo the new material. Ghost would feature the churches massive pipe organ (still better than the album), Freaks, Mall Rat, Photograph and Turn My Head are a few I can recall. Gary liked the vibe but didn’t think we had the single and would push us further. In my opinion, this is the greatest creative era of Live and thankfully, The Churchbox Session are very well documented. I would go as far as to say that the early energy captured in these demos blows always anything we captured on the album. The audio quality is amazing. SECRET SAMADHI JAMAICA-HOUSE, 1996 (Montego Bay, Jamaica) age, 25yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: DAT, ADAT Jay Healy was brought in to record and produce the band. I had used him as an engineer on Solution A.D. and secured a number 1 modern rock single with Fearless. I sold the band on Jay. I thought what we needed based on the Churchbox Sessions was less of a producer and more of an engineer who would document the material. We rented a large estate overlooking Montego Bay and began searching for a sound or a song that would really catapult the band into supernova. My soul loved Jamaica and I began to transform my guitar playing and sound. I had purchased an old Fender Super Reverb and would begin to play into its vibrations. Unsheathed and Heropsychodreamer featured the reverberant quality’s of our rum-punch, pot infused sound. Dahlheimer delivered the guitar to Merica and in a finale, Ed told me to play the riff from Lakini’s Juice. I had almost forgot about it. He and Matt Gracey sat on the balcony as Ed screamed “more wine” in the verse. Thankfully, Trevor, our butler (seriously) brought more wine. These demos capture the band creativity that I think was the essential property that made Live a powerhouse band. The sessions are extremely raw, with very little mixing effort and were only intended to convince Gary that it was time to record. Thankfully, he gave the green light. There are several unreleased/unrecorded songs on these demos that will hopefully find there way to the public over time. SECRET SAMADHI, 1996 (San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles, CA & New York, NY) age, 26yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: 2” MASTER, PRO-TOOLS, ½” MASTER, DAT This album was a cluster-fuck to record. We started in San Francisco, CA only to find that the studio had a buzz sound that transferred to every channel of the console and tape machine. We searched high and low to find a studio nearby but had to settle on LA. After moving tons of vintage recording gear and instruments to Los Angeles, Ed had a terrible allergic reaction to the house dog that lived in the studio. We fired Jay (as we had already spent several hundred thousand dollars and didn’t have a note recorded) and headed home to regroup. The entire band was depressed – it was truly our first major failure and we would have to struggle to gather ourselves and continue. After a short break, Jay called Ed and I pushing to use The Hit Factory in NYC, a well-known buzz and pet free studio. We could start in a week if we agreed to put him back on board as producer. We added a 40-piece orchestra to Lakin’s Juice and Turn My Head and once again tracked the band without click tracks live in a large room. The only overdubs were vocal doubles (very few harmonies), guitar solos (although GasHed and Graze were cut live) and the string sections. We wanted a raw record and got it (funny that it is our rawest recording that also got called over-produced). This is my all-time favorite Live album and the one I felt most represented my sonic vision of the band. When I listen to this album I am driven to tears. I can feel us let go and flow musically like at no other point in our career. I can’t imagine how much better it would have been if we would have not had the stops and stats associated with San Fran and LA. Tom Lord-Alge would once again add the finishing touches. Mall Rat & Photograph are finished masters. Pop Vortex would come from the Shadow Hill sessions and “Crayons” was an early lyric to Century; “come on, come on, return to crayons.” SHADOW HILL WAY, 1997 (Beverly Hills, CA) age, 27yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: PRO TOOLS, DAT High on our own success, we decided to abandon a European leg of the Secret Samadhi tour. We rented a 20,000 sq. ft house in Beverly Hills, CA and brought in Jerry Harrison and Karl Defler to document the creative process. This was a party house that no-doubt was built for cocaine and porn (it had a disco with strippers pole included). We were in the heights of our rock n’ roll excess. We left the doors wide open and would often find that celebrities had found our not-so-secret hideaway (think entourage, only way worse). This session would spawn the most unreleased material in Live’s history. We recorded nearly three albums worth of material with Where Fishes Go as the only track to ever see the light of day. Most of the songs are incredibly rich instrumental tracks that left little space for Ed’s vocals but several feature him singing. It’s roughly 35 unreleased tracks in rough mix form but some of our most creative work with Harrison at the helm. The idea was to create our next record but the sessions were abandoned due to the heavy pressure for us to continue to tour for Secret Samadhi. Additionally, the material was very challenging for Ed to write to and in my opinion, would influence how we went about writing and recording in the future. Working titles include German Rain, German Rain II, German Porn, Two Women Flank The Door & Pop Vortex (later became Vine St.). Live fans would go nuts for this material. THE DISTANCE TO HERE, 1998 (Marin County, CA and Los Angeles, CA) age, 28yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: PRO TOOLS, 2” MASTER, ½” MASTER, DAT In order to make Ed’s shows more enjoyable for him, we added guitarist Christopher Thorn to the live line-up. Chris grew up in Dover, PA, a neighboring town of York. He was always much more a lead guitar player than Ed but he did a great job of finding his way into the feel of the songs. This was the first time a had another guitar player to truly play off of and would influence the fell of the album. Additionally, we brought in session keyboardist Michael “Raylo” Railton to add flavor to the tracks. These guys would form the nuclease of a new sound and new era for the band. Ed’s early demo of The Distance, in my opinion, was far better than the albums version. The drum loop he recorded to had a groove that was simply incredible and we worked very hard to get that feel with Gracey’s drumming. The Distance demo is awesome and a b-side worthy of trying to find. We recorded two version of Sun (one with a down tempo Indian loop and the other with a full rock guitar approach). In the studio this album in particular felt totally different than its finished product. The band was pushing hard for songs like Change, Don’t Wait (I have a CBGB’s demo that features one of Ed greatest vocal performances), Still Aroused and New City. The guitars once again shined on these tracks and the tempos were upbeat. It was a return, I thought to the feel of Copper. When I received the mastered album, it had changed greatly. Gone were those up-tempo rockers, each replaced by mid-tempo singer/songwriter selection. I admit, I was in shock but the record label was really in love with the album. I think I may have made a critical mistake by not pushing to have the rockers win out but then again some of those songs are pretty amazing! Overcome featured the full band and is my preferred version of the song. Face & Ghost originally did not have lyrics and once again is my preferred version of the song. In my opinion, if Secret Samadhi was my vision of the band than TDTH was Ed’s. It ranks as my second favorite Live album and I personally think it was Ed at his absolute very best. I haven’t bought his new album yet but I hope it has some of this flavor; if not it should be on his next! Most of TDTH was tracked live but we clearly let technology start to play a roll (Voodoo Lady for example). We had all begun to purchase recording equipment and began to experiment with loops and productions. There are a ton of unreleased demos from this era. For example, the demo for They Stood Up For Love has different lyrics, an oboe and is one of the last substantial contributions I felt I made to the Live catalog. We also have demos of Voodoo Lady, recorded on April 18th (my daughter, Ruby Lou was born later that day). My favorite demo is Transmission, a Dahlheimer track infused with great lyrics and singing by Ed. V DEMO, 1999 (Los Angeles, CA) age, 28yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: PRO TOOLS, DAT Second only to the Shadow Hill recordings, there are a ton of unreleased tracks from this mid-tour session. We documented nearly two albums worth of material in two short weeks. The goal was to prepare songs for the next studio session. MCA got a hold of the material and pushed us to call it an album but it took over two years to finally release side-A of the demos originally titled “Ecstatic Fanatic.” MCA’s delays totally changed the feel of the once spontaneous demo into an album that had to really count for Live. It was released September 18, only seven days after the world trade center terrorist attach that would change the world. An independently produced video for Overcome made the cut to play in the short rotation of only 5 songs on MTV for more than 3 days. Everything about the “album” was wrong. The label, which was having great success with No Doubt wanted to re-image the band and spent a ton of money on a photo shoot for the album cover only to add grainy graphics so that the band was undicernable. It was fucking nuts. Live fans really take the piss out of this album but it was NEVER intended to be an album. It was always a spontaneous outpouring of material Ed had been developing on the road. Patrick wasn’t even in town for half of it. From my point of view, some of Ed’s finest songwriting occurs on the songs that were never included on the album (this was because it was supposed to be a give-away for the fans). We even tried to rush a release of Overcome to record stores all across the country to benefit the victims of 9/11 but the label wouldn’t donate their portion of the funds to the proceeds (seriously). It just occurred to me that I really detailed a ton of this stuff in the first draft of “The Search for Public Affection; the story of LIVE.” This section was written awhile back but does hit the nail on the head. I will include it hear as a “thank you” to the fans that really have come along for this ride: Chapter 13 “The Turn” It was about six years ago when I openly declared to my close friends and family that the new media age had revolutionized our industry over night. I predicted that music sales would cause a selloff of minor labels to majors and later majors to majors. This would be an outright war for market share and I feared my own band would be lost in the shuffle. We were on tour for The Distance To Here and on a short break began to work on the songs that would later find themselves on V. Ed was on fire. We could barely keep up with the frantic pace with which he was turning out new ideas. Patrick was at home with his family celebrating the birth of his daughter and the process was disjointed from a “band” standpoint. We were recording at good friends house with the drums on the patio and guitar amps in the living room. We spent little to no time perfecting the parts as we were only trying to capture the creative energy of the moment. It was fun but outside of the typical rehearsal writing sessions of the past. I thought, this will be how records are made in the future, cheap, fast and full of “in the moment” creative spirit. By the time Patrick made LA, we nearly had two albums worth of material recorded. It was creative and recording overload but we wanted to surprise our fans with an album in the middle of a touring cycle. Fresh material with a loose feel, something we had never done. We didn’t want to over think anything, just immediately release a batch of new songs. They were experimental in many ways, lacking the traditional band arrangements that our fans had come to love but as a two-week long session of demos it was perfect. We submitted the material to MCA/Universal, as RadioActive no longer existed. There was great debate at the label over a single. We suggested not releasing one as we wanted it to be “for the fans”, impromptu, live esc. – In the moment. It took MCA/Universal over a year to release the album. The project went from being titled “Ecstatic Fanatic” with a quasi-orgy painting by Peter Howson to “V”. The label insisted that bands needed to be on “the cover” and hired an insanely expensive photographer to revolutionize the bands image. We laughed, as we know our image was the anti-image. The photographer had arranged a series of “huge” fires that would be burning in the background. They turned out to be little barrels with barely a flame shooting out; total “Spinal Tap”. Gracey nearly killed the stylist for messing with his clothing or hair. This had nothing to do with the Live that came from the street of York, PA. This was all about market share. The funny thing is the photo shoot went so poorly that they added charcoal graphics to the picture and totally distorted what they were going for in the first place. In our defense, we begged MCA to release the album the way we wanted but they had no interest. To our luck director Rob Cohen was a LIVE fan and placed “Deep Enough” in the opening scene of “The Fast and Furious.” To our disbelief, MCA turned down an offer from the production company to shoot a video on set by Rob himself. They had a partnership with MTV that would guarantee heavy rotation out of the box. You can’t make this shit up. They passed on “Deep Enough” insisting that “Simple Creed” was better suited for radio. This is on an album where we didn’t even want a single! Our management was going fucking nuts as you can imagine. I knew it was a sure fire sign that the close nit family that worked so hard to build Live was no longer in the drivers seat. Corporate shareholders were now the new priority in the “music” business. Another huge moment can only a few weeks later. The producers for the “Mummy Return’s” called and asked if we would be willing to provide a song for the closing credits of the film. Ed wrote with Glen Ballard and they turned out “Forever May Not Be Long Enough.” I knew it wasn’t a typical Live song but then again, nothing about this album was making much sense. Ballard had the audacity to sit there and tell Patrick Dahlheimer, one of the most explosive rock bass players of his era to play one single note throughout the entire song. I walked out of the room laughing. This was fucked. Thankfully, the track worked well in the film but this wasn’t what I signed up for. Once again, the label did not want to work the song as a single but our management was able to convince them to at least let us shoot a video. Hindsight is 20/20 but these were the number 1 and 2 top grossing films of the year with featured placement and absolutely no love from the label. I was sick to my stomach. The label finally decided by committee that “Simple Creed” would be the single and a video was ordered. I had lost 35 pounds working out everyday to “look great” in the new media model of tits and ass. Shirtless with only a vest on I took on my new role as an actor in someone’s bad play. This shit had nothing to do with the dream Chad, Patrick and I started in Gracey’s bedroom in York. It had nothing to do with Ed’s lyrics on “Lightning Crashes.” This was all about the looming downturn in corporate revenue MCA was facing. We were fucked and stuck in an unbreakable contract. All of the delays added up and nearly a year and a half after we finished a few “off the wall” demo’s MCA set a release date, September 18, 2001. Seven days after the terror attacks of 9/11. Things had gone from bad to grim. The happy go lucky spirit of this music would never see the light of day. The world had changed before our eyes. Mary Kowalczyk, Ed’s mother, called me right after the second plane hit. She wanted to know where Eddie was as he had been on the road to do press and promotion for the album. I assured her he was fine but hung up the phone and began to make frantic phone calls to management and Matt Gracey who was on the road with Ed. Thankfully, they were okay in Chicago. To my surprise a friend called me to tell me to turn on VH1. Someone had set footage from ground zero to the music of “Overcome.” I stood and cried as it played. This was so much bigger than my band, our music or me. I knew Live would never be the same from that moment forward. A deep depression of sorts set in. The wave that surged throughout the 90’s had crested and now crashed on the flatlands of three toppled buildings and thousands of dead. I began calling every radio station in the country requesting Overcome as a song offered by the band for healing. I called our management to tell the label to get a single release ready to sell in stores to benefit the victim’s families. To my dismay MCA refused to offer any funds or support despite the fact that nearly every radio format including country, R&B, top 40, jazz and blues stations were playing the song. I was so sad. Sad for those families. Sad for my own too. I wondered if anyone could understand the emotional toll 9/11 had taken on us as people. How could we perform? How would we get through? Our management encouraged us to get back to doing what we did best, playing live shows. Our childhood hero’s Jane’s Addiction were mounting a comeback tour and we agreed to take the opening slot. Something we hadn’t done since Mental Jewelry. They gave us less than 10’ of the stage and only 6 par cans for lights. Big time, “rock star” bullshit. We played the first night with electric guitars blazing but the magic wasn’t there. We poured our hearts into the show but for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be on stage. I didn’t want to play music. It just felt wrong. I told Ed that night that I was headed home. We had worked too hard and too long to be treated this way. It felt disrespectful to the music and our fans. I was almost gone when Ed grabbed me and said we are not going out like this, “I have a plan.” The next day, we went to the Salvation Army store to purchase Dickie brand overhauls and old beat up couches like the ones that used to adorn the rehearsal room in York. There would be no electric guitars, no rock star apparel. We would be the worker bees we knew how to be from our childhood in York. Ed said the songs would do the work as he handed out a set list of hit singles ending with Overcome. The next show was at Madison Square Garden. It would be the very first show after the terror attacks. Nearly every fire station was in attendance. There were thousands of firemen and rescue workers who had survived but lost, friends, family and co-workers. I lowered my head into the cold curve of my acoustic guitar. I would not be able to face the crowd tonight. Ed turned the microphone to the crowd during the first chorus of Lightning Crashes. The sing along was bone chilling. Everyone knew we were saying goodbye. To this day, I don’t know how Ed sang Overcome. I stood by the side of the stage as a spectator and watched his chest heave with the weight of the moment. He was amazing and there was not a dry eye in the house. When the house lights went on the crowd began to file out until there were only a few thousand remaining from the sold-out show for the opening refrains of the Jane’s Addiction set. This would not be a night for strippers in go-go cages. Live pushed on, touring for V. We tried hard to pick up the pieces but the early energy drain of September was too great. In New Zealand, I leaned over a balcony fifty stories high and asked myself if I should jump. How could I be “living out my dream” and so deeply depressed? When I withdrew and returned to the hotel room I began to write my story down, trying to figure out how I came to this place. I birthed the concept of “Barely Breathing” that night and haven’t given up on it to this day. It is a constant reminder that we can find the light at the end of the tunnel. We can reach new dreams and new heights despite our personal obstacles. Somehow we lost ourselves in the V cycle and the years that followed. The childhood innocence’s and enthusiasm had been replaced with stagnate set lists and a lack of fresh ideas that a rock band could sink into. We worked hard on Birds Of Pray but again; a producer was pushing and pulling against the natural grain that had delivered so many great moments. By the time Black Mountain came around, I could care less. Jim Wirt, the producer was writing all of the guitar parts. I took it as a challenge to find a way to further give of myself but I never stayed in the studio for more than a few hours at a time. This wasn’t my music any longer; this wasn’t the band I envisioned. I knew it was time to walk away but had no idea how to do it. While in London touring for Black Mountain our former head of security arranged a dinner with the guys from Metallica. I hit it off with Lars right away as we drank copious amounts of Champagne and exchanged road stories. The scene was a little nuts. Lars was having dinner with his girlfriend while his nanny and ex-wife chased down the kids. Metallica had just released “Some Kind Of Monster” and I was fascinated by his willingness to break up his own band in order save their integrity. As we got deeper into the bottle, so did our discussions about my personal discord within my band. Lars told me I had no choice. The only way to save Live was to abort the mission and leave the band. My head was spinning. A few hours had passed and we changed venues. We headed to a trendy bar inside a hotel. I couldn’t begin to tell you where we were, other than we were in London. As I ordered my drink I realized I was standing next to my old friend Dave Grohl. We hugged and shared our excitement for running into each other in the middle of London. I told Dave what Lars had been discussing at the restaurant and he too began to tell me it was time to venture out on my own. Dave recalled his memory of Live as a wild animal and added that we had somehow become tame. It was the truth and it hurt like hell. The alcohol was taking heavy effect. My speech was slurred and I couldn’t walk straight. The lights went up in the bar and we exited into the hotel lobby. When the lobby elevator opened my friend Venus Brown emerged. Venus doesn’t drink and I knew I would have to try and act sober but I failed. He asked me if I was okay but I really couldn’t feel anything at this point. Will. I. Am and Venus helped me to a stool. I must be dreaming. As I sat down I flipped backwards over the stool onto the floor. It was time for me to exit. All my dignity was gone. I no longer had control of my life. I had let politics, fear and friendship ruin the creative force that I loved so much and I had to come to terms with leaving. When I woke, I was laying naked on the floor of the closet in my hotel room. I couldn’t recall how I had gotten there. I was very sick and dizzy from the alcohol. I stood up, pulled on my pants, a shirt and my jacket. There was an acoustic guitar in the room. I raised it over my head and began smashing it to pieces. I threw the guitar down the hallway as I exited the room. I had to walk. I needed fresh air. Outside of the hotel, I raised my arm to flag down a taxicab. I entered and when asked “where to?” I replied Heathrow. This was it. I was going home to never return. I needed to save myself. At the British Airway counter, I asked what was the first flight leaving for America. The attendant asked if I had any luggage and I began to laugh. She asked if I was okay and I said, “No, I need to get home now.” She had a flight to Washington D.C. and I took it. The flight was leaving in 20 minutes if I hurried I would make it. I stopped at a pay phone, called my wife and told her to pick me up and hung up without another word. I took my seat, feeling very uneasy about everything. When the wheels of the jet left the ground I left out a big breath. I had done it. Now I suddenly had to vomit. I passed out for most of the flight and when I landed in Washington I felt weak and listless. My wife was waiting for me and we embraced. She told me that my friends were worried about me. Everyone had called her even our manager Gary Kurfirst who hadn’t called me in over five years. I asked her where the car was. I was ready to go. She had parked it in the long-term lot, far from the terminal. I knew what she was up to. She told me she had arranged for two seats on a flight that left for Paris in one hour. I was angry. Everyone wanted me to return to the very thing that was killing me. I was trapped in my own dream. I sat quietly as we returned to Paris to join the band for the next show. Ed had called my close friend and neighbor, Doc Slovak and launched an ultimatum, “if I didn’t get my ass back there he would replace me.” I tried hard to justify my return as a way to support my own family and Patrick and Chad’s but this crisis only served to further divide Ed and I. He never asked me if I was okay or if I wanted to talk. This was no friendship at all. I finished the tour but doubled my efforts to produce films in order to get out. I needed Aurora more than ever. To throw sand on the wound, my business manager called me to tell me the band had had discussions about me paying for my flight home and back. I couldn’t respond. Thankfully, Patrick and Chad came to my defense. I made a personal resolution to let Live in Ed’s hands. I no longer responded to emails and I limited my participation in every way possible. I would try and be a professional musician. Show up, play my 12 notes and return home with as little drama as possible. We filmed Live, at the Paradiso in two nights. When I saw the magic that was on camera, I was overcome by emotion. We had documented the energy and efforts of a 20-year career together. The photographs captured it too and they are some of my favorites. When the album artwork showed up with Chad, Patrick and I in black and white and Ed in color it shot pain through my veins but I held back. For some reason on that tour Ed would complain about the tuning of my guitar each and every night in the dressing room following the show. He would call Patrick at all hours of the night asking if we sounded okay. I had long talks with the techs. I begged someone to give me anything tangible that I could work on or fix. The board tapes sounded fine but the constant complaining was driving me mad. It was sucking the life out of me on stage. Ed demanded that we return to having a keyboardist, as it would be easier for him to sing to “solid” notes. I agreed and suggested a few options. At this point I was reaching for anything that would change the tension and heal the dynamic between Ed and the band. My wife flew out to Chicago for our Anniversary. She brought with her the incredible news that my longtime friend and guitar tech was about to have twins with his bride, Lisa’s sister, Tricia. Matt didn’t know and I was sworn to secrecy. I knew Matt would be leaving the tour to go home and raise his family. I was so happy for him but it left me with one less person to lean on. We decided to have a very rare band meeting to discuss keyboardist options. Ed had suggested that Michael “Raylo” Railton make a return, as we had little to no time to rehearse with someone who didn’t know the material. We had all heard that he had cleaned himself up and was sober after a long bought with crystal meth, the main reason he was no longer with us. Chad Gracey flipped out and said absolutely no way. When Ed asked him why he hated Raylo so much, Chad responded because he is a selfish drug addict who was bringing drugs, drug dealers and poor energy into his band. It was a very fair answer. Raylo came back but only lasted a few gigs before he fell off the wagon. I sat with him in a very agitated state on a long bus ride to another show. He was talking a mile a minute and had wild eyes. I knew he had taken something but I wasn’t sure what. When we woke up in the morning Raylo was already in the hotel. We heard stories about him trying to help our assistant Corey with unloading the luggage. He was on a major bender. We soon discovered that nearly all of the vodka on the bus was gone. Raylo had drank over two fifths of vodka to himself. He had to go. I walked with Patrick and our tour manager Bill Thompson to Raylo’s room and knocked on the door. When he answered we couldn’t see anything. The room was pitch black and it was 3 pm. Raylo could barely open his eyes. This would be the second time I had to fire him and it wouldn’t be easy. He cried and we hugged. Music was Raylo’s life but drugs were taking it from him. There was nobody who wanted him to succeed more than me but it just wasn’t meant to be. I called home to my kids and talked to them about the dreadful effect that drugs could have on your life. I told them about how desperately Raylo wanted to play music but he couldn’t overcome his addiction. The tour ended and we headed home for break but for the first time in years there were no more plans to work on anything new or even tour for that matter. In one tour we had lost Matt Gracey and for the second time Raylo. We had a few European shows to play in the near future but no heavy touring. While in The Hague, just before we were ready to go onstage Ed pulled me aside and asked me if I had seen the email he had sent out. I told him I hadn’t and he said we had to have a serious talk. It turned out that he was looking at my MySpace page and noticed that when the song “Heaven” began to play it said it was “by Chad Taylor.” He was enraged. He told me that for years he had been hearing stories about “my” songwriting and that I had even told a few people that I was writing “his” lyrics. This was maddening as I had no idea what he was talking about and knew I had never written “by Chad Taylor” on the MySpace page. I told him that I loved him and would never do anything to hurt him but he clearly wasn’t ready to hear me. We hit the stage in front of 50,000 Live fans and Ed and I ignored each other the entire show. Now I was pissed off too. After the show, I went to my room and checked the MySpace page and sure enough in the player under the title “Heaven” it said “by Chad Taylor.” It turns out that the MySpace page defaults the song performance credit to the page holder’s name. In my case Chad Taylor. I was livid. Why didn’t he just simply call me or walk over to my room and ask me what was up? I sat in the hotel bar with Patrick, Chad and Bill Thompson as I tearfully held back my rage. This was insane if not pathological. Why was Ed coming at me so hard? Why couldn’t he give me some fucking space? Why was he snooping around on my MySpace page anyway? I addressed an open letter to Live and our management declaring that I had never written a single Live lyric in my life. Frankly, I don’t even know the words to most of the songs. I could tell you the drum patterns and melodies but I’ve never had much interest in writing lyrics. I told Ed in this letter that my original passion for writing songs was as a canvas for his words. They were outside of the box, just like my music. Why now did he want to re-credit the entire catalog of past songs? Live was never his alone but he was sure acting like it. A close friend of mine gave me some very good advice. She said, “If you can give something and you won’t, you have to ask yourself why you won’t give it.” I knew in this case that she was right so I told Ed and the rest of the band it was theirs to determine the future and past destiny. I knew no effort to reclaim the past would change the vision that our fans had as of as a foursome. We were and will always be equals no matter who says differently or what the liner notes read. The final blow came as I landed at LAX headed to play Ellen DeGeneres’s show. She had asked us to perform for her birthday. Gary Kurfirst had suddenly passed away. He had found us when we were ‘just’ 17 at C.B.G.B’s and had been involved with us until the day he died. My relationship with him wasn’t on good terms either. He rarely communicated with anyone in the band outside of Ed and I resented him for it. The lowest of lows set in for me. We would have to play Lighting Crashes as Ellen had personally requested it; we were now the heritage act I dreaded. I dawned dark shades and prayed the cameras wouldn’t catch my sorrow. I loved Gary for finding us but loathed him for supporting a system that divided my band. I wasn’t so much sad for him but for the future of the band. I had had enough. I lost track of my “creative” buddies in Live. I didn’t write a single song for nearly six years. Recently, Patrick, Chad and I began jamming together and writing. The old spirit that birthed on Newberry Street had returned. There was a fire that I hadn’t felt in over ten years. Chad and Patrick felt it too but there was no Ed, just like the early days of middle school. It was just music. No pressure. No outside influence and nothing weighted or contrived. We were back in York with the original line-up. So the dream begins again. We are going to find our singer and find a way to make the earnest, heartfelt rock n’ roll that the three of us love. We want the best for Ed and his music too. Hopefully he finds the happiness that the three of us share. It’s been a very long struggle for him to find his spiritual center but without the drama, I would have never pushed myself to find new creative outlets. I’ve now completed fund raising and production on my first feature length film, “HOME.” It stars Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden. It had a short run in theaters and won some acclaim on the festival circuit. I am very proud of writer/director Mary Haverstick. You have no idea how hard she had to work to bring this intimately close story to life. My second role as producer is for our very own Aurora Films. It is a movie called, “Another Harvest Moon” and has a notorious cast attached. Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine headlines with Doris Roberts, Anne Meara, Cybil Shepperd and Richard Schiff. I worked my ass off on this film. I even drove the production truck to and from the set with props. In fact, when I pulled into the dock at the local hospital where we were borrowing a bed, the equipment manager nearly fell over when I jumped out of the truck. There is no result without hard work. Hopefully the three of us find new success in music, film and television. I’m willing to take the risk. The fans that have supported Live’s music for all of these years are incredible and I hope they see the efforts Chad, Patrick and I make as a gift to their loyalty. We never want to take away from the music that Live made but rather add to it another dimension of understanding and resolution. I was always amazed at the depth of perception held by many of our most loyal fans. I read on many occasions’ thoughts and feelings about our music that echoed my very own. You helped push us when we needed pushed and held us up when we couldn’t stand. We hope you’ll stick with us for another 20-year ride. BIRDS OF PRAY, 2003 (Santa Monica, CA) age, 32 yrs. MEDIA FORMAT: 2” MASTER, PRO TOOLS, DAT Ed finally called me to tell me that he no longer felt the urge to write to my material. When I called Gary Kurfirst, he encouraged me to let Ed and find another outlet for my creative energies. For a short period of time, I joined forces with Jason Narducy in his band, Verbow. Jason would later become the bassist for Bob Mould (told you it was strange). During this period, I tried hard to let Ed have his creative freedom while I experienced playing in small clubs again with Verbow. It was good for me and the influence has lasted ever since. After a few months, Ed called to tell me that he had compiled the songs that would become our sixth album. He held the phone close to his guitar as he played me Heaven. I knew it was a hit for sure and couldn’t wait to adapt it to the band format. We agreed to meet in Nashville to get the band tuned into the material. This was all very new but I was willing to try a new process. To my surprise we did spontaneously write the chorus to Like I Do from one of Ed’s verse ideas that hadn’t been fully developed. My only contribution otherwise was Lighthouse. I loved the melody to Heaven (and I’m sure Miley Cyrus recently ripped a bit of it in The Climb) but wasn’t sure how our rocker fans base would feel about the lyrics. This isn’t to say that I didn’t love the lyrics; after all, I look at my daughters…you know. There are no outtakes that I know of and Jim Wirt worked really hard to fashion a contemporary album but it never felt like the Live I loved. We never let it rip in the studio and every once of it was tracked (a fatal flaw in my opinion…geez, I’m writing that a lot). These songs really came to life on stage! Wings for example (from SFBM) would literally win over nearly any audience we played it for and could have been one of the greatest Live songs had it just been set free (pun intended). The rub between Ed’s way and the bands way was getting worse but we really did try and tolerate each other for the sake of the band and its fans. We knew there would be ups and downs in a career that had lasted lifetimes longer than any of our expectations. Again, I'm not implying a "right or wrong" just a different approach. The point is to show how our search for the art did begin to divide somewhat naturally. I think I cover SFBM in the section above. There are no outtakes that I’m aware of. There you have it – the total recording summation of LIVE. There are tons and tons of recordings of live performances dating all the way back to the CBGB showcases. On my extended breaks from touring, I promise to continue releasing material when I can. We are currently putting together a pretty amazing Secret Samadhi bundle that will be offered through FriendsOfLive closer to Christmas. On a final note, I’ve forgiven Ed and myself for any bullshit between us. I am trying hard to only recall the amazing run we had. We worked tirelessly to bring you together and once again, we’ll use our music to connect with you. From First Aid to Action Front to Rattlebox to Paisley Blues to Public Affection to Jumna to Live we’ve always just been Chad, Chad, Ed and Patrick; four individuals with a collective vision that lasted more than 25 years. Thanks Dmitry for writing on behalf on Live fans everywhere. I hope you will continue to support our artistic endeavors! See you on the road sometime soon. Warmest regards, Chad Taylor http://allthingschadtaylor.blogspot.com/2010/07/answer-to-question.html • posted by dangum on july 19th, 2010 |
According to a couple of messages on Chad Taylor's Twitter and Facebook accounts, a number of unreleased Live tracks will be made available this year. "On the beach. The calm before the storm. Oh & new LIVE material in the works. Can't say what right now but you'll like it! " - Chad Taylor on Twitter "Vacation was just what I needed! I loved swimming in the ocean with my girls and spending an extended time free from work. I'm ready to get back to the studio. I've got TGF B-Sides, new Adam Taylor & new Live material to jump into. I might throw in a Georgie Case track for the fun of it." - Chad Taylor on Facebook "The Live stuff is not new material but some vaulted media that needs our attention before the TGF tour. Christmas time is coming and we really want a special package to offer our diehard fans." Chad Taylor on Facebook It is unclear how these tracks will be distributed and whether they were be digital downloads or will be released on CD, but keep an eye on Chad's Twitter and Facebook profiles for the latest... [Credit: OutToDry] • posted by dangum on july 18th, 2010 |
According to an article on the TripleM radio website,Ed Kowalczyk and his new band will be heading to Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. So far, no actual dates have been announced but keep an eye on www.edkowalczyk.com for official news. [Credit: maccaz69] • posted by dangum on july 17th, 2010 |
Blurb from FaceCulture.nl site. "Video interview with American singer and ex-Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk about his solo album Alive, quitting Live, looking back, the need for change, accusations of former band members, Grace, Haiti, making Alive, interest block, inspiration, explosion, special songs, future collaborations, and more! (10/05/2010)" The 22 minute interview can be streamed at the following site: http://www.faceculture.nl/artist.php?id=909 If you would prefer to download each video onto your computer, then follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/EdKFaceCultureMay2010 [Credit: SecretInsomnia] • posted by dangum on july 12th, 2010 |
Ed's debut album 'Alive' is now available for purchase on CD and for download on iTunes in both the USA and Europe. Here are some links: Alive on the US iTunes store (includes bonus track 'Eat Your Love') Alive on the US Amazon store (downloadable MP3s) Alive on the US Amazon store (CD version) Alive CD/DVD (European version) also includes a bonus DVD Alive CD (US version) purchase direct from Ed Kowalczyk's online store Australian fans will be able to purchase the Alive CD locally on July 16th, 2010. Please let us know what you think of the album at the Fans of Live Forum! • posted by dangum on july 7th, 2010 |
"Honest Man", the lead single from The Gracious Few is now available to download through iTunes and Amazon.com Ed Kowalczyk's "Grace" is also available through the US iTunes store as well as Amazon.com • posted by dangum on june 8th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few performed their very first pubilc show tonight at Fat Daddy's. Forum member "Aitkens" was able to take a photo of the setlist which can be seen below: 1. Appetite 2. The Few 3. Tredecim 4. Honest Man 5. Far Behind (Candlebox cover) 6. Guilty Fever 7. Nothing but Love 8. What's Wrong 9. Silly Thing 10. The Rest of You 11. Lakini's Juice (Live cover) -- encore -- 12. Closer 13. Cryin Time 14. All I Hear 15. Sing Aitkens was the first person in line (he lined up at 12pm) and was interviewed in a news report for television channel Fox 43. Below are two news reports from Fox 43 that feautre interviews with band members and sound check footage. Fox 43 News - May 27 The Gracious Few Fox 43 News - May 27 The Gracious Few (10pm news report) Fox 43 - May 27 Interview with The Gracious Few [Credit: Aitkens, OutToDry] • posted by dangum on may 27th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few will be performing for the first time in public at a free show in York PA on May 27th. The venue is a secret and it will be announced on May 26th at www.thegraciousfew.com • posted by dangum on may 22nd, 2010 |
The Gracious Few's appeared on PA radio station WQXA 105.7 this morning for their first interview and performed a special acoustic rendition of 'Appetite'. You can download a radio rip of 'Appetite' from here: Appetite (acoustic) The complete interview can be downloaded from here: TGF 105.7 The X Thu May 20 2010 Part 1 - Part 4 [Credit: 'OutToDry' and 'Infrequent Poster'] • posted by dangum on may 20th, 2010 |
The Gracious Few's official website is finally up and running. Check out all the latest The Gracious Few news, multimedia and Kevin's blogs over at:
www.thegraciousfew.com • posted by dangum on may 15th, 2010 |
Ed Kowalczyk and band used the Dutch radio program Geil to debut a track from his forthcoming album "Alive". 'Just in Time', first single 'Grace' and Live classic 'I Alone' were performed on air along with a quirky interview with Ed. Videos of all three tracks can be found below: Just in Time Grace I Alone An mp3 of the interview can be downloaded from here: Giel - 3FM - 12 May 2010 Ed Kowalczyk is back - Nieuws.mp3 or streamed from here: http://www.3fm.nl/nieuws/detail/345315/Ed-Kowalczyk-is-back • posted by dangum on may 12th, 2010 |
Subscribers of The Gracious Few's mailing list received a surprise today when an email arrived containing a link the a new track called 'Tredecim'. If you weren't on the mailing list, you can still subscribe and the MP3 will be sent to you. Sign up at The Gracious Few website or at their Facebook page. Update: You can hear full versions of 'Honest Man' and 'Tredecim' over at The Gracious Few MySpace page. • posted by dangum on may 8th, 2010 |
The first single by The Gracious Few was premiered on Minnesota (93X) radio today. "Honest Man" is scheduled for radio release on May 11 but check out the Fans of Live forum for a recording. Honest Man • posted by dangum on april 30th, 2010 |
Ed's new solo album will be entitled "Alive" and is scheduled for release this summer. The release dates are as follows: June 25th, 2010 in Europe. July 2nd, 2010 in Australia and New Zealand. July 6th, 2010 in North America. The lead single is called "Grace" and can be streamed at www.edkowalczyk.com According to www.amazon.com, the track listing will be: 1. Drive 2. The Great Beyond 3. Stand 4. Grace 5. Drink (Everlasting Love) 6. Zion 7. In Your Light 8. Just in Time 9. Rome 10. Soul Whispers 11. Fire on the Mountain 12. Sweet Surrender [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on april 29th, 2010 |
With Ed Kowalczyk tour dates being announced on a regular basis and the possibility of a world tour for The Gracious Few, 2010 promises to be an exciting year. Both Ed and The Gracious Few have setup Facebook pages where you can be kept up to date with all the latest information as well as connecting with other fans. Ed Kowalczyk on Facebook / The Gracious Few on Facebook Check out our links page for additional Twitter, Facebook and Offical site links. • posted by dangum on march 25th, 2010 |
Later in the afternoon, Ed appeared on Atlanta radio station 99x along with Art Alexakis (of Everclear) to debut his latest single called "Grace". An MP3 of the track can be downloaded from: http://rapidshare.com/files/362232469/GRACE-EK_for_stream_.mp3 or http://www.mediafire.com/?itdwvmtyknn Some footage from the 99x session has been uploaded to the 99x website: Ed performing I Alone acoustically QA session with Lewis Skullcandy Mixup Challenge Edit: March 11, 2010 [Credit: iateyourcookie] • posted by dangum on march 10th, 2010 |
Ed appeared on Fox 5's 'Good Day Atlanta' this morning and for a brief interview as well as an acoustic performance of "I Alone".
Footage from the show can be streamed by clicking here. If you would prefer a download of the interview and performance, then use one of the following links: http://www.mediafire.com/?guhzyoy2ydm or http://rapidshare.com/ • posted by dangum on march 10th, 2010 |
Fans of The Gracious Few will be pleased to hear the TGF have uploaded an audio sampler of 8 tracks on their Facebook site. The sampler compilation runs for 4 minutes and can be streamed from here: The Gracious Few - A Gracious Sample The audio can also be downloaded to your MP3 player by using one of the following links: www.rapidshare.com/files/355656018/TGF_Sampler_-_Feb_2010.m4a or www.mediafire.com/?5jkdzvzzycy • posted by dangum on february 23rd, 2010 |
Ed has uploaded a cover version of "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon on his YouTube account. The video features Ed singing acoustically on his own in front of a web-cam. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=771-zXPxDm8 • posted by dangum on february 22nd, 2010 |
Ed has announced on his blog page the members of his new band. The following musicians will be touring with Ed. Ramy Antoun - Drums Chris Heerlein - Bass Adam Kowalczyk - Rhythm Guitar/Background Vocals James Gabbie - Lead Guitar • posted by dangum on february 21st, 2010 |
Homespun subscribers recieved a late Christmas present this week when the 2009 FOL Holiday Gift was released. Two previously unreleased tracks (Photograph and Mall Rat) were made available to download along with a message from Patrick Dahlheimer. Pat's message is below: ******* It was the winter of 1996 when Chad Gracey, Chad Taylor, Ed Kowalczyk, and I gathered in snow covered Pennsylvania to record demos for the record that would become Secret Samadhi. We set up shop in Columbia, PA, a small river town directly between York and Lancaster. The Churchbox Studio was a fantastic “renovated” Lutheran church that used the pulpit section as the drum riser and the old pew sections were now home to amplifiers and mics. Jay Sorentino was the co-owner and engineer at the studio. He also made sure that the original pipe organ still worked and we were amazed how it sounded on the version of “Ghost” from that session. We cranked out about 15 songs in three days without a stumble. Our magical music machine was still running smooth. “Mall Rat” and “Photograph” are both taken from these demos recorded in PA. When I listen to them again for the first time in 14 years I can remember the smell of the old wood in the recording room and the shape and feel of the neck on the Fender bass that I played. As our 2009 Holiday Gift we have allowed all FOL Homespun Members access to these two never before released demo recordings. To downlaod these tracks just login to your Friends Of Live Homespun account and download the songs. You can access your account by going to the Live Official Online Store and click on the "Manage Your Account" link at the bottom of the store page. If you do not have your Homespun password you can have a one time login e-mailed to you. Once logged in you can update your password to whatever you like. You can change you password by clicking on the "Edit" link in your account. I hope you can listen to these songs and enjoy them for what they really are, a piece of great Live history. My best to each and everyone of you, Patrick Dahlheimer ******* Come discuss these new songs on the Fans of Live message board: 2009 FOL Holiday Gift • posted by dangum on january 29th, 2010 |
On the 16th of January 2010, Ed performed at the annual "Light Of Day" Benefit at Asbury Park. Bruce Springsteen headlined the show with Ed being one of the support acts. Ed performed a short acoustic set which included an unreleased track called "Everlasting Love". An audio recording was made by an audience member and is available via bitTorrent or direct download. The setlist was as follows: 1. I Alone 2. The Distance 3. Selling The Drama 4. Everlasting Love 5. All Over You 6. The Dolphin's Cry 7. Heaven 7. Lightning Crashes Links to the performance can be found in the the following thread on the Fans of Live message board: [Torrent] Light Of Day Benefit 2010-01-16 Eddie Kowalczyk [Credit: brianblank] • posted by dangum on january 29th, 2010 |
In April 2006, Live performed a show in Germany which was filmed for the Rockpalast television program. Details about the setlist can be seen below: LIVE - Palladium, Koln 2006-04-09 (PAL_DVD) Length 64 minutes(Main Feature- 77 Mins incl bonus footage) Size 4.03GB 1. All Over You 2. Selling The Drama 3. The River 4. Mystery 5. They Stood Up For Love 6. Sofia 7. Lakini's Juice 8. The Dolphin's Cry 9. I Alone 10. Heaven 11. Interview 12. Show 13. The Beauty Of Grey 14. Run To The Water 15. White, Discussion Performed, but not broadcast Run Away Lightning Crashes BONUS FOOTAGE Dutch TV Show Jensen Broadcast 2006-04-12 Only Ed Kowalczyk interviewed and performed 1. Interview 2. Overcome (acoustic) 3. The River (acoustic) Screenshots, additional details and links to where you can download this DVD can be found in the link below: [DVD] Koln, 2006-04-09 + Jensen (Ed interview + acoustic) • posted by dangum on january 22nd, 2010 |
As well as giving away free concert recordings and complimentary fan club memberships, Ed has also made available a studio version of a new song from his forthcoming album. Fan club members can download a Quicktime video of 'Zion' (new promo photos accompany the track) by logging into the fan club section of
www.eddieklive.com Alternatively, you can download the video from the following link: http://rapidshare.com/files/321162886/ZION_20SLIDE.mov An MP3 version of the track can be downloaded from here: (courtesy of Badman) http://www.mediafire.com/?mzmoxirlzii • posted by dangum on december 17th, 2009 |
Ed has very generously offered a free 1 year's membership to his fan club. Also included are 10 video and 16 audio downloads of a recent Eddie K solo concert from London. Full details are below: ******** Greetings all! I love this time of year; the thanksgiving, the sharing of gifts, the closeness of friends and family. So, what better way to acknowledge some of the most important people in my life, you my fans, than filling your inbox with two awesome gifts! The first gift is a FREE One Year Membership to the brand new EDDIEKLIVE Fanclub (a $30 Value!). The second gift is Bootleg Volume 8, an audio/video document of a very special evening from my acoustic world tour as it made its way to London, England. It consists of 16 MP3's and 10 music vids and I'm sure you will experience some of the incredible intimacy and joy that we all shared on that wonderful evening in July (a $20 Value!). As a member of my new fanclub, you can expect the full inside scoop on all things EK. Exclusive ticket pre-sales for my concerts, unique gifts, (ever wanna know what inspired a certain lyric? how about the chance to talk to me on the phone about it? YES, we will be doing that! ) AND you'll be able to login to a special area of eddieklive.com dedicated to "members only"; smile as you glide past the virtual velvet rope, wink at the bouncer, and get up close and personal with me in the EKL Fanclub VIP area lol.) Also as a member you can click your way TODAY to a SNEAK PEAK of a song from my new album to be released in 2010. You will hear it first! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love and support. I can't think of receiving any greater gift than to be able to share with you this exciting new phase of my life and career. Lots of love, Eddie Kowalczyk PS: Through December 31, 2009, 10% of every purchase in the eddieklive.com store will be donated to the wonderful groups supported by my charitable organization, Everlasting Arms! Click on the link below to setup your free EKL Fan Club membership: https://missinginkshop.com/eddieklive/store/featured/ekl-fan-club-membership • posted by dangum on december 17th, 2009 |
On the 12th of December Ed appeared on the Dutch television program '2 Meter Sessies'. The program consisted of an in-depth interview with Ed, archive 2 Meter Sessies footage (non Live) and an in studio acoustic performance by Ed. Ed performed 'Everlasting Love' and 'Lightning Crashes'. Although the program was broadcast in December, it is believed that the recording was made on October 1st, 2009. The entire program can be streamed online via the following link: http://www.hetgesprek.nl/archief/2939/ If you would prefer to download the video, then BERLINONE has provided such a link: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jt4kqzzlmz3 Thanks to Badman, MP3 versions of 'Everlasting Love' and 'Lightning Crashes' can be downloaded from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=b656a0ce5bffee60ab1eab3e9fa335caf766c2cae00a7b82 • posted by dangum on december 14th, 2009 |
Chad Taylor has written 2 letters to fans, explaining that the 2 year hiatus is to become permanent. The first letter was sent through the Friends of Live mailing list and a second more detailed version was posted to his blog site. Both can be read below: A personal message from Chad Taylor: Dead Friend of Live, Let me start by thanking you for your many years of devoted loyalty to our music. Bands are lucky if they have one hit and fade away but in the case of Live, you kept us relevant for more than 20 years. Today I am writing you as a fan of the band with sad news. As many of you know, Live was having a hard time keeping things together. After many years of friendship, love and laughter it became clear that things had run their course. I was in denial. Our working relationship with Ed had grown cold and we were only on limited speaking terms for the last several months. We agreed for the sake of the bands future to take a break and announced the hiatus. During that time period we discovered a contract executed in 2005 that engaged the bands company into a legal obligation that did not have majority consent from the band. Ed’s signature was the only one required. We were fast to try and open communication with Ed or his legal team but got no reply. Our hiatus had fast turned into a break up. Chad, Patrick and I have no plans to replace Ed at this point in time, however, he will no longer be a member of our band. We are excited by the opportunities ahead of us and will look to enjoin forces with vocalists and instrumentalists that will hold high the ideals set forth by the band and its fans. Yes, there may be future Live recording and tours but we are all very realistic that it will never be the same without Ed. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be great. Like you, we are greatly saddened by the discoveries we made but as many of you know, life has a way of sorting things out. Ed will always be tied to Live and we will never make attempts to shadow his considerable lyrical and melodic contributions to our music. Stay tuned to FOL for more details on our future plans. I would also ask that we all take the time to remember the positive energy Ed, Chad, Patrick and I spent so many years pushing forward. I’m trying hard myself to not be judgmental and let life flow freely around me. Love, Chad Taylor On behalf of Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer Link to FOL email Monday, November 30, 2009 Not the ending I wished for There have been tons of crazy rumors surrounding the hiatus of LIVE. I have read quite a few and laughed at the extremely creative imaginations of our fans. I’ve been reluctant to fan the flames but the rumors are getting further away from the truth and I will try to set the record straight from my standpoint. First and foremost, Ed has every legal right to perform the songs he helped birth while being the front man for LIVE. The copyrights for these songs are owned by Chad Gracey, Patrick Dahlheimer, Ed Kowlalczyk and myself. Ed does not control the catalog but rather the bands publishing company, Black Coffee Publishing, Inc. Black Coffee is a majority rule corporation. Yes, it is true, there was a hidden publishing contract singed in 2005. I personally discovered it via a communication breakdown. Ed is listed as the only signature. When I wrote him to find some resolution to the situation, he failed to respond. I have left these matters to our attorneys who will no doubt file a complaint. Honestly, I don’t care about the financial/legal outcome of these matters, the proof is on the page. Ed was able to stab his three best friends from middle school in the back. This act was far down the line from typical rock star ego. As you can imagine I am deeply hurt and wounded. In light of these matter, I can’t ever see myself working with Ed, let alone ever being in the same room with him. LIVE was always about the band, when Ed lost sight of that in favor of his own ambitions and goals, our considerable fans base began to sigh a collective yawn. As band mates and friends and despite the lack of fresh material we continued to support Ed with all of our integrity. The final blow was Ed’s request for a $100,000 “lead singer bonus” to perform as surprise guests at this years Pink Pop Festival. I was informed of his request by our management and politely told them to “fuck off.” Ed will no longer be the vocalist for the band LIVE. At this point in time, we have made no official plans to replace him but it is clear that he is no friend of mine or the lifelong fans of LIVE. I have focused my energy on creating new music with The Gracious Few. I look forward to seeing many LIVE fans in the audience at our shows. Patrick, Chad and I have made a pledge to honor our long shared history with the fans of LIVE. You will always be graciously welcome in our house. Love Chad Taylor Link to Chad's blog • posted by dangum on november 30th, 2009 |
Ed will be continuing his "Open Wings Broken Strings" tour with Art Alexakis of Everclear and Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer as he travels to Nevada, Colorado and Florida in early 2010. See the tour page for a list of tour dates. • posted by dangum on november 25th, 2009 |
According to a recent post on Ed's Twitter page, the October 3rd concert with the Metropole Orchestra is to be released on DVD. The DVD will be directed by Norbert Paak, who also worked on the Live's Paradiso DVD. The release date has not been announced. • posted by dangum on october 5th, 2009 |
On October 3rd, Ed performed with the Metropole Orchestra in Holland. Ed debuted a brand new track called "Everlasting Love". A video of the performance has been uploaded onto YouTube and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTpObYWvtGI A link to a downloadable version of the track can be found here: http://rapidshare.com/files/296286403/Ed_Kowalczyk_-_Everlasting_Love___HMH.mp4 [Credit: TearSong] • posted by dangum on october 4th, 2009 |
According to recent Twitter and blog posts, Ed is currently in Austin, Texas recording tracks for his forthcoming solo album. Producing the album will be CJ Erickson. CJ has worked with artists such as U2 and Matchbox 20 and more recently on Live tracks "Purifier" and "Forever". Other artists contributing to Ed's music include drummer Ramy Antoun. Ed's album is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010. • posted by dangum on september 21st, 2009 |
According to a recent post on Twitter by Chad Taylor, Jerry Harrison will be the producer of the upcoming album by 'The Gracious Few'. The Gracious Few is a group consisting of Kevin Martin (vocalist from Candlebox), Chad Taylor, Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Gracey and Sean Hennesy (guitarist from Candlebox). The band is currently in California writing new music. The album is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2010. Keep an eye on The Gracious Few's Twitter site for all the latest... http://twitter.com/thegraciousfew • posted by dangum on september 21st, 2009 |
Three new Ed solo tour dates have recently been annouced. August 28 2009 - Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre October 23, 2009 - Stroudsburg, PA October 24, 2009 - Morristown, NJ - Morristown's Community Theatre On sale dates and details can be found on the tour page. [Credit: SJN1279, crazy1] • posted by dangum on august 11th, 2009 |
An audio recording of etown (The Del McCoury Band & Eddie Kowalczyk) has recently been uploaded to TheTradersDen.org The concert featured separate sets from The Del McCoury Band and Ed Kowalczyk and finished with a version of the Bob Dylan track "Maggie's Farm" performed by The Del McCoury Band, Eddie Kowalczyk & The etones. Links to the performance can be found in the following thread of the Multimedia forum: [Torrent] etown/Eddie 2009-07-23 - Boulder, CO [Credit: brianblank] • posted by dangum on august 10th, 2009 |
Kevin Martin of Candlebox has confirmed in a recent Youtube video interview that he is working with Chad Taylor, Pat Dahlheimer and Chad Gracey on a new project. The band has said that they will announce their name shortly with an album and supporting tour to soon follow. • posted by dangum on august 2nd, 2009 |
Ed has collaborated with Indian-American musician Karsh Kale to record a track called "Dirty Water, Lotus Flower". Ed has uploaded this new song to his website. Click on the link below to listen! http://www.eddieklive.com/media.php?id=9grglyVoYR0 • posted by dangum on july 29th, 2009 |
An excellent audience audio recording of Live's second last show (July 18, 2009 - Cleveland, OH) is available to download at DimeaDozen.org. This show includes infrequently played tracks such as Supernatural, Gas Hed Goes West and Hold Me Up. For the full setlist and link to download the show, head over to the Multimedia forum, in particular the following thread: [Torrent] Live 2009-07-18 Cleveland, OH • posted by dangum on july 21st, 2009 |
The 2009 Fans of Live Cover Contest begins today and will run thru to September 21st. A cash prize will be awarded to the winner and runner-up. For full details on this year's contest, please visit the +LIVE+ cover contest thread on the message board. • posted by dangum on july 5th, 2009 |
Music news website Alternative Addiction has reported the news that Live are planning to take a break from recording and touring together as Live. "Announced via various band members' twitter pages, Live will be taking a two year hiatus to work on other projects. Several of the band members made it very clear that the break was only temporary." Ed is currently focusing on a number of solo tour dates, while Chad Taylor and Chad Gracey are recording new music together. Up-to-date information can be found on the following sites which are maintained by the band members themselves: Chad Taylor - www.twitter.com/thechadtaylor Chad Gracey - www.twitter.com/thechadagracey Ed Kowalczyk - www.twitter.com/eddieklive Ed Kowalczyk - www.eddieklive.com • posted by dangum on july 3rd, 2009 |
Dates for Ed's solo tour have been announced for this August. Ed will be performing intimate shows on the following dates: Aug 9, 2009 - Brisbane, QLD - The Tivoli Aug 12, 2009 - Perth, WA - Octagon Theatre Aug 15, 2009 - Melbourne, VIC - The Forum Aug 18, 2009 - Adelaide, SA - Norwood Concert Hall Aug 19, 2009 - Sydney, NSW - Enmore Theatre Check the tour page for venue and ticketing details. Tickets go on sale to the general public on July 10th, but a pre sale will be occuring for Homespun members on July 7th. Credit [www.eddieklive.com] • posted by dangum on july 2nd, 2009 |
Ed recently posted on his Twitter page that he will be performing solo in Australia in August this year. Dates have yet to be released but as soon as they are annouced they will be posted here. • posted by dangum on june 28th, 2009 |
Ed will be performing a number of solo shows throughout Europe and the USA this June and July: June 26, 2009 - Gent, Belgium - Handelsbeurs June 27, 2009 - Brouwersdam, Holland - Concert at Sea Festival June 28, 2009 - Den Haag, Holland - Parkpop Festival June 30, 2009 - Groningen, Holland - Oosterpoort July 02, 2009 - Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg July 03, 2009 - London, UK - Water Rats July 08, 2009 - Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic July 09, 2009 - Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theater July 10, 2009 - Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley July 11, 2009 - New Orleans, LA - The Parish @ HOB July 23, 2009 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater Aug 23, 2009 - Seattle, WA - Showbox (Layne Staley Tribute) • posted by dangum on june 25th, 2009 |
Update: The El Paso show will not be going ahead on May 28. This show will be rescheduled for a later date. Live will also be performing at the Virgin Festival in Montreal on the following date: June 20, 2009 - Montreal, QC (Canada) - Virgin Festival Additional information can be found here: http://www.virginfestival.ca/montreal/ [Credit: SJN1279] • posted by dangum on may 12th, 2009 |
May 9, 2009 saw the debut of a brand new Live song. "Believe" was performed at the Silver Legacy Casino (Reno, NV) for the very first time. Thanks to "Ramy", a video from the second ever performance of "Believe" (May 19, 2009 - Anaheim, CA) was filmed and can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZqT0stibWs An mp3 ripped from the above video can be downloaded from: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?k2wnmtg0zem • posted by dangum on may 12th, 2009 |
Ed has uploaded a very recent concert recording from one of his solo run of shows. 'Audio Bootleg Series Volume 1' contains the following tracks from the Tin Angel, Philadelphia PA show on April 20th, 2009: 1. I Alone 2. Sofia 3. Pain Lies on the Riverside 4. Nobody Knows 5. Forever 6. Overcome 7. Beauty of Grey 8. Turn My Head 9. The Dolphin's Cry 10. Lightning Crashes 11. Blowin' in the Wind 12. Heaven 13. Dance with You Unfortunately, 'Take Me On Up to Zion' and 'Iris' are not included in the download. Videos of the following tracks are also available to purchase: 1. The Dolphin's Cry 2. Pain Lies on the Riverside 3. Overcome By purchasing a T-shirt, you can also download the video for 'Nobody Knows'. Be sure to head over to www.eddieklive.com and support Ed's digital recordings. • posted by dangum on may 10th, 2009 |
Friends of Live has annouced a number of new Live tour dates. Live will be performing another show in Canada along with 2 shows in the north east USA. June 19, 2009 Gilford, NH (Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion) with Candlebox July 17, 2009 Rama, Ontario Canada (Rama Casino) July 19, 2009 Westbury, NY (Capital One Bank Theatre at Westbury) See the tour page for ticketing details and on-sale dates. • posted by dangum on may 10th, 2009 |
Ed is the latest member of Live to start posting on Twitter. In the past week Ed has posted over 90 messages so be sure to check out http://www.twitter.com/eddieklive and keep up to date with Ed's tweets. • posted by dangum on may 10th, 2009 |
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