Live Biography

After making music together for more than half of their lives, touring their way around the world and selling more than 20 million records, the four members of Live - singer, Ed Kowalczyk; guitarist, Chad Taylor; bassist, Patrick Dahlheimer and drummer, Chad Gracey - say Songs from Black Mountain marks a new beginning for the band.

Before recording the new album, the members of Live - all of whom are still only in their early 30s - put together a music and video retrospective spanning the quartet's six studio albums. Since forming in middle school in York, Pennsylvania in 1988, the band has become an international success with two albums reaching #1 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart (Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi); five #1 singles, nine Top 10 singles and number #1 albums in Australia, Holland, South Africa, Canada, Belgium and New Zealand.

"It was such a cathartic experience putting together our greatest hits because it reminded us of where we came from and gave us a clear idea of what we've grown into as a band," says the band's singer and chief songwriter, Ed Kowalczyk. "Now that we've signed with our new label, Epic, it really feels like we've closed a chapter and with this new record are starting over."

Two years ago, when Kowalczyk began writing for the quartet's seventh studio album, Songs from Black Mountain, he was intrigued by how much of the world's art has been inspired by the female spirit.

"Historically, the muse has always been a woman - from the muses of Greek mythology to Saraswati in India. And my experience as a songwriter has only reinforced that idea. I'm surrounded by women - my wife and two daughters especially - who spark my creativity," he explains. "With that in mind, I started exploring the idea of personifying my creative energy as female in the songs I was writing; basically writing songs to my muse. When people listen to these songs they'll probably hear a love story between a man and a woman, but for me it's deeper than that."

The first single from Songs from Black Mountain, "The River," weaves the album's heady lyrical theme into a contagious pop melody. Bring your burning skin to my river once again, I'll give you life.

"This song probably has the most memorable melody we've ever recorded," Kowalczyk says. "I really like how we're using something so catchy to convey these abstract lyrical ideas I have about songwriting. When I sit down to write a song, I always feel like I'm wading into a river where a nurturing female presence guides me and pushes me along when I need it."

The band came together with producer Jim Wirt (Incubus, Hoobastank) at a studio in Santa Barbara in May 2005 for what became a whirlwind session. In just three weeks, Kowalczyk says, the multi-platinum band recorded all 12 of the album's songs in a frenetic burst of creativity that surprised everyone. "We haven't recorded that quickly since Throwing Copper," he says. "We were like the Chicago Bulls when they won six championships. When we got in the studio, we all slipped into the zone. We were working hard, but we were completely at ease, open to each other and in the flow. Everyone was awestruck by not only how fast we were recording, but also by how good it sounded."

The first song the band recorded, "Love Shines (A Song for My Daughters About God)," is a song about spirituality Kowalczyk wrote for his young daughters. "I have to teach them about God one day and I don't want to take them to some boring church. This is their catechism," he explains. "It's a simple lyric about awareness and how it's shining all the time. It's something you can take refuge in. No matter what happens in life, it's always there. No matter what faith, there's a presence - whatever name you give it - that's always there as an internal refuge. I thought that was a beautiful message for kids to learn."

The album's title, Songs from Black Mountain, is connected, Kowalczyk says, to the song "Mystery." Mine eyes have seen the glory of a love that does transcend/Mine eyes have seen the worst inside of man.

"Black Mountain is a place near my house in California where the oak trees are so thick that it's dark there all the time. It has this mystical aura that reminds me of what it feels like to write a song. You're traveling down a path without knowing where you're going, but guided by something unknowable the pushes you along. There's no linear meaning to this song. It's about using melody to bring people to a place that is beautiful and open to individual interpretation."

Kowalczyk says some of his favorite songs possess a mysterious quality that take the listener to a point allowing them to personalize the song by filling in the blanks. "U2's 'Where the Streets Have No Name' is the perfect example," he says. "You know the band had a spiritual background, but they approach it so artfully on this song. They didn't beat you over the head with a point of view because it would have limited the song."

"Home," the album's only topical song, is an anti-war song written from a soldier's perspective. When they coming home?/When they leaving that place?/To see their lover's face again/Kids'll see their daddy's face again

"I had to be careful writing this song because I wasn't interested in writing a political protest song that's locked into a specific point in time. I wanted to transcend the topical and write a song about the human experience of war," Kowalczyk says. "This song is not just about stopping this war, but all wars."

The last song Live recorded - "All I Need" - stands out sonically from the rest of the album. "It's a weird song," Kowalczyk says. "We saved it until the end because we weren't sure how to approach it. Because it wasn't a major priority, we felt like we could take chances with the song. It wound up being one of my favorite songs on the album.

"That's why making records is fun - sometimes your priorities can be subverted by synchronicities. You expect a song to go one way, but the complete opposite happens. And then when you look back, you realize the song turned out exactly the way it should have. The songs know the way, all you have to do is listen."

Live rose to chart success on the strength of its anthemic music and idealistic, overtly spiritual songwriting, two hallmarks which earned the group frequent comparisons to U2. Live first formed in the early '80s in their hometown of York, Pennsylvania, when future members Chad Taylor (guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums) began playing together under the name "First Aid" while attending middle school. After losing an area talent contest, they decided to enlist singer Ed Kowalczyk, and as a foursome the group played under a series of names before settling on Public Affection.

After earning a rabid local following, in 1989 Public Affection released a cassette, The Death of a Dictionary, on their own Action Front label. After graduating to CBGB and other famed New York clubs, they earned a demo deal with Giant Records which proved unsuccessful; the completed demo earned them a deal with Radioactive, however, and before drawing their new name out of a hat, Live recruited Talking Head Jerry Harrison to produce their 1991 debut, Mental Jewelry. A collection of songs based on the writings of Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, the record made Live one of the key players in the post-Nirvana alternative music scene thanks to singles like "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)" and "Pain Lies on the Riverside."

Three years later, Live returned with the muscular Throwing Copper, which lingered a number of months on the charts before pushing the group into the rock mainstream; after a series of popular singles like "Selling the Drama" and "I Alone," the album's slow build climaxed with the funereal "Lightning Crashes," which propelled the album to the top of the charts and paved the way for the hits "White, Discussion" and "All Over You." Secret Samadhi, the third Live LP, followed in early 1997, but failed to match either the commercial or critical success of previous efforts. The band resurfaced two years later with The Distance to Here. Through 2003, the band continually refined their ambitious, spiritual sound; both 2001's V and 2003's Birds of Pray cracked the Billboard Top 30.

Jason Ankeny.