THE BAND

Ed Kowalczyk- vocals
Chad Taylor - guitar
Patrick Dahlheimer - bass
Chad Gracey - drums

Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk sits at the dead end of a table
amongst peers and strangers at a press conference to kick off
the Tibetan Freedom Concert =9299. It is the rural dairylands of
southern Wisconsin deluged by a seasonal rainstorm which
threatens, by day's end, to become quite electric. Well, deja vu.
It was just about this time last year that the band powered
through an undeniably charged set at the same occasion in
Washington, DC. About one hour after performing a most inspired
rendering of their big radio song, "Lightning Crashes," lightning
does indeed crash. The rest is history.

Back to the present, and Kowalczyk is called upon by the press
conference panelists to offer some feelings about his band's
participation in this year's most auspicious event. And he says
something like, "The pinnacle moment of any artform, including
rock and roll, is that instant when the artist inspires the audience
to a greater vision of life." Later, the band will play their beautiful
and inspiring rock music to a sea of restless and soggy children.
But by the time Kowalczyk and his conspirators guitarist Chad
Taylor, bassist Patrick Dahlheimer and drummer Chad Gracey
leave the stage, the sun has broken through the clouds. This
wouldn't be the first time Live has pulled through bad weather.

Time has seen these four gentlemen, still in their mid-twenties,
through much good and some bad. From their beginnings in York,
Pennsylvania making trouble under the name Public Affection to
covers of Spin and Rolling Stone, not to mention Saturday Night
Live and MTV Unplugged appearances, millions of records sold to
the departure that was Secret Samadhi and on to their current,
and perhaps most powerful work-to-date, The Distance To Here,
Live has done what many rock bands fail to do after nearly 15
years together-- survive without losing their relevance.

Asked about the current status of rock music, Kowalczyk says,
"Rock and roll has been a haystack with few needles over the last
five years. Hopefully, the pre-millennium tension will ignite the
tradition of rock back to its glory ala 1969 for 1999." Some of us
are looking for the glory while the rest of the musical world
rambles on trying to define their favorite strain of electronic
music. Not to begrudge those creative stalwarts doing cool stuff
with machines, but it's truly refreshing to know that there is still a
handful of artists out there upon which we may bestow the term
ROCK BAND. And isn't rock still about personality and flying in the
face of convention?

Live is a rock band that still embraces this conviction
wholeheartedly. And it is this confidence alone that renders their
very existence dangerous business. But today, it is what fortifies
their importance and it can be heard in Taylor's wide-as-the-sky,
sharp-as-a-razor guitar playing, Dahlheimer's articulate,
multi-dimensional bass playing and Gracey's dynamic drumming.
But it also often lies within the lines of Edward Kowalczyk's
masterful poetry. Lyrics like "I've got to learn to live until no
end/But first I must learn to swim all over again," from "Pain Lies
On The Riverside" off of the 1991 debut LP Mental Jewelry and
"It's the sun that burns/It's the wheel that turns/It's the way we
sing that makes 'em dream," from "Selling The Drama" from
1994's seven million-selling smash Throwing Copper have always
been a vital thread running through Live-- as important as the
voice with which those words are sung. Kowalczyk attributes that
lyrical thread to a dedication and devotion to the great mystery
of life itself; says Kowalczyk, "I have never been able to
separate, nor have I wanted to, my personal love and desire for
truth, passion and understanding from my lyrics. I've always
been into asking the big questions; I'm the last guy out the door
at closing time cuz I was sittin' around 'til the wee hours with the
other ones who were asking the same things. That's what it's all
about for me."

The latest album The Distance To Here, the band's fourth for
Radioactive, makes no exception. All of the elements that make
Live a truly great rock band are in place. As a recent UK show
review in Kerrang! raved, "Live's new album is already shaping up
as one of the great rock records of the year, perhaps of the
decade." Melodies soar like never before, evident on standout
tracks like "Run To The Water," "They Stood Up For Love" and
"The Dolphins Cry." In addition, Jerry Harrison reunites with the
band as producer, having manned the helm for both Mental
Jewelry and Throwing Copper, and last but not least, mixmaster
Tom Lord-Alge does his magic on the whole of the new offering.

Kowalczyk ruminates on the new record, "The message of The
Distance To Here is no secret. It is a message of love and an
invitation to myself and to those who want to come along to ask
the big questions and not feel uncool doing it."