Patrick Dahlheimer: Fuck, fuck, shit, shit.  Ok, now I got that outta my system!

VOX: I know you’ve heard these questions about ten thousand times….

P.D.: Cool, then I know the answers.

VOX: How does it feel to be back out on tour?

P.D.: Umm, it’s a familiar feeling. Live has always been a band about making a record in a short amount of time and kind of hitting the road and bringing it to the street. It feels like we’re at home, it’s all we know really: we know downtime, we know studio time and it seems like the majority of time we’re touring.

VOX: What made you cut your hair.

P.D.: Hell, I don’t know. It was only $10.99. I couldn’t refuse. I found it useless. It just hangs there, and it doesn’t do anything.

VOX: And the beard?

P.D.: Yeah, I cleaned up. I started losing weight and I thought, ‘I’m gonna be hot.’ So, my wife doesn’t like it though. I’m getting the chicks. I have to explain every night about all the strange phone calls and stuff. [Laughing]

VOX: You were the last guy to get married, no?

P.D.: Actually I’m living in sin…

VOX: What do you think of L.A.?

P.D.: L.A. is to be taken with a grain of salt to me. It’s kind of a funny that you can roll down the street and see a homeless kid begging for change and look next to you and see Mr. Ninety-Year-Old guy in his now Rolls. When I’m here I just have to take everything light hearted and I can’t take everything so serious. But I think there’s a lot of positivity too. When you cut through all the schmucks…you know, it’s not only L.A., it’s a lot of towns – which is New York, which is London, which is whatever – I mean there’s still reality there, obviously. I think especially in L.A., there’s a lot of creative stuff going on that’s not so topical, you know.

VOX: You all seem very happy within the band.

P.D.: Specifically within the band? As four individual members of Live, we’re all in a better place mentally. Secret Samadhi was more of a reactionary record to me to Throwing Copper. Throwing Copper was its own monster. It kinda of did what it did. It was within us to write and record Secret Samadhi. There was almost a demon inside that we had to get out of us. The record is little darker, more ambivalent lyrically. We got off that chore and realized that each of us had a life, a personal life. WE found happiness in that and somehow brought that to the table when it came to the writing process. I think everything is more positive and it’s Live -  we were pulling teeth to get up in the morning. You want to get up, I want to get up and play!

VOX: How do the personalities of the members of Live fit in with each other?

P.D.: Everybody has their niche. ‘He’s the business guy, he’s the guy thinking about which songs to put in the set, there’s the comedian, and then there’s the sword, the one with the final say.'  It’s definitely four distinct personalities all coming together to become Live. It also translates well into the songwriting process. Musically we all come from different places. So we when we get together and write it’s four pieces making one big picture. And without any of those pieces the picture would be completely different. The cool thing about it is we realize that. I can say a few of my favorite bands couldn’t figure that out and went their separate ways and never could see the bigger picture.

VOX: Who were those favorite bands?

P.D.: Let’s not talk about that! No, actually, the Talking Heads. They’re a good example. They’ve done good stuff independently but, the big machine, they were the Talking Heads. They were the most brilliant and we as Live realize that. And I think that’s what it has to do with The Distance To Here. I think musically being all over the map, yet somehow maintaining a focus. I think it’s that positivity I was talking about earlier.

VOX: Tell me about the themes that are in the album.

P.D.: Lyrically, I can’t get too far into it because it’s not my bag. I can tell you what I get from it musically and what I get from the lyrics. I feel the positivity, and the energy and the vibe of good feelings and love. And I just think that for Live to be in this place right now is what we have all been shooting for and we finally have stumbled upon it naturally. I don’t how we got here, but we’re going to maintain.

VOX: So is that where ‘Here’ is in The Distance To Here – is it happiness?

P.D.: Yeah, I think so. Happiness being personal, happiness being on the band level, musicality, professionalism. The big picture in general all around has been real positive and I think that’s where here is, The Distance To Here.

VOX: What should fans expect tonight?

P.D.: Lots of pyrotechnics, naked chicks on poles! I tell people it’s a rock concert, it can be a roller coaster of emotions…and it’s about feeling things and the show is about connecting with the band. The emotion is what ties us in with the fans.

VOX: What the next step for Live?