THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CAROL S. BERRY, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
AT AGE 23, most people are still deciding what they want to do with their lives. Not so for the members of Live.
That band - Ed Kowalczyk, Chad Taylor, Chad Gracey and Patrick Dahlheimer - has already been playing together for 10 years.
At the end of high school, when Live made the decision to pursue a career in music, ``it was a lifetime commitment,'' guitarist Chad Taylor said in a phone interview. ``It was more than just saying, `I'm going to be there to write songs with you.' It was, like, `Hey, no matter what - emotionally, financially, physically - whatever it may be, we are going to be there.' ''
That commitment has paid off as Live has moved into the musical fast lane. ``I think that bands like R.E.M. and Nirvana, even U2, kind of paved the way for this sound and this thing of taking a college radio station band and mass marketing them.'' Taylor said.
The group plays at the Boathouse in Norfolk tonight.
While the alternative craze has helped push the band and its new album, ``Throwing Copper,'' Taylor said Live does not embrace that label. ``I am kind of offended at the fact that people want to generalize bands, that they want to generalize us. They want to throw us in a pot and say, `You belong here. This is your sound and this is what you do.' As a songwriter and as a guitarist, I can't relate to that at all. I can't see myself being pigeonholed like that. And that is the reason I say we're definitely not an alternative band. Maybe we are a college band. But then again the older that we get, the less likely to be a college band we are ever going to be.''
The new popularity has put strains on band members' schedules, but they try not to let it affect their personal lives.
``Because we've been a band for a really, really long time, we operate very much like a family. We try to create a family environment with our crew, within ourselves - and that includes girlfriends and wives,'' Taylor said. ``We've been doing this for such a long time that it can't consume our lives because it already is just a part of it. It kind of seems natural that you're going to get busy and have demanding schedules. You just have to learn to deal with it and cope.
``Being in a rock-and-roll band is about freedom. And I think we are a band striving for that ultimate freedom where we can do anything that we want to do musically without the pressures of the business getting to us.''
While the financial freedom is fine, playing live and writing songs is far more important to them. ``We try to rely on our integrity and our songwriting abilities and figure that the rest will follow.''
Songwriting, Taylor said, is ``trying to rediscover yourself, trying to learn who this new person is. You tend to change so much, and you grow one day at a time. About the only way that you can know where you're at is to mark your path in some manner. I think that we do that by songwriting. I can remember the very first few songs that we wrote. I can listen to them and I can really feel and understand who I was as a person at that time.''
Taylor said the Rolling Stones were a major influence in nonmusical ways. ``I look at them and I say, `Well, that's the way I want to be.' I want to grow old with my friends. I want to still have a good time. I don't want to turn into a bunch of egotistical maniacs and tear the band apart and tear each other apart until somebody's gone and you can't get it back.''
Creating an intimate relationship with their audiences has been an ongoing concern for Live. ``Bands are really good at generalizing people and preparing to perform to that. Live is a band that is trying to create an intimate, personal relationship with each and every audience member. Hopefully, through our newsletter, Homespun, and by coming to see concerts, people are actually going to realize that Live is a bunch of real people. Four real guys each with individual personalities.''
Their popular single, ``Selling the Drama,'' takes an almost cynical look at the relationship between band and fans. ``I think it is a lot more than about a band and an audience,'' Taylor said. ``I think as much as it happens between the band on the stage and the audience on the floor. It happens between human beings living their lives.''
``Selling the Drama'' is the first single released from the new album, ``Throwing Copper,'' which has overshadowed the success of Live's previous album, ``Mental Jewelry''.
The two albums are unique in style and content. ``Mental Jewelry,'' which produced the No. 1 track ``Operation Spirit,'' documented the struggles of four young individuals with the outside world.
In the two years between albums, Live has learned a great deal about playing and writing music. The songs on ``Throwing Copper'' are musically more concise, and the lyrics are subtler and more multidimensional.
When asked about the drastic changes in style and content between the two albums, Taylor said: ``Live, just like its name, is constantly changing and constantly present. . . Songs tend to be a dating basis for my life.'' ILLUSTRATION: CONCERT FACTS
Who: Live
When: 9 tonight
Where: The Boathouse in Norfolk
How much: $12.50 in advance; to order call 671-8100
Tell me more: 622-6395
by CNB