When Chad Taylor was 13 he sent a letter to a major record company, stating that his band was going to be big, so they should sign them right away. The record company of course turned them down; yet, it was an amazing foresight by Taylor. Live, a modern rock band, has been through a long haul in finding their way to stardom. Even as seventh graders, dreams of being rock stars were already settled in the minds of Patrick Dahlheimer, Chad Gracey, Chad Taylor, and Edward Kowalczyk.
The four met at Edgar Fahs Middle School in their hometown of York, Pennsylvania. Don Carn, their junior high music teacher, got Gracey, Taylor, and Dahlheimer together for an eight-grade talent show. The trio called themselves First Aid, but underwent many name changes. Under the name Action Front, they entered the Great York Talent Hunt and unfortunately lost. Kowalczyk, who has been singing since the age of 6, had not yet been in the picture, but soon enough invited himself over for rehearsal at the Gracey home. Their first song with Kowalczyk was Bryan Adams's "Summer of '69" and later Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer." Trio turned quartet, their name was Paisley Blues until it changed again to Public Affection.
On November 25, 1987, Public Affection played their first official concert, which all 400 available tickets were sold. Towards the end of high school, the band decided to commit themselves to their dream and skip out on college. With gigs still present, Kowalczyk, Taylor, and Gracey began working a restaurant kitchen and Dahlheimer in a bookstore. The low budgeted Death of a Dictionary was released in 1989 on their very own Action Front label. The album has 10 songs on it; only 2000 copies are available. After playing about 15 shows at CBGB's in New York the band finally recorded a demo tape with the help of Jay Healy and sent it to Giant Records. Giant turned them down, but Radioactive was quick to offer them a contract. Public Affection then became Live.
Live, under the leadership of Jerry Harrison, recorded Four Songs and Mental Jewelry. Four songs was released September 24, 1991; Mental Jewelry was released December 31, 1991. In the U.S., more than half of a million copies of Mental Jewelry were sold. The lyrics on the album were inspired mostly by Indian philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti's influence on Kowalczyk. MTV gave Live a couple of big breaks by airing their videos for "Operation Spirit" and "Pain Lies on the Riverside." After much touring for Mental Jewelry, Live was back in the studio, writing and recording new songs for the second album which was also produced by Jerry Harrison.
Live undoubtedly grew musically. They left the world of funk and groove behind to take on a grungier sound influenced mostly by REM. The use of dynamics became much more present in the new album, Throwing Copper, which was recorded July - September of 1993. The compositions became better as they aimed for a wider audience. Throwing Copper was released April 24, 1994. Apparently the effort put forth took real effect because more than 10 million copies have been sold worldwide. Being that "Selling the Drama," the first single, had already become a huge hit on radio, Live had an obligation to make a video for it. So in February of 1994 they shot the video in their hometown of York. The next two years became extremely hectic with almost incessant touring (including the Womad Tour and a performance at Woodstock '94) and video shoots for "I Alone" (August 1994), "Lightning Crashes" (December 13 and 14, 1994), and "White, Discussion." Live also made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live in January of 1995 and the immensely successful MTV Unplugged performance February 15, 1995. The band soon became Rolling Stone's Artist of the Year. The article best described Live's musical approach as "more about searching than raging or imploding" in comparison to other rock bands. Within all this time, Throwing Copper found its way to the #1 position on the Billboard Album Chart. "Lightning Crashes" as well made the #1 spot on the Billboard Singles Chart.
After the extensive touring, Live took some time off to take a break from the music. Kowalczyk made an appearance on the new Heads CD, No Talking Just Head, which he provided the lyrics and vocals for a song called "Indie Hair".
Then it was back to the studios again, this time taking their old friend Jay Healy with them to produce. Again, their was more musical growth that had developed. It was more hard edge rock, distorted amps, and, yes, even a string section was involved in a couple of tracks. A few of the songs were written in Jamaica. In January of 1997, the long awaited first single, "Lakini's Juice," was released with a successful video. Live made their second appearance on Saturday Night Live on February 15, 1997 where they played "Lakini's Juice" and "Heropsychodreamer." Secret Samadhi, the new album, was released on February 18, 1997. The second single, "Freaks," was released and a rather freakish video followed. "Turn My Head," followed suit as the third single. The album was a triumph, but unlike anything Live had released before.
For their next album, The Distance To Here, Live went back to their old tricks, as well as their old producer, Jerry Harrison. Released in late 1999, the album starts out strong with the first single, “Dolphin’s Cry.” The video for the song features the band cascading in thunderous waves of water. The next single, “Run To The Water,” was released on January 3, 2000, along with a video. Sadly, much of Live’s tour schedule was canceled due to various reasons in late 1999. Live plans to get back to promoting the album into 2000.
This biography has been written by Meghan Woods with contributions by Michael Tortorich.
