Going The Distance

04/05/2000 2:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Dave DiMartino

So, he shaves his head, carries a cane, quotes Khalil Gibran, and dresses in fringe. This doesn't necessarily mean that Live singer is a "trendy art f--k," as we used to say in college. No, the great bald one actually is pretty funny: he admits to getting drunk and recording in the nude, tattooing his teenage fingers with the letters O-Z-Z-Y (in Magic Marker, of course), and smoking his fair share of weed back in the day. So, we'll cut him a little slack.

Kowalczyk told LAUNCH executive editor Dave DiMartino that, despite his band's heavy-handed sound and portentous lyrics, these four childhood friends from York, Pa. do not take themselves as seriously as some would believe.

LAUNCH:
What would you say is the biggest difference between Secret Samadhi and The Distance To Here?

KOWALCZYK:
I would say the biggest difference between The Distance To Here and Secret Samadhi is just the overall mood. This record is really happy, bright, and uplifting. It jumps out the speakers at you. Whereas Secret Samadhi was more "have a bottle of wine and a joint and come in and maybe see what you can get from it." This one was designed totally around the notion of making a hopeful record that people could turn to and be uplifted by.

LAUNCH:
Why did you move to Los Angeles?

KOWALCZYK:
Just the thought of January in Pennsylvania made me move to California. In a nutshell, I felt I needed a change of pace. I'd done a lot of camping in the Southwest, writing the songs for this record. There are four or five songs on the record that have specific water references and metaphors, and most of them were written in the desert. Maybe I was thirsty.

LAUNCH:
Explain how the band has grown since the first record.

KOWALCZYK:
I think that Secret Samadhi, for Live, was a transition record, a transitionary period. Throwing Copper was such a massive record, and it really was something that changed our lives so dramatically. It was a period that was so sweet, but also bittersweet. We had new pressures and new things to deal with. I felt like Secret Samadhi was us, just going into this enclave and stirring up the soup. It was darker and moodier. The Distance--we've brought the treasure from Secret Samadhi, the pushing of ourselves as artists, and as creative people, but we have returned to the core of Live, which is essentially positive and trying to push itself on every record, expand its own consciousness, and go upward and be positive.

LAUNCH:
On the current disc, which song stands out to you?

KOWALCZYK:
"Dolphin's Cry" was one of the later songs. I had a camper I'd rented and driven into Sedona, Az. That's where I'd bought this cane. It was an incredible day, and it seemed the record was coming to a close. "Dolphin's Cry" is one of those songs you dream of as a songwriter, five or six times through on acoustic and it was done. That one stands out as a memory of making this record.

LAUNCH:
You've been described as an "intense" band. Do you feel that description is accurate?

KOWALCZYK:
I think we shell-shocked a lot of people from the beginning with the image of Live and the fierceness of our message, going after these massive ideas for a bunch of young guys making rock 'n' roll. A lot of people who weren't ready for that were a little freaked-out by these four guys from Nowheresville, Pa. talking about these things. What we've struggled as Live to do over the last three albums is to give people a bigger representation of the spectrum of our personality. We don't take ourselves as seriously as people think we do. For a band that has "made it" commercially, this record was something we dug really deeply into ourselves for. I hope people listen to it and get a different side to Live, a side they may not have realized was there.

LAUNCH:
You seem relaxed and kind of self-effacing in person--but so serious onstage. Tell me about the change in your personae.

KOWALCZYK:
Jeckyll-&-Hyde character that I am, I definitely have that dichotomy. I go back and forth. Now that Live is on tour, I'm starting to feel like I'm more myself onstage, and everywhere else, I feel out of sorts--it's just me waiting to get back onstage. People always ask me, because of the viscerality of our live performances, how I function in normal life. The reason I perform that way is because of what the songs seem to demand. We really do go deeply within ourselves to pull these songs out. This record was the hardest we've ever worked to make sure every line, every song had the singularity it deserves. Going back to the '60s, early Beatles, the Doors. It wasn't hard, because that's what Live is about--expanding. Those records seemed to help a lot, though.

LAUNCH:
What is the songwriting process like for you? Does it come easy, or do you struggle?

KOWALCZYK:
I recall seeing an interview with Tom Petty once and him saying, "The best ones come right away." And that is, for me, generally true as well. Like "Dolphins' Cry." That's what you really hope for as a songwriter, the ones that just fly out of you. The song "Run To The Water," which is flowing and feels natural, took a long time to get there. I wrote four or five versions of the lyric and other changes in the melody. I had both experiences, where they came right away, and those where you dig deeper. I do get overly self-conscious in the studio sometimes. I'll be like, "No, that's not exactly right. Play that back again. NO!" But there are the moments when you write songs like "Voodoo Lady" and just let it all hang out.

LAUNCH:
You seem to really enjoy the live performance aspect of things.

KOWALCZYK:
I have a good sense of humor about it, but I really feel like the most important thing for Live, and what has energized this band over the years, is the relationship we have with fans. Our fans and the songs are so emotionally connected. They've told us time and time again that we've affected their lives. That's the biggest compliment you can get. Generally it's the one-on-one with the fans. They receive what we're doing, and that's a blessing.

LAUNCH:
You guys all met in junior high. What were you like as a kid? Were you a geek, a jock, or a stoner?

KOWALCZYK:
It was an interesting progression for me in school. About age 13, grade 8 or so, I had a jean jacket, I wrote "Ozzy" on my hand, hiding my illegalities in my pocket. I was a major head back then, as they call 'em. Ozzy, Iron Maiden. And then something happened--I met these guys. They were playing U2 songs and the Smiths. We got together--but I have retained some of my Ozzy influence, as you can hear on "Lakini's Juice" on Secret Samadhi. Then all of a sudden I became the AP brainiac kid. My parents really freaked out then. Then I told my parents that I was going to defer indefinitely and try this rock band thing and see what happens. So, I'm still deferring, Mom...

LAUNCH:
What really makes you angry?

KOWALCZYK:
I don't like it when guys disrespect women. That gets me really worked-up. I was in the airport once, and that was happening. I wanted to bop him on the head.

LAUNCH:
Has success changed you guys?

KOWALCZYK:
We definitely went through something with Live. When it got really crazy, people didn't know what to make of us. Did we change? I think everyone around us changed, not us. For every guy who wanted to praise us, there was one who wanted to fight us. We've come full circle, though. Everything's pretty comfortable.

LAUNCH:
I hear you recorded one of the tracks in the nude...

KOWALCZYK:
"Run To The Water" was recorded buck-naked. It had to be done in the performance. It just had to be it, you know? We tried it a couple times and Jerry just said, "We're going to dinner." We threw everything down, went to dinner, got a little sloshed--not so much that you can't function--then came back, totally let it go. I looked out through the control room window and there was a bunch of naked men in the studio. So I decided to join them. We cut it one more time and that's the one that made it on the record. I guess our underwear was too tight.

LAUNCH:
Tell me about your experience at Woodstock.

KOWALCZYK:
I live in the moment, and the moment we played, Friday night at Woodstock, I had a wonderful time. I went back to the '60s on this record, and I had high hopes for our set. Trying to incarnate a little of what '69 was all about, at least in the effort to keep it positive, speak about consciousness, love. I left Saturday morning. And watched the rest on the news. It was pretty outrageous.

LAUNCH:
What would you say is the secret to your success as a band that's been together for such a long, long time?

KOWALCZYK:
It's absolutely unbelievable. I'm so grateful for the friendship between the four of us. We're friends, men together, friends together. I'd be lying if I said it was a cakewalk. Our communication is pre-verbal now. It's this chemistry we have. We tend to just go where the fire is. We line up behind the songwriting process--it's so intense. It's unbelievable how we've been able to develop this relationship. The space between records when we split between touring and making a new record is absolutely crucial. Letting the wind of heaven pass between you. You need space. It's true. We get off on it. It's a good thing.