![]() ![]() It has moments where it does get really intimate, but it definitely is very visceral, tons of intensity, and more focused. It’s definitely not less energy, and I know that because I’m feeling it and the fans are coming after the show and saying, “I was really expecting an acoustic thing where it was going to make things more pretty,” and it doesn’t go there. ![]() My guitar player and I generate some production onstage, but if anything, it’s a more focused, sort of pointed kind of intensity with the acoustic performances. ![]() Kowalczyk: We don’t pare it down that much as much as it’s unplugged, it gets pretty rockin’. So it changes.ĪllMusic: Several of the songs on Throwing Copper build to these noisy peaks, has that been tricky to pull off acoustically? Back then you had that all or nothing, “Let’s go,” kind of thing, and you try to regenerate that, but now you’re established and now you have fans who are waiting on pins and needles for your next thing, and you didn’t have that before. I remember having this blank slate after Mental Jewelry and going, “Man, what to do, what am I going to say, how’s it going to sound?” To get back to that and have that blank slate again is something that gets trickier the more success you get, the more freedom you have. Between Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper, that was the cliché of how you spend your whole life making your first album and you have six months to make your second one. Now that seems to be a forte of what I’m doing now, which comes much more naturally.It’s interesting how we progress in that way. Kowalczyk: Back in those days, I remember it was more difficult for me to not write more aggressive songs the ballads, the mid-tempo songs, those were more challenging. How do those types of songs feel to sing now? ![]() It reminded me of the current U2 tour, which I just saw, that tour is called the Innocence and Experience Tour, and I remember reading an interview where Bono was explaining that there’s that element where parts of your artistry and craft get more sophisticated, and that’s beautiful, but at the same time you have to unlearn some of that and make sure you don’t go too far in that direction, because there’s this really fine line of regaining that energy and innocence about the process and the craft itself.ĪllMusic: You mentioned "Stage," which is one of the most aggressive songs on the record. The more you could do your own thing in the early to mid 90s, the more you were congratulated, the more you were celebrated, and that’s a beautiful part of that time. Kowalczyk: I think it’s more of a spiral than it is a linear progression, because there are things that you’ve learned, but things you have to unlearn to regain an innocence and a perspective that was more available to you in your early twenties. It’s a refreshing, amazing feeling, being that the work is over 20 years old, back to the actual writing process when I was 22, and I’m 44 now.ĪllMusic: Do you think you learned more from birth to age 22 or from 22 to 44? They’re still revealing things to me, little intuitions, little epiphanies. What really strikes me every night is how I’m still feeling it, and clearly the fans are, which is a blessing, but that when I sing a song like “T.B.D.” or “Stage,” I can go right back to where I was when I was writing it, and not only that, but this incredible new context for me, 20 years later. When I was thinking, “OK, I’m going to be singing all these songs again, every night, what’s that going to feel like, I haven’t done it before,” and some of them I hadn’t thought about or played that much since back then. We talked with Kowalczyk about how that album's producer, Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads, shaped his songwriting, if "nostalgia" is a dirty word and how the songs translate into acoustic interpretations.ĪllMusic: When someone brings up Throwing Copper, what do you flash back to?Įd Kowalczyk: The thing that’s been foremost in my mind, especially over the last year as we’ve been celebrating the record, is just how fresh the material still feels to me. Kowalczyk is currently on the road performing an acoustic version of Live's 8x platinum Throwing Copper, an exercise he says is rewarding for what it shows him about the tracks, how and why they connect with people in 2015, as well as connecting with the 22-year-old version of himself. Though he departed the band more than five years ago, former Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk isn't shying away from looking back as that band's biggest album passes the 20-year milestone. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |