ED KOWALCZYK
Alive (Limited Edition)

In mid-2008, Ed Kowalczyk found himself in an unfamiliar situation. As the singer and songwriting force behind the multi-platinum Rock band Live, Kowalczyk had been playing music professionally for nearly two decades. But for the first time in his life, Kowalczyk felt no urgency to write songs or have anything to do with music for that matter. “I was in a malaise about the whole thing,” Kowalczyk says. “I felt like I had done everything I wanted to do and wasn’t sure if I wanted to re-engage.”

A contemplative person by nature, Kowalczyk turned inward for a period of soul-searching. “Then, out of nowhere, I got this incredible inspiration to do it again in this new way,” he says. “I realized that one of the limitations I was experiencing was the fact that I’d been doing it the same way for so long that I wondered what would happen if I challenged myself and tried things differently. From then on, it was like uncorking a bottle that had been shaken and it exploded into this writing fervor.”

The result of that burst of inspiration is Kowalczyk’s debut solo album ‘Alive’ — a collection of powerful, melodic Rock songs that represents Kowalczyk’s renaissance as a vocalist and songwriter, while retaining the searching lyrical qualities and emotional uplift that have made him beloved by fans the world over. “It is a reinvention of my sound,” Kowalczyk says, “but, thematically, ‘Alive’ is very much vintage me. The material is dark at times, but it’s not depressing. I’ve always been a big fan of Peter Gabriel because he can capture a feeling of darkness, but also give you this intense feeling of hope as well.”

Knowing he wanted to make a Rock record, rather than an acoustic affair, Kowalczyk turned to a friend, Texas-based producer and engineer CJ Eiriksson, who has worked with Live, Phish, and Incubus, among others. “CJ said, ‘I’ve got this full set-up down in Austin and am plugged in with all these great musicians. Come make your record here,’” Kowalczyk recalls. “So I went down there trusting him to put me with whomever he thought was great, and, sure enough, he totally went over the top with it.”  

Eiriksson brought in lead guitarist James Gabbie, bassist Chris Heerlein, and drummer Ramy Antoun, whose combined experience and technical abilities meant Rock-solid performances, which lend the proceedings a more musically sophisticated air than anything Kowalczyk has recorded prior. “What I’ve noticed about the new stuff is that the space in the music is being interpreted differently,” Kowalczyk says. “By space, I mean where there isn’t a lyric or something going on melodically. How that space gets interpreted is really where a musician’s talent and genius come through and that’s where this record has a lot of different aspects going on.”