

You’re right, it’s a no-man’s land in the middle, and it’s huge. This reminds me of an old saying: “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Mississippi in between.” The thing also is out of town, there weren’t many bands like us. That was a really cool thing about coming from York. Within three hours you could be in most of the bigger cities, like New York, Baltimore, D.C., and Philly. It was really cool location-wise, geographically.

We kind of adopted those bigger cities, where we really learned to play, and get our record deal. If you were a heavy metal cover band, you had your pick in the litter, but not as an alternative rock band like we were. Growing up, there weren’t a lot of places to play, especially for an alternative rock band. It’s a blue collar, working class kind of town. You have the downtown colonial district, where the Declaration of Independence’s last signings were done. I think it’s about high 100,000s in population. What is it about being from Pennsylvania, and York specifically, that informed Live’s sound? We designed the dynamic of that record to fill those big spaces that may have not existed for us yet, but they sure did later. In fact, I feel they were configured in that way, like they were vehicles for that. These songs were big songs, and expanded into that space really well. But we also knew it was going to take a minute, and we had to adapt and be a bigger band. We toured a lot, and we felt like by the time we started to experience these big moves, we were ready and settled. That’s interesting, because I feel like because the singles from Throwing Copper were huge enough that there’s an assumption that Live was always mainstream-oriented, rather than an edgy young band people started to notice.Ībsolutely.
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I just remember it like it was the world ending, and in the midst of it was us just trying to figure out how to adapt into the arenas and larger stages while making sure we kept the edge of the band. You’d never imagine a year later, you’d start the tour in a club in Philadelphia and end it in the Spectrum Arena. Our first thoughts were to put it on college radio and see what happens. We toured a lot for that record, came back, and then we had six months to make another one. We were coming off of our first album, Mental Jewelry, which did really well. When you think back on Throwing Copper, what memories come to mind? What was that time like for the band? So we mentioned it to them, and they were super excited about it. With both records coming out the same year, we thought it would be a great idea. We thought about Bush, who had Sixteen Stone that year. Then, mid-last year, we were just saying it would be cool to find another band doing an anniversary like that. How long was this tour in the making? Did you always know you’d do a big tour when Throwing Copper turned 25? We can’t wait to get out and get rolling.” We struck a nice balance over the last couple of years, so that when we get back together, we’re excited. We love to tour, but it is intense, and you spend a lot of time away from home. “We toured so much last year, that it was great to decompress and work on new music and nurture that space,” says Ed. When we speak to Ed, he’s taking his time to savor the simple life at home, while at the same time chomping at the bit to get this show on the road. The band are heading out on the road with Bush, whose classic album Sixteen Stone also turns 25 this year. We’re not a light band, but we definitely aren’t a heavy one, so it’s nice to see people like him enjoying our music.”įor Live, Throwing Copper’s 25th birthday also means the start of a sizable tour. I would’ve never have expected he would be such a huge fan. I became friends with Corey Taylor when he was doing his acoustic tour, and sang his own beautiful version of Lightning Crashes. One of the cool things is the connections.

It’s been twenty-five year, and it never gets old. “It’s funny, Chad Taylor shared a post with me on Instagram of this guy all the way in Jakarta, Indonesia, with his guitar, singing Lightning Crashes and just rocking it out. “People do that to me all the time in bars,” says Ed with a laugh.
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Chances are, if you mention Lightning Crashes in a room full of people, a handful of them will know every word of it, and will immediately sing it back to you in Ed Kowalczyk’s rust-belt warble. The record’s four huge singles - I Alone, All Over You, Selling The Drama, and the unstoppably memorable Lightning Crashes - were ever-present on any rock station across the globe after that, perfect grassfed alternatives for fans who found Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins a little too acerbic. The sophomore album by the York, Pennsylvania, alt-rock quartet dropped in 1994 and hit American radio like a tidal wave, walking a perfect line between soulful and tough. For children of the Nineties, Live’s Throwing Copper was inescapable.
