It is hard to believe that Live, the York, Pa quartet’s album “Throwing Copper” is nearly 21 years old.







The Jerry Harrison album debuted on April 19, 1994, but it would not be until over a year later that the album would reach the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart on May 6, 1995. Bolstered by a string of singles, like “Selling the Drama,” I Alone,” Lightning Crashes” and “All Over You,” the album went on to sell over 8-million copies in the US and over 12 million world wide.







While Live is technically still together, in 2009, Ed Kowalczyk, lead singer and main songwriter, left the band on a supposed agreed hiatus. Later in 2009, former bandmates filed a lawsuit against Kowalczyk claiming a breach of a publishing contact in 2006. In 2012 the company that hold’s the band’s trademarks, Action Front Limited, filed an infringement suit against its former front man.







Both suits were eventually settled and Kowalczyk moved on releasing 2013’s “The Flood and the Mercy” (his second solo album following 2010’s debut “Alive”).







In 2013, Kowlczyak hit the road with his I Alone Tour, where he and another musician played tracks from Kowlczyak’s solo material as well as Live standards.







A year later, he decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Throwing Copper” by playing the album in it entirety stripped down. After a successful tour overseas with the concept, Kowalczyk is bringing the tour to the states and will be in Pittsburgh tonight at the Altar Bar.







The Swerve Magazine recently had a chance to talk with Kowalczyk about one of the 90s most seminal albums and rising above the controversy to find himself in a much better space.







The Swerve Magazine: You did tour “Throwing Copper” last year for the actual 20th anniversary?







Ed Kowalczyk: I haven’t done it acoustically yet. This tour is an unplugged version, my guitar player Zak Loy and I. It is a pretty unique show. I’m actually really excited about it. There are some visual and extra audio elements to it that I’ve never used before. It was really a lot of fun producing the visual contents. We are going to interpret some of the other songs that didn’t get music videos back in the day. I was excited to do it this way.







Celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Throwing Copper” was really 2014, but I had not been to the United States on a tour yet. I had done it in Europe and Australia, but this will be the first outing in America.







SM: It works seeing as the album didn’t hit number one until 1995.







EK: It technically came out in April of 1994. My joke has been after 20 years who is counting.







SM: Have you ever sat back in those 20 years and thought you ever would have written songs that were on an album that sold over 8-million copies in the US and 11 million worldwide?







EK: I think when you are sitting down to write songs like I do with just an acoustic guitar and trying to come up with the most heartfelt, I don’t think that you can ever really imagine the success of, like, “Throwing Copper.” It is just an amazing blessing to make something that is so personal, yet it find such a universal audience. The most amazing part to me, is the fact that 20 years later, the songs and the lyrics that I wrote are still so relevant to the fans.







It is not a record where people look back and say, “Oh well, I liked that kind of music back in the 90s.” It doesn’t seem to be stuck in an era. It has this kind of timeless energy for the fans and that is pretty remarkable.







SM: I busted the album out recently and going back over it, there is nothing that sounds dated. There are other songs that came around and after “Throwing Cooper” that sound so horribly dated now that they are hard to listen to.







EK: There is a lot that plays into that, but I think one of the main things are the lyrics. They have a, kind of, appeal overtime because it is a record in its own way that takes on bigger issues. Birth, death, life and truths about what is going on, these existential issues that we all have because they are perennial questions that you ask your whole life.







When people re-engage this album, like 10 years after they heard it for the last time, they find that songs like “Lightning Crashes” still have something to say to them. There is still something there that people want to consume and digest and live with. I think that is a big part as to why it is still relevant to the fans. As opposed to songs that are out of a specific time or place or story. I stayed away from that. I always have in my lyrics. I think it has allowed it to extend its lifespan much.







SM: With the bigger topics that the album does explore, it almost gives fans that opportunity to revisit in at different times in their lives as it may have a different meaning to them.







EK: Absolutely. I mentioned “Lightning Crashes” and I mean just from a personal place I will say that when I wrote it, I didn’t have any kids, but with the video being about a birth and another lady passing on. There is a humanity in it from the get go, but as a writer I wrote it like 22—23 years ago. I didn’t have a family or kids, so even for me to sing that song now after having four kids and actually being through the birthing of children and the deep humanity of that, even for me the song has become a deeper experience.







When I talk to people, who were fans early on, who have had a similar experience say that song reminds them of when their kids were born.







(The fans) have been able to grow with it. As opposed to leaving it behind as a chapter that isn’t relevant to them anymore.







SM: You did the I Alone Tour a couple years ago?







EK: It has kind of been ongoing. Probably about 50% of the tours that I do are because I went solo about five years ago and now play acoustic. The I Alone Acoustic Tour was more of a show that focused on all of my records. This tour now is much more specific. I’m playing the entire “Throwing Cooper” album from top to bottom. We have a part two of the set that we will get into other parts of my career with Live and the solo stuff.







SM: Going acoustic songs not only can you go and dig into the songs a little deeper and pull different things out, but after playing plugged in on big stage for so many years, wouldn’t you want to do it acoustically after a certain point?







EK: Absolutely. That was a huge part for me when I stepped out as a solo artist, one of the first powerful things that I did for me was to grab an acoustic guitar and reconnected with the songs myself.







I had done it with a full band for so many years that reconnecting with that part of who I am and the craft of writing them. Not just as writing process, but taking that into a show, it was if the fans were ready for that too. Everybody seemed like they were ready for that reconnection with the lyric and the song. It was a huge energy boost for me. It was a renaissance that began in this moment of going solo and saying, “Let’s strip this thing down completely to the essence.







I’ve been absolutely loving it. Because for me doing it the same way for so many years with the big band, I’m learning to adapt the vocal and show the fans how much that has grown as well.











SM: With it just being you now and not having to worry about how the three other guys are going to play the song, you can take the songs different places on different nights if you want?







EK: It has been a huge renaissance for me because one of the things that has been really exciting is how fluid the lineup is from tour to tour. I’ve done trios. I’ve done solos. I had a whole European tour with just my bass player, who is an amazing singer. I’ve done shows with orchestras. Shows with a full band and all with incredible friends and musicians.







There is a fluidity to the way that I do this that I never had before, especially after doing it the other way for so many years. It is like anything else, you get into a routine and you start to feel boxed in. Where as with this I to do the Throwing Copper Tour, I was able to look at 300 to 500 seat, really nice listening theaters. How would I do this record in this environment and make it special? So, We are not just going to be playing the songs, I’ve developed this whole audio/visual thing. I was able to decide to do and just do it. There wasn’t anyone else to check with it. If you want to do it, let’s do it.







SM: Now, for this tour is just you, a full band…?







EK: It is me and guitarist Zak Loy. There will be two instrumentalist on stage, but without giving anything away there is this third member in the audio/visual part. They will be dealing with the screen and the tracks that are happening there, along with the flow and the pacing of that.







We got some really amazing arrangements. None of it takes away from the energy music, in fact, in some ways it may even expand it.







It is new territory for me.







SM: That would have to be exciting as for doing something the same way for so long, I would be itching to get out and try something new.







EK: I think the worst thing that can happen to an artist is… It is a blessing to have a lot of success, but at the same time that success can become this box that you end up in. You can have these expectations to how something is sounding that over time can really suck the life out of it. That was something that really played into my decision to go solo and just to expand as a performer.







I would have to say that the last five years have been the happiest I’ve been since I started.







SM: Well, considering all that you went through with the band six years ago and the legal stuff, that is amazing.







EK: There is definitely a lot of change and a lot of tumult in the last five years, but I’ve been able to change that into some of the best shows I’ve ever done.