Chad Taylor's Secrets to Success

Probably only Tiger Woods himself can remember a time when he played a round of golf and nobody cared to watch. And so it is with the members of the group Live. Chad Taylor (guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), Chad Gracey (drums), and Ed Kowalczyk (vocals and guitar) are among the only ones who can remember a time when they played The Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA, gig after gig, to an empty house. Inspired by the likes of the early Smiths and R.E.M., Live's brand of rock 'n' roll didn't resonate very loudly even their hometown of York, PA. Formed in 1984, it wasn't untill 1991 that they got signed to indie record company Radioactive. It was another four years untill their third album, Throwing Copper , crashed the airwaves with songs like "Selling the Drama" and "I Alone" and made the band an "overnight success." For Chad Taylor, the key to Live's success and longetivety is simply that they play "heartfelt, passionate, and honest music." We invited Chad to take this key and apply it to the history of the band Live.

G1: Tell me about your relationship with the guitar.

CT: For me, the ability to play the guitar needs to run parallel to my ability to write songs. I consider myself a guitar player secondary to being a songwriter. I have never sat down and practiced a scale. I have never had any interest in anything like that. All I ever wanted to do was to be able to express what was inside of myself. There were times when my physical playing ability was ;acking to keep up with the emotional side of what I wanted to do. Then I would play the guitar more. I noticed taht my greatest learning years of playing the guitar were when I really started to accelerate my songwriting, when I became more involved with that. Actually, untill I wrote a song, I don't think that I ever had very much interest in playing the guitar.

G1: When did you first discover the guitar?

CT: My father bought me my first guitar when I was ten years old. At the time, i wanted to be a drummer, so the guitar was somewhat of a dissapointment. I was in elementary school, and there was a jazz band that came to entertain in the auditorium. There was a guitar player in the band, and all the girls there were talking about how cute he was because he played the guitar. I can remember instantly at that moment thinking it was time to break that guitar out of the case, because I needed to learn how to play it.

G1: You wanted to get instantly cuter.

CT: Yeah, exactly. And then I did what most young guitar players do: I sought a teacher, I had somebody teach me the D and G chords, and then I quit. I decided that guitar lessons weren't going to be for me. I was basically self-taught from that time on. I found my motivation for playing based on the fact taht I was in a band. We started this band when I was 13, so by that time I had a need to play, because we were trying to learn other bands's songs.

G1: Did you go through an imitation stage?

CT: I'm sure that I initially started playing the guitar from an imitation standpoint, but there were no particular players. I grew up in such a rural part of the country (York, PA), and I didn't have other players to go and watch. What I did see was based on award shows and stuff like that. This is pre-MTV. So my idea of a guitar player in a band was all based from a record. I basically learned to play by playing to records.

G1: Were there songs that you wore out on LP?

CT: There probably wasn't anybody that I could completely play or imitate. The basis for our cover band when we were young was "Louie, Louie," "Wild Thing", and "Hang on Sloopy," all in a big medley. Those chords started the big foundation of songwriting for us. Like I said, I don't think I got into doing anything innocative with the guitar untill we had to start to write songs.

G1: So the first band you were in was Live?

CT: We weren't called Live then; we were actually called Public Affection. We were friends ages before there was ever a band. I had know Ed since kindergarten. I can remember we loved music, and it seemed just completely logical that we would get together and play. We never had any gigs as a cover band. There wasn't any place to play. That time was all spent in Chad Gracey's bedroom on weekends learning how to play. At the time, a typical song list would have included the Smiths, the Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, R.E.M., U2. One of the great early guitar things for me was the R.E.M. song "Begin and Begin." That was one of the first songs that I could play pretty efficiently.

G1: Did any one of you take up an instrument to be in the band?

CT: Not at all; we had all separately taken up our instruments. So it's not like anybody played a particular instrument to become involved in the band. We had all sort of had our love. Initially, the band was Patrick, Chad, and myself. We played to shows withought a singer-instrumental stuff. We weren't very good at the time. Then we decided taht if we were going to keep on doing this, we needed a singer, and of course Ed was always passionate about singing. He actually came to us after he say us play somewhere and said "I like what you guys are doing, but you need a singer." We said, "Yeash, we do." I guess that the rest is history from there. We were probably thirteen at the time. It is sort of odd looking back on it now. I'm twenty-six now and I can barely remember the founding days. I just know that we spent a lot of time in a garage laughing and giggling. Playing music was just second nature to us. It came very easily and very naturally. We weren't trying to make a living from it. We weren't trying to be the Beatles. We were just getting together on Saturday afternoons and having fun.

G1: You can get just as much satisfaction from playing well in a garage as you can from playing well in front of other people.

CT: I'm still that way today. I find the audience to be quite secondary to what we do. I have always maintained that we write and play our music first and formost for ourselves. We have the need for it. Songwriting is a process of getting yourself up and excercising your soul, and to me that has always been paramount over everything else. I fell in love the with guitar, the actual instrument, much later in my life. It wasn't untill towards the end of making Throwing Copper that I got what I call my first real guitar, a nice vintage guitar. I fell in love with the sound of it. I fell in love with how it was made. I bought another one and learned that it sounded so different, and fell in love with the unique characteristics of that. Now, I consider myself completely compassionate about the guitar-the instrument itself, more so than even being a palyer. I just love it. It's one of those rare peices of art that is actually functional. You don't find that function and form together in very many other places in life. It's a beautiful thing to look at, but it's even better when it's held and played.

G1: And each instrument is unique.

CT: Guitars are very temperamental. They each have their own unique personality. I would stress for any young player to realize that at a certain level, it's not what kind of guitar you have, level, or grade, it's how you play it. I refer back to players like Robert Johnson. Some people played with three strings and still made the most beautiful sounding music. It's important to realize that you have to learn to make it rock; it doesn't rock you. I have always been one of those guys who prided himself on being able to pick up any instrument and make i sound good. I'm not just speaking of guitar, but of piano, bass, drums, or anything like that. I think it's all coming from a tonal side of things that there is a way for everything to be played, and if it's played musically and with intensity, then it's going to sound great.

G1: Did you study other instruments?

CT: A year prior to being a guitar player, I played trumpet. I maintained playing trumpet all the way through high school. That's how I came in contact with learning how to read music and all these functions that I don't use at all with the guitar. I have never written anything down; I have never read a peice of music in terms of playing guitar. If there is anything that I wish I could do it would be to go back and really learn how to play trumpet. It's a fascinating instrument when it's played well. It's one of the most incredible instruments.

G1: So, back in the garage days, you didn't have to be any better a player than the songs you'd written.

CT: Exactly. As we all know, the best songs are simple songs. SO instantly we were able to write stuff that had a hook that was poppy and quirky and uniquely our own, because nobody had told us how to do it.

G1: Did you start composing by mutating others' songs?

CT: I don't think it started that way. I can remember the first songs that we wrote as a band. It started a lot of times with the bass and the drums. Patrick was always an advanced player. He was definetly the best player out of all of us when we were little kids. He was able to come up with really original stuff. We never wanted to sound like anybody. So if a chord pattern had been used by somebody else, then we wouldn't use it. Even today, I still don't really know what chords I'm playing. With "Louie Louie," I knew what they were, but somebody had to show them to me. Now, all the voicings I play on the guitar come from experimentation. I still consider myself an infant with the instrument. For example, I can't really tell you what the notes are on the neck at any givin point. I'll have to find a common note that I know and spell it out from there. I think by letting my guitar-and-brain ability sort of remain in infancy, it's helped me improve myself as a songwriter. I strive harder to find the right chord to fit the right emotion. Oftentimes, I play chords based on how the resonate and how they make my body feel, more so than what they do to my ear.

G1: What chords resonate well to you?

CT: I couldn't name them to you. I know most of my open chords by name, but I can't go any further than that. I do understand the theory of what makes a minor chord minor and not major, but as far as translating that onto an actual guitar and playing it, I don't know. If Ed has written a song, and the second chord of the progression is an Am, I'll be able to tell that it's a minor chord, and I'll go into a minor inversion. A lot of times when we initially start to play a song as a band, it's very important not to look at what the other person's playing but to really listen to it. WE don't say, "Here's the idea-it goes E, A, and D." WE don't do that at all. THe ideas just get played, and I try not to pay attention to what anybody else is playing. I guess when Ed writes a song, I play into the melody. When Patrick and Chad some up with ideas, I play more into the rhythmical aspect. When I write my own, it's always based on a chord progression. I have had conversations about the fact that I feel silly doing guitar interviews simply because my techincal ability is limited. I still say that, ultimately, if it makes you feel food, or it makes you feel the way you want other people to feel it, then you are doing something right. Don't think it, just bang the hell out of it, and hopefully something good will come out of it. Neil Young and myself have made a living out of doing that.

G1: Charlie Parker said "Learn everything you can, and then forget it." It's about having all the Crayolas in the box for all the colors you want. You mentioned at times, your technical ability could not help you get out the emotion you had in mind, so you had to play more and get better.

CT: Exactly. I would agree completely with that. I would also stress that in that period of my life, when I started to concentrate on myself as a guitar player, it happened because of touring so much. There was such a great demand for Live to perform night after night in front of thousands of people, I always wanted to be know as a good guitar player. At a certain point, I remember thinking "You are just going to have to get good." A lot of things started with learning how to make the guitar actually sound good. I don't think I understood what good guitar tone was. I have always been a guy who relied on a guitar, a cable, and an amp. As I got older, I learned how to set up the amp differently, how to set the guitar up differently, and how to play it differently. I know that a lot of the tone depends on the player. I have handed other people my guitars on stage and heard them play, and it sounded really bad and different then how I play. I think it's how you put your fingers on the fretboard and how you use your pick. It's something I don't think can be taught; it has to be learned. How do you learn it? You keep the guitar in your hands twenty-four hours a day. You don't let it go. You fall in love with it. You fall in love with the way it sounds, the way it feels, and the way it acts as an instrument. For me, the only way that came about was just being on a bus or a stage constantly. I would literally go to bed at night and put the guitar alongside of me. We became one.

G1: For years, you played The Chameleon Club in Lancaster, Pa, and nobody would show up.

CT: Everybody has to understand that Live is not something that happened overnight. This would be close to our thirteenth year as a band, and in 1991 we got our record deal with Radioactive, There was also an independent record that was made theyear that we graduated from high school in 1989. We were called Public Affection, and the record was called Death of a Dictionary.

G1: You werew serious about what you did. I understand that you sold shares in the band to friends and neighbors.

CT: We sold to friends and family. They all got paid back in full plus whatever the interest rate of the day. We calculated the interest and paid people back. The one this I learned at a very young age was that if you want to do something, you couldn't wait for someone else to hand it to you. You had to learn to always motivate yourself to get things done and to always accomplish your goal, to accomplish your dream. One of the big deals was that we wanted to make a record. We were seventeen at the time, and of course we were all broke. We sold shares in the family for $100 apiece untill we raised the capital that it took to make a record. Through the sales of that record, we were able to pay those people back. Again, the whole thing as a band was that we always told ourselves that we could do anything that we wanted to do. That relates to a lot more than music. I think it was a spiritual place that we were coming from. More kids should be encouraged to be that way; more human beings should be encouraged to be that way. So many people build up the walls before they are even there. We learned in our lives that there is nothing bigger than yourself. You had to take everything on. In this band, we always say, "Today is the day to be a man." For example, today I have more interviews than what I want to do, but I'll sit down and do each one heartfelt, I'll do it real, and I'll put passion into it. I think that's the stuff that is going to keep us around so that we have a career. I think that is a very imporatant goal of ours as a band-longevity.

G1: On this record, it feels like you are rocking out more. You are subservient to the songs, but you step out more.

CT: The only reason it would seem to be that way is because we had songs that seemed to need that type of treatment. I exist as a guitar player within the song. I've even noticed in the newer songs we have been writing that my guitar would have changed once again. It's not something that I'm ready to put into words and describe, but every song has its own uique needs for arrangment, and I do whatever it takes within those needs to be that guitar player. Secret Samadhi is the first album I hve ever really been a guitar player. THat is sort of the difference between it, Throwing Copper, and Mental Jewelry. I always felt taht the bass, drums, and guitar were sort of like a jazz ensemble. We worked together to make the guitar work. As we toured more and more, we wanted to make our sound thicker. Ed started playing more and more guitar. Originally, he played acoustic guitar, and we wrote most of our songs for Mental Jewelry with him playing acoustic guitar. But the bigger the places we played, the less you could hear the acoustic. He bought an electric guitar one day, and he started playing that. Through the years, he played more and more guitar to the point where Ed and I are co-guitarist of the band. Rather than doubling parts, I decided to step back and be a guitar player-write more based on the melody. That's been an interesting change for me. It's definetly more fulfilling and more challenging than being involved in just the rhythmical aspect.

G1: It also involves playing less and playing more intricately.

CT: Oh yes, absolutely, 100 percent. There is an interview in Bass Player with Patrick in which he says, "You can be told a million times in your life that less is more, but untill you learn it for yourself, you can never understand it." I can definetly say that I'm there as a guitar player. I have it plaved very high on my list of priorities to play less.

G1: There is a passion you throw in where the music is equal to the lyric.

CT: I think that is because, in Live, we write the music first, and the lyric is alwyas something that fortifies and backs up what is happening musically. Ed often says that our musical phrasing and our passion for the music itself sonically and texturally can make up for any lack of lyric-that if he just sang a melody without words, the true meaning behind the song would be expressed purely. It's interesting for Ed to be stuck in a postition where he is so heavily analyzed through what he writes, when he feels so totally opposite about it lyrically. I know on this record, he did not have a linear approach to writing lyrics. It was more or less whatever came to his head.

G1: The sound of a word can make mroe sense than the meaning of the word itself.

CT: A lot of times, music is expressed and understood on many different levels. Of course, there is the very functional side of the human being that understands words first and foremost. That would explain everybody's love for lyrics and lead singers. Music at its best is actually understood at a subconscious level. I think it's felt rather than heard.

G1: It's more easily understood in jazz or classical music where people often get the emotional content without vocals.

CT: Absolutely. I am the biggest fan of the blues. I love the blues. I am a particular fan of blues guitarists. I have always seen the passion when a guy can just play a single, sad, lonely note in the middle of a phrase. It sort of expresses the blues more than his words ever will.

G1: What blues artists do you love?

CT: B.B. King would come right to mind. I love some of the blues stuff Hendrix played. I metioned Robert Johnson earlier-you have to put that at the forefront. From a songwriting standpoind, obviously Muddy Waters was fantastic, certainly one of the better blues writers that we will ever have.

G1: When no one is around, do you sit and play blues?

CT: Yes, as often as I can, whenever I can. It's the one format of music where I find myself feeling completely comfortable. I've played with other rock bands on big stages and things like that, and I have always gotten a charge from running up and playing a guitar solo. But there is something about laying back and not being the focus of the band and just being involved with the blues. Actually, I think that has been reflected heavily in the playing on Secret Samadhi. Like I said, less is more. That's the thing I alwyas got from the blues. The favorite things I loved were when it was a blues trio or quartet, when there was barely any music going on.

G1: John Lee Hooker and the big foot.

CT: Exactly. You can hear the taps; you can hear the acoustic strings or electric guitar strings just jangling, and a deep gruff voice. There is magic there.

G1: Is there magic on the Live records?

CT: Oh, yes, completely. All the time. The reason why I'm so into Secret Samadhi is because it's the most pure record that we've ever made. Writing the songs was completely effort less, and recording them was hard work, but at the same time we captured performances that let the original emotion of the song to come across. Listen to "Graze." What's most interesting about the track is that you are hearing a song with no overdubs. It's a four-peice band in the studio-including the guitar solo, which is rare. Recording has become so slick that everything and anything has to be fixed up. That song just lets it all hang out. I'm particularly into the guitar work on that one, because I know it was all one take with the band, and we never touched up anything.

G1: It sound like you generally keep the blues separate from the sound of Live.

CT: It's funny-when I write songs for Live, and I play the guitar, I still think that it's based on the blues. If somebody would ask me to describe myself as a guitar player, I would probably say that I'm a blues-based player. What does that mean? It means that I'm undereducated; I'm probably never going to learn more than what I let myself learn. At the end of the day, all that really matters is the emotional side of what it is you have to play and what it is that you have to say.

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