Former Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk reunited with Chad Taylor on WVYC yesterday, but not ostensibly to talk about the band. They talked about another artist Chad had been working with mostly. It’s notable because they’ve not appeared together on almost anything since 2009. They were also seen at a restaurant around town also. There have been rumors for months that Kowalczyk will reunite with Live.
Live guitarist Chad Taylor posted on his Facebook page in August a quote from Dr Suess that read “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Taylor also added he was “grateful, blessed, and thankful.”
It’s interesting to note that the band’s original frontman Ed Kowalczyk has no tour dates currently scheduled, and current singer Chris Shinn hasn’t been mentioned on Facebook in months.
Alternative Nation reporter Jeremy Neugebauer messaged Taylor in August requesting an interview to discuss the state of Live, he replied back with:
“Jeremy – thanks for reaching out. I’m taking a long break from interviews but truly appreciate your support. I’m focused on impacting my local community, making records for some new artists and of course my family. That’s all I’ll say for now. Maybe sometime next year we can discuss band stuff. Keep up the good work until then.”
Adding even more to the speculation, the band’s website and facebook page have been taken down. Even though the band is keeping quiet, the hints they have been giving recently makes it seem that there are more big changes on the way, which could either be the band breaking up, or the band reuniting with Ed Kowalczyk but also having a positive break-up with current vocalist Chris Shinn.
In 2009, the original members of Live split under very tumultuous circumstances, which included lawsuits, Kowalczyk trying to get a lead singer bonus, and plenty of drama in the press, making it seem any positive relationship between the original members of the band and their founding vocalist was over. In 2014, with Kowalczyk continuing on with a solo career, Live brought in former Unified Theory vocalist Chris Shinn for The Turn, which many fans considered the band’s best release since 1997’s Secret Samadhi.
The last update that we received from Live was in January of this year, when Chad Taylor posted on his Facebook page that Live was recording new music. The person providing vocals wasn’t mentioned in the post and since the January post, updates on the current state of the band have been silent.
However, in July of this year, it did seem Live had a change of heart regarding former vocalist Ed Kowalczyk. A fan praised Kowalczyk on Facebook and the band shared the post.
