Courier Mail: Reaching Rock Nirvana

Reaching rock nirvana

Noel Mengel

April 13, 2006

Ed Kowalczyk

'MUSIC is a higher revelation than philosophy." Discuss. Well, you might not get away with dropping that proposition into an interview with, oh, John Lydon. Or The Darkness.

But this is Ed Kowalczyk from Live, right? A guy who has managed the ingenious trick of invariably being described as a "cult success" while in the process of selling 20 million albums of some seriously amped up rock 'n' roll combined with deeper thoughts about life, the universe and the whole damned shooting match.

So, why not let that idea (it's a Beethoven quote) float and see if he bites.

Actually, he gives a remarkably reasoned response, especially for a rock 'n' roller in the middle of doing the hit-and-interview tour for the new album, Songs from Black Mountain.

Still, he's surviving yet another day of the press schedule from hell – this morning, brunch-and-chat in Brisbane's West End, this evening, a similar thing over in Auckland, New Zealand.

When it comes down to it, Kowalczyk gives a reasoned response to just about anything you want to put to him. He's a happy man, married with two daughters, and the three women in his life give him plenty of grist to the songwriting mill on Songs from Black Mountain.

But can a happy man produce the same kind of thrill that the young Ed did when the band's angsty, edgy Throwing Copper album went mega on the back of made-for-stadium anthems like All Over You, Lightning Crashes and Selling The Drama?

He sees no reason why not.

"It's a very organic record, uplifting but also sexy in a way I don't think we've been before," he says, approving of a morning shot of coffee, bacon and eggs.

"It was recorded fast, when things are clicking and you get the feeling you are on to something with an extra dimension of energy to it.

"It doesn't happen every time, these are rare moments. That's one of the benefits of looking back across a 13-year recording career, you can celebrate something like this. There's more spontaneity in it than the last couple of albums and I think people will hear that."

Those who've been tuned in since the band's breakthrough – many of them in Australia judging by the stadium shows they pack out on their frequent visits – know that Kowalczyk has always been something of a seeker.

People like Pete Townshend and George Harrison were of a similar bent and no one seemed to mind, although Kowalczyk chooses his words carefully, never keen to be tied to any particular set of beliefs. And new song Love Shines addresses how he might convey his own conclusions to his daughters.

"You don't want to sound too preachy, which is why I put the disclaimer in the sub-title ('A song for my daughters about God'). It's OK, I'm a dad now, I can preach once in a while."

Kowalczyk doesn't align himself to any religion, although in practise he gravitates to Buddhist meditation. "The last thing I want to do for my daughters is bring too much attention to a specific mythology or religion. I think that's a divisive force. Those days are over, we're moving into a global situation at all levels and spirituality should be no different. The truth behind all these things is love and compassion."

But there are plenty of other things on his mind on Songs from Black Mountain, including Home, sung from the point-of-view of a soldier in the field.

"Obviously it's a song inspired by the situation in Iraq but I didn't want the message to get lost in a political song. We get this image of the soldier, the valiant guy doing their job. What we don't hear enough of is the tragedy they go through."

And music as a higher revelation than philosophy? As expected, Kowalczyk is down with Beethoven ahead of Plato.

"What musicians are practising essentially is letting go, getting out of the way of some kind of process or intelligence that wants to come through, that's dying to come through. It's killing them as it tries to come through and they are kind of mad about it. Musicians participate in that whether they are conscious of it or not."

Call it spirituality, mystery, a higher revelation than philosophy, rock 'n' roll or whatever you like, Kowalczyk says.

The turning point for him was when he saw U2 with 80,000 others on The Joshua Tree tour in 1987.

"I was headed to college, in this little band, we'd written songs, played dances, made a little independent record. I went home that night and everything was changed. And music has been everything to me."

So, Ed Kowalczyk, searcher for enlightenment, have you found what you are looking for? It seems so, and he can admit it with a smile on his face.

"If you start seeking as virulently as I did in my late teens and early 20s . . . you hope a guy who is that serious ends up finding something that can help him relax a bit!"

Songs from Black Mountain is out on Saturday through Sony/BMG