Los Angeles, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Geffen Records) -
Lifehouse enjoyed some huge successes during its first decade as a band. The songs "Hanging by a Moment," from the group's 2000 debut CD "No Name Face," and "You and Me," from its 2005 self-titled disc, both became No. 1 hits.
The band's latest CD, "Who We Are," has yet to produce that kind of blockbuster song. But one won't find Lifehouse singer/guitarist Jason Wade complaining.
"I'd rather have two or three songs do decent than have that huge smash like "Hanging By A Moment' or "You and Me,' where it sticks out so long that you can't get a follow-up single," Wade said in a recent phone interview. "That's always been our problem. We've had these huge hits, but we've never been able to connect with a second single."
"Who We Are" is breaking that pattern. Although Wade noted that sales of the CD aren't as big as the band might like, it has so far turned out three singles - "First Time," "Broken" and "Whatever it Takes"
Wade said he thinks that this time, Lifehouse has a record with legs, and that "Who We Are" may just be starting to really gain momentum with fans.
"I'm really happy with the way this record's doing," he said. "Especially it seems like when the songs are getting on the radio they're starting to perform really well and people are starting to call in.
"I don't think people are really aware that it's out there (yet)," Wade said. "I run into people on the road sometimes who don't even know there's a new record out. So I think the more the songs get saturated on the radio and the more the tour continues to go along, I think people will find out about the record."
Lifehouse, in fact, is still in the early stages of touring behind "Who We Are." This spring, the band is playing its first run of headlining shows in major markets, and Wade expects the band to be on the road most of 2008.
The band is headlining Scott & Todd's 2008 Summer Blast-Off this morning at Jenkinson's in Point Pleasant Beach.
Fortunately for Jersey Shore fans, Wade thinks "Who We Are" translates nicely to live performance and will remain fun to play for as long as the band, which also includes drummer Rick Woolstenhulme and bassist Bryce Soderberg, tours behind the CD.
"We wanted some more uptempo songs," Wade said. "We wanted to get a little bit more guitar based. On our last record, the self-titled record, there were a lot of ballads and a lot of mid-tempo songs that I don't really feel were that exciting to play live. I don't know, it didn't move that well. So I think that we needed some more uptempo songs to make the live show more exciting.
The band also avoided going overboard on overdubs and added instrumentation because it wanted the songs to translate well to live performance.
"There aren't a lot of elaborate string arrangements, mostly two guitars, bass and drums," Wade said. "So we wanted it to be as simple as possible and have as much energy as possible."
These, however, were about the only pre-determined goals for "Who We Are."
"After that (first) record did really well, I kind of felt a lot of pressure on me to follow up that success," he said. "I think I got into a mindset where I was just kind of, not writing for other people, but I was definitely conscious of it. It's taken me like the last four or five years to kind of re-program my mind to just think about the inspiration and the music and not really worry about the business aspect of it. I think that definitely comes across on this last record.'
Despite the open agenda, Lifehouse sounds like itself on the CD. As always, the band plays a well crafted style of rock-pop built around strong vocal melodies, straightforward guitar/drums/bass tracks and the occasional use of lush strings.
But as Wade noted, "Who We Are" rocks as frisky tunes such as "Disarray," "First Time," "Who We Are" and "Bridges" anchor the album, while ballads "Whatever It Takes" and "Broken" provide frequent changes of pace.
Lifehouse's spring/summer tour is allowing the band to upgrade the visual aspects of its shows.
"We're bringing out our own lighting rig, and we've got some really big, blown-up artistic banners," Wade said. "So the stage will be a little bit more decorated this time. It's definitely going to be just as much a visual (experience) as the songs."
The group's song set figures to emphasize "Who We Are" and "No Name Face."
"We're just trying to be sensitive to the fans and make sure we don't play too much new stuff because I know that a lot of people are still really attached to our first record," Wade said. "So we're trying to get a good balance between older songs and new songs."
