Did you know there is trouble in the Live camp?
Did you even know the band Live is still around?
Me either, but I find the latest drama fascinating. Evidently, the band is still pretty big in a few places (other than America) and most recently they took their show over to Europe and even captured one of the more memorable shows on DVD.
Some other opportunities arose in Early 2009 and the band considered a few extra dates. Lead vocalist Ed Kowalczyk demanded an additional $100,000 before agreeing to the performance. In case you’re wondering if he was asking for the extra money on behalf of the band, the answer is “No.” This money was for “I Alone” apparently-a “lead vocalist fee” as it were.
And the rest of the band got pissed.
I vaguely remember that these guys had been performing together since high-school, so it must have been doublely shitty to learn that you’re “bro” and lead singer for the past couple of decades was, in fact, a douchebag.
I’m being a dick and have no reason to really do so. We played their songs at the radio station I was working at and I remember being surprised that there was a song in our playlist that contained the lyrics “Her placenta falls to the floor.” It’s not everyday where you get a little bit of afterbirth on radio.
In case you forgot, here’s a glimpse. Selling the drama, indeed.
3 comments:
Last I heard from those guys they were playing Pittsburgh Pirates-post game shows...the 100K thing definitely sounds like a douchebag move, but I'd like to find out if the dude is just being plain greedy or some shit went down money-wise between them.
You know the story of Van Halen splitting their publishing 4 ways even though Alex and Michael Anthony never wrote a lick? Well, EVH was never happy with that arrangement, so years later it was decided that instead of going to some other recording studio the band would record their albums at his 5150 studio, and EVH would charge them for it.
You never know...
I'm also surprised since I'd always heard the 'high school friends' story. Not that I really care about Live but when their stuff was new, I didn't always change the station, just usually.
That's an interesting Van Halen tidbit which is probably not too surprising when you think about Eddie's behavior in the past 2 decades.
There was also some serious drama with Ed Kowalczyk signing a contract that essentially took control away from the publishing rights away from the rest of the band (despite them having co-written almost all of the early LIVE catalogue).
In addition, the festival where the $100,000 demand was made was a huge festival in the Netherlands where over a hundred thousand people show up. The band as a whole was making a mint for the performance, but the hundred thousand for Ed Kowalczyk was hugely disproportionate.
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