September 18th, 2002

thanks goes to emkrebbs from the LH msg board

LIFEHOUSE'S NEW GUITAR PLAYER KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY; MULTIPLATINUM ACT UNVEILS STANLEY CLIMBFALL TOMORROW LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2002 - If you think you're seeing double next time you catch multiplatinum rock band Lifehouse live, you're not; it's just that guitarist Sean Woolstenhulme has joined the band, which features his brother Rick on drums, and the two look remarkably alike.

Lifehouse, who are on the eve of the Sept. l7th release of Stanley Climbfall (DreamWorks Records), the follow-up to their multiplatinum debut, No Name Face, has made it official: Sean, who'd been touring with them this summer, is the fourth member of the band, making it a quartet for the first time.

"It's about time the brothers unite as one," says Rick, who'd brought Sean along in 1999 when he auditioned for the band. "It's great to play music with him because we're so similar. We tend to veer towards the same planets in space."

Lifehouse has toured for a solid two years, ever since the release of their first album, and is about to embark on a world tour that takes them to Europe this week and throughout the U.S. in the fall. Understandably, the band has high expectations for its new member. Frontman Jason Wade is confident they've found the right player: "Sean is an extremely innovative and creative lead guitar player who has great stage presence."

Lifehouse recorded Stanley Climbfall with producer Ron Aniello last spring at Royaltone Studios in Los Angeles and finished it this summer at Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Atlanta with mixer Brendan O'Brien. "Our focus was to keep the sound of the record pure," Wade notes. "We have a chemistry that's really working. We are a band. We have claimed our sound as our own and developed it through touring and in the studio, making it stronger."

"Spin," the first radio track from the album, has been a big gainer every week since its release July 23rd. The video for the song was directed by Dave Meyers and filmed in Los Angeles.

Lifehouse's "Hanging By A Moment," the first radio track off No Name Face, was a #1 hit on Billboard's Modern Rock chart and the most-played song of 2001 (according to Broadcast Data Services).

August 27th, 2002

Billboard Charts

By Charles Daugherty

When it comes to Lifehouse's sophomore effort, "Stanley Climbfall," due Sept. 17 via DreamWorks, frontman/songwriter Jason Wade has no intention of hanging on a moment in time.

"Hanging by a Moment" is the smash single that propelled the band's 2000 debut, "No Name Face," to sales of 2.3 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. With the new recording, the band and label are unified in their mission to ensure that they avoid the dreaded one-hit wonder albatross. For Wade, the first step in the process was in assembling strong material.

"I started writing songs immediately after the first album was made," he says. "I didn't want to be unprepared when it came time to do the second record. As we toured, we gained a stronger identity of who we were as a band, and my writing grew from there. When putting together 'Stanley Climbfall,' we didn't have the pressure to make another hit single. We just concentrated on making a good album."

Lifehouse manager Jude Cole agrees. "It takes more than a single to define the character of someone's art," he observes. "This record does a wonderful job of capturing the identity of the boys and their music as a whole. It's a more confident record. The songs are more married to each other than their debut."

"Stanley Climbfall" also reflects a change in focus in terms of the band's overall message. Wade -- who prefers to distance himself from most of the pop culture that is served on radio or TV -- penned most of the set's tracks during downtime between concerts while on tour with Matchbox Twenty and Pearl Jam.

"The album is about moving forward," he offers. "We had a lot of songs to choose from when we started production of the album. It was clear that some songs fit each other better than others. Looking back, it was clear we had a more proactive theme overall. On 'No Name Face,' we spent time identifying where we were at. 'Stanley Climbfall' is about recognizing where we were at and deciding what to do next."

Like the band's debut, "Stanley Climbfall" was produced by Ron Aniello and mixed by Brendan O'Brien, who helped Lifehouse take Wade's four-track, back-of-the-tour bus recordings and develop them into the 12 final cuts appearing on the record.

"The record has real depth in terms of an overall body of work," DreamWorks president Michael Ostin says, pointing toward stand-out cuts "Wash," "Anchor," and "Take Me Away," as well as the single "Spin" -- all of which showcase memorable guitar/drum-driven hooks that complement Wade's potent lyrics. "They've outdone themselves."

Lifehouse, ending a series of summer concerts in the U.S., will do a handful of international concert dates in September and October before returning to the States for more touring and finalizing decisions on adding a guitarist to the band.

August 6th, 2002

VH1.com

Dave Meyers (Pink, Creed) helms first clip from second LP.

By Jon Wiederhorn

Will Lifehouse's new single, "Spin," get as much love as their 2000 hit "Hanging by a Moment," which received more radio airplay in 2001 than any other song?

If the public's appetite for poppy hard rock hasn't waned, "Spin" should soon be blasting over the airwaves and propelling the band's second album, Stanley Climbfall, to stratospheric heights when it arrives on September 17 (see "Lifehouse Giving Birth To Stanley This Fall" ).

The song is a little more involved than the band's debut single, blending Led Zeppelin groove and trippy Beatles-y arpeggios within the group's standard Stone Temple Pilots-meets-Matchbox Twenty foundation, but the track could still have been called "Still Hanging by a Moment."

Note the lyrical similarities: "Forgetting all I'm lacking/ Completely incomplete/ I'll take your invitation/ You take all of me" ("Hanging by a Moment"). " 'Cause I know I'm not sure about anything but you wouldn't have it any other way/ When the world keeps spinning round and my world's upside, and I wouldn't change a thing" ("Spin").

However, "Spin" was written before "Hanging" — waaay before. Vocalist Jason Wade penned the tune when he was 16, and the track almost didn't make the album. Producer Ron Aniello (Days of the New) greeted it lukewarmly when it was first played for to him at a barbecue and he later warmed up to it, the band's publicist said.

A video for the song, directed by Dave Meyers (Pink, Creed), was shot in Los Angeles on August 2 and 4 and should be ready to air within the next three weeks. The clip captures definitive moments in the lives of various people and binds them together with shots of the band performing in a nightclub and on a freeway overpass.

Shots include kids goofing around in a sandbox, a playground fight, teenagers playing the drinking game quarters, a young couple slow dancing, soldiers at boot camp, a man admiring a beautiful sunset, young people splashing around in a community pool, an old woman checking her mail, newborn babies in hospital beds and an elderly person who has just died.

Lifehouse are in the middle of a U.S. tour that ends September 7 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In October, the group will head to Australia.

This report is from MTV News

August 13th, 2002

VH1.com

Consumers consider $18 for a CD too much. Record labels argue the price covers expensive development and marketing costs. But what do the artists think?

"That's way too high," Lifehouse singer Jason Wade stated bluntly.

"It is one of the greatest consumer scams," fumed singer Mike Patton (Tomahawk, Fantômas, Faith No More).

"Kids don't want to take a chance because there's so much sh-- out there," the Calling's Aaron Kamin explained. "I wouldn't want to buy a record for $18 either."

"I would buy a CD if it was $10.99," added Nelly. "Coming from a consumer standpoint, if I was somebody off the street, I might even buy two."

"Who wants to spend $20 when your friend will burn you a copy of the one good song on the CD? Not me," admitted former Soul Coughing singer Mike Doughty.

Clearly, artists have sided with consumers, which could explain why labels and retailers are beginning to offer lower-priced albums.

"We can argue and fight to get them priced how we want," Stroke 9 singer Luke Esterkyn said. "We do have a say."

Indeed. But certainly the music industry has other motivations for the recent trend of price reducing, which has resulted in new Linkin Park and Bruce Springsteen albums selling for as low as $9.99.

The labels realize, as Doughty pointed out, how good downloading free music from illegal file-trading programs like Kazaa looks to consumers when the other option is spending nearly $20 on one album. While they struggle to shut down such companies, many of which are based overseas, the labels are experimenting with ways to improve CD sales, which have fallen 12 percent in the last year.

"I definitely think that sale prices help to sell CDs," said Brian Fair, singer for metal band Shadows Fall. "People will be less likely to burn a copy from a friend if they can get the whole packaging for a low price. And with such a huge emphasis on SoundScan numbers these days, it always helps to have large sales at major chains in weighted markets."

The music business is all about SoundScan numbers these days, added chart-topper Nelly. "As far as the labels go, they looking at it from a marketing standpoint."

Scanning sales figures, the labels appear to have benefited from making releases cheaper. Albums from Ashanti and Musiq both made big debuts on top of the Billboard 200 albums chart, perhaps partially due to their under $10 price tags (factoring in the rebate that came with Ashanti) (see "Musiq Tops Albums Chart, Lauryn Hill Makes Big Debut").

"It was very important to put [Ashanti] out at a reasonable price, especially the first week," Ashanti said.

Vanessa Carlton, whose Be Not Nobody was $8.98 in some stores, debuted at #5. And in recent weeks, records from the Vines and Trust Company have benefited from prices even lower than $9 in some stores — both acts made top 20 debuts.

"When our first record came out, it was like $7.99 in one of those little cheapie bins," Lifehouse's Wade said. "When everybody started selling them, then all of a sudden it's like 19 or 20 bucks. I remember when I was like 12 [years old], they were like $14.99 or something. That seems a little bit more reasonable. Twenty-five bucks is kind of ridiculous."

Sale prices have been particularly effective in breaking up-and-comers like Norah Jones, John Mayer and the White Stripes, all of whom had their CDs debut at prices under $10 at some outlets. And as radio stations consolidate and it becomes harder to get new music on the air, record companies are looking to do anything they can to expose young talent.

"I have always been a believer in discount pricing for developing artists," said Greg Spotts, a music industry veteran who co-founded the Shortlist Organization last year to reward groundbreaking artists (see "Strokes, Neptunes, Beck, Spike Jonze Nominate Discs For Shortlist"). "We need to return to the days when music was an impulse buy, especially for artists who are just beginning to receive exposure."

"This is a great way to expose new artists to a price-sensitive market," added Destiny's Child manager Mathew Knowles, who is introducing several rookie acts on his Music World Music label this year. "I see [reducing prices] as more for new artists."

Marc Roberge, singer for Ohio roots rockers O.A.R., feels music fans will be more willing to take a chance on a new artist if their music is priced reasonably. "With the low price there is a reduced risk, which creates a heightened interest and a greater desire among people to want to try it out," he said.

Alternative metal band Soil are among the many new bands that have experimented with value-priced CDs. Guitarist Shaun Glass explained that, like many artists, Soil came out of the gate at less than $7 at some outlets to bolster initial sales, and then later settled at the still low price of $10. "Everyone can benefit from the exposure," he said of the $7 or lower tag, which usually garners special placement in ads for Best Buy and other retailers.

Another factor that may be influencing record companies is the rise of DVDs, which have increased in sales in recent years as their prices have dropped. Not only could this be a retail blueprint for CDs, but labels are also looking at DVDs as competition for shoppers' entertainment dollars.

"With $100 million movies for sale on DVD for $15.99, consumers are going to think twice before buying a CD for $20," Shortlist's Spotts said.

"$18.99 is far too high for a CD when you consider that you can buy a DVD with four hours of bonus footage for the same price," added Rob Thiessen, bassist for Canadian metal band Noise Therapy, whose August 13 release, Tension, can be pre-ordered for lower than $12 via such online retailers as Amazon.com.

Movie studios, however, make back most of their bottom line in theaters. Record companies depend on CD sales to stay afloat. And without high profits from sales, they cannot develop and market as many new acts.

Musicians' pocketbooks, it is important to note, are not affected as much by the price of CDs, as their record contracts usually stipulate they get paid a standard amount, typically $1 or less, per CD sold.

"It's fine for us, because our record company takes the hit, and they're not the best people all the time," said Kamin of the Calling, whose debut was initially priced below $10. "And we get the benefit of having people want to buy our record. [Lower prices] only help the artist."

Added Wade, "How we survive is by touring. If there's going to be a bunch of people downloading our records off the Internet and that's going to make them come see us, then more power to them. I don't feel sorry for the record labels at all. I feel like they've got plenty of money."

The question facing the music industry is whether there is a way for everyone to be happy.

Some, including Pamela Horovitz, president of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, have suggested bringing back CD singles. In a letter to labels and distributors, she wrote that the once-popular singles give consumers who just want one song a more reasonable option.

Former Soul Coughing singer Doughty agreed. "I think that's the only way to get people to want to go to CD stores again," he said. "If you could buy an armload of CD singles at a buck a pop, that would be totally fun, wouldn't it?"

Perhaps we will find out soon.

This report is from MTV News

August 14th, 2002

Launch

(8/13/02, 3 p.m. ET) -- Lifehouse's summer warm-up dates for the release of its upcoming second album, Stanley Climbfall, have sent the band to several state and county fairs, often in places in the center of the country, outside the major cities. As a result, the Los Angeles modern-rock trio has occasionally found itself playing on bills with country acts. And with country acts comes country music fans.

Lifehouse's Jason Wade and Rick Woolstenhulme tell LAUNCH that they've experienced this before. "We played this show in Wyoming where it was like for miles just cowboy hats, you know? They loved it. They were, like, getting into it. They all had cowboy boots," Wade recalls.

Woolstenhulme adds, "'Play "Hanging By A Moment" you stupid rednecks.'"

Wade continues, "They were, like, rocking out. It was funny."

Lifehouse performs Tuesday (August 13) at the West Virginia State Fair in Fairlea.

Stanley Climbfall arrives September 17 from DreamWorks Records. It features the first single, "Spin."

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles