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Lifehouse
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"I don't have it all figured out. You learn so many things
every day, and it's overwhelming sometimes trying to see how
it all fits together. I'm starting to realize that each day
is a different road and a different journey, and you don't
have to have it all figured out; you don't have to have all
the answers to everything right now." One
of the things Jason hasn't figured out is how Lifehouse -
which also includes bassist Sergio Andrade and drummer Rick
Woolstenhulme (self-described "guitar guy" Stuart
Mathis, who played on Lifehouse's early demos, joins the band
onstage) - went from playing a few college shows to sharing
the road with Pearl Jam, Fuel, Everclear and matchbox twenty.
Perhaps even more incomprehensible is how this recently obscure
Los Angles band scored a #1hit on Billboard's Modern Rock
Tracks chart, with "Hanging By A Moment," only ten
weeks after the release of their debut album, No Name Face
(issued Oct. 31, 2000, on DreamWorks Records). Jason, Sergio
and Rick were equally incredulous at the appearance of their
song "Everything" on the popular TV show "Roswell."
"It's all been unbelievable," Jason says of Lifehouse's
success thus far. "We didn't expect any of this, but
we're so grateful to have so many people hearing our songs.
I really can't explain how it's happened." In fact, the
trio's frontman is hard-pressed to explain most of the unexpected
twists his life has taken. His early years in Camarillo, Calif.,
for instance, would suggest an all-American boyhood, but then
his family began touring the Far East, visiting Japan, Thailand
and Singapore before moving to Hong Kong. Moreover, he admits
to having little interest in music until his parents split
up and the songs just started pouring out of him. "This
record deals a lot with self-discovery and breaking out of
whatever your parents or your boss or whoever thinks you should
be, says Jason of No Name Face. "It's about trying to
find out for yourself who you're supposed to be - your purpose,
your destiny in the world."
"My mom
plays piano, my dad plays piano and guitar and my brother
plays guitar," Rick relates. "I guess they decided
I was the next musician in the family, so they got me this
beat-up old kit and I started taking lessons right away."
Rick went on to attend The Los Angeles Music Academy and has
played drums and percussion ever since. "I was playing
with this other group," he says of his earliest, accidental
exposure to Lifehouse, "and Jason and Serge were practicing
in the next room - I'd bump into them in the hallway."
A while later, someone suggested to Rick that he check out
a band called Lifehouse, who were looking for a new drummer.
"The name didn't ring a bell for me. Even after I officially
met these guys, we didn't make the connection right away,"
he recalls. "It was a couple weeks of 'I've seen you
somewhere' and 'you look really familiar' before we figured
it out." Remarks Jason: "It was one of those weird
coincidences. As soon as we met and started playing with Rick
we knew he was the guy. It just clicked. We'd all go to the
beach and Burger King and just do nothing together. We knew
right away it was going to work." Attests Rick: "It
was really smooth - I just sort of snapped on." Sergio
says of the band's collaboration: "Jason would usually
have the song written before he'd bring it to us. Then we
all kind of arrange it together. The way we work on songs
feels really natural, which I think has a lot to do with us
being tight as a band and as friends." Aniello saw the
progress Lifehouse was making but felt the band needed more
time to develop before recording an album. So Jason kept on
writing, and the trio continued to rehearse intensively and
play gigs, including some at local colleges. Comments Sergio:
"We went through a lot of phases trying to find our own
sound. We learned from our mistakes. We'd see tapes of ourselves
onstage and go, 'This is horrible.' But we'd just say, 'Okay,
we gotta fix it,' and go back and practice some more."
Jason stayed in touch with Aniello. We'd wake up, have breakfast
with Ron and get right back to it. He's been like a father
to me in a lot of ways, and the whole recording process had
this homegrown, family feel that made it so easy to be creative.
I wrote 'Hanging By A Moment' in the studio while we were
finishing some other stuff." Jason's trust in Aniello
helped make these sessions a learning experience. "I
came in wanting it to be all slick and fancy," he concedes.
"I was so excited to be in the studio making a record
- I wanted every instrument and every effect on the planet.
Ron said pretty early that he felt the record should sound
organic, that the production should be simple and transparent.
I'd have all these ideas, and we did use some of them, but
after a while I realized he was right. The record needed to
sound more raw." This sonic edge was indeed the right
complement to Lifehouse's emotionally charged songs. Evidence
of that can be found in the thousands of calls placed to Modern
Rock stations across America requesting "Hanging By A
Moment." "The best thing about all this is being
able to stay on the road," says Jason. "We've been
meeting new fans in cities all over the country. It's so cool
to hear what they think about the music, and it makes me feel
so good when they say that one of our songs has helped them
get through a rough time, that they were able to apply it
to their own life." To be sure, this is the sort of opportunity
only afforded a band on the way up. "My ultimate goal
in writing songs is simply to connect with people," he
says, "and I hope that comes across in everything we
do."
 _.:Lifehouse
Official Site
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