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Ghost Canyon

LoudLife LoudLife

' '

bio Chatting recently with -------------, and noting that their press describes them as everything from Soundgarden to Led Zeppelin, and from Joe Perry to Randy Rhodes, I first wondered at what point does LoudLife become, well ... just themselves?! Geoff: "Those comparisons are just to give an indication of the overall vibe. When you hear LoudLife what you're really getting is the totally original offspring of Lorraine's and my collaboration. LoudLife is the third person in the room when Lorraine and I write and play together. What inspires us to write, record and play is being a part of this new thing that neither of us could have come up with on our own. Of course, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the artists who have touched me over the years, and it is my hope that I can honor their work by using it to make something new - just as there would be no Led Zeppelin without Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson."

Lorraine: "I think that partly the reason we're compared to those bands, is because many of them have that magic rock lead duo combination of singer and guitarist: Robert Plant - Jimmy Page; Steven Tyler - Joe Perry; Lane Staley - Jerry Cantrell; Ozzy Osbourne - Randy Rhodes. Geoff and I formed LoudLife out of sheer admiration for each other's talent and showmanship, so you could call that the way we're 'like' those other bands. Another area we're 'like' some of the bands we're compared to is our songwriting process. Many of the songs on the CD were written around Geoff's guitar riffs, rather than starting with a lyric or melody or verse chorus structure. When you hear Led Zeppelin, you know that Jimmy was working on those parts, and Robert was writing or singing what that music 'said' to him. Geoff would be playing something, and I'd say, "I know what that is", and sing what it felt like."

"Where LoudLife deviates from those bands is that we add the female-male dynamic, but keep the rock edge and power. You couldn't call us Evanescence, or Garbage, or No Doubt for example, though there are people who might want to because of our band make up. But those bands have a different emphasis: their female leads have sweet, sultry, lovely voices, while mine keeps getting compared to hard rock male singers like Chris Cornell! But no matter how much we get put in the same category as those all male fronted legendary bands, I'm still a woman, and the chemistry between women and men is a powerful and unique dynamic that people feel all over this CD."

For the Average Joe who may not have heard of you and was thinking of buying your upcoming self-titled CD, what three words would you use to describe the effect that their first listening experience will have on them?! Geoff: "It will open up their ears and make the blood flow to the dusty places in their hearts. The music and the voice will give them new life!"

Lorraine: "I hope I'm answering this correctly - you're asking what words describe the EFFECT our music will have on our listeners? If that's so, the first ones I can think of are: SPENT RESURRECTED INSPIRED."

Your album title being self-titled is always an interesting choice, but sometimes it's also a lazy one. So, was there a reason for it being so or was it left to the last moment ... and by then it was too late?! Geoff: "LoudLife is an idea and a feeling. The name reflects who we are and why we do what we do. We don't have a song called "LoudLife" because it's not just a song, it's the whole thing. I suppose we could've used "Meet the LoudLifes" :-)"

Lorraine: "The choice to keep the band name as the title of the CD was deliberate, it's our debut, and it sums up what people are about to hear. Besides, doesn't it look cool on the front cover of our CD? Seriously, we went through possible song titles, and lines from the songs, and we began to think that anything but our band name sounded a little forced or contrived for our first album."

Your lyrics dig deep with subject matters such as sacred sex, being buried alive and immortality. So, would this then lead us to believe that you are lovers of the Occult, perhaps? Lorraine: "That's nice! Scare the CCM audience before they hear the CD!!! Both Geoff and I share a belief in God, and are constantly in awe of the existence of something 'bigger than ourselves' at work in our lives, so naturally, it's going to come out in our songs. I was brought up Catholic, and I love all the rituals of the church. Step inside one of those cathedrals in NYC during mass, and you'll see the clergy in beautiful robes, and gold chalices, and ancient rituals being performed to turn bread and wine into flesh and blood. Hmmm...who needs the occult when I can go to mass? "

Geoff: "Nah. These subjects are not restricted to occult realms. I believe that most of what's "real" about our existence is invisible to our ordinary senses. For example, I can see a desk, but where is Love? Where are the souls of the dead? Are they nowhere because I can't see them? Are they accessible only through some magic tricks with candles and "occult" rituals? What about gravity? Is it just there? Who made it and why? I think that we can never really understand the laws of The Universe, but they are real nevertheless and we must try and obey them."

If there was one track on this new album that truly encapsulated LoudLife at their musical and lyrical finest, which one would it be? Geoff: "You know, that's not a fair question to the artists! Of course I love everything on the record for different reasons. Nevertheless, I'll pick one for you because you are a nice interviewer: 'Far Below the Surface' ... and 'Cradle to Crypt' ... plus the guitar solos on 'Wheel and Print'! Sorry!"

Lorraine: "It's a toss up between 'Tear in the Curtain', and 'Let Go of the Wheel' for me!"

And just where did the bands name originate and what else could it so easily have been called? Geoff: "Well, that took a lot of brainstorming and haggling between us. Honestly, Lorraine was much better at coming up with alternatives and I was in charge of vetoing them. I guess you could call me the Vito Corleone of the band! I always wanted to have a band called "Dumpster", but it didn't really fit. I really liked Lorraine's "S***c S*****r". In fact, we might use that for a song or record title, so don't print it!"

Lorraine: "I have pages and pages of band names that I loved, with words like "rapture" in them, or even parodies of plays like, "Mourning Becomes Electric", or words that were backwards like 'Lusterwand'! Our process was hysterical, actually: at one point we realized that so many of the really great rock bands either had one word band names, or three word band names, like Aerosmith, or Stone Temple Pilots. Then we thought if we were going to have a three word name, we'd have to analyze the other band names we like and see what we found out. We found out that those bands had a substance that was hard, a container and a word that didn't fit with those two but sounded great. Like 'Alice in Chains', where chains is the substance and the container that Alice is in. Or Stone Temple Pilots, where the temple is the container and stone is the substance! Even Led Zeppelin, though not three words, has got a hard substance and a container! Once we got started, we got delirious with it, and laughed our butts off! Then we finally figured out that a one word name would be better, but we wanted something that described what we had come into this world to do. There you have it!"

It's also been noted that you've done several charity shows for events such as the Battered Women's Resource Center and such. Please do tell us more about your charity work as it may not be a side of you that many know about Geoff: "That's pretty straight forward. The more money and fame we can generate, the more we will use our power to help those in need. I always put giving on the top of my list of monthly outlays because I know that everything I have has been given to me and is not really mine anyway. The point is to let the flow of abundance pass through me. It took me a long time to learn this, but now I believe it with all my heart."

Lorraine: "I started a charity organization a long time ago called Sounds of Hope NYC, one year at Christmas when I had no money. When I feel lacking something, I like to face it head on, so I decided that instead of moping around feeling like I couldn't give anyone really great Christmas presents, I'd give in a bigger way, and I called a friend who at the time was learning to be a publicist, and she and I started by planning a big fundraiser for Covenant House. By the way, that friend of mine is a HUGE publicist now for a very lucrative record company...see what karma can do?"

"It actually got a little bigger than we could handle after a few years, and our events had the best session players and signed artists calling to be part of it. After I put it away for a number of years, 9/11 happened, and I brought it back out again, and a group of friends and I put together a compilation CD from NY artists to raise funds for the families of the victims."

"Geoff and I like to play charity benefits - let's face it, it's a win-win situation. The organization gets helped, and the act gets exposure!"

It's also been said that Lorraine's songs have been covered by artists ranging from Jessica Simpson to Lesley Gore! Which songs are these and how did they reach out to you? Lorraine: "When I was signed to EMI, Jessica Simpson cut a song that I co-wrote called "Feed the Fire", for her very first CD. Lesley Gore and I are friends, and I used to be her backup singer, and she and I had been talking about writing for years. When she decided to do this new CD, "Ever Since", which is doing GREAT by the way, she called me while I was writing with another friend of mine, Tanya Leah. She wanted to do it quickly, so the two of us went over and wrote the song "Words We Don't Say" in a day! That song was just featured on the season finale of "The 'L' Word"."

Just for fun, and taking the titles of a few of your album tracks, please let us know:
'Far Below The Surface' - OK, as a child trying to go to sleep at night, what 'monster' did you believe exist so much so that your fear kept you from sleeping?! Geoff: "For me it wasn't a monster, it was just a general feeling of dread and terror. I often had dreams of being afraid and threatened and unable to move my body with sufficient strength or speed to get away. Also, for some reason, I was afraid of my night-light - even though it was a light in the darkness I somehow found it to be very creepy."

Lorraine: "You know, as soon as I read the question, the images and feelings came right back! Wow, fear is a powerful thing! When I was around 8 years old, I went with a friend and her older brother and his friends to the movies. We ended up at some really nasty B horror flick about vampires. I still remember scenes from it with bloody flesh hanging out of the vampire's mouth...for months I slept with my head under the sheets because I didn't want to expose my neck!"

'Cradle To Crypt' - As we all go from one to the other, one way or another, has anyone ever told you (via a fortune telling) when you are expected to pass on?! Geoff: "No, and frankly I don't believe that people can know these things. What if every soldier had his fortune told and only the ones who were predicted to survive went to war? Would that really work or would some of those "safe" ones have to have fortunary adjustments written onto their tombstones? No, our job is to do what's right with and make the most of what we have been given. Also, influence is a powerful thing - people in primitive cultures have been known to die because of a curse. So, the power of the mind is awesome, but that doesn't mean that another person can know my fate - he can only influence me if I let him."

Lorraine: "Aren't seers forbidden to tell that information because it violates some kind psychic rule and then they won't be allowed on the "Ouija Board"? "

'Icarus' - Have you ever flown so close to a 'dangerous situation' that to this day you regret doing so and count yourself lucky also for not crashing and burning?! Lorraine: "I think any regrets I have are about NOT getting close enough to a dangerous situation! Actually, when you say 'dangerous', the only real danger I can think of is the REAL kind, the stuff that crashes and burns your HEART. Now THAT kind of dangerous situation I've gotten WAY too close to, way too many times...and the only way not to crash and burn is to experience it fully, and work through it until you're on the other side of it. I believe in the saying, "the only way out is through"!"

Geoff: "Yeah! I can't believe I'm not sitting in jail with a brain rotting from syphilis!"

What '80s (and possibly cheesy!) pop/rock song would you love to cover today if asked ... and why?! Geoff: "How about "Limelight" or "Run to the Hills"? Sweet Child 'O Mine would be good too because Sheryl Crow, who is of course great in her own right (for example I really loved her first hit "All I Want to Do), really missed the mark on that one, and I'd like to let people hear how Lorraine could really do it justice."

Lorraine: "One of my favorite 80's songs was Pat Benatar's "Hell is for Children" - that outro was so powerful: "HELL! HELL IS FOR HELL! HELL IS FOR HELL! HELL IS FOR CHILDREN!" - and let's face it, unfortunately, it's just as topical now as it was then. And for some lighter fare, the Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" - cause I like to think 'I'm Special'!"

Lastly, I like Penguins ... do you?! Lorraine: "When I was little, my older brother and his then girlfriend had this thing for penguins, and he used to draw them for her on everything, he's an amazing artist, and write poetry about them...I somehow thought back then that penguins were magical in some way - then I saw the trailer for that recent penguin movie, and I realized that they actually were! "

Geoff: "I love 'em! In fact, I love all animals so much that I haven't eaten even the slightest of them for over ten years!"

Interviewed by Russell A. Trunk

If you would like to win an AUTOGRAPHED copy of LoudLife's new CD, just answer this easy question: ?!

Send me your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these great new and AUTOGRAPHED CDs! Just send us an e:mail here before August 1st with your answer and the subject title 'LOUDLIFE SIGNED CDs' to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

www.LoudLife.com

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