At the age of 12 he started playing the guitar and eventually taught himself to sing. The first song he ever wrote was performed by Public Affection (before they changed the name to LIVE). Adam admits that that was a pretty impressive and probably even decisive moment in his life. By the end of highschool (I think) he had a band of his own called Portion. I have no information on who did the writing in Portion, but if you compare the lyrics to those by that other Kowalczyk… there is a definite resemblance. After highschool he attended Temple University for a year and a half, where he majored in Radio, tv, and film with a minor in theater and communications. Something must have happened though because he quit college, quit Portion, and he decided to take an office job. He worked in that job for little over a year to experience the working life and all that comes with it. >

Then, October 1998, a phone call… Chad Taylor on the phone talking about the possibility of him playing with LIVE. I guess he couldn’t help himself and told Chad to send him the music, so he could practice. After a couple of sessions with Chad and one with the rest of the band, he was hired Januari 1st 1999. They started out easy on him. He didn’t play rhythm guitar on “Lakini’s Juice” for instance, just the rattler. Later on, he started to play guitar on every song, covering most of the basics giving both Ed and Taylor room to move around a bit more. Nowadays he plays basically that what you hear on the albums, giving Taylor every room for solo’s and creative expression. One of Adam’s key trademarks is his high notes. If you listen to a live-version of i.e. “They Stood Up For Love” the high pitched “to the one” are his. Also the length for which he can stick to a note is a trademark. The fact that he is related to Ed, makes the harmonies only sound better then they would with just anyone else. Another characteristic is the energy he brings to the band. It shows he is having fun on stage and that he enjoys the whole experience. People who get to meet this Adam Kowalczyk have one of two tails to tell. Either he is real nice to them or he’s rude. I have not been able to figure out exactly what makes for these mood swings or it should be that he is a human being, subject to fatigue, hunger, hornyness or just the plain old bad mood. Even Libra’s suffer bad mood occasionally, though they are generally easy going, social and tactful beings. Tact might be a little underdeveloped in Adam, as he just tends to speak his mind, which has a certain charm as well. He is very charming if he wants to be. Though touring with LIVE is Adams day-job, that is not all he does. He is not just a performing artist, he is a songwriter as well. Even if he has little time to write when they are on the road, he is in the process of recording his own demo. He has performed “on his own” a couple of times now, and rumor has it he is quite good. Looking back to his goals and dreams in highschool, i think he has accomplished most of his goals: he has attended Temple U (even if he didn’t finish it, he is still the only one in the band who actually went to college). He wanted to tour with a lot of different musicians: Counting Crows, Janes Addiction, Feeder, Krezip, Hoobastank, TIM (he opened for them in the Viperroom in LA on his 26th birthday!) and the list will only get longer. He nailed that one as well. He has gone beyond just touring with them, he is playing with them and now even a songwriter himself.

“Marriage isn’t a goal, it will be my choice” hey, I never wanted to get married anyway, does that make the choice easier? ;-)

text by lis schurrmans