MySpace: Stream The Upcoming Lifehouse Album, “Smoke & Mirrors” Now
This is a huge week for LA/Malibu-based Lifehouse.
Click HERE to stream the upcoming Lifehouse album, “Smoke & Mirrors” in it’s entirety. The official release date for the album is this Tuesday, March 2nd.
Also be sure to catch Lifehouse on Regis & Kelly Tuesday 3/2 and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday 3/4.
Lifehouse will be celebrating the release of the album with a show at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, New York City this Tuesday.
Here’s some info from the band on recording Smoke & Mirrors:
In the fall of 2008, when the band finally came off the road from supporting Who We Are, they were on a post-tour high and urgently wanted to bring that visceral live energy to the next album. So they got together with Jude Cole, the producer of Who We Are, and began working on new material both at Cole’s Ironworks Studio and at Jason’s recently built home studio, Castle View. But instead of putting themselves on their usual strict schedule, the band decided to take their time with this record. As a result, it was a real creative journey. “We knew we were in a good place where we could afford to stay off the road and keep the crew employed and happy, and basically just develop the band a little bit – go in a few different directions,” Bryce explains. “We experimented with Americana, classic rock, pop – we tried a bunch of different styles, really growing even further as a band.”
Lifehouse ended up spending a year recording upwards of thirty-five tracks before settling on the twelve songs that make up Smoke & Mirrors (many of the rest will be included on a deluxe edition). The record is loosely split between rock tracks meant to capture the feel of seeing Lifehouse live, and extremely catchy, sing-along pop songs. “That’s where the title of the album comes in,” Jason explains. “It’s about the record being half live and half studio.” The first single, “Halfway Gone,” a collaboration with acclaimed rapper/songwriter Kevin Rudolf is most definitely in the latter camp. It’s an irresistible pop rock song featuring explosive, driving guitars and a chorus that feels instantly familiar. “Kevin brings another side – a hint of the hip hop world but in context with what we’re doing,” Jason says. “We were fans of his and he was a fan of ours and it just clicked. What resulted was a nice blend of older Lifehouse with a new fresh sound -– we can’t make the same record over and over.” Lifehouse fans approve of the evolution; “Halfway Gone” is already the fastest growing single in the band’s history, reaching the top twenty within three weeks of its release. Rudolf also worked on “Falling In,” another potential pop hit.
Rudolf was not the only high profile collaboration on Smoke & Mirrors. The band also worked with American Idol alum Chris Daughtry, whom Jason met and became friends with on the road. “I haven’t done much co-writing in the past and I’m a bit leery of it,” the singer admits. “You can end up with a song that is not good and just wish you had that day of your life back (laughs) however, I went over to Chris’s place in LA and within an hour we had ‘Had Enough.'” The song, to which Daughtry contributes vocals and Richard Marx also co-wrote, is a blistering, anthemic example of the kind of music that made Lifehouse fans fall in love with the band in the first place.
The band will deliver an actual, real live take on these songs very soon – they hit the road in support of Smoke & Mirrors early next year. According to Lifehouse, it feels like they’re doing this all again for the first time – they are inspired and excited about getting out there and playing these songs live. “It’s our fifth album but I feel like we’re just starting as a band,” explains Bryce. “As far as our chemistry goes, we just really know each other now. We know what pisses each other off and how to avoid it. We keep each other level headed, we vent to each other. We leave our egos at the bus door. We’re good to go.”
Lifehouse currently has the #1 video on the VH1 Video Countdown.
Lifehouse will be going out on the road, opening for Daughtry on their US Tour, beginning March 18th. They will be playing the Nokia Theatre at LA Live on May 3rd.
