November 12, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.
Durham Hall, Aley Fine Arts Center, Casper College
The inspiring sound of Alex Band’s powerful, emotionally charged voice is immediately recognizable to millions of music lovers, thanks to modern-day classics like “Adrienne,” “Our Lives” and the chart-topping hit “Wherever You Will Go,” which Billboard recently named the #1 Adult Pop Song of the Decade. And though We’ve All Been There, Band’s solo debut (released June 29 on his own AMB label through EMI), contains the first new material we’ve heard from the former leader of The Calling in half a decade, “Wherever You Will Go” (which he wrote at 16 and released at 19, remarkably enough) remains a staple of the Adult Pop format, while “Our Lives” is a heavily used bumper on ESPN and other sports programming.
If his fans feel that Band is long overdue for a return to the spotlight, the L.A. native has himself been chafing at the bit to make his return throughout the last five years, which he spent in musical exile. But the time has finally come for that voice to inspire us once again. “I’ve lived with these songs for years,” says Band, “and the whole point is to share them with everybody now.”
Describing the title song, which opens this stunningly widescreen album and sets up its thematic breadth, Band says, “It’s definitely about my own struggle, but I think everyone can relate to what I’ve been through from experiences in their lives. I think everything I’m talking about on the record is pretty universal. And knowing now that I’m writing for different cultures, with fans around the world, it’s important that what I’m writing about is generalized enough that people can take the songs in their own way. ‘We’ve All Been There’ is almost like a mantra—‘Here I am…these scars on my hands…doing what I can’—with this chorus behind me singing, ‘We’ve all been there.’”
FMI: http://www.artcorewy.com/
