LIFEHOUSE *****

Lifehouse is an American alternative band from Los Angeles. the band came to mainstream prominence in 2001 with the hit single "Hanging by a Moment" from their debut studio album, No Name Face. The single won a Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year, beating out Janet Jackson and Alicia Keys for the #1 Single of 2001. In 2002, they released their follow up album Stanley Climbfall. They have released three more albums: the self-titled Lifehouse in 2005, Who We Are on June 19, 2007 and Smoke and Mirrors on March 2, 2010 . These albums have spawned the singles "You and Me", "First Time", and "Whatever It Takes", which have all been top 40 hits in the US. The group includes Jason Wade (lead vocals, guitar), Rick Woolstenhulme Jr. (drums, percussion), Bryce Soderberg (bass guitar) and Ben Carey (guitar). They have sold upwards of fifteen million singles and albums worldwide to date.

History

2000–02: No Name Face

In 2000, Lifehouse entered the recording studio to record their first major label release. Five of the twelve tracks from previous demo Diff's Lucky Day were remixed and released on No Name Face. Because of frontman Jason Wade's charisma and talent, DreamWorks Records focused their sights solely on him, and by the time the debut album was released on October 31, 2000, Wade and Andrade were the only remaining founding members. Shortly after recording the first album, Rick Woolstenhulme, Jr. replaced Jon Palmer on drums.

"Hanging by a Moment" became Lifehouse's first commercial single. A song that Jason Wade wrote on the spur of the moment launched the band in musical history and became the "Most Played Song of 2001". "Hanging by a Moment" was only the third song in chart history, after Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs' "Wooly Bully" in 1965 and Faith Hill's "Breathe" in 2000, to be named the number one song of the year on the Billboard Hot 100 without having reached No. 1 on any weekly Hot 100 survey. The second single from No Name Face was "Sick Cycle Carousel". It did not have as much success as "Hanging by a Moment", topping out at #35 on the modern rock chart. The third and final single was "Breathing".

The song "Everything" was also used in both the pilot and first-season finale episodes of the future hit WB drama, Smallville, and would go on to be placed on the series' first soundtrack (Smallville: The Talon Mix). This began the long-standing affair between the band and the series, as Lifehouse would go on to have seven songs played during the series' first four seasons, ending with a live performance in the fourth-season prom episode, and landing yet another song on Smallville: The Metropolis Mix ("You and Me (Wedding Version)").The song "Everything" was also used in the series' 200th episode, titled "Homecoming" in the show's 10th and final season. The song Somewhere in Between from the album No Name Face features in the first season episode "The Blame Game" of Falcon Beach.

2002–05: Stanley Climbfall

Shortly after a long tour for No Name Face, Lifehouse reentered the studio to cut their second album, Stanley Climbfall. The album's initial success was short-lived and its singles, "Spin" and "Take Me Away", were vastly overshadowed by the success of the first album. Shortly after the album debuted, Rick's brother Sean Woolstenhulme (of The Calling) officially became the fourth member of the band in June 2002. He had previously toured with Lifehouse.

In April 2004, Sergio Andrade confirmed that he had decided to leave the band to pursue individual projects. Shortly after his departure, Sean also left the band to pursue other musical projects such as Abandoned Pools and The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex.

2005–07: Lifehouse

Jason Wade and Rick Woolstenhulme remained the active members of Lifehouse. In late 2004, Bryce Soderberg (previously of AM Radio) signed on as Lifehouse's new bassist. On July 6, 2004, they went to Maryland to begin work on their eponymous third album. Lifehouse was released on March 22, 2005 and was produced by John Alagia.

The album's first single, "You and Me", was released for airplay on January 18, 2005. It was written several years prior and was originally performed by Jason Wade in the 2000 independent film All Over Again. The song was a success and stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 62 weeks (the fifth longest-charted in history), peaking at No. 5. The song also appears on the soundtrack to Smallville. One episode, "Spirit", featured the band actually performing it and three other songs from the album ("Come Back Down", "Blind", and "Undone") on the show. The song has also appeared on Cold Case, Boston Legal, Gavin & Stacey, Everwood, Grey's Anatomy, The 4400 and Medium. The song "All In All" was featured in Scrubs.

The music video for the album's second single, "Blind", was released October 19, 2005. It stars Tina Majorino and features several other up-and-coming young actors such as Sarch McClain, Stephen Cheung, Christopher Thien Duc Van and Andy Walters.

2007–09: Who We Are

Their fourth album, entitled Who We Are, was released on June 19, 2007. The album features Wade, Woolstenhulme and Soderberg as its lineup, and "rocks a little harder" than their previous album, according to the band. The album was recorded in Kiefer Sutherland and Jude Cole's recording studio, Ironworks Studios, in Los Angeles. The album's release was followed by a tour with The Goo Goo Dolls and Colbie Caillat, which began June 15 at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, AZ, after which the band embarked on a "worldwide headlining tour".

The album's first single was "First Time", released on April 24, 2007. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 48 in May, and peaked at #3 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Charts.

The album's second single, "Whatever It Takes", was released to radio stations on October 29, 2007. The song's music video premiered on Yahoo Music on November 16, 2007.

"Broken", the album's third single, has appeared on several TV series, including Grey's Anatomy ("Lay Your Hands On Me"), Criminal Minds ("In Name and Blood"), One Tree Hill, General Hospital and The Hills. Most recently, it was featured in the motion picture soundtrack The Time Traveler's Wife. So far, it has peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for "Broken" officially debuted on VH1's Top 20 Countdown on September 20, 2008.

The song "Who We Are" was used in an advertisement on A&E to promote their original programming.

Lifehouse held a contest to make a video for the song "Make Me Over".The band gave 60 USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate students a chance to shoot the video for their new single. The winning video premiered at a gala event on December 5, 2008 at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, CA.

As of October 2008, the album had been certified gold.

On April 11, 2009, the band announced that Ben Carey was an official member of the band. They said that they had been "a four piece for some time" and that Ben is "family to us". Ben had been touring with the band since 2004.

2009–present: Smoke and Mirrors

Lifehouse announced in August 2008 that they would be starting on their fifth album, which was tentatively scheduled for a late 2009 release. The band entered the studio on November 12 to begin working on the project. They stated in an interview at ESPN Magazine's NEXT Party during Super Bowl XLIII that the album should be released in late 2009. Lifehouse revealed during their 2009 tour that the album will also include the band's previously released single "From Where You Are," although it may be a new version of the original. It was announced on October 15 that the new album is called Smoke & Mirrors and it would be released on December 8, 2009. However, on November 13, the band stated on its web page that it would now be released on February 2, 2010. The first single is "Halfway Gone," which was released on October 27. The music video premiered on the VH1 Top 20 on VH1.com at the end of November. The album was released in a standard, deluxe, and two-disc deluxe edition. On December 22, Tommy2.net reported that the album had been pushed back once again, this time to February 23, 2010. The album was then delayed again, but was released on March 2, 2010.

The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 with 54,203 sold. This marks the highest chart debut of their ten year career, beating out first week chart position for their 2002 sophomore set Stanley Climbfall, which debuted at #7.

Other songs

Shortly after the death of George Harrison, the band performed an acoustic rendition of "Something" on Last Call With Carson Daly. The band has also covered the Keane single "Somewhere Only We Know" live on Yahoo Music. The group also stated that Keane's album was their favorite album of 2007. In 2007, the band did a cover of The Rolling Stone's "Beast of Burden" for the Stripped Music Sessions. The band says that they wanted to "pay homage to the godfathers of rock".Since the Stripped Sessions were released onto the internet, the band added that song to their setlist at concerts.

Jason Wade wrote the song, "From Where You Are" for Allstate's Teen Driving Program. The song was featured on the 'tall lights' commercial and aired on the NBC. The single was made available on iTunes on Tuesday, November 6, 2007. Despite having very little radio air-play and not being on any album at the time, the song reached #40 on the Billboard charts. It was the first song that was written expressly for a commercial to make it onto the charts since 1972's "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)". The song was included on Smoke and Mirrors in 2010. The song features in the WB show One Tree Hill, in episode 13 of Season 7 'Weeks Go By Like Days'

In March 2010, Lifehouse announced that they would share their favorite tunes with fans on their new podcast on iTunes.