Ed Kowalczyk's favorite Live song is a bit of a surprise.

The lead singer of the central Pennsylvania supergroup passes on chart-topping hits of the mid-'90s — songs like "Selling the Drama," "I Alone" and "Lightning Crashes" — in favor of the strangely beautiful, harpsichord-heavy "The Distance" from the band's platinum-selling album "The Distance to Here."

"Both melodically and lyrically, I think 'The Distance to Here,' as an album, ranks right next to 'Throwing Copper,'" Kowalczyk said in a telephone interview from his southern California home. "It was a perfect storm of chemistry, and 'The Distance' was a song about finding an intimate and unlimited place inside of yourself.

"It's a song about searching for sanctuaries," he said.

The song, the second track on the 1999 album, was released at the same time as "The Dolphin's Cry," which eventually reached No. 2 on Billboard's modern rock charts.

"There's a moment in 'The Distance' where there's a harpsichord solo, and to me, that's one of the reasons why the song is so special," Kowalczyk said. "For me, that's the weirdest and coolest moment, not only on the album, but also one of the best ones that we've ever had as a band."

Kowalczyk and bandmates Chad Taylor (lead guitar), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums) will play at 8 p.m. Friday night at Lancaster's Chameleon Club.

Going Dutch
The band that would become Live got its start in a middle school talent show in York in the 1980s. Live hit it big in 1994 with its rock album "Throwing Copper," which has sold more than 8 million copies to date. The album's success paved the way for six more albums, including a greatest hits collection in November 2004.

The band has since taken a lower profile. Its most notable recent appearance was a performance with Chris Daughtry on "American Idol" in May 2006.

Much of Live's acclaim these days comes from overseas, particularly South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and several countries in Europe — especially Holland.

"Why are we so popular in Holland? That's the million-dollar question. It's so beautiful that it's almost something I don't want to know the answer to," Kowalczyk said. "For some reason, though, [the Dutch] are just terribly interested in what we're doing, and for that we're very grateful."

Following the release of "The Distance to Here," Live's popularity began to wane in the United States. The band's next album, "V," was released just days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and at the time, the American public wasn't buying into modern rock. The album failed to achieve even gold status.

The next album, "Birds of Pray," included the 2003 hit "Heaven" and helped Live transition to a new record label, Epic Records, which is owned by Sony BMG. Their first album with Epic, "Songs from Black Mountain," was released in 2006 to widespread critical acclaim but anemic domestic sales.

Internationally, the band couldn't be hotter: The album reached No. 1 in Holland and No. 4 in Australia and Norway. Live is even planning to produce a full-length concert DVD in 2008, probably in Brazil, Kowalczyk said.

We've got spirit
One of the big reasons for Live's success, Kowalczyk said, is the band's frank approach to spirituality.

"I've always been interested in spiritual issues. In fact, even when we were starting the band, the issues of music and spirituality had always been married in my head," Kowalczyk said. "Putting them together ... just always made sense to me."

The point of mixing spiritual issues and modern rock is to bring people together, he said.

"Being onstage, having all of these people in one place as part of an audience ... to me, there's something about that experience that's all about spirit," he said. "That's one of the reasons why I'm so interested in it."

Kowalczyk said the band intends to take a break from large-scale touring in 2007, which is why Live is coming back for a kind of "Pennsylvania mini-tour" with appearances in Lancaster, Allentown and Pittsburgh.

"I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Lancaster, but my home is in California now," he said. "I love the frontier feel of California, and the progressiveness here, too.

"And, of course, you sure can't beat the California weather."

Meanwhile, Kowalczyk will spend 2007 writing songs — a stream-of-consciousness task that he approaches "elliptically."

"That's the secret, I think. You just have to let the words emerge."

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For more information about Live's appearance at the Chameleon Club, visit www.chameleonclub.net.