Fledgling rock group Lifehouse [ tickets ] has lived a charmed life. Soon after forming, it hooked up with celebrity manager Jude Cole [ tickets ]. And instead of packing up a van and playing small, smoke-filled clubs, Lifehouse began its touring career gigging with Pearl Jam. Not bad for a group whose members are still in their late teens and early 20s.

"We played with Pearl Jam on the side stage [near concession stands]," said lead singer-guitarist-songwriter Jason Wade (who eerily resembles Jeff Buckley). "That was our first touring experience, which was awesome. It was cool because it wasn't so much pressure to be on the big stage in front of 20,000 people that don't know you. But we were on the small stage, and there were probably about 400 people there every night."

This time around, Lifehouse is hitting the arena proper with matchbox twenty and Everclear for a two-month tour that begins on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Minneapolis' Target Center.

"We're going to be playing Madison Square Garden, which is all of our dream," said Wade, 19. "It's really exciting. We're just gonna go rehearse and practice and get our stuff together. It's all new territory, so we're just going to learn it as we go."

Wade's young life has been filled with more than his share of learning experiences. Headed by two ministers, his family moved several times--to California, Hawaii, Japan, Thailand and Singapore--before settling temporarily in Hong Kong.

"It's good at a young age, I believe, to see more than just your hometown," he said. "I think it's good to travel. Hong Kong really inspires my music today [because I was the] kid left out in a small village with a bunch of Chinese kids that speak a different language. You have to learn how to entertain yourself, really."

The Wades returned to United States when he was 10, and five years later, he met bassist Sergio Andrade when both were members of a non-denominational youth group. They founded Lifehouse and earned early support from fellow youth group member Ron Aniello, who went on to produce Lifehouse's debut album, "No Name Face."

Aniello introduced Lifehouse to his best friend, Cole, who recorded the minor hits "Baby It's Tonight" and "House Full of Reasons" in 1990. According to Wade, Cole "was moving away from being an artist to becoming more of a manager type," and he signed on as Lifehouse's manager.

Aniello produced and Brendan O'Brien (U2, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam) mixed Lifehouse's debut record "No Name Face" (DreamWorks Records), which sits at No. 36 on Billboard's Album Chart.

"No Name Face" is a 12-song album that captures Wade's sonorous vocals and the band's ability to seamlessly tread the waters of electric rock and pensive, acoustic numbers. Cascading guitars line songs like the balladesque "Sick Cycle Carousel." A willowy viola carries the next single, "Somebody Else's Song."

Currently in rotation on alt-rock radio, the song "Hanging by a Moment," with its sweet, lovelorn lyrics, is the least likely tune to be sandwiched between a pair of alt-rock "my life sucks" songs. Nobody finds that more ironic than Wade.

"It kind of seems out of place when you hear it on alternative radio, huh? There's not really a lot of it right now."

His take on popular music is that bands continually imitate what is popular, creating a never-ending cycle of redundant music. He is happy that listeners are recognizing Lifehouse's attempt to steer away from that.

"Some people just follow their favorite bands. If everyone's favorite bands are angry, then they'll write angry music."

Wade said that he doesn't sit down and try to write songs, but pens them when the inspiration hits him.

"Usually, I find the best songs happen when you're not looking. A lot of the times, too, when I try to make it happen, it doesn't happen at all and it's really frustrating. So, I've come to a place where when I sit down to write a song and it's not happening, I let it go. And then I wait until the inspiration's there.

"'Hanging by a Moment' was written within seven or eight minutes. I was doing a vocal [line] in another room for another song. I could literally hear the melody [for 'Hanging by a Moment']. It was almost like it was already written. I picked up the guitar and within five minutes the song was writing. I'm kind of always aware when the inspiration is there to write."