RIDGEFIELD — Whether you just enjoy hearing great music together, or you and your sweetie first fell in love to popular hits like “Hanging by a Moment,” or the chart-topping love song “You and Me,” consider making plans to attend a special February 14 Valentine’s Day fundraiser at Ridgefield Playhouse with Lifehouse.

Featuring a champagne tasting, a scrumptious dessert buffet from a host of area bakers and caterers, and a live auction ahead of the main event, it will be a perfect night for couples to celebrate romance.

In an exclusive interview, longtime drummer Rick Woolstenhulme Jr and bassist Bryce Soderberg promised to perform those hits and many others, including rockers “First Time,” “Halfway Gone” and “Hurricane,” plus the emotionally charged ballads “Broken” and “Whatever It Takes,” along with deeper cuts from the Lifehouse catalog.

Since bursting on to the scene in 2000 with their debut, No Name Face — which sported their chart-topping Modern Rock-turned Hot 100 #2 hit, “Hanging by a Moment” — Lifehouse has cumulatively sold more than 15 million albums around the world. That freshman effort was recorded largely in producer Ron Aniello’s home studio in Woodland Hills, Calif., and was instantly successful thanks to that monster hit - the album's very first track.

Coincidentally, “That was the last song I wrote for the album,” recalled the band’s founder Jason Wade.

“I picked up the guitar, tuned it to drop D, began playing this riff and wrote it in, like, 10 minutes. It was a real out-of-body experience channeling it. It came out of nowhere — the words, the bridge, the melody, everything,” he said. “It’s almost as if it were already written.”

That Special ‘Moment’

Woolstenhulme told The Newtown Bee that he easily recalled hearing that number for the first time.

“I told Jason right away that the song was going to be a big hit, and he thought I was crazy,” the Lifehouse drummer said. “I mean, we were young kids at the time, holed up in a rehearsal room in North Hollywood.”

Those North Hollywood sessions paid off after just about a month. As Woolstenhulme related, “Our manager walked in one night and said, ‘You guys are going out on the road with Pearl Jam.’ At that point, it turned into a full-on roller coaster ride, and we just hung on and rode it for the next five years.”

“Hanging by a Moment,” which went on to become Top 40’s most played song that year, was followed by an array of hits, including “You and Me,” off their self-titled 2005 album. “You and Me” hit #1 on both Adult Top 40 and AC charts; the album debuted in the Billboard Top 10.

“Even to this day, I don’t think Bryce and I ever get tired of playing it. The second we start playing it live there’s some kind of magic that sweeps over everybody in the room,” he said, “much like it did when we heard it for the first time.”

The band’s staying power is likely due in large part to Wade’s signature vocals and heartfelt songwriting talents, as well as his long-time partnership with co-writer/co-producer Jude Cole.

Woolstenhulme and Soderberg discussed how Lifehouse, which is fronted by Wade and features guitar work from newcomer Steve Stout, makes it easy for longtime fans and those less familiar with their material to get acquainted or reacquainted with all seven of their albums by posting links to their songs at lifehousemusic.com/pages/music.

So are they concerned giving up their entire catalog for free to listeners will negatively affect their bottom line?

“We think it’s good to have them right up front their for our fans to check out,” Soderberg said. “They can just go on Spotify or Apple Music and listen to them all anyway. We just look at it as a more direct way to stay engaged with our audience and keep tight with our fan base, because most of them have been around with us for 20 years. They’re the ones that have enabled us to be able to keep making music after all this time.”

New Songs Coming

That’s not to say Lifehouse is content to cruise through the next 20 years on the strength of their existing work.

“We’ve actually recorded a big batch of new music over the past year that could show up on a new album or get put out this year,” Soderberg said. “It’s coming down to us picking out our favorites and seeing what we’ll end up releasing.”

The Lifehouse bassist said several of their hits have tremendous appeal to the ladies, as well as to couples — but what about the many gentlemen who show up at concerts?

“I think the guys are just happy that their girlfriends and wives are happy,” he said, laughing.

But the truth is, Lifehouse has a tremendously diverse fan base.

“We’ve got a big age range,” he said. “We’re at the point where some of our fans are bringing their kids to our shows. And we’ve had two big wedding songs over the years with ‘You and Me,’ and ‘Everything.’ A lot of people come up and say that was their first dance as husband and wife — and a lot of others say they met at our shows.”

“As far as guys coming to our shows, I think a lot of them think we’re a really soft band,” Woolstenhulme added. “But the truth is, we hear from a lot of guys who leave their first Lifehouse show saying how much of a full-on rock band we are — so we have appeal to both guys and girls for sure.”

“We have a really fun and energetic rock show,” Soderberg said. “It’s fun to play the songs people are most familiar with. They go crazy and that fuels the energy we bring to the stage. Like we said before, we love the hits and we don’t get tired of playing them.”

The February 14 Ridgefield set is Lifehouse’s only scheduled Connecticut appearance. The foursome will head out for the summer and well into September supporting the Goo Goo Dolls Miracle Pill tour; its closest stops are in Saratoga Springs and Boston.

For tickets ($135), call 203-438-5795, click here, or stop by the box office at 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefield.

Check out Lifehouse performing an acoustic version of their monster ballad "You and Me"