Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler - girl on guy 180: chris daughtry

Episode Date: April 14, 2015

join rock star chris daughtry and aisha as they discuss what it's like to come all the way from a small town to american idol to the fastest selling debut rock album in history, and everything that comes after. girl on guy is a little pitchy, dawg.

This is Girl on Guy. Hey, everybody, this is Girl on Guy 180. Welcome to the show. This is an advertising free episode of Girl on Guy, which I'm very happy to bring you. So welcome. Welcome to the show. I will just say you can come visit me at Aisha T-Talda.com. Come write me a letter.

Come check out the store. Get your Girl on Guy gear, your t-shirts, your posters, your books. Get your audiobook of self-inflicted wounds read to you by me. in my dulcet yet slightly husky and faintly masculine tones by going to isha taylor.com and girl and guy.com. There are many things to learn, do, and explore at that website. I mean, it's not a wonderland. It's not a bottomless pit of enjoyment, but there's enough to get you engaged and connected with the rest of the army. Come follow me online, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, at all of my many handles, Aisha Tyler, Girl on Guy, and Courage and Stone. And come say hi, come

send me a letter. Go to Girl and Guy.com. Click on the little envelope. I read every single one. It's never too early to send me a question for the annual awesome listener question show. I've been getting some incredible letters as of late, and you guys are amazing. I'm so grateful for all of your energy and your honesty, and everybody's writing me and telling me their personal stories. Thank you for being so brave. You kick massive ass. This episode is with the lovely Christotry, who I can't imagine that you don't know, because he was one of the massive names to come out of American Idol at a time when massive names were still coming out of American Idol,

they're not turning out the stars that they used to, although there have been so big people to come off of there. But Chris, while he did not win, became a big fat rock star and had the fastest selling debut rock album of all time coming off of that show. And if you've ever wondered what it's like to be a contestant on Idol and a finalist, a top ten finalist on Idol, you are about to find out,

Chris's lovely conversational sweet. We drink together during this episode and have a great time. He tells great stories and I know you're going to enjoy it. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Girl on Guy 180 with the rock and roller Chris Daughtry of the band Daughtry and of American Idol and of many other things. Coming at you straight off the Girl on Guy tour bus and right into your face. Chris Daughtry, welcome to my show. I'm so happy to be here. This is very exciting.

You know how much I love you. Oh, the feeling is mutual here. Put this as close to your mouth. There you go. I'm really loud, though. I don't like to make the wave files too big. It's perfect. You can't peek this.

The software doesn't have a peek. It's too rudimentary. I met you on the talk first. Yes. And I loved you instantly. Oh, we made us feel like rock stars. And you are rock stars. And you're amazing that day.

It was so great. And then I see you again at Comic-Con. And I'm like, I know her. Why do I know her? Because it's contextually, like, incongruous. Because you're out of... Out of context. Out of context compared to where I...

Also, you wouldn't think the lady from the talk was going to be at Comic-Con. I'm like, she's done way more than I'm thinking in my head. And we see each other at Nerd HQ party. Yeah, nerd-hq party. And then at the EW party. Yeah. And you followed up and you liked me. I did.

You really like me. I do what I say I'm going to do, even if it takes me forever. And you made me the most amazing bourbon and Coke. I made you a nice bourbon and Coke. I was very snotty about it. I told you I didn't believe in Jack and Coke, but I would make you a bourbon and Coke. Let me just be your co-host. Anytime.

Not like you have anything to do. You were about to tell me a story about getting together with your friends. Yes. With your buddies that you, all your guys and your band. Yeah, yeah. So we were talking about food poison, and I had always heard about it. And everybody's like, oh, I got food poison last night. I'm like, you sure you didn't just get drunk.

And so I never really experienced it. I didn't know the intensity. Right. It just seems like you got a tummy ache, right? You've never had it. I never realized the life-threatening situation of being food poison. And so we meet up in Biloxi, Mississippi. We got the night off, gigs next day.

Let's go have a nice steak dinner. All they have is Ruth's Chris. Which I'm sure in that town is literally eight plus plus four stars best you can do. So I had lobster bisque, grilled shrimp, excuse me. It all sounds delicious. And a filet, medium rare, as I love it. And at the end of the meal, I just felt really uncomfortably full. Right.

Like, man, maybe I went too long without food. Maybe I just ate too much. I don't know. It'll pass in a few minutes. So we get up from dinner. I'm going to go hang out with the boys, have a beer. I usually don't drink beer I'm much more of a liquor connoisseur

but I was like I'm going to have a beer and I couldn't even get like maybe a quarter of the way down and my guys look at me and go to dude you're all right I'm like yeah I'm fine I'm just really full man I'm feeling in color he goes dude you look gray and I was like you know what I can't finish this beer tell me how much owe you later I gotta head back to the room

so I start feeling really hot So I'm going to take a bath, I lay in the bath, as hot as I can stand it, and I get even more uncomfortable. Just, I'm feeling like I'm going to die. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know if I'm going to throw up or whatever. It's confusing the feeling that you have. And out of nowhere, I'm like, oh, here it comes. And it's just everything I ate last week, I start to, oh, there's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, tonight.

Yeah. And it didn't stop. And so I'm like, I'm done. I go to bed, I'm back up. I go to the bed, I'm back up until like four in the morning. And I was like, this is what food poisoning feels like. I would rather have the flu. Yeah.

It was so bad. My abs. Oh, yes. It's incredible workout, though. So bad the next day that I had to be careful how I breathe. because every contraction felt like a punch in the nuts. Yeah. It was so bad.

Your body is completely betraying you. Did we just start this with a self-complicted wound? And there'll be another. We'll bookend it tonight. I have a three-quel of so. Excellent. I mean, this will actually post, I think, right around the episode where I actually throw up mid-interview with David Benny off.

But what I will say is that... Did you escape the room first? I did. I was just like if I puke on this, like I'll never live if I fom it on this human being. But beyond that, like your body is both betraying you and protecting you because it's getting out whatever this awful thing is that's inside of me. Oh, I was ripped the next day. Right? You were like so mean. I know it's like, man, I'm going to lose like five pounds. I know it ain't scheduled, but we're doing it now.

Just tear the shirt open like the Hulk. That looks awesome. But it is, the worst part is when you've thrown up everything you've eaten. Like I had thrown up everything I'd eaten and then I drank two little baby gatories. and those immediately came back up, and then two more baby Gatorade's immediately came back up, water came back, everything was coming back up. It went from everything that looked like it was still on the platter

to clear just nothing. Bits, the lining of your stomach, yeah, the worst. And I think one of my lungs, I saw a piece of it at least. Thank God you got to. Yeah, I got it back. And you feel like, and I don't know how long it took you to recover, but it took me two days to feel normal again. Two days at least.

I showed up at Soundcheck that day, and I was holding my guitar, and my guitar attack was like, dude, do you realize that you're, you haven't been in front of the mic the entire time? You're swaying. Yeah. Go back and go to sleep. Yeah. They can do this without you. And I was like, no, okay, cool. Right.

Yeah, you're right. This sucks. The hard thing also about food poisoning, like for you, you ate in a reputable restaurant. I mean, you can get it under any circumstance. Oh, I can't even hear the name Ruth's Chris now without going. food poisoning. And it's a bummer because I, Ruth's Chris is always the go-to when you're in a town where there's no other Chris.

Yeah. Better than Al-Back. Yeah. Better than Al-Bet, better than Applebees. And if someone, if you're in a small town and there's a Ruth's Chris, all of a sudden, it ain't a small town anymore. Right. And you're like, okay, well, it's not Morton's, but I'll take it. High Tift.

Okay, we're going to do it. All right. We're going to do the whole thing. Wait a minute. First of all, what were you doing at Comic-Con? I mean, like, not what were you doing there, but like, what were you there for when I saw you last night? I was stalking you. It's my favorite holiday, as I told you.

It's the best. I am a huge comic nerd, more of a Batman enthusiast than anything. It's just always been a part of who I am. And I feel like there were years that the fans had no clue. Right, right. And I ended up doing a podcast with Kevin Smith, amazing human beings. Great guy. And it was the first time that I felt like I really told the world, it was like me coming out.

It was like, I've been keeping this secret for so long and I gotta be me! Oh, but that's so exciting also to express that side of your song. All of a sudden I'm getting like, it shows I'm getting Batman T-shirts and Batman memorabilia. And it's the sweetest thing ever. That's so sweet. Oh, give this to your kids. Hell no, this is mine. Even if it's too small.

wear it anyway. You're going to stretch it out. Yeah. Get them little ass kids. They got enough. Did you get to do some fun stuff while you were there? I did. We, you know, I always try to go see my buddy Jim Lee at his panels. And we didn't really have anything going on to promote during that time. So I wasn't working. Yeah, that's great. That's fun. The last time I was there, we were, I don't know, we were doing something.

No, no, it was an art gallery. Oh, no, the year before that, I was doing the We Can Be Heroes campaign for D.C. So I was there doing press for that. You know, I needed a reason to go. And I had submitted some art into the art gallery for the... Art that you made yourself? Yes, the Week and Be Heroes campaign. So I did a piece with Jim Lee.

They got auctioned off, and all the proceeds went to the Horn of Africa. That's so cool. So my hero of all time, you know, comic book artist, I'm like doing a piece with him. That's incredible. It's one of my best friends. And it's weird when you meet your heroes and you actually become friends. Yeah. It feels like it's been years, you know.

And you don't think of them as that unattainable, you know. That's so lovely. But it's really cool. So, and then this year I was doing my own art gallery. I did my own personal art gallery for the first time. It was at the same place. It's that little art, a wolf gallery. Okay.

Is it like down near the convention center? Yeah, it's like a couple blocks down near the hard rock. Oh, okay, cool. How cool. It's actually on the same street as a hard rock. Excuse me. And so he came. You know, Jim comes to my art gallery and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever.

But yeah, so I was doing that and signing prints for the fans. and I have amazing fans that no matter what I do, they are all about it. It doesn't have to be music. It doesn't have to be. They support me as a human being and I love it. So I saw a bunch of familiar faces that come to shows a lot and a bunch of people that just wandered off the street that saw my art.

What's going on? Yeah. So it was really cool. And then the rest was parties. Yeah. Oh, God. It's the best. We did.

We had a, this is the funniest story. I get to Comic-Con, and I always bring my son. He's 16 now. Wow. You're way too young to have a 16-old son. I've raised him since he was two. Okay.

So him and his sister, Hannah, my stepdaughter, are raised since they were two and four. That's amazing. And we have twins, me and my wife, that are four that are, I'll show you pictures. Awesome. You'll fall in love.

That's so great. And so I bring him. He's like my sidekick. Yeah. He's the Robin. my Batman. That's so great. At Comic-Con. So we go and we check in at the Marriott. And it's just this small, white people problems. It's a small double-bed room. Yeah. And first of all, I know he snores. Right, right. And I'm not going to sleep two feet from him. It's really hard to do VIP at

Comic-Con for some reason. And again, these are straight white people problems, but you can't get a sweet. You can't, everybody's in these shit box rooms. Okay, I can't wait to hear. So, I call, see, I have two managers and one is like the, by the book, he's the business guy and then the other one is the nerd. He's everything, Star Wars, Batman, like he's all about it, but he knows it. He's not just one of those people that

loves to wear the t-shirt. And so he's the manager that goes to Comic-Con with me. And I call him up and like, dude, this sucks, man, I'm bitching. Like, I can't. And he goes, you told me that was the room you wanted. I was like, yeah, well, there was a lot going on. And so he called the front desk and he said, just go to bed and I'll call you in the morning if they have an upgrade. And he called me and said, hey, they're ready to upgrade you to another room. He didn't oversell it. Right. We walk in double doors. Oh, that's no great. Two-story, four thousand square foot room overlooking the ocean at the Marriott. And I'm like, holy shit. Yeah, that's good. That is good.

And my son, he was like, why do I have a feeling that JJ Abrams is on the street, wonder where the hell is room with? Seriously. Because it's hard. That is really hard to do with you at Comic Con. I was like, is this a joke? Yeah, like how can this be?

It's so hard. An upgrade normally means you just put me in this. So I'm still paying for that little-ass room. Right. And I'm getting this. I feel guilty and really happy. You should have thrown a party. You should have thrown a party.

So I threw a party. Okay. Good. You did you party. It was Jim Lee's birthday. Oh, that's awesome. And we, I told you about it at the EW party. You did it.

I had to go fucking do bullshit after that. Everybody, Stephen Yoon from Walking Dead is like, Jim's a buddy of mine. Dude, I'm there. Everybody was like, I got sucked in some bullshit. Everybody, no, and I did get sucked into some bullshit because we were actually texting. And we went, we had to go to NerdHQ, and then I think I fell apart. Well, a few of my guests. fell apart at NerdHQ.

Yeah. We never saw them because they were already escorted out. Oh, yeah. No. Did somebody get escorted out of NerdHQ? He didn't cause problems. Thank God. But he was definitely not, he couldn't, he was a weekend

at Bernice. He was being propped up in the corner like, I wish you could see this because I'm doing the public thing. It's so like, you know, it's so weapons free. You know what I mean? Because no one's driving. Oh, no, it instigates. You're out of town. instigate, it's the enabler.

If you were ever, like, trying to stop drinking, that's not the weekend. It's just straight weapons free for everything. It's like, I always say this, I said it a million times, it's like summer camp. It's like, you're out of your element, you're surrounded by all these people you love, all your friends, people that you adore from afar that you get to meet in person. Everybody's walking everywhere, so you're not worried about driving or getting in trouble. There's almost no fear. And hopefully nobody's getting molested.

No, no, people are kind. If anybody's missing, it's like, they're hugging the shit out of you. Yeah, they're just going to hug you a lot. So there's just this, like, super, you're going to stay. how small that world is that everybody knows everybody and it's the coolest. Even across genres, like, it doesn't matter. Everybody has the same, like, passion for pop culture. I love it.

It's the coolest thing ever. I would probably take that over Christmas half the time. Oh, I love it. I mean, I will. It's like I can't. I won't miss it. I won't miss it. I don't have to go shopping for anybody.

Exactly. And I was with the whole DC, it was like the whole DC universe guys because it was like everybody from Arrow. That's my... That's my homies. Yeah, yeah. DC and myself, we have a mutual friendship. It's so bad.

And they always treat me really good. And I love doing stuff for them. I keep talking to Jim about doing a comic book one day or at least doing variant covers. So that's still in the works. How cool. Yeah. Okay, we're starting.

So I'm like, I actually wanted to be a comic artist before anything, probably like five years old. And then I wanted to be an actor. And then I found music like at 16 or 17. And that's what worked out. But now I'm actually getting to do every single thing that I ever wanted to do as a kid. Right.

That still justifies my hate for math. And the fact that I said, I'll never use this again. Right. Or I'll never use this again. I was right as a kid when they, They say you don't know shit, you don't know anything. I was actually right. I didn't need to go to college.

We're doing it right now. We're doing the beginning. We're doing the beginning where we talk about all these things. Is that a good intro? It was a perfect intro. Where did you grow up? Where were you born? I was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, which is a very,

it's kind of an industrial town in the sense they have paper mills and all. But it's very, it's very blue collar. Like, it's, if you see, when Walmart came, that was like, oh, right, we have a Walmart, we're badass, we're rich. And so that was like, you know, the highlight of the town. Right. It hasn't really done much since. Interesting. You know, and I lived in, that was our city.

I lived in the woods. I lived in a small town called Lasker, North Carolina, a town of 100 people. Wow. And at least 89 of those people are still there. And I think the other 11 died. Right. That's why. It's like a town that doesn't move.

It doesn't change. And my grandparents still live there. So, which reminds me, I need to go see my grandparents. It's been a long time. But it just, I always knew as a kid, I'm not, I'm not. not going to live here forever. And I didn't know a city. I didn't know, but I always felt out of place. Like my, my dad and my brother and most of my family, they hunted. And I tried. I would go with my dad to the hunting club and I'd have my gun. You got to be quiet. It's early as balls in

the morning. It's cold and wet. And you've got to be quiet because you don't want to scare off the prey, you know, or the target. And I'm a talker. It's not a good place for me. This doesn't work out. So I shot a few times. I never hit anything. And I just was like, you know what?

I don't know if this is for me. And I remember my dad coming in the room one morning at five in the morning because I was so pumped the night before to go hunting. And he goes, hey, you come with me? And I'm like, and he reminded me of this the other day. He goes, this is what you did. You popped up from your pill and said, is it cold outside? He goes, yep.

He goes, no, I'm good. It's nice that it was a choice. Yeah, yeah. He didn't like just make you go do it. And was that the last time you ever went hunting? That was the last time I went hunting. I just resorted to the fact that I'd rather be in my room playing with action figures and drawing. Right.

You know, or cutting my pants to look like Loufriigno's incredible halt. and pissing my mom off because that was my only good pair of jeans. But now, in a town that small, I imagine there would have been a lot of pressure to be like everybody else in that town. I never thought of it that way. Even as a young kid, I felt that I was meant for something big. And I didn't know what. I mean, I had my ideas of what I wanted to do. I'm going to be a famous artist.

I'm going to be a famous. But that was my way of saying, I'm not going to be here. Right. You know, and I knew that at a very early age. and I never, in my trajectory of life, I never thought otherwise. No matter what stage of life I was in or what I was into, that's what I'm going to be, that's what's going to get me out of here. Right.

So at 14, I moved to, we moved to Virginia. Before you moved, like, here's another thing I wonder, because I always wonder, like, and not in a negative way, but, you know, like, a big part of your life, a big part of a childhood is dreaming about what you're going to be when you grow up. But I also feel like the big part of that is, I can't wait to get the fuck out of here. Were like the kids that you grew up with were they like, yeah, me too? Or where they were like, hey, fuck you? You know, there could be that kind of like, who do you think you are kind of attitude?

You know, it's weird. I had a very small circle of friends growing up that lived close by. And I kind of got the sense that they felt the same way about me. Like, this is, you know, you're going to do something. even without saying it, it always felt like it was a known thing. You know what I mean? Like I was the kid in town that was going to, I don't know what he's going to do. Right.

But one of them damn doctor boys is going to be famous. So I just, and even my dad, you know, we owned 43 acres in Greensboro as of until, up until last year we sold it and moved to the city of Charlotte. And, you know, I brought my parents over and I was like, is this weird, you know, seeing us in the city? No, this is where I pictured you a long time ago. It was the 43 acres that threw me off. Right, right. You know, I grew up growing my own vegetables and cutting wood and hunting animals and that's what we ate and gardens and feeding goats and riding goats even in the horseback sense.

Yes, I imagine that was what you intended us to believe. And wrestling goats, even. Nothing to do. Nothing to do. Nothing to do with the holler at all. What are you going to do? You got goats. You've got a dirt path.

You're going to walk down it and you're going to wrestle a fucking goat. And so I just, he was like this, I never pictured you living in the country with yards to mow and acres at that, a pond to fish in. So they always knew. And they never talked to me. out of any ridiculous dream I ever had. My parents were poor. My parents were, you know, my dad made like 10 grand a year. That was my question.

What are your parents, what did they do for a living? Well, at the time, my dad was a, he worked at a sawmill. He was a sawfiler, which is what he actually still does today. But there was a moment where he switched over to being a prison guard when like a mill shut down or something. And so my dad was a hard ass. I mean, he was, he, he, all, his goal in life was, was. keep my family, you know, fed and cloth, that's it.

And I have one brother, that's my only sibling, and he's five years older than me. And so we were always with my dad, whether we were planting sweet potatoes and corn or whatever or in some random forest, you know, chainsaw and logs to, you know, keep the house warm. And we had jobs every day, get on from school. you bring in the wood, you chop the wood if there's, if needed, you go feed the chickens,

you go feed the goats, you go water the hunting dogs, you know, it was jobs. There was never a time where my parents came home and we were sitting on the couch going, oh, I forgot to do that, you know, because there was no option. You didn't think about the consequences. You just knew it was never going to be good. And so I grew up like, it was manual labor. manual labor, manual labor, but it shaped my work ethic because I've never stopped working since. In some capacity, whether it be manual labor or writing songs or hustling for something,

I just can't sit around and wait for something to fall in my lap. Right. But that's so interesting. I'm a hunter in the sense of the word. I'm just not hunting deer now. Right. That's really interesting to me because you had this. dad was kind of really like a pragmatist and a hard ass and very much you had knew what you was expected and required of you but at the same times

at the same times at the same time your parents didn't seem to be trying to disabuse you of these really impractical notions of being an artist or leaving. It was uh which is you know my dad he's a guitar player and he he played uh all my life and

I never had any interest in it like he played played you know old school country and stuff that I love now but I was just like, yeah, I picked up one time, and I had him show me like a couple chords, and then I was like, eh, I'm good. And then when I was 16, excuse me, when we moved to Virginia, which is, it was the step, and that was the first step to the rest of my life, to be honest, because there was no drama classes or any of that stuff where I grew up.

So we're near Charlottesville, Virginia. and my sophomore year of high school. I mean, this guy's in my class. He's like a year ahead of me, but he was playing like some old school sound guard known as acoustic. And I was like, now I'm interested. And up to that point, I was singing along the radio.

I thought that everybody could sound like Chris Cornell. I didn't take it for granted. And so now I'm interested, and he showed me a few. chords and I never wanted to be some virtuoso guitar player. I just wanted to learn enough so I could write songs that sounded like the songs that I love. Right. And so it took off from there and he heard me sing one day just we were kind of joking around and he goes, um, why aren't you doing this? Like seriously, you sound like Tracy Chapman. I was like, what a salesman. I love Tracy Chapman, but I, but I was nervous. So I had that, you know, never open. Never open. Never open. Never.

open my mouth. So I never let my range go. And then he kind of twisted Marm and I joined his band and we were doing some covers. And then I naturally like the lead singer does, he broke off and did his own thing. I started my own band with one of my best friends. And he was learning bass as I was learning guitar and we were both terrible. You still in high school at this point? He lived with me actually.

Okay. Yeah. And so. Live with your family? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He actually went to school with me in North Carolina, and he was one of those guys. It was always over at the house. And when I moved, I mean, that was kind of a big thing because, you know, you're 13 and this is your boy. You know, you're always, you hang out with each other, no matter what. And so things went down a little weird in his family, and he basically moved in with me and my parents. And did they raise him? Yeah, until he graduated high school.

Wow. I'm in high school. My parent. And looking back now that I'm a parent, I would have never done that. My parents were so incredibly selfless that they took in some kid. I mean, they knew him because he was at the house. But they didn't have to do that. Was his family in real crisis?

Because could they see that he did get him? No. There was some stuff going on that we wanted him away from. Right. That's my point. Could they see that like it was a fucked up situation where he was? Yeah. Yeah.

And they, and I'm not going to name names, but basically his mom came to enroll him in high school saying, okay, I'm going to be looking for a job. And, you know, can he stay with you for a few weeks until I find a job? Absolutely. Never heard from her again. Wow. So they were smart enough to realize that was always a possibility. So. Right.

there was never like, hey, you got to get in touch with your mom, man. It was like, hey, you live here. This is how we do things. Right. As long as you, you know, contribute and live by my rules, you're welcome. That is so generous. And as a parent, I'm like, can I imagine one of my teenagers going, hey, by the way, they need to live here. And I'd be like, not my problem.

It's weird, though. I wonder, like, if you had a, if what year. Obviously, it's a case. by case basis. Yeah, like, I mean, if I saw someone in, like, real physical danger or something like that, you know. I mean, I'm not a parent, so I can't imagine, but I do wonder, like, if this was a kid was in your house every day, they started to feel like your kid. They already felt like he was a part of the family. Yeah. Yeah. And they knew the situation going in. Right. And they were very, and to this day, they, you know, they still email him on his birthday and stuff. So, and, and he still calls my dad, dad. That's so sweet. Yeah. His dad passed away. when he was like eight or nine. So he always looked at my dad as a dad. Right.

I'm going to get you. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful story. So you started a band with him. So I started being in a band and I remember telling my dad, I'm not going to college. I'm going to be a rock star. And here's his words.

Well, better have a job. You're going to need it. I was like, cool. So from the time I was 14, I never not had a job. I never not had. Never not. I never didn't. Never didn't have a job.

We worked it out together. We did that together. Yeah, I passed that test. So I started working at the sawmill with my dad when I was 14. And I'm talking the grunt work, you know, shoveling sawdust in the bottom of a blazing hot sawmill shirtless, glistening in the... We don't want to think about a 14-year-old glistening in anything. It looked like the cover of a romantic novel, but with a 14-year-old kid. That's creepy.

Manic Lous. Yes, one that no one should be reading. It was a Twilight film. And so then I went to McDonald's. Then I worked in a kitchen, washing dishes. I just never, I was never the kid to go, I'll wait until next. Like I always knew I needed a job. First of all, my parents don't have the money to buy me anything.

I buy my first car. I buy this. You know, everything I have, I own. And it felt good. And I never, to this day, I never wanted to feel. like I didn't earn something. Right, right. It also gives you a freedom.

I talk about that a lot on the show that as an artist, it gives you a freedom to just make art not worry about where you're getting paid for it. I mean, that's your work and your work pays for everything else. I remember when I first got married and we were in some real financial shit. And, you know, it wasn't because we weren't working. It was because we were not making a lot.

And we had, you know, kids and past debts of mine. Newly weds. Everything was expensive. Everything was too much. And I remember calling my parents, and I was so, like, nervous to ask for money. I needed, like, 600 bucks because we were overdrawn in our, you know, I mean, I just, I didn't want money to get ahead. I wanted money to get back to even, you know, and, and it was so hard for me to ask because I had never had to ask for money. And I never wanted to be that, guy that didn't earn what he what he had and so i remember how tough that was and and how generous they were and and i just i think all that crap that i hated growing up basically like solidified that and

stone and in my being so i'm very grateful to how my parents raised me yeah yeah and probably also made you gave you the kind of persistence you needed to stay on track with your music as well yeah Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it gave you a sense of accomplishment and completion. When something was done, you were stoked, no matter what it was. Right. Because you now can chill and do what you want to do.

Exactly. But it was up until then that all you would do is think about what you wanted to do. Well, that's what got you through the ridiculous job you were doing. Right. Right. And it all worked. So you're working these different jobs, and you're still in high school, and then you finish high school. And then do you move to the big city to be a big rock star? No, I live with my parents until I was 20.

And I was working various jobs from working at Lowe's to being a vacuum salesman going door to door. That was the only job my dad was ever worried about. Really? He was like, where's the stability? You know, you've got a pretty flexible schedule, but you don't know if you're getting paid this week. Right, right. And looking back, I'm like, you know, I remember me trying to, oh, but no, if I'd do this, I'll be like, that's like three weeks pay him. And he was such a smart guy because that was the dumbest thing I ever did.

That was what kind of put me like in a financial slump because I had wasted months. Right, because you kill yourself. Yeah, because of the promises of what could be, you know. But I was thinking I can do gigs. I can do this. I don't have to worry about asking off. Right. Right, right.

Because up to that point, I was always like, I need the weekend off, dude, this is my only gig in two months. I need to take it. I know it's not paying, but. Yeah. And so it was always me trying to convince people I worked for, like, to believe in me, I'm better than you think. Right. It's not just a guy who has a band. Everybody says that, but nobody can play.

Right. And every single time a boss or somebody would come to a show, they're like, holy shit. How did I not know? Oh, wow. How did I not know? Like, I yell at you in the kitchen all the time because you suck as an employee. You're a great friend. Terrible employee.

Right. And so you're always daydreaming. Well, it's because I don't belong here. Right, right. So that was like basically every job I had, you know, after being 20, trying to convince people like, hey, I'm actually pretty good. Right. Kind of, you know, people say I am.

I don't know. You should come check me out. And so they, I started. getting support from my employers because they witnessed it firsthand and was like, okay, we got to get you out of here. You obviously don't belong here. Yeah. And so right before I went on American Idol, my last job raised money to fly me out to Denver to audition. Oh, that's incredible. And my boss kept me on insurance until he knew that I was getting steady income. That's amazing. Which is unheard of a corporation. I mean, seriously. I won't say the name because I don't want to get him in trouble.

But that's bananas. But it was very ever. evident that I had their support. Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about... Idol. Idol, because, you know, there are people who know the show encyclopedically. They've watched it every episode, every season.

They know everything about it. Right. And then there are people who are tourists. But regardless, nobody... Very few people out there, a very tiny handful of people know what it's like to actually go through that experience. And I really want to hear about what that was like for you. It was...

Let's just talk from the beginning. You fly to Denver. It was crazy. First of all, you know, at this point I'm six years married. Five years married. Got married young. I got married at 20. That's what moved me back to North Carolina, by the way.

Okay. And so I'm flying to Denver. Well, first of all, I was supposed to go to Memphis. And I was going to drive to Memphis. They were having auditions in Memphis. Yes. Okay. And that was the only southeast location.

Mm-hmm. So Katrina happens. Mm-hmm. And they cancel the Memphis auditions because they're using the forum for, like, refugees and stuff like that. And so I look at their schedule, and I'm going, there's nothing else close. The next audition is next week in Denver. Mm-hmm. I know we can't afford to do it, but I got to figure it up.

Right. We've got to go. You're planning for this whole thing. I have to go. Right. So, like I said earlier, my boss, like, takes upon himself to pass around a bucket at the dealership and raised enough money to fly me out to Denver. And I had other friends or family members that helped pay for the hotel and stuff. So I flew out there by myself, I audition.

I get up at, like, like, the butt crack at dawn, like, four or five o'clock. I get in line at Denver Broncos Stadium. Huge. Those lines are massive, too. So at 5 in the morning, I'm in line, and it's pretty short at this time. Oh, great. But we all file in around 11. Oh, so you've been in line for hours.

Yeah. And there's 9,000 people in this stadium, and they call you down by fives, and each line is in front of a producer. nobody that you would know, just like people that, like the producers on the show that go out and do the scouting and stuff. And each member of those respective five lines steps up and you start singing at one time. What? Yeah, you're spaced out a good maybe 10 feet from each other. Yeah.

And so you're right here and this producer. So five producers, five singers, singing at the same time. Boom. and they're either saying yes, no, yes, no. And I opened my mouth and I remember seeing him on Perriff. Like, everybody, like, kind of stopped and, like, looked at me because I was, I think I was the loudest dude there. Which, by the way, it has to be at least one element of a strategy. Let me just blow everybody out of the water.

So I step up and I do, I put a spell on you. You know, the CCR. Ah, put a spell on! And everybody's like, I don't know if they were scared or impressed, but he stopped me. He's like, you're through, dude. Right.

And then the next day is executive producers. And then I had to wait a week and a half. In Denver? No, I had to fly home and come back a week and a half later to audition for Paula Simon and Randy. Now, they pass you from executive producers and you know you're coming back at that point. Yes. Yes, and usually they, it's all within that week, but I guess because of the Katrina thing, like schedule got thrown.

So I had to come back. I come back, my wife comes with me, I make it through to Hollywood, I get home, they add a new location for auditions. Greensboro, North Carolina. Man, what a pain. 15 minutes from my house. Jesus Christ. But at that point, I'd already made it through.

So worked out to my benefit because then they, wanted to come to my house and do the whole home piece. So I was like, I win! And you've got... Because otherwise, I would have not even auditioned at this point. Right. You may not have gotten through. Yeah. Yeah. Because of, you know, everything happens at the right time. Everything. And that wouldn't have been

the right time. You also just have to go for it. You can't be, you can't be trying to calculate. So it was, it was the best thing that ever happened. You and your wife have got two little babies. Yeah. We still call it. They're calling babies. They're four, and we still call them babies. They'll be five in November. But when you auditioned, you had those little babies.

During that time, I didn't have any biological kids, but we had her two. Her two, her two that I started raising when they were two and four. So at that point, they were like six and nine. Okay. So that was a big deal. It was a big deal. Yeah, you've got this family. Because I'd never, at that point, I'd never left home.

You know, I worked, I came home. I work at Kimmel. And now I'm like, peace. I'll see you in a month. I don't know. Right. It was just, it was bizarre. It was a very, it was kind of a culture shock for sure.

Yeah. And also, even more intense than, you know, you've had this kind of pattern with your life and the stability and everything, you're going to a completely foreign place to pursue something that's been a passion of years for a long time. So it's very emotional with no safety net, with like out the emotional. safety net of your family. So it's exciting, but it had to have been pretty terrifying at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at this point, I'd never done anything like this. I mean, and now I'm, you know, I'm used to playing in bars, you know, my guitar. And so it was definitely a huge adjustment for me because now I'm having to just stand here with nothing, you know, singing. And I'm not going to dance because that would look weird. Right. And also your

And this is not a criticism. I think this probably came up in the experience. I mean, that show is very pop-driven. Yes. And you were a rock-and-roll guy. It took so long to ever try out for it. Right. I was going to ask you if there was a part of you that felt like maybe it wasn't for you because it was such a pop music show. For years, my wife was always like, you know, Deanna, she's been like the biggest supporter of my entire life.

Everything I do, she's just right behind me. So she kept going. better than your band. You're better than your band. And I was always the guy, oh, but no, like, that's my boy, yeah. And she goes, you gotta, like, you can't, they're holding you back. So she was like, you need to go on American Idol.

I'm like, eh, it's not my thing. Prince wouldn't go on American Idol. Yeah. Led Jeplin wouldn't go on American Idol. Chris Cornell wouldn't go to wear her hat's not the way to do it. I mean, I think that that's a, that is a really legitimate interior monologue for an artist. And I think both sides, are totally valid.

You know, it's like, just to give you a parallel, you know, there's that show Last Comic Standing. And I remember feeling that way about it was like, no, you know, you've got to like get it out the way everybody else got it out. Go out and do the grunt work. Yeah. But the fact of the matter is, those shows put you in a position to leverage the skills you already have.

They just get people eyeballs on you. And they've been doing grunt work. That's what people don't usually see. Right. They've been doing the circuits. And you'd been doing this for years at this point. Yeah. At this point, I'd been playing clubs for almost 10 years.

Right. You know? Right. So you already had that under your belt. And so I couldn't exactly afford to jump in a van and go touring the East Coast, be away from the family. In a family, yeah. Especially when you're not guaranteed any money. No.

No. And you're doing it for the art of it, but you've got kids to raise. Exactly. So if I was, you know, single and like whatever, then, yeah, live on the road. You're supporting yourself. at that point. You'll figure it out. Yeah, I mean, I think the great thing about a show like this or any of these shows is if you've got that experience under your belt, they just catapult you to a level where people are paying

attention. You know, where you're just able to pull more eyes. So I started looking at it as, okay, if I was going into a record label and they said, sing a song I know, here's my audition for record labels. Right, right. This is my audition to the world. I'll get you with songs that you know and then let you know that, hey, I write songs too and then we'll deal with that later. So that's how I looked at it

and I treated every week like an audition for a record label. I wasn't paying attention to what they thought or what. I was like, if I was going to make a record, it would be kind of like this. So that way you know what you're getting, you know. How much power did you have over what you sang? Well, I think the funny thing is people don't think they have power because they never question it.

And for me, I was always like looking at the list of songs available. And then I would question it going, okay, you have this, but what if I did this? Well, we have to clear it. Okay, you have a week. Can we clear it? And they were like, nobody's ever done that. But I'll try. And I was like, I actually get to have my way, but nobody's, you know, everybody's afraid to ask. Part of that probably came from the fact that you had been touring for 10 years, and you did know yourself as an artist. You weren't like an 18-year-old who was singing in the bathroom. Exactly. So I every week was trying to figure out a way to still be what I do, no matter what the genre is and whatever ridiculous list of songs that were available.

That just means they haven't tried to clear this one. Because nine times out of ten, I got one I wanted to do cleared. Did you ever hit a roadblock where they were like, no, you've got it. Yeah, there were certain artists at the time that were, no matter who you were, what you were doing, or who the show was. They just, you couldn't get a Led Zeppelin song, or a Beatles song to clear, you know, to save your life. Right. So, didn't ask. Actually, I think Elton John was one of them, too.

Mm-hmm. Because I had wanted to do Elton John ever since the first week. Mm-hmm. And I couldn't get any of the clear. But that was the biggest season. And then it just, so I got in at the right time. Tell me, this is an esoteric question. But I wonder if there was a moment,

because it seemed like you had a lot of self-confidence, at least you knew who you were as an artist. That probably came from the fact that you've been doing it for a long time. Right. But I do wonder, where there are moments during that, I'm going to ask you the two opposing questions. And the first one is where there are moments when you felt like, holy shit, I don't know what I'm doing,

or I don't know if this was a good idea. Yes. The week that I did, Creed. Tell me. Tell me about that. I, um, it was, it was a, it was like billboard hits of 2000s or something like that. And I think it was like one of the only songs, it had to be a certain number on the chart. I can't remember. It was like top tens of 2000 or something. Yeah. And that was on there and it was like one of the only songs that, that, that,

kind of. Like in your genre? Yeah. And I was like, okay, maybe this is my chance to really do like a rock song. And looking back, I'm embarrassed to myself because it was terrible. Oh, no. It was just so weird and contrived. And it just, I made way better choice in weeks prior and weeks after.

I thought, for sure, looking back, that was going to be the week I got cut. Really? Elvis Week was the week I got cut. And that was the one I've, I thought. I was waiting for. I was like, I'm going to kill Elvis. Right. I'm not going to physically kill Elvis.

Well, luckily, but just, he's already to he's dead. Yeah, no, but I hear he has an island on like the coast of somewhere. Very hard to get to. Very hard to get to. Yeah. Couldn't kill him if he wanted to. And his name is like, I don't know, Joel. But, yeah, so I was, that was the week I was thinking,

killed it. Right, right. And that was the week I got cut. Right. That's, it's a mystery. I'm thinking, if you would have cut me during Creed Week, right, I could have seen it. I would have been like, hey, I brought that on myself, man.

I'm sorry. I knew that was coming. Well, I actually read that you said. It was a choice. I read that you said that you felt like that was a week where your fans thought you had done such a great job that maybe you didn't need any help. Well, I didn't feel like I didn't need any help.

I think that that's a stupid logic because what happens when you take all your votes and put them on someone else, hey, they win! You're an idiot. Oh, he didn't need my help. Well, you're the one that got me to this week. You know? Now, do you think you've done extraordinarily well since then?

But they did me a favor. That's my next question because you've done extraordinarily well since then. And I also wonder, and look, there have been some people have won their seasons who've gone on to extraordinary success. But more than, you know, more frequently the winner has not done as well as people who have came in in the top five. Well, it's weird. My season, I think, produced the most record contracts of the season. And subsequently, TV stars. Right. You know. Catherine McPhee, you know, she's had two shows right now. She's been in some movies and done really well and really proud of her. Such a sweetheart of a girl. Elliot Yamin got a record deal right out after the show. He's still doing music.

Bucky Covington, Kelly Pickler, who else? I mean, obviously Taylor won, myself, and Ace Young went on to doing Broadway and has been very successful at it. And now I'm like, we actually had the shit year in the good sense. Like we were awesome. A loaded year. And oddly enough, it was, I think, according to my memory, it was the biggest viewership that it ever had.

And so thank God I wasn't a year before or a year after because, A, I would have been overshadowed by Carrie Underwood no more than I already am. But Bo Bice was on that year and he was the guy that made me go, hey, that's not pop. Right. It's not my style, but at least it's not my idea of American Idol. So I'll go out for it next year and then I did. Right. And it was a big year for us.

Everybody was, it was weird because I had never been outside of a club. I'd never been on any stage of any capacity where you get off and everybody's like, oh my gosh, you know, and we were living in this weird bubble. But then you go to the grove and you're followed by paparazzi and it was the weirdest thing to get used to. You couldn't. because you're on TV every week. You know? Yeah.

Face is a huge, huge thing. And as soon as you, and as soon as you, not necessarily take a break, but as soon as you're kind of a little more out of sight, that memory fades, and you can go to any airport and not even worry about it, which is kind of where I'm at right now,

because it's been, shit, almost like 10 years. I was going to say, It's been almost a decade since I was on that show. So even though our music's still on the radio, my face isn't in theirs every week. So it's kind of a cool thing that now I have somewhat of a small fraction of anonymity. Right, right. Because it used to be you walk in the airport and everybody at the front checkout desk is trying to check you in.

Right, right. Of course, you know, that never happens. No, it does not. It never happens. And it doesn't happen now. So it's just so weird how powerful that show was as far as they didn't have to know what you sang or anything. They see your face and, I voted for you. Well, there was this intimacy there.

I mean, a part of it. They feel like they created your performance and more to do with your backstory. How much they cared about your personality. Yeah. And how they connected with you. Your music is okay. But the fact that you and your wife are still together and all that. And I started feeling like the poster child for like the perfect marriage.

I'm like, guys, yeah, she supports me. I support her. It ain't perfect. Right. And it never will be. Stop putting me on this pedal stool. Like, I wish my marriage was like this. You don't think we have problems?

Yeah, exactly. You're out of your mind. Yeah. Well, and there is no perfect marriage. And it got to a point, it got to a point where I was just like annoyed by being praised for being a good husband. Right. Right. I want to hear that from my wife.

wife, yes. But you don't know me and you don't know the life struggles I have or the drama that goes on in our family dynamic. So stop focusing on that and enjoy the music. Right. Because I'll never meet up to your expectations on that. Right. Did you, I'm not asking you to talk shit, but I just, I'm very curious about what the relationship was like with the, as much as you feel comfortable sharing, with the producers and with the judges, Were you pressured? I don't know anything about it. I'm just curious because I feel like they're there to craft a story.

This goes back to high school or elementary school even. I wasn't a teacher's pet, but I made friends with everyone. I never made enemies. I wouldn't do it. It wasn't in me because I don't know when I'm going to need them later. You know what I mean? Very good strategy. And being in the music business for eight or nine years, you realize that you run into the same people.

at the most random places. The second you treat anyone with disrespect or that you're better than them, your name is in the mud for a long time with a lot of people because they all know everybody. And so I was always compliant. I was never one to buck the system.

I was never one to, you know, you couldn't get a song cleared, cool. I'll deal with it. I'll find something. Right. You don't want me to wear. this, I'm not going to fight you on it. It's not worth it. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not going to be better off because I got my way with wardrobe. You know what I mean?

Right, right, yeah. So I just never, I picked my battles and I made sure that I was respectful to everyone and no matter how tough the day was or whatever, I wasn't the guy that go, I'm done with this, I need a break, I'm this. I'm, I deserve. I'm the artist. I'm the talent. And so, and they were, I won't name names,

but there were a few like that. Right. How could there not be? And, and in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, you haven't sold a record. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Who do you think you are? Right. Right. And, and so I just never had that mentality. So I always, to this day,

I keep in touch with some of those producers because I consider them great friends because they are single-handedly responsible for getting me in front of millions of people. Right. You know, the bottom of the line producers, the people that you don't see, they're like

some of my best friends. And so, I don't know if that answers your question. I think it does to an extent, I mean, almost fully. It was just, you know, I, because their job is to craft stories, right, and to present a certain dynamic on TV. But they're good about, you know, it wasn't a reality show in the sense that they're following you around in your home life or they're at your apartment or whatever house you're staying at to try to instigate drama. Right. So it never felt like they were trying to get me to do anything for TV.

There would be times where, which is common TV, where they would go, hey, can you do that again because we want to get it? And you have to reenact a moment. No big deal. Or can you say that again? because, I don't know, we didn't catch it or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, typical stuff. But they never, it never felt like I was being forced to be someone I wasn't.

Right. And that panel, the actual panel, you never saw those judges except for on the performance nights. Yeah. And it's so funny because everybody's like, y'all keep in touch and this and that. And oddly enough, I do keep in touch with Randy and, and Ryan. But that being said, you didn't. see them until the cameras start rolling for the live show. Right, right.

You weren't hanging out in the dressing rooms. They had their own floor with their dressing rooms. And I somehow had a place with them. Like if I ever ran into them in the hallway, they would always stop and talk to me. And it never felt like, oh, you can't look at them or whatever. Right. But it wasn't like people think where, oh, did you get to hang out? Are they like outside of work?

Were you, yeah, did y'all go to the bar together? I'm like, I never saw them until it was five o'clock. And we're on the show. And then here comes everybody wandering in. Oh, there's Paula. Okay, there she is. An hour late. She's the sweetest.

The sweetest, but you know, you're not telling anybody anything they couldn't have figured out by watching the show on their own. I love her to death. Yeah. I love her to death. I haven't seen her in a long time. I don't know. I hope she's doing well. But I probably keep in touch with Randy more than anyone because he's a music guy.

He's a, he's a... Yeah, and he's still in the business doing all that stuff he was doing before. And he looks at it from, you know, he has a huge respect for musicians in general. Anytime I see him, it's like an old friend. Ryan, that dude is going 24 miles an hour. I mean, 24-7, 100 miles an hour on any given day. Right. don't expect him to reply to your texts.

Exactly. But when he sees me, we hang out and we catch up and he's the coolest guy ever. Simon is amazing. I just never know his real number because it changes like every week. So I'll see him. I'll have his number. I'll text him. It's not his number.

Yeah, exactly. I friends like that. I friends like, and they're like, why don't you write me? I'm like, but when you see him, it's like old times. You're talking about, you know, old stuff and you know he's genuinely the day that he said no to me uh my first audition yeah because it was a split decision right yeah uh i happened to see him on the street at later that day

outside the convention center and i went up to him and i said i'm going to prove you wrong and he looked at me and smiled and gave me a big handshake and said you do that yeah which means he knew it he knew something was there but he was he was playing the yeah i have to be a big handshake and said you do that yeah i have to the hard ass right now. I can't make you think you got this in the bag, you know. Right. Yeah. And in some way, it made me want to work harder, you know. You, you, you, right before, you're going through this process and you're doing really well and you're getting very close to the end. Do you have a sense in your mind about what you're going to do next? Or are they telling you? Like, because it's not like you're guaranteed a record contract when you come off of Vital. I mean,

I guess maybe the winner wins one, but. It was, it was really cool. Once we got to the, top 10, which is, that's the number that goes on the tour. And when we were touring, it was like, like I said, it was the biggest season ever. And I'm not gloating it myself. It was just, it was a big season. And we were selling out arenas 98% capacity before, you know, within a month of the show. So it was a sold-out tour for three months. And we were playing for 15 to 20,000 people at night.

that's a huge mind. It's incredible. You can say mind fuck. I'll say it for you if you don't want to. For a 20-some-year-old dude who's never played in front of that many people, you think you're hot shit now. Right, right. And it's such a dramatic difference. It's a huge, and you're playing two songs.

And they're not yours. So there's a little humility there. You go, it ain't about me right now. They're hearing songs they like. Yeah. So, but during that whole process, I'm not taking days off. You know, we're about three or four days on a week. My days off, everybody should be resting their voice.

I'm cutting demos. I'm writing songs. I'm making a record because right after the show, I met with six record labels. And I guess I'm okay to say it. Tommy Motola, Jason Flum from Virgin. at the time it was uh crap was it

Eric um Charlie Charlie Walk from uh epic and um Clyde Clive Davis of course

and there was a few others and I'm feeling like I kind of got a pick of the litter right now right this is amazing so I go to meet Clive I met it with him twice

I was so against going with Clive at first because all I could think of American Idol and I was thinking they're going to make me make an American Idol record and I don't want that and during the top 10 to get back to my original thought we all got together at a hotel party with Simon Fuller he'd never met him before at this point the creator of the show for anyone who doesn't know he's the sweetest English gentleman that I mean the guy is the most meek speaking human being and one of the the most successful people I know.

He still emails me on my birthday. Like, he's such a genuine human being. And I was already on the defense because I knew who I was. And I knew what kind of record I had to make. And I wasn't going to sell out to anything less. And we were outside on the balcony. By the way, the same hotel that, like, pretty woman was shot in. Oh, how fun.

And I'm on the balcony. I'm a little buzzed. Yeah, Beverly Wilshire. And I'm talking to him and I go, if we make a record and we don't do a rock record, you're out of your mind. And he goes, why would I make anything else with you? Wow. And I knew right then that whatever I wanted to do, he's got my back. And he did.

He signed me along with Clive Davis. And I had so much freedom on that first record that it kind of blew my mind. I was expecting so many obstacles. like, no, going to have to do this. Like, I was expecting people over my shoulder in the studio going, that's too loud. Right. That's too much guitar. Right.

They didn't give a shit because I found out later that I came in forth. They were only projecting three to 500,000 records. They weren't worried about what you did. Right, right. And they know they're getting that based on your audience from the show alone. They already know. It doesn't matter what you do. do. Right. We're going to sell this no matter what. Wow. With all the freedom in the world.

Yeah. That's incredible. There was one, two moments in the record making process where they said, I know you didn't write this song, but will you listen to it? And if you like it, will you cut it? It really mean a lot to Clive. One was, What About Now? Written by my dear friend, David Hodges, and a couple other writing partners of his. He used to write, well, he was the original keyboardist and songwriter for Evanescence back in the day. Cool. And so, and he wrote a lot of Kelly Clarkson's hits, but sweet human being from Oklahoma. And, no, I'm sorry, Arkansas.

And I heard it, I couldn't deny it. I'm like, it's a beautiful song, it's amazing. I'd be an idiot to say no. It was a big hit. so check. And the other one was a song written by Dr. Luke and Max Martin that I found out later was written for me if I won. That was going to be my winning song.

Wow. It was called Feels Like Tonight. And that was one of my moments where I'm in the vocal booth and I'm swearing and I'm pissed and I'm like, I will not cut this pop song. I'm like, what's the first? All right, let's get to it. And I'm pretty sure Howard Benson has plenty of files of me just cursing out my record label for making me do the song.

And it's been a staple in our set list for eight years. But that was it. I got to have songs that I wrote alone. You know, it didn't have to be a co-write with some big pop songwriter. I picked the people I wanted to write with. I wrote, I had slash on my album, who was the coolest guy ever. And I don't think they had a clue. I didn't have a clue what it was going to do.

If I had sold a million, I would have been happy. Right, right. You know? And they just knew they were like, look, this is how it's always worked, this level. Yeah, he came in forth. It's not going to be what you, he's not going to be the winner. I get it. Right.

But, you know, he saw some records, so we'll sign him. And also, you serviced a very specific, audience a very different category than the rest of the finalists, right? Because you were doing a rock record. So they were going to catch a whole set of so they're like, it's going to be a small audience, but it's a guaranteed audience of three to 400,000. And we're not going to lose any money. It's an investment. Or just a kind of non-event, you know? And I think, and I remember Clive Davis, or no, no, the head of radio at RCA telling the whole radio department when they played home,

this isn't going to be a hit. We're not going to be able to get this on the radio. Incredible. It paid for my home. You know, I need to write a private jet song next. Right. Seriously. Or a yacht. Spaceship to space.

Because where else you're going to go with a spaceship to space? We just wrote it. a hit. We did. We just did it together. Spaceship, because where else you're going to go with a spaceship? Space. I'm sharp in the mornings. Oh, you're on fire. In the after the after that second, after that second bourbon and Coke. Yeah, I know. You're a machine. So, so yeah, it was, it was definitely a feeling of, I'm not being, I don't, I'm not under any thumb right now. Like I thought I would be. Because everybody, oh, I want to get out of my deal with Clive Davis or Clive Davis is this.

Clive Davis has been nothing but gracious to me from the day we met and has always seen my vision through, which is something that you don't get a lot with record execs. The album comes out. Yeah. What happens the week that album comes out? Are you like, are you on children? I'm at home. I'm at home.

And it's November 21st, 2006. And you're expecting the song to be played on the radio at this point. You know, you got a major label behind it. you. You're already being told. So it's not a surprise. It's not like the teenage years where the local station plays your demo. And you're like, I'm the shit.

I'm the local celebrity. I'm bowling. I'm rich, bitch. And so, but I pull over. I'm driving my kids to school. And I pull over and I just listen. And almost tear up. It was like I knew it's happening.

This is incredible. And they're talking about it, and everybody knows who I am. It's not like, hey, here's this new artist in Charlottesville, Virginia, that you're going to hear from soon. Nobody knows this song, but I'm going to play it anyway. And it's at midnight, so nobody's listening. But you recorded it on your tape deck just so you could prove the people that you're on the radio. And so it was a crazy feeling to think, I'm actually just. doing what I wanted to do for 10 years.

And like you said, they had a certain expectation about how the album was going to do, and it, and it did that by many. It sold a million in five weeks. So, it was like they said it was the fastest selling rock debut album of all time. And I'm like, hold on, hold on, right. All right, hold on. Because now I'm insulted because there's Led Zeppelin, there's the Beatles. and they go, oh, no, no, sound scan didn't start until 96.

I said, okay, I'll take it. They had their day. It's my moment. Fastest selling, by the way, and this is not the beat up on the Beatles or Levsppelin, but access to records back then was very different. So it sold when they did shows. Buy it like 1201, you know, 12.01 a.m. They sold 15 million albums, but it might have taken a little while.

It took like 15 years to sell that. And it was because of their touring. It wasn't because it wasn't. Because it wasn't... Those songs weren't hits on the radio. No, exactly. They were hits later on classic rock. Exactly.

Those songs, half of them weren't... Dream On wasn't even a single. It was on a 45 B-side. Right, right. So it's just a different world. Yeah. You know, just the ease with what you could buy music. Did you know that Bob Seeger's turned the page?

That was never a studio recording. That was him live playing it as a new song, and they never recorded that song. That's incredible. incredible. I love that song. I love that song. But. No, I just love the Metallica cover more. Oh, I love that. I just love Metallica so much. Okay. I went through my metal phase, but I was, I've never been a more Metallica fan than the Black album. And only because the songwriting is spectacular and the melodies are beautiful and it's still over heavy guitars.

It's not the speed metal that as much as I appreciate the skill, I love a good melody first. I will just say that one of the first albums, it might not have been number one, but it was no higher than number three. The first album that I bought on vinyl was Killem All. So they're the same physical band. I love them.

And whenever I used to try to explain my love for Metallic, I was like, yeah, it's fast, but when you listen, it's complex. Do you know what I mean? It's like serious mathematical, beautiful stuff. Just sped up. And they can write it. Yeah.

Yeah, it's not, it's just loud. They chart it. They chart it. They actually are very well-trained musicians in the sense that they can read music. That's one out of ten people in the music business. Interesting. Yeah. I couldn't read music right now.

Or yesterday. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe I'll try another run. I just never thought it was necessary. Right. How do you write? Do you just play? I go on melody and core progression alone.

I hear it. I sing it. And if I feel like it, I'm going to forget it, I'll record it on my phone. Right. And then that's it. And these are all new technologies too. I mean, like how you can just like see something. Well, before that, I had one of those old, like, long single cassette.

Yes. With the speaker on top. Hilarious when we push the red button and the left button at the same time. And I recorded like cartoons that I liked because I didn't have a video. PCR. Hey man. I still know the theme song. That's adorable.

There it is. By the power of grace school. Thundercats. Do you, when this, so this happens and it's a phenomenon. And how does it a dynamic with your record label change now that you sold all these records? Do they treat you differently? Do they behave differently? No, they were always very courteous to me.

It never felt like we were the, you know, the small fish in the pond. It just, I think it became a little more serving. Right. Yeah, a little more cater. Never got a private jet. But I'm still working on that. I got to write that song called G5. Absolutely.

Oh, somebody's already written that. Well, there's got to be another one. It's going to be G-E-E-5. B-A-A-A-B-E. I don't know. that because I just you know I mean again it's like no one people watch these things happening but they it's so different to be experiencing this as an artist like what like this thing happening to you something dreamt of your whole life was it surreal did it it was surreal because everybody knows who you are but

you haven't sold a record you haven't done anything yet you're just to everybody to the layman out there you're just some karaoke singer right right and you've been singing everybody else's and then you're wondering what real artists that you respect think of you, which is a really daunting feeling, especially the people you look up to that made you want to be in the music business. So you're wondering if they'll even respect what I do, even though I worship the ground they walk on. Right. And so I wanted to do on 50s a week. They had the list and I was looking and I was looking. I was like, oh my gosh, 50s. What am I? And I saw Johnny Cash,

Walk the Line. Well, my favorite band of all time is live. And Ed Kowalcich is like my vocal hero, the reason I wanted to be a songwriter to begin with. You know who they are? I mean, I know them, but I don't know them intimately. Lightning Crash is a new mother. You know, Lightning Crash, like 90s, big 90s band.

They were huge, like 30 million albums or something like that. And so I did their version of Walk the Line. and in the interview, they always do those like, you know, the B-roll pieces where you're talking about the song. I said this is a lives version, one of my favorite bands of Johnny Cash classic Walk the Line. And they cut that part out of the interview that they showed on TV. So I did the song and then Randy Jackson goes, dude, I can't believe how you made that song your own and blah. But I didn't hear what was going on behind me, so I didn't know that they had cut it out. So I didn't, I didn't, like, rebuttal it.

You weren't able to correct it. No, I didn't correct it or whatever. I'm just, like, happy that I'm getting praise right now, whatever. And the next day, Google alerts out the ass about how I stole and took credit for something, blah, blah, blah. I mean, just brutal. Face over the coals. I mean. Right.

So we're meeting Kenny Rogers for the next week. We're already moved on. And we performed, we got voted in, we're good. We're not even thinking about it anymore. I'm still seeing all this bullshit about me ripping them off. You know, I'm hurt because that's my hero. And I don't want him to think that I went out there and... And your tee-up was that it is an homage.

They're my favorite fan. I love this song, and that's why I'm doing it. Yeah. So I go to my phone. We're taking a break from filming with Kenny Rogers. I see a voicemail from some random. It's Ed Kowalczy. he saw it and called me and goes dude don't listen to any of that bullshit

dude I'm so honored that you did our version of the song and it was badass I want to hang out with you that's so sweet give me a call blah blah blah and I'm like Kenny Rogers who? So we hung out and we've been like the best of friends we've written with him on his solo records and and he's just a great dude and it was like I didn't care. I didn't need to like blast it to the world that, right, he's cool with it. I didn't care anymore. I was like, if he's not offended, I don't care what you think. Right, right. I know what I said. I know where my intentions were. And so it was, it was definitely, um, there was this weird

process where you're wondering if, if, if, okay, now, if I go out and tour, if I run into these bands, are they going to respect me or just look at me as some poser? But no, seriously, I did, I, you know, I was in the clubs. I was bringing in my own gear. Right, right. I traveled in my Honda, you know. But now you release an album, which, you know, and I'm not trying to put any of the other artists on, down who, you know, are just straight vocalists. I'm not. I'm really not. I mean, everybody has their shit. But you put out an album, which, you know, with the exception of two songs, you wrote yourself. Yeah. And, and then it sells them, you know, it sets these records. And did you feel at that point, okay, and this, I don't want to put you finding point on it, but like,

okay, like, I'm legitimate. Like, this is proof that, like, well, to, to kind of conclude to that story I was just telling you, I, you know, I, when I auditioned for Clive, he personally requested that I bring my guitar in and play him songs that I wrote. Like, I don't want to hear any co-writes. I just want to hear your material. And apparently, according to everyone else, He doesn't do that. Interesting. He hears your voice and that's it. He wanted to know what I wrote because I was like saying, I want to write my record.

And I played him home. And there's like six or seven people in the office. And I'm like, I got impressed. And I just close my eyes and just black out and play the song. And he goes, well, that's a hit. And unbeknownst to me, the radio department was saying, we'll never get this on the radio. And then the TV show picked it up as the goal. in a way song for the next season when and it wasn't supposed to be a single at the time right but they

wanted to use it and it blew up and i'm the only writer on it i was it was my moment it was like my defining song that yeah that literally fell in my lap i took like 15 minutes to write it i wrote it right after i found out i was going to hollywood and i was writing from the perspective of like being in a way because I've never done that before. And how it's going to get exhausting. And it was kind of like a forevoting, you know, foreshadowing song. And it became one of our biggest hits to date. So it kind of worked out.

A little bit. But a little bit, a little bit. That was 10 years ago. But to answer your question, I'm sorry. No, it's okay. I started touring with artists that I respected. Like, one of my first tours was Nickelback. And, you know, bands like that that have been in the rock world for 10 plus years,

selling 20 million, 30 million albums, you want their respect. Right. You know, because they didn't go on a TV show. So if you got, if you have their validation, then it doesn't matter with anybody else. And we became like the best, best of friends. We toured together for three albums. And we toured with Bon Jovi right out the gate. And I was like, I don't care if people think I'm just some TV show poser

because these guys have been doing it for 20 plus years and actually respect my songwriting and what we do, that's all I need. That's all I ever needed was to know that what I did didn't belittle. you know, my art. Right. I just needed some path to get in front of the right people. And you were able, I mean, look, it's the same, to me, it sounds like exactly the same kind of experience that you had when you were younger, you were working, and you kept

trying to get people to come to your gigs, and they were like, okay, whatever. And then you delivered, right? You delivered when, you know what I mean? You had all of that work in you. You'd been doing it forever. So regardless of how people- show everybody what you had. Yeah.

Yeah. You went from being somebody who had never left home to doing Idol. to this, you know, touring the world. Touring everywhere. And I never saw the world. Like, I was like, if I'm, you know, a semi-successful East Coast artist that gets to tour and pay the bills, I'm okay with that. I didn't realize I was going to be in Japan. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Or Dubai or Dublin or the UK in general. And it's, like, I still have to pinch myself every day that I get to do. do this and you don't. Not you, but just like, I know how rare this is to actually wake up and love what you do and not go, oh, shit, I got to get up to work again. Plus, you know what that feels like. And when I'm home, I'm not working. Right. Like before, I think I spent less time with my kids when I was at home working a day job than I do now.

You, how was that for you? This is not a super personal question, but I just wonder, how was that for you, was that hard for you in your family? Was it hard? Yeah. It was tough. Because I mean, I know, because I have toured. I know what that's like. It's tough in the sense that, A, you're missing out on life. It's tough in the sense that you're around people that aren't your family, way more than your family. Right. It's tough that you are allowing yourself to getting very compromising situations. Which present themselves, honestly, without you even trying to create Oh yeah, you're not even thinking about it. Yeah.

And so, you know, we went through some really tough, very strenuous times of being away and trust issues and things like that. But now we're like the best friends that, I mean, I wouldn't want to hang out with anyone more than my wife. Like she supports me wholeheartedly when she probably shouldn't or has many reasons not to. Right. And she is truly the catalyst for my career. And she's, I mean, she's incredible. She's like my advisor, my life coach. My, she doesn't judge me.

She actually does what a wife is meant to do is help make you, your best you, and vice versa. And that's what I want to do for her. And it's been 15 years. and we've been through real life. We've been through shit. Right, right, yeah. The bottom of the bottom and the top of the top and come out still together.

And that's real. That's not the perfect husband. That's not the perfect wife. That's not the perfect marriage by any sense. But it is the definition of marriage. Yeah, yeah, which is being fully yourself, fully yourself, not perfect, but fully you. TMZ hit me up at the airport the other day.

asked me like what's the what do you think is a secret to a successful marriage and I'm glad he didn't use the word perfect but he did use the word successful and I said I can only speak from my experience we actually allow each other to be who we are fully and I mean 150% fully who we are we can be in a room I can see her over there talking to a group of people I don't care we look at each other we know it's up. And if I don't talk to you the rest of the night, I know you're going home with me and vice versa. And there's no jealousy. There's no envy or anything. It's just real people that have figured out how to exist in the worst of situations and the best of situations and make it and allow each other to be who we were meant to be in life and not be like, well, I don't like

you doing that or I don't want you to do. We know who each other are. And it took 13 or 14 years to get there. Well, I mean, I think it takes everybody that long. You know what I mean? I think there's no shortcut. There were many times that it was like, oh, I guess this is where the towel goes. You know, I'm going to throw it in there. There's the towel basket. I'm going to throw it in it. And we fought. We fought for each other. And we still fight. Yeah. Yeah, you have to. I mean, I think what's so interesting is that like. Because you can't, you. imagine starting over? No. Do you hear some of these young people out there? Oh, good Lord. I mean, if I, I, I mean, I got married very young as well. You over here the conversations at Starbucks. I would never, I mean, I've established

right away that, like, I would never get married again. You've been married how long? Oh, 15? 20. 20 years. 20 years. Okay. High five. That's so awesome. It's amazing. Because I already know everything that went on in between those 20 years. Yeah, you know, you know it. You know what you. Because it's inevitable. Yeah, But you're still there, and that means you were strong enough to. And I don't even want to, this sounds negative, we gutted it out. You know what I mean? There were just times where we were like, it feels like we should bail, but we're not going to bail. There were times we didn't like each other.

Yeah, yeah. And there's a big difference in love and like. You can love someone and not like them. You don't want to look at this motherhug this face. And my wife always says when people are talking to her, we actually like each other. That's a huge thing after 14 years. is to still like being in the same room. And I can't, you know, without going,

I can't stand the face you're making right now. The sounds you make when you eat. When you, like, accept all that and you actually still like them, that's huge. It's massive. It's massive. Yeah. And I would never do it again.

I mean, I'm like, no way. No, never. Never. Never. No. I can't even think. I tell her, I would do this all over again with you. Mm-hmm.

But I dread the moment that I ever have to think about doing this with anybody else. Oh, no. Just the thought of it. You have to be fake for another six weeks. Right, exactly. Not even be a real person. I don't eat that. No, I don't fart.

I don't do any of that. How it's run the water while you're peeing. That's awesome. We're like shouting from the bathroom, hey, I'll make you coffee in a minute. I got to take a shit. I don't know through the door. I mean, we have so many jokes. about going to poop.

Like, it's the last thing we won't do in front of each other, but we make a million jokes going in and coming out of the bathroom. Amen. I know couples that do it in front of each other. And I was like, look, look, look, look, I respect doing everything together. That's where I'll draw the line. Because that's messing with your sex line. No, no, no. If I see you crap, we're not having sex anymore.

I don't need to. We're not doing it after that. I know what it looks like. No, I don't need to see you do it. No. I mean, literally, I mean, I'll hold you while you're bleeding or. That's the one thing we've never crossed. That line right there.

There has to be a line. And that line will never go away. It's set in very dark tattoo ink. Yes. It doesn't fade. Poop-colored stone. We put sunscreen on it. You, now your career is much more varied.

You were saying that one of the exciting things about where you've come with your work is that it's allowing you to do all these other things you've dreamt about before you became a musician. Like being a comic book artist or being an artist in general, having to be able to do a show of your own work. And now also acting. Yeah. Well, you know, art is like so transcending. I mean, look at people like The Rock.

Look at Terry Cruz. Look at Will Smith. Or even somebody like Ben Affleck, right, who everybody kind of wrote off as an actor. And now is this monster director, right? Like a powerhouse, not just a dude who made a movie. I have so much respect for that guy. He's my idol.

And I can not wait for him as Batman. Oh, it's going to be so great. The suit looks so sick. He's a monster. And he's the most physically intimidating Batman. Seriously. And he has to be in a world of people with powers. He has to work extra hard.

Yeah. And he's taller than Superman. And he's bigger. Superman is going to be great. It's going to be so good. And Jason Momoa is Aquaman. Oh, my God. Yeah, he'll never be the butt of a joke again.

No, he's pretty much the hottest. Not Jason Momoa, but Aquaman. Yeah, that's the hottest Aquaman. Yeah, make fun of him now. He's going to rip your throat out. with his tritem. And then a dolphin is going to poop on your face. Yeah, and then he's going to feed it to a dolphin.

Here's a throat that I promised you. Delicious tender human sashimi. He looks so awesome. I met, oh my gosh. So you know what it's like to travel a lot. And you know the importance of global entry. So I finally, I finally, after eight years of tour, and my tour manager was like, because he's like,

you still have to go for a personal interview. He's always like, scooching by. Scooching by. And he goes, you'll never realize. how awesome this is until you get it. You're like, get it for me. So I was like, okay, so I went and did the interview. I did the application.

I did the interview. I was home. I went to the Charlotte Airport for the first time without flying. There's no sending your people. You have to do this on your own. Yeah. And I have this monster beard. It's down to my chest.

And I go in. It looks the special. And I look and I see Jason Momoa at the checkout counter. And I'm like, first of all, why is he in Charlotte? Yeah. He was just at Sundance because I follow him on Instagram. and I follow him in life. And he's got his top hat on,

and he's freaking tall. Six, seven or something, right? Six, four. But with a top hat, so now he's six, seven. In my head, he's like eight feet tall. Physically the most intimidating person I've ever met in my life. But I had to say hi.

Of course you did. And I couldn't even introduce myself. You call him your son and stars? I just go up to him and, yeah, my son and stars. Which I love that role. but excuse me, I go to shake his hand and I said,

I just want to shake your hand. I know you're checking it and everything. I don't want to bother you. I'm so stoked your Aco man. And he's like, oh man, thanks. And that's all I could say,

and then I walked away. I was like scared he was going to, like, fight me or something. So he had his boys with him. I think they were filming like some Carhart commercial or something. Oh, wow. But that's the kind of vision that Snyder's doing. And it's all,

I don't like, I don't like saying anything bad about Marvel because they've obviously had a huge track record and Guardians of the Galaxy was the most spectacular movie that I never cared about. First of all, there's room for everybody. Yeah. I'm a, I'm an equal opportunist. I love comic book films. And Avengers, by the way, I remember seeing Avengers. Did you see what he just did? But what Jason Mova?

No, what Jason Momoa just did. No. This is the best ever. I laugh because it's funny, but I do have respect for both teams. Apparently he was at Comic-Con recently, and a fan brought the picture of him as Aquaman, which looks like, you know, Fergie and Jesus.

I mean, it's amazing. And said, can you sign this? And then write a reason why all the DC haters should join the DC universe. And all he said was, fuck Marvel Jason Momoa I think there are a lot of people

and obviously it was a joke and in jest but I just you know the fanboy fires like start so fast lost their minds I mean but here's the thing it's like instant war

high tide raises all boats first of all and the thing that the thing that I'm not going to be to them right now they have a way that they operate the way that they run their business and I'm not going to dig into it too deeply right now

But what I will say is, on the positive side, what the Avengers movie did. What Iron Man did. What Iron Man did. What Thor did for all superhero movies everywhere was a show what can be done when it's done well. I mean, I remember watching the Avengers movie, me like, this is going to change everything. This changes everything. This is so much better than everything that's ever happened before. I agree.

I actually, as much as I hated Captain America's costume a little like pajamas, the movie was so entertaining on every level. layered. They were able to serve all the characters properly. Unexpected moments that made you laugh. The quota at the end, the Chihuahua Cota. But what that did was everybody has to raise. Everybody's got to raise their game. And also now, everybody's paying attention, right?

So, like, everything that comes out, first of all, you've got to make a better movie. But second of all, people are going to see it. However. You know, regular guy? Doesn't know D.C. doesn't know Marvel. I have to give credit to Tim Burton and Michael Keaton for making this all possible. I don't. I don't love that era of superhero films.

Yeah, but you know what? It was never done until that. Right, right. But really, Blade was the reason that Batman McGins existed. And Batman McGins is the reason that every serious comic book movie ever existed after that. Well played, well played, Dr. Yeah. But nobody had ever seen anyone in a legitimate, like, armored suit

because everybody was still picturing Adam West as Batman. Right, right. There was no thought of... There was no darkness to me. There was no darkness. Oh, he's got a black suit. Right. That's never been depicted in the comics.

Right. But nobody bitched. Because the first time that he comes down in that alley with his cape up, everybody lost their minds, including my nine-year-old self. Yeah. Who solidified me as a Batman. And also the fact is that, you know, we can split hairs and be nuanced here. But, like, the normal, everyday filmgoer doesn't know D.C., doesn't know Marvel.

They don't see a kick-ass film. They still. they still think they can do crossovers because they exist in the same world. Oh yeah, totally. They're like, why? They don't realize the heavy, heavy politics behind every character. So heavy also that like even... Even all of Marvel's characters.

The DC Universe on TV can't have like Batman Wonder Woman or... Even bigger. Marvel can't have Fantastic Four or X-Men even exist with the Avengers. Because Stanley sold all of his properties to different... studios. And they can't even exist in the same world. Now it's a miracle that Spider-Man is going to be a part of the Avengers. Right, right.

Who is Ant-Man? Now that's why you get shit like Ant-Man. All right. Yeah. But that's why you were getting shit like Ant-Man running out of superheroes. Well, that's the only like Marvel properties they have. So Marvel can only make but so many characters, which is the reason they did Guardians of Gal.

A comic book that I knew nothing about. Nobody knew anything about it. I knew about a talking raccoon. No. That's it. And a tree. And a tree. That's it. Yeah.

I didn't know who Star Lord was. Right. So it didn't matter to me. And I went and saw the movie four times at the theater because it was so smart and funny. And it didn't matter if I knew who the characters were. Right. Because they just solidified who they are on screen. And it doesn't matter about the source material after that.

There was a smart, smart move. And I think DC is now doing that with Suicide Squad. Yeah. Jared Leto is the Joker. It's insane. Will Smith is dead. It's incredible. Yeah.

I mean, that movie's loaded. And they also were able to. Dead shit. Dead shit. That, by the way, should be. It should be a character. Maybe that's his name at the end of it. I don't know.

Once he's been dead shot, he's dead shit. And also that they were, they were teeing up Suicide Squad in the television DC universe. So they're kind of seating. I did know about that. Well, they're seeding people, right, getting them engaged. Yeah. It's time for self-inflicted wounds. Okay.

I'm going to go take a piss. Okay, do it. Do it. We've run out of road. Okay. So before we do self-inflicted wounds, one of the reasons why you're out, We're talking about the fact that creative life is expanding and that you're doing all these other things.

Yes. And you are acting on a television show. I know. It's so funny that my career trajectory is actually going backwards from where I thought it would go as a kid. You know, the first thing I ever wanted to do was act. Just, well, that's not true. The first thing was a comic book artist.

But it was because I loved pretending to be these other characters. So essentially I was acting as a kid. I was like taking a pair of scissors to my good jeans to look like Loufregnose Hulk. A scrawny little white kid running around the house thinking he's Hulk. And so I always had an affinity for pretending to be something else, you know, and just kind of escaping life. Yeah. And now I'm actually getting to follow all my dreams. You know, I've not only gotten to do comic art, but with my hero that made me want to do it. Same with singing. Yeah.

And now I'm in a TV show with Heather Graham and Eric McCormick. So cool. Eric's, I've never met Heather, but I've met Eric multiple times. The loveliest. The most awesome guy ever. The loveliest. We've already started shooting. It's called Studio City, written by Krista Vernoff, who I adore.

She did Grey's Anatomy and Shameless. director Sena Hamri, I hope I'm saying that right. I can't help you. Who directs Empire. Oh yeah, that's amazing. I don't know, only the biggest show on TV right now. And it's such an amazing project and cast. And I can't talk about my character because they would, they would electrocute me.

But it's such a juxtaposition for who I am in my daily life and what the fans know of me as, you know, as, you know, as, you know, my stage persona or whatever. Yeah. And that's what's so fun about it. And I'm, it feels like I'm in Boogie Nights. Yeah, right? You know?

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Or like the character that, well, not a musical, but like the character that Mark Walker played in that movie where he became a rock star. We'd like, he's like playing. Rockstar. He can't stop smiling in all the photos. Yeah. Yeah.

I love that story. It's so awesome. Yeah. And so, you know, I'm definitely talking about other projects with other casting directors and stuff. I would absolutely love nothing more than to be on the walking dead.

Oh, yeah. It's the best show ever. It's a great show. I want to be buddies with Rick. Yeah, but that's all your world's aligned. He reminds me of my dad. Does he? He does in the sense that you do whatever it takes.

Like, his attitude never wavers from that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because his family is absolutely first. no matter what decision he has to make. And I picture my dad as that guy, and everybody's always Darrell this, Darrell this, and I love Darrell.

It's a great character. But I think he has his limits where Rick, there is no limit because he doesn't think about limits. He thinks about... Daryl's not a leader. He thinks about whatever I have to do right now, I'm going to do it, and I'll be able to justify it later.

And that's why I love his character so much. and the show was just brilliantly written and last week just ripped my guts out. Oh, yeah, so painful. It was the hardest death scenes to watch since the show started, except for when,

I don't want to spoil anything, but Lori. Oh, yeah. Well, if you haven't watched, I cried. I cried. Oh, yeah. I was shaking in bed

because my wife, Deanna, hadn't started watching it yet because, first of all, not to go on a tangent, but it took me a while to start watching because I hate

I'm not a zombie I'm not a gore person I've never really been into it but everybody kept saying you gotta watch the show and of course I just finished Breaking Bad and Dexter one in which I was very happy with

and one in which I wasn't with the finale but I was like all right you know what screw it I'll watch the first episode and if I like it I'll continue I was hooked and it was nothing about

I won't say nothing about but it wasn't about the zombie No, it's not about the zombies. It's about these relationships that are developing over different courses of life, and it's so beautifully written that these characters are developed well, and you fall in love with them on a personal level. And I keep telling my wife, you got to watch a show, you got to watch a show. I'm sitting in bed, and she goes to bed, and I'm like, I got to watch one more episode,

and it's that episode, and I'm like, shaking in bed. Try not to wake her up. I'm like, oh, shit. And I'm like literally cry because Rick's reaction was the most heartbreaking thing because I know myself how I would react if that was my kid and that was my wife and it would just be devastating.

I thought that was so well played and then I come home to her and she's watching like episode three and I'm like, oh, oh now you watch it. Oh, who can, oh, let me guess Griffin and that's our oldest son who whatever he says, she does. I'm trying to bond with him.

He's 16. And I'm like, okay, okay, okay. So I don't get any love for recommending a TV show. You can't watch it, but he says it, and it's all good. But, all right, what episode you're on? Because I want to catch up so we'll watch together. It became a family event. That's so great.

And it's a brilliant show in last year at Comic Con. I was so fortunate at the EW party where we were at together that I got to meet Denise Hooth, who's the producer, and I've been talking to her. Oh, good. I can't say anything beyond that, but I'm dying to get on that show. It's such a great show. And I didn't realize that, I don't know how you are, but for me, when I'm in a different genre, I feel like a fish out of water.

And I don't want to assume that people know who I am. Right, right, of course. Because everybody listens to different music, and there's musicians out there that I wouldn't know if I saw them. So I don't like to assume that you should know who I am. So I introduce myself by name, but not that you should know me. but because I'm a fan and I this is my name yeah this is my name and I met Andrew Lincoln and we're in the bathroom and he is the nicest guy it was so cool we took like five pictures because he thinks one wasn't enough and wanted to make sure we had a good one and Melissa McBride oh I'm in love with her by

the way every time I see her I'm just like she was the one with you I'm in love with you I'm in love She was the one that knew who I was and was so happy to meet me, but not as happy as I was to meet her. Her acting is extraordinary. And we've been texting ever since. And Stephen Yoon, who just happened to be friends with one of my friends. So it was a nice segue to like, you know, like, you know my buddy. Oh, cool.

He's amazing. And he goes, dude, I'm unofficial, man. Just take my number. Let's talk. And it's been. And so it's been a really cool thing getting to know. And Chandler's mom. Yeah.

And Gina is the sweetheart. And so it feels like I'm already part of their family. I haven't even auditioned yet. But I'm really hoping that I can audition for season six. And God has my fingers crossed for you. I only knows what will happen. But I would love to be on that show because I think it's so well written. And as a matter of fact, it was one of the reasons that I grew my beard out so long.

because I didn't want them to see me as Chris Daughtry. Right, yeah. And I just didn't realize how far out auditioning was. And then I had to shave it for another audition. And I was like, well, at least you saw what I'd look like with one. Yeah, exactly. Just get some snacks. Yeah, some survivors.

On your phone. That's awesome. So I'm very happy that someone believed in me and took a chance for me as an actor. And I will say that my first day of shooting was a bit of, nerves because like I said fish out of water I'm with Heather Graham Eric McCormick and a few other actors that I can't name because they haven't been announced yet and I'm actually like I can't believe I'm doing this. This is and I'm looking at the monitors and the way it shot is so beautiful and like doesn't seem like TV at all. Yeah. It feels like a movie and it's I don't know I just I feel very

blessed that I've been given a chance to step outside of what people know me for and show my other art forms. Yeah. And push yourself and stuff. Yeah. And it's, it's exciting. And I think. And my body hurts so bad right now. From acting? Because I have had to do some, some physical stuff. Well, it's more about staying in a certain position for a while while they like set up camera. Right. And I haven't been working out a lot lately. Mm-hmm. And I just hurt like I've been hit by a truck. And I love it.

I feel like I did something. Yeah, that's awesome. I acted so hard. I hurt myself. All right. It's such a bad, hard job. Oh, white people problems. Oh, like on the real.

Yeah. All right, self-inflicted ones. Oh my gosh. I've got so many good ones. But the ones that come to mind, most recently, when I started listening to your podcast, and forgive me, I didn't know you had one. and you're already friends. And then when my publicist's like,

would you like to do, I should tell you his podcast? I was like, uh, absolutely. Are you kidding me? I'd do anything she tells me to. And,

um, and so I was like, well, I need to listen to a few. So, of course, I listen to Stephen Amel's episode. He's a buddy of mine.

I love him to death. Mm-hmm. And then, um, Joel McHale. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I love that guy.

That was me too. He's so tall. He's very tall. I met him at Comic Con. Yeah. And the, The sweetest guy. Very sweet.

And so, and then Will Wheaton. Mm-hmm. And I love the show. And it's so real. And when it got to self-inflicting loons, I was like, I got one or two or three. Awesome. And so, all right, I'm going to tell you my first one here. Okay.

The food poisoning one we've already got. We already did that one, yeah. So, I'll tell you the first and then the second one. The second one is way more recent. So I, as a teenager, I would teach myself anything. I was so into Van Dam. I taught myself every move he ever did on film. I did splits on chairs, cross tables and counters.

I did backflips off of eight-foot barrels. And I taught myself Capoeira at a very young age. Brazilian martial arts. It was more dance form. Cool. And I was very flexible. I was very athletic. Did backflips all over the place.

And you get older. Yeah, you do. And a few years ago, I decided I'm going to get back in shape. I lost 30 pounds. And I was able to do backflips again. That's amazing. And so we go on tour. And we're on tour with three doors down.

The first or sixth. second night of the tour. And of course, I'm looking for Brad Arnold because he has gentlemen Jack. So we're sipping gentleman Jack from the bottle. In this arena is an arena football field. Okay. It's behind the stage. And my tour manager slash bodyguard at the time was like they have requested us not to run out on the field. I was like, okay, cool. But he kept repeating it as if to say he knows that I will go out there. And I'm telling him. telling you do not go out on the field. So I've had a few shots of Gentleman Jack,

and we're standing outside the dressing room, and I just take off, and I haul ass, and I run out on that field fast as I can. I do a round off, and a backflip in the air, and then I see the turf coming at my face, and then my neck cracked. And my tour, manager, Sean, he runs out.

I'm feeling fine. I'm just more like I'd stop myself. I got a little bit of rug burn on a forehead from the turf, but my neck, I swear you heard that because that was loud. Oh. So the best part is when my league guitar player comes up and goes, bro, I saw that. And it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen until it wasn't. He said, you went so high in the air, bro, but you forgot to turn around. Oh, no.

And I was dying. Oh, my God. So the next day, I was expecting, first of all, I had the most mobility ever. I felt like an owl. And the next day, we had a chiropractor come in, and he goes, before I adjust you, we need to make sure you don't have any fractures. So we went, and I got x-rays. This was El Paso, Texas.

So I go, I go. I go get x-rayed, nothing but soft tissue, of course, muscle stretch and stuff like that. And I was like, I was fine. He did this whole Van Dam move where he holds my head from behind just and I'm like, people in that movie died. Yeah, exactly. And you just did that? That was awesome. Make sure I have a will. Oh my gosh, it was amazing. And so that was like after doing backflips for 13 years and never falling wrong, much less landing on my head. And it was all head. It was like, face. Face. Crack. You suck. Stop drinking. You're always boldest at the time. Yeah. It's smart to be least bold. The next one, and I hope I'm not

boring you right now. I love it. I've never, first of all, this is like all of these stories, the moral is you get old sometimes. Okay, because I've never broken a bone. You get old all the time. We're all getting old. I've never broken a bone. I've never had stitches. And I always brag about that.

Right, right. So luckily, the neck thing wasn't a broken bone. Thank God. Well, about, I think it was in the fall of last year, we go out and we do a little short run on tour. We have a day off in Charleston, South Carolina at this nice resort. It's warm outside. We're on the beach. We're lounging.

We're drinking it. noon. Nice. Because guess what? The last I heard, if you drink at noon, you're not an alcoholic. You're a pirate. Yes. Or just a fucking grown-up.

Yeah. And you're not my fucking mom. You're a grown-ass man. Yeah, grown-ass man, and you're not my mom. But to say you're a pirate rather than an alcoholic, that's way cooler. That's way cooler. Buckling and swash in. So I go to the sauna and the steam room, and I'm like, I'm just taking this day, and I'm

chilling. Like the definition of chilling. There's no agenda. Whatever I wander into, that's what I'm going to do. That's nice. And I sweat bullets for like 45 minutes, in and out. Obviously not at one time. But I forget to eat.

I forget to replenish fluids. So we board the bus at midnight. We're headed to the next gig. I'm on the bus, shooting shit. I'm on Instagram. The guys are all in the front lounge of the bus. There's TV on, maybe a movie. I don't know.

But it's like normal life. We're carrying on. We pull off. we're about a mile away, I start getting these, like, the really hot tingly feeling all over and where I'm beading up with sweat, kind of like if you just ate really hot Indian food, which I sweat like profusely when I eat any spicy food, and I love it so much. But I'm very uncomfortable, and I'm like, it's like that cold tingly pins and needles all over your body. And I just made a drink.

I hadn't been drinking for hours. I just made a drink. And I look at it and I go, well, obviously, I don't need this right now. I'm feeling pretty weird. This is weird. So I stand up and I go over to the sink. I dump my drink. And I'm just taking my hat.

I'm sweating. I'm like, wiping sweat. This is weird. And I'm with the guys. I look at the TV and I see like Star Wars coming at my face. Like spots. Oh, my God. Last thing I remember.

Wow. So I wake up in this vignette of dude slapping me and shaking. me and yelling, but I don't hear them because it's all like coming in like, hey man, what are you doing? Like, what's going? Are you all right? And I'm like, uh, I have no clue where I'm at. Right.

What happened that day? I literally don't know who I am for a second. Oh my God. I'm like, I've never passed out ever, ever. And I don't remember doing this one. Wow. But my head hit the metal handle on the bottom, drawer under the couch. So apparently when I fell, the couch caught my face, turned it, and then I

hit my head on the metal handle. Ten stitches. I go straight to the hospital. Brutal. They're towel and me. I'm sweating like, like my clothes are getting drenched. You can see them pulling up under my clothes. Right. I'm like, freaking out. What happened? I don't know. I have no clue what happened. They thought it was a joke because apparently before I fell, I was like, oh, damn. And then just, And then just went to my face. And they thought I was playing around because I do that on the bus all the time. And then they're like, he's not moving. They rolled me over.

My eyes were like rolled back and my hands were up like stop. Oh, hilarious. And my mouth was open and I was, I was like, is disrespectful as that would have been? I hope to God somebody got a picture of what I looked like when you, he goes, dude, that was the last thing on our minds. I was like, but it would have been super funny. later. It would have been good. But my head looked like someone bashed it with a baseball bat. Oh my gosh. And I've never had stitches in my life.

And I was like, I turned 35, I break my neck, I get stitches, and I'm getting a badass skull though, right? Here it is. Yeah, oh yeah, that's serious. Yeah. It looked, if you saw the before picture. Was it crazy? It was a knot this big. Wow. And it was shaped like a Y and an X put together. Because it's split in two different ways. So they said, you don't realize how tedious of a stitch this was because it was a weird shaped wound. Yeah. And I was very amazed that it turned out the way it did. But anyway, I'm glad that you didn't die.

There's my self-inflicting. So now I realize 35 is when it starts to go downhill. Well, here's what happens is that your mind is still willing, but your body betrays. Betrays you like a Judas. You see yourself doing a big fat flip-flop, but your body's like, no, that's not who we are anymore. Judas is a scary at body. I mean, this is terrible. Trader.

Just traitor. From the neck down, total traitor. I have a song called Trader. That you can now tell people is about your body. Now it is. All these old friends are wondering if it's about them. But no, it's about my body turning 35. This was so great.

It's so amazing. I want to be a resident. I want to do this every day. Like a resident, just on your podcast. Let's just do it every day. Yeah. Like you have nothing to do. I'm the house band.

Whoever else, I'm the co-host. I'm the guy that just chimes in. Like girl and guy has a house band now. Would that be fucking amazing? Girl and guy with another dude. Yeah, and that dude. Girl and guy is... Girl and guy and Daugree.

It's a threesome. Yeah. Everyone's got a picture of that now. Talk about it. Think about it. I'm just making pictures now. Let's see what the crowd thinks. That was Chris Daughtry.

Wasn't that so sweet? He's so sweet. That was a fun conversation. And I like that he burst into song every... few moments that was just killing me. The epilogy for today is simple. I said I don't believe in Jack and Coke. I'm not apologizing for it. I'm just, if you think I should apologize for it, I'm placing it in the portion of the show where I might apologize for it, where I actually, sorry for not believing in Jack and Coke. I drank Jack Daniels in college, well, not even college

in high school, but it is my least favorite thing to drink in the world. And I don't think I've had it in probably since high school. I'm not endorsing underage drinking. Just, letting you know that it happens, and when you're a teenager, you probably drank Jack and Coke. Now I'm a big fat snob and an asshole, and you know that already, so you can't hold it against me because there's already been 100% full disclosure on that front. But I made him a lovely bourbon and Coke. I think it might have been Bullitt, and he was very happy, and then I made him another, and we had a lovely afternoon chatting and talking shit. I hope you enjoyed it. It was a really fun conversation, and I think it was really interesting to learn about what it feels like to be on the

inside of the experience of being an American Idol contestant. And I'm sure his experience was his own and not definitive or comprehensive, but very specific. And I loved hearing about it. You know what to do? Come follow me from me online. Come send me a letter. Come visit the store. Go to icethele.com.

Click on the store for your girl on guy gear. Get ready for a massive summer that will include lots of fun stuff. Get ready for the premiere of whose line is it anyway, April 17. on the CW, brand new season, season three, the best season that I've been involved with so far, and the guys kick ass this season. It's going to be hilarious. I know you're going to love it.

Yeah, come say hi to me online and whatever way it feels most comfortable to you. Can't wait to hear from you. And I just want you to know how fucking awesome you are. You are my army, and you are all rock stars. You are a juggernaut. You are explosive. You are blinding.

And you are Legion. I'll talk you on the next one. Late. Girl on Guy is a production of Hot Machine. Blowing shit up. 2009.