Before his group headlined Mohegan Sun Arena and were introduced by yours truly, I sat down backstage to chat with Chris Daughtry of the band Daughtry. He gave me a tentative timeline for the group’s fifth studio album, talked about his plans for the rest of the year and even reminisced with me about a moment we had backstage at last year’s Billboard Music Awards.
Then a few weeks later, we chatted at… the Billboard Music Awards, where he gave me another update on Daughtry’s next LP.
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No pun intended, but it is no surprise to the band Daughtry that the first two singles off of Leave This Town were co-written by Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger.
“Soon as we made the decision to put those on the record, we looked at it and goes, ‘That’ll probably be the first two singles,’” said lead singer Chris Daughtry, who sat down with me before performing at Wachovia Arena. “They’re great songs and we agree that they fit the bill.”
The group led off the sophomore LP with the single, “No Surprise”, followed by the latest, “Life After You.” Daughtry played the new track at both the American Music Awards and the halftime show of the Cowboys/Raiders game on Thanksgiving.
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Download the mp3
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Speaking of tracks co-written by the Idol alum – Daughtry also wrote a track for American Idol champ Kris Allen. Although previously reported that it would not make Allen’s final LP, Chris confirmed that the song will be included on the Wal-Mart exclusive version of self-titled album.
“It’s called ‘Send Me All Your Angels’ and it’s a great song,” remarked Daughtry. “At the end of the day, there’s songs on our record that didn’t make it either that we were bummed out about. We had 70 songs to weed through.”
Theory Of A Deadman revealed on The Ralphie Radio Show about a month ago that the band passed on a headlining Fall tour to support Daughtry’s arena tour. Chris Daughtry heard the interview.
“I was very flattered that they took us over (their own tour),” said lead singer Daughtry. “Any band like that, that’s doing it big in the rock world, that’s not too cool for school to hang with the Daughtry boys… we’re very flattered and honored.”
It’s certainly a humble statement from the front man of a band that has sold over 7.5 million albums worldwide to date. It seems as if Daughtry assumes nothing when it comes to the rock and pop realms.
“Same with Nickelback, when we did that tour… these guys are huge in the rock world, and we just feel like the freshmen in high school just trying to get our props.” Daughtry said.
Props or otherwise, the band is clearly doing something right as it readies for its first arena trek – a new venue that will bring a different performance.
“We’re gonna have pyro this time, I think,” said Daughtry. “Our stage is obviously going to be bigger – more production, more lights.”
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Download the mp3
Click here to purchase tickets to Daughtry’s show at Wachovia Arena.
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Chris noted that the target set time is about an hour and a half. This brings yet another facet in to view – the physical preparation.
“Any time you’re playing that long, as a singer, (it’s) definitely a stretch, especially when you’re used to playing, yunno, an hour at the most,” he said. “And these songs, some of them are just ridiculous to sing. Some of them… once you listen back to it, you’re like, ‘Why did I write that?’”
So Daughtry is hitting the gym to ready himself for the 36 date jaunt that begins October 19 in Topeka, KS. So is guitarist Brian Craddock, but he joked that it’s for different reasons.
“I developed, while in Germany, this beer gut,” Craddock admitted, while laughing. Although, Daughtry quickly pointed out that everybody sings during the show at one point or another.
Everyone doesn’t “tweet” though. Craddock is the self-described cynic of the crew – ever since a bad experience with his MySpace profile and spam, he stays away from the social networking sites. Meanwhile, Daughtry updates his Twitter account all the time. Apparently, he even checks his “at replies.”
“I think I see you on Twitter a lot,” Daughtry commented regarding my posts. “If I check, when I’ve only gotten maybe 40 or 50 tweets in, I can stay on top of it.”
Theory of a Deadman admits that by the year’s end, they will have catered to both ends of the spectrum of their audience: with a summer spent on Crue Fest and a fall tour planned with Daughtry. But none of the British Columbia rockers believe that either group will feel alienated.
“We were really thinking about doing a headlining tour,” TOADM front man Tyler Connolly revealed. “I think we were kinda thought to ourselves, ‘Well, where are we in this record cycle and our career? Maybe we should be out there in front of a lot of people, maybe people that don’t know Theory of a Deadman yet.’”
Connolly and his band are no strangers to Daughtry – as Chris himself lent vocals to TOADM’s “By The Way”, off of Theory’s third LP, Scars & Souvenirs.
“That’ll be cool to play that song live too,” said the lead singer. “From a business point of view, it’s going to be such a great tour for us.”
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Part 1: Canadian Beer (Drake Comments), Touring w/ Tommy Lee
Part 2: Vocal Warmups, Touring w/ Daughtry
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Theory’s perspective is simultaneously honest and refreshing. While many bands struggle to find an identity in between their rock and mainstream audiences, TOADM seems to have successfully done so. Yet the band doesn’t take itself too seriously – Connolly along with bassist Dean Beck and guitarist Dave Brenner joked about partying naked with Motley Crue, banging groupies, and their choice of Canadian beer.
The ribbing didn’t lie exclusively within the room, as a lot of light-hearted comments were directed toward fellow Canadian Aubrey “Drake” Graham. When asked on The Ralphie Radio Show if he was a Labatt or Molson guy, Drake responded with Dom Perignon Rosé.
“What?! What is he talking about?” asked Connolly, as all three guys laughed while chatting about their favorite microbreweries in British Columbia.
Chris Daughtry calls up The Ralphie Radio Show to chat about his new single/CD, a possible tour, and this season of American Idol – and he isn’t pleased with the favortism shown to Idol finalist Adam Lambert.
Read Ralphie’s exclusive report on Chris’s Idol criticism here.
Leave This Town drops July 14.
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You might be able to count Chris Daughtry among those surprised that Kris Allen won American Idol last week. In a pre-taped interview on “The Ralphie Radio Show”, Daughtry seemed baffled at the amount of media attention and bias directed toward Idol contestant Adam Lambert.
“I thought it was pretty incredible that all of the sudden, Adam is on the cover of a magazine. That people are wearing his name… it seems a little weird to me, because I know how strict it was when I was on the show,” said Daughtry. He publicly supported Allen, although refrained from using the Idol performance stage as a venue to voice his opinion. “(Favortism) was definitely frowned upon, and now, I don’t know.”
A question regarding Katy Perry’s outright support of Lambert, with Adam’s name embroidered on her cape, elicited the comment. TMZ reported Idol producers edited out this detail when the performance posted to iTunes and the Internet.
The American Idol Season 5 alum concurred with my assessment that the media already anointed Lambert this year’s winner, albeit prematurely. Although I admitted to Chris that my coverage of “Idol” is limited, I feel as if the media covered Lambert as if it assumed he already won.
“It’s kind of like Adam has already been crowned the winner, and everybody’s just kind of going along with that,” I commented to Chris.
“That’s exactly the way it feels to me too,” Daughtry responded. “But yunno, it is what it is, and good luck to both of them.”
The North Carolina rocker’s band just released a song to radio, “No Surprise”, with a new LP, “Leave This Town”, out on July 14.
Daughtry, who performed the new track on Idol, noted that all the finalists seemed like great people, but he could relate to Allen on a number of different levels.
“I guess he reminds me a little bit of myself where, he’s on the show – this is all new to him – he’s married… When I hear his voice, I kind of see where that goes, on the radio.”
Allen didn’t ask Daughtry for any advice, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t receive any.
“I basically told him what to be prepared for, for the next two years of his life. Be strong, and stay with your wife.”
Words of wisdom from an Idol contestant who didn’t have the luxury of on stage endorsements or an Idol crown – yet went on to drop a debut LP that sold over six million copies. Daughtry assures fans that the band didn’t deviate from its trademark sound, but did test some new sounds on the one CD – likening one track to something that would draw out glow sticks if Timbaland got a hold of it.
“We tried to branch out a little bit on this record and experiment on some different things, without totally going far left field.”
Daughtry’s band is in the planning stages of a tour that would kick off this fall, in support of the new album.
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In a pre-taped interview that will air tonight on “The Ralphie Radio Show”, Chris Daughtry seemed baffled at the amount of media attention and bias directed toward American Idol contestant Adam Lambert.
“I thought it was pretty incredible that all of the sudden, Adam is on the cover of a magazine. That people are wearing his name… it seems a little weird to me, because I know how strict it was when I was on the show,” Daughtry, who is a fan of Idol finalist Kris Allen, said. “(Favortism) was definitely frowned upon, and now, I don’t know.”
A question regarding Katy Perry’s outright support of Lambert, with Adam’s name embroidered on her cape, elicited the comment. TMZ reported Idol producers edited out this detail when the performance posted to iTunes and the Internet.
The American Idol Season 5 alum concurred with my assessment that the media already anointed Lambert this year’s winner. Although I admitted to Chris that my coverage of “Idol” is limited, I feel as if the media is covering Lambert as if it is assumed that he already won.
“It’s kind of like Adam has already been crowned the winner, and everybody’s just kind of going along with that,” I commented to Chris.
“That’s exactly the way it feels to me too,” Daughtry responded. “But yunno, it is what it is, and good luck to both of them.”
The interview, in its entirety, will be posted later tonight.
on the heals of arguably one of the more popular alum’s criticism of american idol – tv week reports that last night’s ai premiere turned in the lowest premiere ratings since 2004.
ouch.
on the heals of arguably one of the more popular alum’s criticism of american idol – tv week reports that last night’s ai premiere turned in the lowest premiere ratings since 2004.
ouch.
