New URL for the American Idol buzz blog!
Please go to the new American Idol Buzz blog at http://blogs.ajc.com/american-idol-blog/
Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2007 > September > 10 > Entry
9/11: Chris Sligh interview
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spoke with 10th place finisher Chris Sligh last week by phone while he was in Portland, Maine in advance of Wednesday’s Idols Live concert at Gwinnett Arena.
He’s the first person to say he’s actually read this blog. With his own blogging and his MySpace page, I can tell he definitely spends a lot of time tooling around the Web. So that’s very cool.
He’s picked up a management company (Blanton, Harrell, Cooke & Corzine) now that 19 Entertainment has let him (and most of the others) go. It’s the same company that reps Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. He hasn’t fully decided what route to take on a record label, be it a mainstream major label, a Christian label or an indie imprint (like Constantine and Elliott have done.)
He writes new songs constantly, even during the middle of the concert and almost missed a cue once because he was so immersed. Check out his myspace page for some of his demos.. He’s also written songs for Gina Glocksen and Jordin Sparks.
Sligh has worked hard to improve his stage presence, which he admitted was not his strong point on the show. He said he literally practices in the mirror and makes sure he’s exuding emotion while he sings so he connects with the audience. He is also set to lose more weight after gaining 100 pounds over two years. At 6’1”, he is down to about 240 (the tour has enabled him to lose about 15 pounds) and wants to drop to a healthier 200. He plans to hire a nutritionist and physical trainer when he and his wife move from Greenville, S.C. to Nashville in October. “I’m at a place in my career where I can afford things like a trainer,” he said.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q: You’re about three-quarters done with the tour. How are you feeling?
Sligh: It’s a little bittersweet. All of us have made such great friendships. It will be tough to say goodbye at the end. At the same time, I’m ready to go into the studio and start working on the record and move on to the next phase of my life.
Q: How’s the songwriting?
Sligh: I’ve written a lot of stuff. I try to treat it the same way as if I were at home. I force myself to write every day. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s crap. Every day, I have three, sometimes four hours to write. I’ll record right through a concert. I go out for a number, have a 20-minute break, go back out, that type of thing. The other guys make fun of me.
We talked about how the tour has to truncate songs a bit and he said they took Mute Math’s “Typical” and trimmed it from 4 minutes 50 seconds to about 3 minutes 20 seconds. But relatively speaking, that’s not as bad as “Idol,” which trims songs to 90 to 100 seconds.
Sligh: “That was the toughest part of the show. As a songwriter, I study how other people put songs together. Cutting something to a minute and a half was like murder. I would sit with Bert [the arranger] and try to help him cut it down. But I couldn’t do it. I told him to cut it and I’ll sing it. Nigel and Ken (the executive producers) like big endings on songs. So I had to do that with “Trouble” although the actual song is pretty soft. [He sings the ending normally, then imitated what he had to do on the show.] They had me change it to a very Broadway-esque ending.
One week, he said he got clearance to do a Nirvana song, “Heart Shaped Box” but he felt it was wrong to snip that song to “Idol” length so he went with a DC Talk song instead. “You can’t cut Kurt Cobain in half and expect to get away with it.”
Q: What will your CD sound like?
Sligh: I’m very turned on by music that uses layers. Sonic layers. U2 is a huge influence. I like Coldplay, the Killers, stuff like that. Brit rock, stuff I write is very epic with big soaring choruses.
We then segued into talking about his blogging.: “I’ve always been a blogger and forum guy. I blogged about life. But now I’m trying to adapt since people now read my stuff and take every word and read into it. They are assuming I’m trying to say bad things about people. It’s a challenge not to come across as a complete tool.”
Q: You and Sanjaya seem so different. Do you get along?
Sligh: Sanjaya has become one of my best friends. People got on my case when I said he was annoying. People thought I was trashing him. But we’re together 24 hours a day for weeks. We all get annoying. One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t say something and have it come across the way you necessarily want it to be.
Q: I also heard you’re the cousin of Terry Fator, that singing ventroliquist who won [NBC’s] “America’s Got Talent.”
Sligh: We’re second cousins. He’s my dad’s first cousin. I’ve been to family reunions with Terry and knew he was a ventroliquist. But holy cow, I didn’t know how good he was! He sounds just like the people he’s imitating! I heard Simon [Cowell, executive producer] called Terry and told him he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to that show.
We then address expectations for the 10th place person.: “That’s a position I’m glad to be in. I think coming in 10th place, nobody has ever gotten signed. Expectations will be very very low. I’m hoping that I can take people by surprise, be that stealth kid. I don’t think I’m going to be the biggest artist in the world. That’s not my expectation. My expectation is I don’t want to work a 9 to 5 job ever again.”
Q: Are you going to be a solo artist or be part of a band?
Sligh: I will be a solo artist with a band. I wont call myself Sligh and put a Sligh tattoo on my back. [He’s alluding to Daughtry, Chris Daughtry.] I’m going to be Chris Sligh and the Half Past Forever. That’s my old band. They’ll be my touring band.
He also offered his theory on Idol’s ability to sell records.: “Some people may agree or disagree but Idol is a great tool for publicity but it does not sell records. Look at Taylor and Kat. Everyone thought she’d be huge. To me, it’s not going to be Idol that sells. It’s the music. And obviously, my image is part of it. Idol opens doors but it’s up to you from there. You put out a bad album, you won’t sell.”
Permalink | |
