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Although it's a fading virtue, authenticity -- the perception that a
musician is "the real deal" who made it on his own and isn't all prefab hype
-- is still a valuable commodity in rock 'n' roll. Few of the finalists on
the absurdly popular TV talent show "American Idol" have spent a second
sweating about their credibility; they're all too happy to be embraced by
the star-making juggernaut. But as the representative rocker on season five
-- a somber and super-earnest descendent of bombastic post-grunge groups
such as Live and Creed -- the 27-year-old, shaven-headed, North Carolina
bar-band vet Chris Daughtry worries about it plenty.
To escape the whiff of superficiality that's an inescapable part of all
things "Idol," Daughtry formed a band, conveniently named Daughtry, with
friends from the circuit back home. The musicians didn't play on the
singer's first album -- which has sold more than 1.3 million copies since
its release last November and spent a few weeks this year at No. 1, and
which also is conveniently named "Daughtry" -- but they are backing him as
he tours in support of the disc, intentionally playing intimate clubs the
size of Chicago's Double Door or smaller.
"I started in bands," Daughtry says by phone from a 300-capacity club
somewhere in Texas. "Ever since I started doing music when I was 16, I just
wanted to be in a rock band, and I was inspired by rock bands -- Live being
one of the biggest ones that influenced me. I never wanted to be a solo guy,
so doing the TV show was a departure from what I'm used to. I just felt
like, 'OK, I'm not getting exposure in these dive places I'm playing at
home, so I might as well stick my head out and see what else is there.' "
"What else" turned out to be an audition for "American Idol." It was his
wife's idea: The couple lives in McLeansville with their two children, and
it's easy to imagine her fretting about their financial future when hubby's
musical career was going nowhere fast. It's ironic, then, to find the singer
back in exactly the sort of clubs he was trying to escape -- although this
time, he clearly has bigger plans for the future.
"Right now, we still feel like a baby band," Daughtry explains. "We
wanted to build our touring base up, and we wanted to be more up-close and
intimate with the crowd before we jump right into the big stuff. We're
having a blast doing this: You can see every face in the crowd -- and you
get to hear them when they're yelling at you and saying that you suck."
The "you suck!'s" are inevitable for any artist trying to make it in the
rock world after becoming a household name on Gen Y's version of "The
Original Amateur Hour." But the complaint about shouting skeptics may just
be another part of the campaign for cred: No one is likely to pay to see the
singer just to heckle him, especially when 300 tickets sell out pretty fast
if you've still got an enormous following of "Idol" worshippers.
Early on in season five, many pegged Daughtry as the sure winner. He
wound up in fourth place, ultimately bested by silver-haired soccer-mom
heartthrob Taylor Hicks, prompting legions of Daughtry fans to protest that
their man was robbed. They showed their support by buying his album by the
bushel, and he ultimately had the last laugh when he outsold Hicks' debut
effort.
Daughtry doesn't disavow the "Idol" effect, but he prefers to think that
the mainstream rock radio has done just as much for album sales. "That first
300,000 was the 'Idol' crowd: Those were the people that knew me from the
show, and they were going to buy it regardless. Then, of course, people
started talking about it and went, 'This is actually OK.' I think a lot of
people now are finding out about it even if they didn't watch the show
because of rock radio, which is a miracle for me -- no one has ever
successfully made it on rock radio coming off that show, which is
understandable."
Understandable, that is, because of the authenticity factor, though
mainstream rock radio is hardly a bastion of that, and Daughtry's
aspirations seem pretty shallow when you remember what kind of artists he
admires. "To have bands like Fuel, Saliva and Nickelback approach me and
say, 'You have some good stuff' -- really taking it seriously and showing
mutual respect -- is a great thing," he gushes, without realizing that he
sounds like a wannabe painter or struggling standup saying they've been
praised by Thomas Kinkade, "Painter of Light," or that comic genius known as
Carrot Top.
Me, I've never watched one episode of "American Idol." Rather than a
dereliction of my duty as pop music critic, I think of it as maintaining
focus: My beat is music, not television. I've heard most of the "Idol"
finalists' albums and seen many of them in concert, and I could care less
about what happened to them on the show, who appealed to Paula Abdul or who
was dissed by Simon Cowell. What matters to me is the music.
"Daughtry" is a better album than many of the contestants have churned
out, but again, that's just about the faintest praise imaginable. Produced
by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects) and penned by
the singer and hired co-writers in hotel rooms at night during one of those
dreadful "Idol" arena tours, it's the kind of slick, over-the-top but
generic hard rock that seems loud at any volume, but which quickly reveals a
serious lack of substance amid all the mildly tuneful thunder.
"I try to see the good in life / But good things in life are hard to
find," Daughtry bellows in his "I really mean it!" way during the hit, "It's
Not Over." "I'll blow it away, blow it away / Can we make this something
good?"
He might as well be talking about his own post-"Idol" career.
"You can't just force people to not talk about 'American Idol,' "
Daughtry says. "But if the music speaks for itself and takes people's minds
off of that and is being taken seriously, they may say, 'It's not an "Idol"
record; it's something more than that, and he actually does write and wasn't
just a poseur on this TV show.' Hopefully, on the next two or three albums,
it'll just be, 'Hey, this is the new album from Daughtry,' and not 'This is
Chris Daughtry-from-the-TV-show's new album.' "
Maybe. But the bottom line is most people wouldn't care if it hadn't been
for the TV show, and the singer is tied to it in perpetuity, at least
contractually: He is, after all, signed to 19 Recordings, the label managed
by "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller.
"I chose to stay with them," Daughtry insists. "I knew it was a risk,
because it is the company that started the TV show and they inevitably end
up managing all the 'Idol' singers, unless they try to buy out of it. But
for me, it just seemed that they were so willing to do everything they could
to make me happy and make sure that I have the right album, and they heard
everything I had to say. I felt like, 'Hey, they're working their butts off
for me, I might as well stick with them.' "
So much for authenticity and making it on your own.
CONCERT PREVIEW
DAUGHTRY WITH EVE TO ADAM,
CINDER ROAD
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee
Tickets: Sold Out
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