Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. I'm tamor Judge.
Speaker 2: And I'm Dan Gesling and.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Talking a Big Game. Welcome to another
Speaker 3: episode of Talking a Big Game. I am Tamar Judge
Speaker 3: and I'm here with my co host and Geesling.
Speaker 2: Excited to be here?
Speaker 1: Are you excited?
Speaker 4: I'm very excited because of the pre show I just
Speaker 4: found out. So Tam and I spent a lot of
Speaker 4: time together, recording podcasts, hanging out, when out to dinner
Speaker 4: with her and her husband, and she just dropped a
Speaker 4: bomb on me. I'm like, hey, what are you doing
Speaker 4: after the podcast?
Speaker 1: And you said, I'm getting new hair extensions And.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you don't have hair extensions.
Speaker 1: Like I have hair extensions.
Speaker 4: Dan, I'm very perceptive, and I was like, you know,
Speaker 4: a seat cushion away from you, I had no idea.
Speaker 3: Well, your wife clearly doesn't have hair extensions, right, No,
Speaker 3: But what's like your wife you would know something about it? Well, Dan,
Speaker 3: you know some of us aren't as blessed as others
Speaker 3: when it comes to hair, and so I have to
Speaker 3: have it, you know, just a couple of rows there
Speaker 3: sewn in?
Speaker 2: Just is it human hair? What kind of hair? Is it?
Speaker 1: Yes, good question. I hope it is. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's not like synthetic, it's not like animal hair.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 4: And then what's the process is like someone comes to
Speaker 4: your house and what are they doing to my house?
Speaker 3: They it's a big long weft it's called and they
Speaker 3: they beat it and sew it into my head. And
Speaker 3: then as it gradually grows out, it takes about two months,
Speaker 3: and then they use the same hair and they move
Speaker 3: it back up and sew.
Speaker 2: It back in. Would they sew it to your existing hair?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 4: Yes, so like doesn't it I don't know. Is it
Speaker 4: like they like do miny braids and tie it to
Speaker 4: your hair? Is it like weaved in your hairs?
Speaker 1: Are like, it's not a party city wig.
Speaker 3: Okay, I don't go to party city and get like
Speaker 3: if they're expensive, the hair is like seven to seven
Speaker 3: hundred to one thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: For the hair, Okay, So it's got to be real hair.
Speaker 2: There's no way they're charging all real hair.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm learning a lot from you, Tamaran.
Speaker 3: I know well, you know, Dan, I don't know what
Speaker 3: to tell you. I can I can have some put
Speaker 3: in your head. You can understand the process.
Speaker 2: Hey, you know what, That's why I'm here. But I'm excited.
Speaker 2: We have a new guest on Yes.
Speaker 3: So today we have Chris Allen. He is an American
Speaker 3: singer songwriter and a winner of the eighth season of
Speaker 3: American Idol. So I just went on his Instagram and
Speaker 3: did a little search. He's on tour right now.
Speaker 4: I saw that he's coming to Michigan very soon. I
Speaker 4: think in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Maybe when he comes into our town, because I saw
Speaker 3: he's gonna be in La too. Do you think maybe
Speaker 3: he will invite us to.
Speaker 2: A show, you know, I guess it depends how the
Speaker 2: interview goes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't piss him off, Dan, don't piss him off.
Speaker 4: I'm excited to talk to him about the process of
Speaker 4: the game within American Idol because I see all these
Speaker 4: shows like Dancing with the Stars of American Idol and
Speaker 4: they're not like considered in depth games. But I know
Speaker 4: there's a metagame to how do you one up the
Speaker 4: other people? And I can't wait to hear from him
Speaker 4: as so the little things he did to differentiate himself.
Speaker 3: I'm going to ask him this, But do you know,
Speaker 3: do they win like a grand prize like a lot
Speaker 3: of these shows, or do they just get like contract.
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure it is a contract, which I'm sure
Speaker 4: is fairly lucrative.
Speaker 3: And you know, like, oh, I'm sure, yeah. I mean
Speaker 3: he he is touring right now. Yeah, you know, he's
Speaker 3: got his American idol sign was No Boundaries and his
Speaker 3: version of Heartless both charted within the top twenty of
Speaker 3: the Billboard Hot one hundred.
Speaker 1: So let's bring him in.
Speaker 5: All right, let's do it, Chris, Guys, I don't do
Speaker 5: these things very often.
Speaker 3: I'm very sorry you don't know well that we're so
Speaker 3: lucky to hockey for us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, thank you for talking.
Speaker 3: We did a little deep dive one on your Instagram. Okay,
Speaker 3: you don't follow any housewives?
Speaker 2: They ever going right for the jocket?
Speaker 5: I love it? Yes, right in there, huh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, christ Chris, in your extended circle Watchhousewives. I'm like
Speaker 4: someone in your extended circle.
Speaker 5: My wife is a fan. I'm sure I have other
Speaker 5: people that are fans as well well.
Speaker 1: I just don't know where they are in this world.
Speaker 5: We don't walk, we don't watch a lot of TV
Speaker 5: at our house.
Speaker 1: Where do you live?
Speaker 5: I live in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Oh nice, I love Nashville. It's only in there once.
Speaker 1: I had a hell of a time from what I
Speaker 1: can remember.
Speaker 5: Hey, there's a lot of that. There's a lot of Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why a lot of appearance down there, And
Speaker 3: I just had so much fun there.
Speaker 2: You go.
Speaker 4: Chris, you said you don't watch a lot of TV
Speaker 4: in your house. What does your family do in place
Speaker 4: of TV?
Speaker 5: Well, is I would say that if I say that
Speaker 5: we don't watch a lot of TV, we watch a
Speaker 5: lot of Blue at our house.
Speaker 1: Is that a kid, Joe?
Speaker 5: It is? Yeah, and it's actually really.
Speaker 2: Great, Tamra.
Speaker 4: You should watch an episode because as an adult, you know,
Speaker 4: we watch in my family too. Like you walk away
Speaker 4: as an adult or a parent and you're like, wow,
Speaker 4: this is kind of some cords.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really well done.
Speaker 1: Well, you guys have little kids.
Speaker 3: My youngest is eighteen, so we're over Like back in
Speaker 3: the day, it was Blues Clues, so that's my.
Speaker 5: Bluey, So I feel like it. It kind of feels
Speaker 5: like that. But also every once in a while, me
Speaker 5: and my wife will will look at each other and
Speaker 5: be like that was actually really funny or it'll be
Speaker 5: some like very deep message that they're saying, and we're
Speaker 5: just like, why are we crying right now?
Speaker 2: It's true, I'm serious.
Speaker 1: So since American Idol, you have gotten married, you have
Speaker 1: two kids.
Speaker 5: I have three kids?
Speaker 1: Three kids kids?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what are the ages?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so my youngest son's birthday is actually today. But
Speaker 5: so now they are eleven, eight and five.
Speaker 1: Oh are those are good ages?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Ages where they can they can wipe their own butt,
Speaker 3: they can kind of get food.
Speaker 1: If they have five year olds, you know, he might
Speaker 1: be who knows what, but at least they can kind
Speaker 1: of take care of themselves a little bit. Well, you're
Speaker 1: not like, you know, prisoner to your children anymore.
Speaker 5: It's very nice. Like they can go and ride their
Speaker 5: bikes by themselves. It's great, it's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I have four. Dan has three.
Speaker 2: I got three.
Speaker 4: So you're touring right now and you have, you know,
Speaker 4: a wife and three kids. How do you do they
Speaker 4: come with you? How do you manage that?
Speaker 2: As a dad on the road doing that?
Speaker 5: It's hard. So this is actually the first So we're
Speaker 5: doing it a little bit different this year, trying something
Speaker 5: different because usually in the past I've been touring and
Speaker 5: it's been gone for like three weeks or sometimes longer,
Speaker 5: sometimes a little bit shorter, but for long stretches of times.
Speaker 5: And then so this year we wanted to try something
Speaker 5: different to see if it works. And we've gone like
Speaker 5: three stints of these little long weekends where it's been
Speaker 5: like three shows or four shows, and then back home
Speaker 5: for a couple of weeks, and it's been really good
Speaker 5: so far. And then this past weekend was my other,
Speaker 5: my oldest son's birthday, and he had never been to
Speaker 5: New York City, so he came on the road with us.
Speaker 5: We did four shows, We did Boston, New York City,
Speaker 5: Philly and it was Yeah, it was a blast.
Speaker 1: He did you perform in New York.
Speaker 5: At Joe's Pub? Have you ever been?
Speaker 1: Huh? I have? I don't know a lot. I mean
Speaker 1: a few places there, but I'm just wondering where.
Speaker 5: I feel like, I don't even I've been there a
Speaker 5: million times and I still don't know where I am
Speaker 5: in New York.
Speaker 3: Isn't there like some likes something in winery or something
Speaker 3: people perform in New York?
Speaker 5: Yeah, City, Winery is it. I've played there quite a bit,
Speaker 5: but this place is awesome. Joe's Pub was great. It
Speaker 5: was a fun show and my son had a blast.
Speaker 5: We went and saw the Harry Potter Broadway.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I'm going. I'm going eighteenth. I'm going
Speaker 3: to New York to be on Watch What Happens Live.
Speaker 3: And this is the first time taking my My kids
Speaker 3: are pretty much adults now. I'm taking one son and
Speaker 3: his girlfriend he's twenty four, and then my daughter who
Speaker 3: is almost nineteen. So we're going. We're gonna the last
Speaker 3: day we're there, we're gonna watch Harry Potter because they're
Speaker 3: huge fans of Harry Potter.
Speaker 1: I'm not is it good? It's good?
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 5: I love Harry Potter. I think it's great, but like
Speaker 5: I wasn't excited about the show for some reason, and
Speaker 5: I was just blown away. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's long too, huns like.
Speaker 5: Three three hours? Yeah, three hours.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well I'm excited.
Speaker 3: Well you're our best known for the winner of American
Speaker 3: Ndol Season eight. Now let's go back to those moments.
Speaker 3: All right, what was the entire IDOL process?
Speaker 1: Like, how did you like, what did you have to
Speaker 1: do to get on? Just I want to know everything.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I feel like I got a little bit
Speaker 5: tricked into trying out. My my brother was he had
Speaker 5: tried out the season before I did and then didn't
Speaker 5: make it and wanted to try it again. And then
Speaker 5: he kind of came to me the day he was leaving.
Speaker 5: He was like, why don't you just come with me?
Speaker 5: And I was like, okay. So we drove to Louisville
Speaker 5: through the night and it was nine hours from Little
Speaker 5: Rock and got there super early in the morning. There
Speaker 5: was fourteen thousand people there.
Speaker 1: WHOA, that's like trying out for housewives.
Speaker 5: It was wild. It was wild. We were the very
Speaker 5: last people to try out that day, so we sat
Speaker 5: in the arena and just listen to so many people
Speaker 5: saying some amazing, some not so amazing. But it was yeah,
Speaker 5: it was wild, singing. Yeah we made so we've actually
Speaker 5: both made it through that stage there those like first
Speaker 5: that kind of cat call situation there, and that was
Speaker 5: two thousand and eight, and then we kept we had
Speaker 5: to go back a couple of weeks later. Gosh, the
Speaker 5: timeline kind of like is forever ago. So I think
Speaker 5: it was like two or three weeks later we had
Speaker 5: to go back to Louisville try it out again. And
Speaker 5: that was when like the celebrity judges, like the Simon
Speaker 5: and Randy and Paula and all that. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: what was.
Speaker 2: That like for you?
Speaker 4: Like, so when you went home, you're like, okay, we
Speaker 4: made it through this first filter. We'll call it like
Speaker 4: where was your gauge on, Hey we can do this,
Speaker 4: or hey, this is just kind of like a silly thing.
Speaker 2: Let's see where it goes.
Speaker 5: I think it's the felt like that. It's like the
Speaker 5: latter of what you just said. I just feel like
Speaker 5: it felt like, what are we like? This is a joke, right,
Speaker 5: we made it through this far. It's not We're not
Speaker 5: going to make it any further than this, but it
Speaker 5: will at least like try out and have fun. And
Speaker 5: and I feel like that's that was like a good
Speaker 5: at least way to think about it. We weren't banking on.
Speaker 1: It, yeah, because you won, well you won, You freaking won.
Speaker 1: You were the last. I mean they obviously left the
Speaker 1: the best for last in line, right, you get up
Speaker 1: there and then you freaking win. That is how far
Speaker 1: did your brother go when?
Speaker 5: So he made it. He made it right before the
Speaker 5: Simon and Paula and Randy and Carroll.
Speaker 1: You audition, Yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 2: Did you have a car ride home where you made it?
Speaker 2: And he didn't? We did, Yeah, it was his dream.
Speaker 5: Well, he was bummed. And I would say that my
Speaker 5: brother is a great he's an amazing singer, but he
Speaker 5: wasn't like I was playing shows and like was writing
Speaker 5: my own music and had just made a record that
Speaker 5: sort of thing. That really wasn't what he was doing.
Speaker 5: He just likes to sing and he likes and he's
Speaker 5: actually he probably should have made it because he's great
Speaker 5: for TV. But yeah, he's amazing for TV. He like
Speaker 5: flipped in his audition. He's a gymnast and so he
Speaker 5: did a flip. I don't know, it's crazy, but uh yeah,
Speaker 5: So the drive was fine. The drive was fine. He
Speaker 5: he has no hard feelings whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Really did They're deep down they're suppressed.
Speaker 4: One day maybe so okay, so you get the car
Speaker 4: right home, like you you make it to the next round.
Speaker 4: When is it like the real when you're okay, now
Speaker 4: I'm actually on the show and it's live every week.
Speaker 4: You remember, like the process of riding home with your brother.
Speaker 2: You make it? He doesn't.
Speaker 4: How long was it until it's like Showtime and actually
Speaker 4: on television.
Speaker 5: So the that was like late July or early August
Speaker 5: of two thousand and eight. And then we did the
Speaker 5: Hollywood auditions. I don't know if you guys remember that,
Speaker 5: but they would like stick us all in a theater
Speaker 5: in Hollywood and we would do a week there. And
Speaker 5: that was in November of two thousand and eight, and
Speaker 5: I had just like signed back up for school. I
Speaker 5: was like, I'm going to go back to school because
Speaker 5: I had just dropped out a little bit ago. It's like, well,
Speaker 5: I probably need to get a degree. And then I
Speaker 5: had to sign out. I had to like drop out
Speaker 5: again because of the show. And yeah, that was like
Speaker 5: the first time like this is this is a big deal.
Speaker 5: There was a lot of people, a lot of like
Speaker 5: a lot of time in front of camera, which I
Speaker 5: didn't really get in the auditions initially. So that was
Speaker 5: that was interesting. It was something I was not ready
Speaker 5: for or used to.
Speaker 2: In what way were you not ready for that?
Speaker 5: I just had never done anything like that before where
Speaker 5: like where I was on camera like ever, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean. It was it was a long time ago,
Speaker 5: like YouTube wasn't really a thing. Instagram people like even
Speaker 5: my phone, like our phones didn't really do that, and
Speaker 5: so it was it was very new to me and
Speaker 5: having to answer a bunch of questions about myself all
Speaker 5: the time.
Speaker 1: Could you imagine if there's Instagram back then? I think
Speaker 1: that changes so much.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 5: I think about it all the time because I have
Speaker 5: friends that are heart that have been on the show since.
Speaker 5: Like there's a guy that's opening for me right now
Speaker 5: who's incredible names Walker, and he was on the show
Speaker 5: and it was like I think it was like it
Speaker 5: wasn't that long ago. Its like four or five years
Speaker 5: ago and Instagram was around, and I can't I I
Speaker 5: can't imagine. I literally cannot imagine.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, what kind of hate do you get?
Speaker 5: Like if you just put I do get some for sure.
Speaker 5: I mean there's a lot of So I went up
Speaker 5: against Adam Lambert, who's incredible and we were friends on
Speaker 5: the show, but people his fans are very mad that
Speaker 5: I won.
Speaker 1: And so so you were on the same season as
Speaker 1: Adam Lambert.
Speaker 5: Yea, and we were we were very different people and
Speaker 5: very different artists, but we really got along during the show.
Speaker 5: But for some reason, our fans were doing this, you know,
Speaker 5: quite a bit. They were button heads and they still do.
Speaker 1: I guess, really, do you keep in touch with Adam?
Speaker 5: I just texted him today. He hasn't texted me back yet,
Speaker 5: but I do. I just texted him today. But I'm
Speaker 5: sure you will. Yeah, yeah, hell my son.
Speaker 1: Hi, he doesn't know who the hell I am.
Speaker 3: You might he's actually a Brovo fan because he's on
Speaker 3: Watch What Happens Live quite a bit.
Speaker 1: So yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's not so much anything you've done.
Speaker 4: It's just like the fandoms that maybe like you know,
Speaker 4: yours thinking they're happy you one and his are like
Speaker 4: mad that he didn't win, like.
Speaker 5: Something that that's the that's the main thing. It's just
Speaker 5: people are are like, I mean, it's very simple, like
Speaker 5: I can't believe you won, or you should not have won,
Speaker 5: or you know, it's just it's fifteen years later and
Speaker 5: people are still saying the same thing. It's insane to me.
Speaker 3: First, real quick, is there a prize with American holes?
Speaker 3: Do like a cash prize or is it contracts or
Speaker 3: how does that work?
Speaker 5: A lot of contracts, A lot of like a management
Speaker 5: So we got a management contract and you also just
Speaker 5: like sign a record deal when I was on the
Speaker 5: show with one of the Sony parts.
Speaker 2: Those deals, were they good deals?
Speaker 5: Like in hindsight, I think in hindsight they were, Like
Speaker 5: I don't know if they always are, but I feel
Speaker 5: like what we got i've I mean, I'm sure there
Speaker 5: are negative things about it. There probably is, but for
Speaker 5: the most part, coming from like a very green artist
Speaker 5: that had no I don't know, I felt like they
Speaker 5: were really good and they were looking out for us.
Speaker 5: Everybody wanted it, all of us to win, you know,
Speaker 5: like I got signed, Adam got signed, and then the
Speaker 5: fifth place, fourth place, a girl named Alison Irihida she
Speaker 5: got signed as well.
Speaker 1: Oh so you guys all like the top top four
Speaker 1: or five people?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was three of the top four got signed
Speaker 5: and they were they I mean, was it perfect? Absolutely not.
Speaker 5: But I do think that they were looking out for us,
Speaker 5: or I will say, I'll speak for myself that I
Speaker 5: felt like they were looking out for me and trying
Speaker 5: to do the best that they possibly could.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well they should.
Speaker 4: You were before we talk about you winning, like when
Speaker 4: you were on like Idle Hysteria was crazy. I mean,
Speaker 4: how did you deal with that going from essentially anonymous
Speaker 4: to you know, top five, top ten, and it's like
Speaker 4: your life is completely different.
Speaker 1: How did you manage the how did you deal with
Speaker 1: that success?
Speaker 5: It took a long time to get used to. I
Speaker 5: think I put on a smile in front of the
Speaker 5: cameras or you know. We moved to La right at
Speaker 5: that time, me and my wife, and it was there
Speaker 5: was like Papa Rozzi. There was always something to go to,
Speaker 5: and that's just not like who I like in my soul.
Speaker 5: AM is like trying to be seen all the time,
Speaker 5: and so it it. I was happy to do those
Speaker 5: like smile and take the picture when it happened, But
Speaker 5: I do think it was a lot for my brain too.
Speaker 5: I just wasn't ready for it. I was in no way.
Speaker 1: I loved that about you though.
Speaker 3: It's like you're not completely comfortable with doing that, but
Speaker 3: you did it. And it's not like some people come
Speaker 3: out of certain situations or reality shows where they're just
Speaker 3: really in for the fame.
Speaker 5: I was definitely not in it for the f I
Speaker 5: just I think I saw it as an opportunity, you know,
Speaker 5: like I saw it as an opportunity to make this
Speaker 5: a living, and like music has always been my passion
Speaker 5: since I was like an eighty bitty kid, and so
Speaker 5: I just I saw this as like I'm maybe somebody
Speaker 5: will see I wasn't even trying to win, you know,
Speaker 5: I was just trying to.
Speaker 1: Like just having a good time.
Speaker 3: Now, obviously the music is in your family because your
Speaker 3: brother sings as well. Is that something that comes from
Speaker 3: your parents?
Speaker 5: Yeah, my dad's is a great singer, great guitar player.
Speaker 5: We grew up with him singing and watching him sing,
Speaker 5: and there was I remember like putting in VHS's of
Speaker 5: him playing shows in stoge rooms in high school. Like
Speaker 5: he is. He's a great entertainer and just a yeah, phenomenal,
Speaker 5: phenomenal guitar player and singer.
Speaker 1: Was your family there when you won?
Speaker 5: They were that? They were Yeah, they would not have
Speaker 5: missed it.
Speaker 4: Can you try to describe to Tammer and I would
Speaker 4: It's like, so you have a performance, it's live, everything's
Speaker 4: on the line. What type of pressure is that like
Speaker 4: for you in that those defining moments or was it
Speaker 4: just easy for you?
Speaker 5: I don't think it was easy. I won't say that
Speaker 5: it was easy. But you were only having to come
Speaker 5: up with like a minute and a half of music
Speaker 5: and you had to like condense a good song down
Speaker 5: into a minute and a half, which that was the
Speaker 5: hardest part. But performing on stage was not hard like
Speaker 5: it it. I mean, there was a lot of rehearsal
Speaker 5: and there were people looking out for us as vocal
Speaker 5: coaches and like these coaches that were like telling us
Speaker 5: what to do as far as like where the camera's
Speaker 5: going to be went during your performance or help you know,
Speaker 5: Ricky Minor who was the band director, like kind of
Speaker 5: talking with you about what you might want the band
Speaker 5: to do. I don't think the performance part was the hardest.
Speaker 5: It was all the other stuff. It was the like
Speaker 5: the interviews and we had to do a commercial every week,
Speaker 5: We had to record a song every week. All the
Speaker 5: other stuff was the hardest part. The performance stuff was fun,
Speaker 5: Like there were people there, you could feel their energy.
Speaker 5: It was really exciting. Like I love being on stage
Speaker 5: and performing for people, So that that was definitely not
Speaker 5: the hardest part.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did you let's say you didn't win American Idol,
Speaker 1: do you think that you would be a singer today?
Speaker 5: I think so, you think so? I do think so?
Speaker 5: I feel like, do I think that it would be
Speaker 5: like the way that I'm doing it now. I have
Speaker 5: no idea, but I do feel like this is always
Speaker 5: what I'm supposed to, what I was always supposed to do,
Speaker 5: and so I feel like in some form or fashion,
Speaker 5: I would have been making music.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I just want to ask this because I'm fascinated
Speaker 4: by So You're competing against all these people and on
Speaker 4: TV it looks like kumbaya and everyone's like hugging each
Speaker 4: other after performance. What kind of and this is the
Speaker 4: part that I'm intrigued with. What kind of gamesmanship is
Speaker 4: there behind the scenes. Is it like, well, so and
Speaker 4: so is doing this song and I know my song
Speaker 4: has a different edge, or do some of the contestants
Speaker 4: get into that. Did you get into that at all?
Speaker 4: Or can you talk about like the meta game if
Speaker 4: there is one behind American Idol.
Speaker 5: I do think that there's In different seasons there have
Speaker 5: been more of that. But I do feel like for
Speaker 5: the most part, we all got along and I think
Speaker 5: we all understood what it was like. This is this
Speaker 5: is like a you could have the best performance of
Speaker 5: the night and get sent home for some reason that
Speaker 5: you're not in control of. And so I took it
Speaker 5: as I'm gonna do. I'm gonna challenge myself do the
Speaker 5: best that I can do on my side. And then
Speaker 5: the only thing that I would say the gamesmanship part
Speaker 5: of it was I was just trying not to be
Speaker 5: the last person, you know, like, don't be the don't
Speaker 5: be the person that's the least of this week. And
Speaker 5: then but even that is like, I don't It's not
Speaker 5: like I was in control of like how I could
Speaker 5: do that. I was just trying to be honest and
Speaker 5: true with myself and genuine and take songs make them
Speaker 5: my own in whatever way that I could. Because I
Speaker 5: knew that if I just got up there and sang
Speaker 5: a song, I wasn't going to be I probably would
Speaker 5: get sent home. So I had to like really like
Speaker 5: construct how I was going to make these songs my own.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when it comes to voting, now, is the voting
Speaker 3: real or do you think the producers pick who stays?
Speaker 5: That's a great question that I don't know the answer to.
Speaker 1: You know, you'd like to think it's real.
Speaker 5: I do like to think it's real, and I do
Speaker 5: feel like I could be wrong about this, But if
Speaker 5: the voting is not real, I don't well, I'll say this,
Speaker 5: I don't feel like the producers were like, we're hoping
Speaker 5: that I would stay, so I would imagine that the
Speaker 5: voting is real. I'm not good story. I'm a I'm
Speaker 5: an awful story that I'm just a dude, Like I'm
Speaker 5: the guy that that plays music and I love it.
Speaker 5: And it's not like I had some crazy backstory.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, some of them come in with like crazy backstories,
Speaker 3: y'or even really sad backstories.
Speaker 5: Super sad, we're sad, or like really or like Adam,
Speaker 5: you know, he's he's really exciting to watch, you know.
Speaker 1: It is really exciting to watch now, you because you
Speaker 1: came in and you weren't really looking for fame.
Speaker 3: You're like, hey, I'm a guy that sings. You're like
Speaker 3: the perfect winner to me. Because there's people that want
Speaker 3: it so bad that they get in their own way,
Speaker 3: and then there's people that I and this goes across
Speaker 3: the board, even like with Housewives, where they want it
Speaker 3: so bad that they they ruin it for themselves and
Speaker 3: you're like, listen, you had a great mindset. I'm going in,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give it my all, I'm gonna have a
Speaker 3: good time and let's see where it goes.
Speaker 5: I do think that you're not wrong there, Tamra. I
Speaker 5: feel like I did. I had friends that were on
Speaker 5: the show that we're thinking like, oh, I have to
Speaker 5: do this, like I have to win, and it you
Speaker 5: could tell that it like you can almost see it
Speaker 5: on them a little bit during their performances, and they
Speaker 5: put so much pressure on them and you don't think
Speaker 5: that those things can be picked up by the audience.
Speaker 5: And maybe they they don't exactly know what it is
Speaker 5: that they didn't like about the performance. But I do
Speaker 5: think that some of that is like is visible, and.
Speaker 3: So I guess and it shows, and it shows for
Speaker 3: a lot of people also want to ask you. It's
Speaker 3: kind of a deep question, but what the secret to
Speaker 3: success is within the American idol world.
Speaker 5: I don't. For me, it was to be absolutely genuine
Speaker 5: and myself at all times.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think people because the show is wanting the audience
Speaker 5: of the of that show, I think just wants to
Speaker 5: feel connected to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure the show's a lot different like the
Speaker 3: years after you were on it, Like with social media
Speaker 3: and everything, a lot of things changed for every industry.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I do think it's a lot different now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So Chris, you won money, won a contract. You
Speaker 4: know it was a great car too.
Speaker 5: Well, I got to choose what it was. This shows
Speaker 5: you how boring I am. I got. I don't think
Speaker 5: I chose a Ford Fusion two thousand and nine, Ford
Speaker 5: Fusion Higher Practical.
Speaker 1: What was the other? Was there another choice.
Speaker 5: We could we could chose, We could have chose anything.
Speaker 5: It's time. I don't think just to Ford, So I
Speaker 5: could have got or something like that.
Speaker 1: How were you How old were you when you went?
Speaker 5: I was twenty three.
Speaker 2: That's a very very smart choice. So you win a car,
Speaker 2: you know what?
Speaker 5: I still I still drive that car.
Speaker 2: How many thousand miles are on it?
Speaker 5: Not a lot? It's like one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 5: thousand miles on it?
Speaker 1: Oh, not a lot at all.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's you're my kind of person right there. My
Speaker 4: goal is to get like my truck up to like
Speaker 4: two hundred three hundred thousand miles. But anyways, so you
Speaker 4: win a car, you win, you win an opportunity, you
Speaker 4: get a contract, you get money. On top of all that.
Speaker 4: Outside of all these things, what did you learn about
Speaker 4: yourself through this ruling? Like exposing process of going on
Speaker 4: American Idol and winning.
Speaker 5: Ooh, what a great question. I feel like I learned that.
Speaker 5: I learned that I wanted to do music for the
Speaker 5: rest of my life. I know that that is like
Speaker 5: maybe maybe I knew that and then I felt like
Speaker 5: I belonged and was good enough to do it. I
Speaker 5: learned that about myself. I also learned that, well, I
Speaker 5: think those are the I think those are the big
Speaker 5: things for sure. I needed to know that to keep going.
Speaker 4: I mean, when all of America, you know, dubs you
Speaker 4: and you win this competition, what better way to say, Hey,
Speaker 4: this is what you're meant to do. So let me
Speaker 4: just so now that because you always see people going
Speaker 4: to reality TV show win and then like some people
Speaker 4: make it and some people don't, you're clearly someone that
Speaker 4: has been able to, you know, have a full career
Speaker 4: from this. How post American Idol. What are some things
Speaker 4: that you did to create a successful music career for you?
Speaker 4: Because at some point, like there's hype and then at
Speaker 4: some point like it's on you to carry it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you have to carry it, man, So true you
Speaker 5: think like the hype is going to last or or whatever.
Speaker 5: At least I don't know. I don't know if I
Speaker 5: thought the hype was going to last. But I just
Speaker 5: thought all the things would last, whether it be like
Speaker 5: the contracts or like I was always going to be
Speaker 5: with you know, a record label or something like that.
Speaker 5: I do think that I I I just kept going.
Speaker 5: I just kept making music, like even when I wasn't
Speaker 5: with a label after twenty twelve, and like the record
Speaker 5: label changed their president and all the people that I
Speaker 5: was working with, and I just I just kept going.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 5: I didn't see any other choice. I felt like I
Speaker 5: still have so much more to say as an artist,
Speaker 5: and I want to get better and I want to like,
Speaker 5: I just want to do this. I love it. I
Speaker 5: love being on stage. I think for me, it was
Speaker 5: just it. I just kept going and that for better
Speaker 5: for worse maybe, but like I do think it's been
Speaker 5: for better. And I've learned a lot throughout this process.
Speaker 5: And it's a weird trajectory, you know. You go from
Speaker 5: like my first tour ever, I was playing in Staple
Speaker 5: Center and now I'm playing at Joe's Pub in New
Speaker 5: York City, and I love it, like I never you.
Speaker 1: Prefer smaller places to perform.
Speaker 5: I don't know if it matters, you know, to me.
Speaker 5: I would play for one person, I would play for
Speaker 5: fifteen thousand people.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, what's the most you've ever played? Oh,
Speaker 1: you've done about fifteen I've done both.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I would say the most. I played in
Speaker 5: Golden Gate Park for a festival. I think there was
Speaker 5: like thirty or forty thousand people there. It was wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So after American Idol, you released Live Like We're Dying,
Speaker 3: which was a huge hit.
Speaker 1: What did you love most about that song?
Speaker 5: You know, I didn't write that song. I did not
Speaker 5: write that song. It's one of the very few that
Speaker 5: I did not write on the first record. And I
Speaker 5: was shown quite a few songs to because I think
Speaker 5: they wanted me to write and I wanted to write
Speaker 5: the album and they but they also were like, hey,
Speaker 5: we need something quick though, can we show you a
Speaker 5: bunch of songs? And it was I can honestly say
Speaker 5: this now, fifteen years later, I feel like it's the
Speaker 5: song off the first record that sounds the most like me,
Speaker 5: which is crazy to say, Like, I didn't write it,
Speaker 5: and the first time that I heard it, I had
Speaker 5: no qualms about it. I was like, yeah, this is like,
Speaker 5: this sounds like me. It feels like me. I liked
Speaker 5: what it was saying. I liked the vibe of it.
Speaker 5: I still love singing it today. It's weird. I should
Speaker 5: not like to sing this song anymore.
Speaker 4: I've saying, how many times do you think you performed it?
Speaker 4: Like if you had to, like get us within a thousand, I.
Speaker 5: Do think it's at least a thousand, But I would say,
Speaker 5: like like two at least like two thousand if I'm
Speaker 5: being like, okay, if I'm crunching numbers, right, like two
Speaker 5: thousands of times something like that got it.
Speaker 4: So you've so you've had this extended career, you know,
Speaker 4: post American idol, you made, you made your own way
Speaker 4: in music. Now like in the present day, after everything
Speaker 4: you've been through, how do you define success for your
Speaker 4: career and who you are as an individual?
Speaker 5: Oh? Man, the playing the numbers game is one that
Speaker 5: has always failed me. So I try not to look
Speaker 5: at streams and charts and things like that because it's
Speaker 5: it's not something that it's you can chase those things,
Speaker 5: and we have and sometimes they've worked out, which is
Speaker 5: really cool. But I would say, like when the thing
Speaker 5: that makes me feel the best and the thing that
Speaker 5: makes me feel like I'm most successful is whether I
Speaker 5: get to talk to a fan after a show and
Speaker 5: they tell me like, hey, this song means a lot
Speaker 5: to me, and they tell me the song, or like
Speaker 5: a buddy of mine or a peer of mind, and
Speaker 5: another musician will text me and be like, dude, that
Speaker 5: new song you put out is amazing, And those are
Speaker 5: the things that feel like success to me.
Speaker 1: What advice would you have for aspiring musicians out there?
Speaker 1: Go on American Idol.
Speaker 5: Don't know, don't know, I don't know, maybe talent maybe.
Speaker 5: So I feel like American Idol, yeah, they I think
Speaker 5: that there's a lot of people that are still doing
Speaker 5: that that are really successful. But I would say, like,
Speaker 5: I don't really know. I feel like everyone has their
Speaker 5: own things that they that make them successful or or
Speaker 5: that they need to hear. I think most of the time,
Speaker 5: if you're good enough, the only thing that I would
Speaker 5: tell people is that they are, and like, just keep
Speaker 5: going with what you're doing and don't like it's a
Speaker 5: lot of work. I do think that growing up, I
Speaker 5: just jabbered to get to this answer, but I do
Speaker 5: think growing up, I thought, oh, this is going to
Speaker 5: be a pretty easy job. You just go out you
Speaker 5: write your songs and you play the shows and people
Speaker 5: and everything will work out. It's a it is a
Speaker 5: lot of work, and it's and if you're not working
Speaker 5: at it all the time, whether it's like singing or
Speaker 5: playing or writing recording, if you're not working at it,
Speaker 5: you're not getting better. And if you're not getting better,
Speaker 5: you're no one's gonna listen to your stuff.
Speaker 2: What does that work look look like to you?
Speaker 4: Because it's not like there's you know, you don't punch
Speaker 4: in at a cubicle, you have a family. I'm sure
Speaker 4: there's a lot of distractions to what is doing the
Speaker 4: work look like to you on a you know, daily
Speaker 4: or weekly basis? Like what do you do to stay
Speaker 4: sharp and continue to get better outside of like going
Speaker 4: and touring?
Speaker 2: What you're going to talk about?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I do feel like like doing something daily, and
Speaker 5: I do a lot of like admin stuff from my
Speaker 5: for my business. I guess as well, which that feels
Speaker 5: like the business part of it, creating emails and that
Speaker 5: sort of thing. But I would say that the the
Speaker 5: work is is sitting down and this is hard. It's
Speaker 5: hard to like sit there with a blank page and
Speaker 5: go what do I want to say today, and what
Speaker 5: do I want to sing about? Like what is and
Speaker 5: then not getting frustrated with not coming up with a
Speaker 5: lyric and coming to the page the next day and
Speaker 5: going like, well, that didn't work out, so let's do
Speaker 5: something else. That's a that is a really really really
Speaker 5: hard thing to do to have like tell yourself, Okay, this,
Speaker 5: I have to do this again today even though I
Speaker 5: didn't do a good job of it yesterday, and then
Speaker 5: wait for the magic to happen.
Speaker 4: Is there a process or you're like, okay, from noon
Speaker 4: to two every day I'm doing this. Is there like
Speaker 4: a technique or something you learn that Okay, no matter what,
Speaker 4: this is what I'm doing because I imagine as a
Speaker 4: creative it's probably not the I mean, not easy to
Speaker 4: be disciplined if you don't have that juice at the time.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I do feel like there are phases of different things.
Speaker 5: So writing comes in phases where I'm like writing every
Speaker 5: day and then I haven't written a song in a
Speaker 5: little bit, but I've been We're putting out a new
Speaker 5: album next month, so I'm doing a lot of things
Speaker 5: for that. We're having to get together with the people
Speaker 5: that are doing the artwork for the vinyls and make
Speaker 5: sure that it's all all together and do photo shoots
Speaker 5: and that sort of thing. But then, like we're talking
Speaker 5: about playing shows. I think you know, I told you
Speaker 5: we're breaking it up quite a bit. I think we
Speaker 5: did the second run. In our first show in Dallas,
Speaker 5: I didn't rehearse the songs, and they're my songs. I
Speaker 5: know the songs, but I didn't rehearse on my own
Speaker 5: before the shows, and I mess up way more than
Speaker 5: I wanted to, and so like it takes like I
Speaker 5: have to rehearse and I have to, like you know,
Speaker 5: I don't. I don't want to phone it in, and
Speaker 5: I feel like I feel like, uh, I feel like
Speaker 5: a jerk whenever I do phone it in because these
Speaker 5: people have paid money to come watch these shows.
Speaker 3: You know, speaking of shows, I was looking at you.
Speaker 3: You were going on tour. We talked about this earlier
Speaker 3: and the month of August. You're August fifteen, sixteen seventeen,
Speaker 3: nineteen twenty. So is there a certain amount of days
Speaker 3: You're like, I with a family and kids, I only
Speaker 3: want to go, like, you know, five different cities this month,
Speaker 3: or do you You're like, I'll go wherever they want me.
Speaker 5: The hope was to do like one long weekend a month,
Speaker 5: and then it kind of has turned into more of that.
Speaker 5: So like that little block that you just talked about,
Speaker 5: I think that's the longest one for us.
Speaker 3: Can you let people know where to go to get
Speaker 3: tickets and to look at your schedule?
Speaker 1: I know, I think it might be on your instagram
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, my instagram has a link to shows my website
Speaker 5: Chris halnofficial dot com. Like it's I think it's all
Speaker 5: the places, all the places that people usually look.
Speaker 2: Now, you said you're doing the tour a little bit different.
Speaker 4: It's supposed to being gone for weeks at a time
Speaker 4: that you're saying you're doing long weekends and you said
Speaker 4: earlier said you know, we're seeing if this works, and
Speaker 4: you said you think it is. How do you define
Speaker 4: it working? Like, how do you know that this is
Speaker 4: like going? Well, what are the metrics or is it
Speaker 4: a feel texted.
Speaker 3: Ticket sales or No, it's it's more of like it's
Speaker 3: more of how does it feel at home?
Speaker 5: And you're the great guy, They're very super like, well,
Speaker 5: I've just done it, I've done where I've been gone.
Speaker 5: I did this tour a little bit ago where I
Speaker 5: was gone and I think for almost like two and
Speaker 5: a half months, and and my family would come out
Speaker 5: but it but being on the road is never the same, uh,
Speaker 5: And they wouldn't be out for very long. They'd be
Speaker 5: out for like a couple of days or something like that.
Speaker 5: And it happened like we play. We had one more
Speaker 5: week left in the tour, and my and my son,
Speaker 5: my oldest son, we played in Nashville, and so that's
Speaker 5: where we live. My oldest son came to the show
Speaker 5: and I knew I was gonna have to leave that night,
Speaker 5: but I took him home and I put him in bed,
Speaker 5: and I was like, hey, buddy, I thanks for coming
Speaker 5: to the show. I'll see you in a week. And
Speaker 5: he was like you're not and you're not, Like this
Speaker 5: isn't you being home? Dad? And he lost it and
Speaker 5: I lost it, and I was like, I think I
Speaker 5: tech or like I talked to my managers not too
Speaker 5: long after, it was just like I can't do it
Speaker 5: like this anymore. So, honestly, it's been a long time
Speaker 5: since we've been on the road because I've been trying
Speaker 5: to figure out how to do it and make it right.
Speaker 5: Like I love being at home. I love like coaching
Speaker 5: my daughter's basketball team, even though we're no good.
Speaker 1: We would have never known that if you didn't say that,
Speaker 1: I know too much. Dad's the same way.
Speaker 3: You guys are a lot of like he coaches his
Speaker 3: kids games and he's very.
Speaker 4: Much well for you, Chris, I mean, it's it sounds
Speaker 4: like I mean, it's tamory. It's not like a special
Speaker 4: person to be like, Okay, hey, look you could let
Speaker 4: this sing rip and be on tour and be on
Speaker 4: the road X amount of months at a time. But
Speaker 4: you're making a decision that's.
Speaker 1: Not that's a Garth Brooks move right there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he stopped singing all together just to take care
Speaker 3: of his kids.
Speaker 5: Yeah. And maybe it will like once my kids get
Speaker 5: a little bit older, it will become easier to be
Speaker 5: gone for a longer periods of time. But I just
Speaker 5: feel like right now with the phase of life that
Speaker 5: we're in. And also my wife is like, she's not
Speaker 5: a stay at home mom. She is a she is
Speaker 5: a businesswoman and owns her own business and works hard,
Speaker 5: and so it's it's not like it that also makes
Speaker 5: it a little bit different too. So I carry a
Speaker 5: lot of the load when I'm when I'm at home,
Speaker 5: and I love it, I really do. I've always wanted
Speaker 5: to be a dad, and so this is like it's
Speaker 5: fun for me. And the music stuff is really fun too.
Speaker 5: So it's just trying to like, it's trying to find
Speaker 5: the balance of it all.
Speaker 4: Chris, as we wrap things up here, when someone goes
Speaker 4: to a Chris Allen show, whether it's coming to Michigan,
Speaker 4: Mount Pleasant and Arbor or Lake Orient, this is in
Speaker 4: my backyard. What can they expect, what can they expect
Speaker 4: to feel, or what do you want them to walk
Speaker 4: away with when they come to your show?
Speaker 5: I don't know. I feel like I love to feel
Speaker 5: like I'm not up there for you to look at
Speaker 5: and for you to like listen to solely like, Hey,
Speaker 5: this is me up here. I want to show you
Speaker 5: what I'm doing. I feel like the whole point of
Speaker 5: people coming out is so that they can forget about
Speaker 5: whatever life is, whether it's good, bad, whatever, and have
Speaker 5: a good time. And that means like I want people
Speaker 5: to sing along, and whether you know the songs or not,
Speaker 5: I will teach them to you. And so come come
Speaker 5: to the shows. I'll teach you the songs. We will
Speaker 5: all sing them together. So like I don't take any
Speaker 5: of it too seriously. Like I love to joke around
Speaker 5: during the shows. I'll have conversations with people from from
Speaker 5: the stage. It's fun to me. There was a guy
Speaker 5: the other night, his name, his name was Devin, and
Speaker 5: he was uh. He was like telling me all his
Speaker 5: favorite songs from the from the crowd and I was like, dude,
Speaker 5: why don't you come up here and sing one of them?
Speaker 5: And he did, and so we got to sing a
Speaker 5: song together on the on stage. Like that's what I
Speaker 5: love to do. It's like, it's just have a good time.
Speaker 1: You are such a good guy. You are just such
Speaker 1: a good guy. It's just I'm really, yes, you are.
Speaker 1: I'll ask your wife, she'll tell me different. You're just
Speaker 1: doing something.
Speaker 3: You really truly love, and you just you really just
Speaker 3: want to make people happy. And you know what, you
Speaker 3: are the type of person that will always be successful
Speaker 3: because you have that in your heart.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Timber. That's very that's very sweet of you.
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna now I'm gonna watch the OC.
Speaker 4: A few good interview mate, Chris, thank you so much
Speaker 4: for taking time out of your day, Yes, to be
Speaker 4: with us.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, we thank you so much. And guys, check out
Speaker 3: his tour, his concert tour and buy those.
Speaker 4: Tickets Texas, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Florida.
Speaker 2: I mean he's going somewhere near.
Speaker 1: You're going everywhere. You're going to be my.
Speaker 5: First housewife follow so better follow me.
Speaker 1: I'm going to follow follow you right now.
Speaker 5: Thanks Chris, thank you guys so much, so much,