Luke Bryan took a few moments to speak to the press before hitting the stage at the 2009 CMA Music Festival at LP Field.
Question: What has been one unexpected surprise for you this year at the CMA Music Festival?
Luke: We did our fan club party yesterday and I realized we had two hours and I have decided we need to do four next year; because I wanted to just sit down and talk to everyone. My drummer does a mean Aaron Neville, so I had him come out and sing a little Aaron and I actually wanted to do more. That is stuff we do on the bus, whatever gets you through the monotony of riding down the road. We wanted to do something like that with every musician in my band, but we were running out of time and I wasn’t doing any songs and I think the fans were probably wanting to hear me sing. It has been fun watching the fan club grow and next year, we are already planning for maybe two fan club parties or definitely a bigger event or bigger place.
Question: What would you do when you have a headlining stage?
Luke: You dream your whole life to headline and I am using this time now to work out kinks and get smarter and bigger. We have plans, I have it all in my head and it is just the time to get there. I have people tell me I am already kind of a headliner, but I am a long way from it. The beauty of last year, getting to tour with Kenny, you see headlining at the largest scale possible and what is involved. I remember that whole tour and sat back and watched it all and took it in. I saw the things he did and even when I was out front watching Keith Urban on one of those dates and you see these guys, I am always mesmerized by the headliners. That is what you work at and work hard for. The best answer is I am constantly dreaming and being prepared for that moment, you can feel that momentum to where you are getting ready to start selling out these 5,000 seaters. That is what I pray for every night, to get to that point.
Q: What about the 60,000 sellouts?
Luke: Talking about that tour, being with Kenny gets me comfortable in that environment. I walked out there and it feels good to have that many people looking at you. That is what it’s all about. You have to go do that so you will be ready and comfortable up there.
Q: You have a trio of friends and you help them out and they have helped you out.
Luke: What she is referring to is Charles and Dave of Lady Antebellum who helped me write my current single. We all wrote it together, they came out to the house and sat on the porch, drank a couple of beers and now I have a single out. But we all did it, Hillary heard it and she flipped out over it and she went “Luke, you have to cut it”. We recorded it and of course, there was no other background singer I could use other than Hillary. So Lady Antebellum is all over that song. I was on their bus and showed them the video we just finished and to see their excitement and to know, they are there, they are winning all the group awards and stuff and watch them get excited about having a Luke Bryan song out there was a pretty special thing to watch and go through.
Q: What are you thinking about when you are on the stage performing?
Luke: When I was out with Trace, I started thinking about what was going through my mind and I would get to worrying some. My guitar player and I have been playing together for 13 years and we can just look at each other and make a move that hopefully looks somewhat planned and not stupid. The main thing is to get out there, the spontaneity and the non-structure of it makes it more comfortable out there. When you see someone walk to a spot, stand and do their run of the mill, I have never been a fan of that. I am crazy, when you are out there doing 130 shows a year and when we get to about ten in a row and they are the same, I start losing it. I talk to the band and it is like I am going start calling out crazy stuff to break the monotony of it.
Q: Coming up Sept 26, you are going to be the honorary spokesperson for the National Hunting and Fishing Day. Can you talk about taking something that you all ready love and have a passion for and being in that position to share it with other people.
Luke: I love the outdoors and grew up in the outdoors. I heard I was doing it and didn’t realize how big of a deal it was exactly. Two months in and after several PSA’s it hit me that, it’s for children, you are fishing and hunting; but that’s not the real part of what is going on. I remember my Dad and the days we spent outdoors, we would go fishing every weekend it seemed. It has been an honor to hopefully share some stories of mine and hopefully I will build more awareness. The outdoors seems to be getting smaller, especially the hunting side. I just want to bring awareness to it and get some people out there enjoying the outdoors.
Q: The current single has really allowed you to spread your wings both creatively and vocally. Was there ever any anxiety? It is a little bit of a departure for you.
Luke: My second single didn’t go as well as I planned. I think everyone wanted to keep hearing up-tempo, fun party stuff. To come out with a ballad when everyone was wanting a summer hit; we thought about it for a second, but we had so much excitement about this song. When you hear the song recorded, you feel like it really has a great shot. It’s my chance to show a different side, try to branch out and really have a shot at a big top five or even a number one with this one; and have Capitol and everyone around be so excited about it was fun too.
Question: What has been one unexpected surprise for you this year at the CMA Music Festival?
Luke: We did our fan club party yesterday and I realized we had two hours and I have decided we need to do four next year; because I wanted to just sit down and talk to everyone. My drummer does a mean Aaron Neville, so I had him come out and sing a little Aaron and I actually wanted to do more. That is stuff we do on the bus, whatever gets you through the monotony of riding down the road. We wanted to do something like that with every musician in my band, but we were running out of time and I wasn’t doing any songs and I think the fans were probably wanting to hear me sing. It has been fun watching the fan club grow and next year, we are already planning for maybe two fan club parties or definitely a bigger event or bigger place.
Question: What would you do when you have a headlining stage?
Luke: You dream your whole life to headline and I am using this time now to work out kinks and get smarter and bigger. We have plans, I have it all in my head and it is just the time to get there. I have people tell me I am already kind of a headliner, but I am a long way from it. The beauty of last year, getting to tour with Kenny, you see headlining at the largest scale possible and what is involved. I remember that whole tour and sat back and watched it all and took it in. I saw the things he did and even when I was out front watching Keith Urban on one of those dates and you see these guys, I am always mesmerized by the headliners. That is what you work at and work hard for. The best answer is I am constantly dreaming and being prepared for that moment, you can feel that momentum to where you are getting ready to start selling out these 5,000 seaters. That is what I pray for every night, to get to that point.
Q: What about the 60,000 sellouts?
Luke: Talking about that tour, being with Kenny gets me comfortable in that environment. I walked out there and it feels good to have that many people looking at you. That is what it’s all about. You have to go do that so you will be ready and comfortable up there.
Q: You have a trio of friends and you help them out and they have helped you out.
Luke: What she is referring to is Charles and Dave of Lady Antebellum who helped me write my current single. We all wrote it together, they came out to the house and sat on the porch, drank a couple of beers and now I have a single out. But we all did it, Hillary heard it and she flipped out over it and she went “Luke, you have to cut it”. We recorded it and of course, there was no other background singer I could use other than Hillary. So Lady Antebellum is all over that song. I was on their bus and showed them the video we just finished and to see their excitement and to know, they are there, they are winning all the group awards and stuff and watch them get excited about having a Luke Bryan song out there was a pretty special thing to watch and go through.
Q: What are you thinking about when you are on the stage performing?
Luke: When I was out with Trace, I started thinking about what was going through my mind and I would get to worrying some. My guitar player and I have been playing together for 13 years and we can just look at each other and make a move that hopefully looks somewhat planned and not stupid. The main thing is to get out there, the spontaneity and the non-structure of it makes it more comfortable out there. When you see someone walk to a spot, stand and do their run of the mill, I have never been a fan of that. I am crazy, when you are out there doing 130 shows a year and when we get to about ten in a row and they are the same, I start losing it. I talk to the band and it is like I am going start calling out crazy stuff to break the monotony of it.
Q: Coming up Sept 26, you are going to be the honorary spokesperson for the National Hunting and Fishing Day. Can you talk about taking something that you all ready love and have a passion for and being in that position to share it with other people.
Luke: I love the outdoors and grew up in the outdoors. I heard I was doing it and didn’t realize how big of a deal it was exactly. Two months in and after several PSA’s it hit me that, it’s for children, you are fishing and hunting; but that’s not the real part of what is going on. I remember my Dad and the days we spent outdoors, we would go fishing every weekend it seemed. It has been an honor to hopefully share some stories of mine and hopefully I will build more awareness. The outdoors seems to be getting smaller, especially the hunting side. I just want to bring awareness to it and get some people out there enjoying the outdoors.
Q: The current single has really allowed you to spread your wings both creatively and vocally. Was there ever any anxiety? It is a little bit of a departure for you.
Luke: My second single didn’t go as well as I planned. I think everyone wanted to keep hearing up-tempo, fun party stuff. To come out with a ballad when everyone was wanting a summer hit; we thought about it for a second, but we had so much excitement about this song. When you hear the song recorded, you feel like it really has a great shot. It’s my chance to show a different side, try to branch out and really have a shot at a big top five or even a number one with this one; and have Capitol and everyone around be so excited about it was fun too.
No comments:
Post a Comment