Chris Daughtry has a request for fans who will be at his band’s Oct. 31 concert in Toledo.

“I want everybody in the crowd to dress up as something because I think that would be extremely entertaining for us on stage to look out and see everybody in different costumes,” he said. “It would look like a huge Halloween party we’re playing. I think that would be a lot of fun.”

Chris Daughtry

The singer-songwriter-guitarist took a few minutes to call Toledo Free Press from a tour stop in Omaha, Neb.

Toledo Free Press: You’ve said you think of “Leave This Town” as the band’s first disc. Can you talk about that?

Daughtry: This record was done without studio musicians, and the first record, unfortunately, because the band wasn’t put together yet, we had to bring in studio musicians to see out my vision, so to speak. And we put the band together literally toward the end of the record-making process. So this time, obviously, we’ve been on the road almost three years and that was what we wanted the fans to hear … It was definitely more of a unified effort.

TFP: What do you think are the elements of a good song?

Daughtry: First of all, certainly the melody, something that catches your ear and, obviously, the lyrical content. I think the most timeless songs are songs that just lyrically touch people and either they can remember where they were or it was a first dance or a first date or first breakup. You know what I mean? Something that just basically captures that moment in their life.

TFP: The band has been on the road a lot; what do you like about playing live?

Daughtry: The reaction from the crowd is certainly one of the most amazing things about it because it’s instant gratification. You know, when you’re in the studio, you’re writing these songs and hoping that people are going to love it. But when you perform it right there in front of the crowd, you get that instant reaction, which is certainly always welcome. And it’s fun; we have a blast up there playing the music. We have a blast interacting with the fans during the show, and it’s just we love — this is, I hate to say it, that it’s our job because it doesn’t feel like a job, but this is our job and we’re some of the luckiest people in America.

TFP: Were you surprised by the huge success of your first disc?

Daughtry: Certainly we weren’t expecting it to sell 5 million records; that was an added bonus for us. We don’t expect to do that again; we’d certainly welcome and we would love to see that, but we take it for what it is, each record, and we see what it does, and we just want to put out the best music that we possibly can. We’re very proud of this record, and we hope it does half of what the last one did. Who am I kidding? I’d rather it sell 6 million records [laughs], but we’ll see.

TFP: Will you and the band dress up for the Oct. 31 concert?

Daughtry: I wouldn’t put it past us. I always dressed up when I was a kid; I always loved painting my face and, being an artist, always loved doing stuff with makeup.

TFP: You could go as Lady Gaga and do your cover of “Poker Face.”

Daughtry: Hmmmm, yeah. That’s too much work [laughs].

TFP: You’d look nice in bubbles.

Daughtry: She’s got some elaborate outfits that I don’t know if I could mimic [laughs]

Daughtry drummer Joey Barnes recalls formation of band through ‘trial by fire’

There may be lots of dazzling moments at the Daughtry concert Oct. 31 at Lucas County Arena: Drummer Joey Barnes may pull out his favorite Halloween costume.

“What’s scarier than a dude dressed as a fairy? The fairy costume was sweet because it was made for an 8-year-old and I squeezed into that, and it was just absolutely hilarious,” he said. “I had that big wand with massive amounts of glitter on it, and everything I touched I got glitter on it and annoyed the crap out of people, glittering everything and everybody. An annoying fairy — that was my favorite.”

Barnes, singer and band namesake Chris Daughtry, bass player Josh Paul, and guitarists Josh Steely and Brian Craddock will have lots of fan favorites to play at the 7:30 p.m. show, which will feature special guests Theory of a Deadman and Cavo. Tickets are $41.50 and $31.50.

After finishing fourth on season five of “American Idol,” Daughtry pumped out the hits from his self-titled 2006 debut — “It’s Not Over,” “Home,” “Feels Like Tonight,” “What About Now” — and sold more than 5 million discs.

The quintet is on the airwaves again with “No Surprise,” the first single from the follow-up, “Leave This Town,” released in July.

“In the beginning, Chris had just got off the ‘Idol’ tour and went directly into the studio to do the first record. And we came in and worked together, complete strangers, except I, of course, knew Chris,” said Barnes, who also lives in Greensboro, N.C. “We didn’t see much of Chris because he was working the same time we were working, trying to finish the record, as we were trying to learn the record.

“I think it was 12 hours or eight hours after we decided on the group, the core members, we were doing photo shoots for the album cover. It was fast,” Barnes said during a call from Los Angeles where the band was getting ready for the tour. “We became a band trial by fire.”

The group was on the road promoting the disc for two and a half years.

“Now we’re all like brothers. I can’t imagine the guys — regardless of music or not — not being in each other’s lives. That’s the most important thing to take out of it — the bond,” Barnes said. “The music thing will end, but the friendship lasts forever. We’re just a bunch of dudes who like to get on stage and we make a living by playing.”

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Arts and Life, In Concert.
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