Mark Burnett Productions (one of the most influential television producers) and INXS (one of the most influential rock bands in the world) have joined together for the first ever, ROCKSTAR competition. The very first competition ever, where an already successful band looks for a new lead singer a la reality show!
They auditioned worldwide and searched for the best male or female artists to come up with a group of 15 potentials. These 15 potentials (4 are Canadian) will sing their hearts with the hopes of landing the lead of INXS! The hopefuls will sing it out during the 13- week series, hosted by Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and Brooke Burke (actress and host of E! Entertainment Television's "Wild On"). Not an easy task for anyone, but most of the contenders are seasoned performers in one form or another. I had a chance to speak with the 4 Canadian contenders (Tara Slone, J.D. Fortune, Deanna Johnston and Suzie McNeil) on the phone, before they embarked on an adventure that will in evidently change their lives forever!!
Tara (Tar- a, not Tear-a) Slone is no stranger to the auditioning process, her most recent band Joydrop (all male band with Tara as lead singer"), had placed an ad in the paper that she answered and after a few successful hits (" If I was Beautiful like you and I sometimes Wanna die"), a couple strong tours well...the rest is history.
Perhaps she has the goods to be the lead singer of INXS! She is definitely familiar with the boys club, that's for sure! Tara shares with us what the auditioning process was like?
Perhaps she has the goods to be the lead singer of INXS! She is definitely familiar with the boys club, that's for sure! Tara shares with us what the auditioning process was like?
Tara
Actually I heard about the audition from a girl who was a fan of my band Joydrop and INXS is her favourite band of all time. It would be her dream come true for her - for me. (Tara laughs and you hear some chuckles from the rest of the gang on the phone). I think it was just the amalgam of her two favourite bands.
How did you feel about that?
I sort of heard about the auditions happening in Toronto. Auditioning for the band was just not something that I contemplated and it just turned out that I was going to be away during the time of the auditions. So, she sent away a few pictures of me and one of the Joydrop videos to INXS' management and they contacted me.
That must have been a surprise to you?
So, you did have to sing for them.
Oh my God, the final audition process was ....a lot.
Tara, how will landing the lead as INXS' affect your own album? Will that be put on hold?
It is ready to go and I would like to think that the music that I write is timeless, so I would like to think I could release it at anytime. I put a lot of work into my songs and it is work that I am really proud of. It isn't going anywhere.
J.D. Fortune had the worst audition of his life for INXS and share with us why this almost did not happen. No stranger to the limelight( J.D. is well known for his Elvis Impersonator show), he managed to overcome!
J.D.
J.D.
I waited in line with all the other hopefuls and once I finally got inside....terrible! I started singing a song and we were both in the same key, which is always great in an audition (haha). The accompanist started playing once song and I was singing another and when I corrected him to play the song I was singing. So I assumed he would start playing the song that I was...not singing...and we ended up switching again. He ended up playing the song I was once singing. I stopped right away and said to the producer who was looking after the auditions, "Have you ever had a really bad nightmare that you just could not wake up from?" A few people laughed and someone said "thank-you" and I walked off the stage. Moments later I am out in the parking lot with my hand on the car door to leave and the same producer had come out with a contract and said, "Tomorrow you are singing for the band". I thought he was kidding me, I was literally freaking out and he contested that he was serious and that I needed to learn two INXS songs and come back tomorrow. So I went back with the intentions that I didn't really care what was going to happen, because I was going to be singing in front of INXS ( long time favourite band!) and that was going to be cool. Prior to singing I went into the bathroom and said to myself, is it important for me to be on the show or just redeem myself from yesterday? All I asked of myself is to give the best audition I could ever have and went out on stage. Once I was singing, they kept asking me to sing more and more and more, to top it all off I broke three mike stands and a camera. But, to put the icing on the cake, I walked out and Kirk Pengilly was strumming "Never tear us a part" and we did the full version of that. Now here he is!!
The two Torontonians in the competition are Tara Slone and Suzy McNeil. The girls know of each other in and around the business. So, Suzy were things a lot smoother for your audition?
Suzy McNeil
Mine, actually almost ended up not happening. Karen Bliss had recommended me to another producer who I never got to meet and he called me while I was in performing at the Windsor Casino (Suzy has been performing in an ABBA tribute band for quite some time. The producer told me of the recommended day to audition, which was separate from the "cattle call" day, but I could not do it that day, because I was flying to Arizona with the band. So I graciously thanked him and was going to hang up and he said, "No, we have to get you in." So he said to show up on the cattle call day and they would get me in. On the day of auditions, I go to the MOD CLUB and had a scheduled appointment after the auditions for 1pm, with my audition time set for noon. I went with the idea that, that was my "set" time and when I showed up, there were tons of people lined up the street! I thought-" Shit", because I did not want to walk up in front of everyone and insist to be let in, but it was the only thing I could do. So, the bouncers had no idea that I was coming and were not going to just let me in and just as I was about to leave when I recognized a guy inside. I finally found a contact and they told me I was not going to be able to sing for an hour or more. By this time I was really starting to get pissed off and told them to forget it, that I was going to have to leave due to another appointment. But, I was totally humble about it and the contact said that they would go and see what they could do. She drags me to the front of the line and bless those people's hearts that were waiting, because I felt so bad doing that. But, in the end it was good to know that they wanted to give EVERYONE a chance - just in case, which I think was really cool.
But, the next thing was the call back. They called me and said they would like to see me again and I was flying to Arizona on that day, so I totally missed the callback. Again! I felt that this was not going to happen again and I thought oh well, what can I do? So, they suggested that I fly to Boston from Arizona to audition there and I told them that I did not have the money to do that. Finally I was told to send in a video, which some people were doing anyway (including Tara)
I was very much surprised that INXS was accepting women to compete for the lead, which I thought was cool, considering it was an actually ROCK competition. Everything in LA is either R&B, Urban or Hip-Hop music, so I feel like a fish out of water in these parts. I am always either too rock, because "they" don't really know what rock is, they think Rock is Michelle Branch. (Everyone laughs on the phone).
I was thrilled to audition! I went to the Whiskey in Hollywood and I was lucky I had somebody on the inside, who I knew, so I had an appointment set up, by passing the "cattle call" thing. Deanna impressed them so much that she earned her spot on the ROCKSTAR show.
There is a shot of all the contenders together and they have done some press already together, so I asked them if they heard one another sing and the telephone line goes silent. Then everyone laughs.
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