SPEAKER_05 0:00

Hey guys, it's Casey Abrams here. I am on the Dave Cross Crew. We have one of the most incredible panel discussions ever about American Idol and the voice. We have Justin Hopkins, season two, American Idol winner, Ruben Studd, my good friend Haley Reinhardt, Tony Pelizzi, who's been on the podcast before, season one, Voice Winner, Javier Cologne, and Dylan Chambers, who hosted the whole thing. It was super cool for me to just sit back and relax, doing the whole thing on the Dave Codz cruise. I'm here in beautiful Ilya Bella, Brazil, as you can see, it's amazing. But one of the cool things about being on the Dave Codz Cruise is we get to jam, we get to have fun, but we also get to have some really cool panel discussions, as you'll see. I was amazed at all the information that I was gathering just by sitting up there in the panel. What an amazing thing. Had some really cool, unexpected questions and some great answers from my friends that I didn't even know about. Thanks so much for watching the podcast. AC out.

SPEAKER_06 0:49

We are idle. Come come with me. Come sing with me.

SPEAKER_08 1:19

I have the privilege of being one of your hosts on board um this week. And it's been my privilege to have been on each and every Dave Cause cruise from the very beginning, which has been such a blessing for me. I currently call Dallas, Texas home, but I am a proud Canadian from a little city called Edmonton, Alberta. But I've been in Dallas for 44 years now, and uh was the Smooth Jazz morning host there in Dallas, and then I had a television show called Smooth Jazz TV in about 30 cities, and had that show for 12 years and had a chance to travel the world and uh met Dave and of course all these incredible artists, and uh uh I've got a question. Where are our West Coast people at? Where are you from? Where Menfee, Riverside County, cool. How about back here? Our West Coast people. Where are you from? San Francisco Bay Area back here, LA, just like I pictured it, skyscrapers and everything. That was New York. Uh, East Coast people, any East Coasters here? All right, where are you from, sir? Maryland, yes, New Jersey, back North Carolina, all right, and you Detroit, Motor City, love that town. Being a Canadian, I used to visit all the time. Just drive through the tunnel and go. Yes, sir. Pennsylvania. Um, and any Dallas folks or Houston or Texas or South El Paso? Houston? Dallas. Nice. Memphis, Tennessee, Kirk Whalem. Yeah. Um, well, I just uh I want to welcome you all. Uh this is gonna be a wonderful conversation. Here's the only challenge. Uh Dylan Chambers and Javier and Justin are in traffic. They're getting off, you know, they got caught. Didn't anybody else get caught in any of that? So, yeah, you did. Um, so we're gonna just kind of get things started with some of our guests. So let's introduce some of our guests there. Come on up, guys. Tony Peluzzi. We've got some of the best right here. Casey Abrams, show him some love right there. Haley Reinhardt is here. So, Haley, join us. And of course, the man himself, Mr. Ruben Stoddard. Ruben, would you come and join us? Yes. So this is gonna be really interesting and fun. And by the way, when when Dylan and Hav and and Justin arrive, just give them a rousing round of applause and we'll get them a cocktail, which I'm sure they're gonna need. Uh, because there's nothing more stressful as a musician than getting caught in that situation. And they called and said, Man, we're really impressed. Don't worry about it. What we got this because we've got some of the most amazing talent in the world on this stage. Of course, stars of American Idol and the voice. Uh Casey, how are you doing, buddy? Chilling.

SPEAKER_05 4:57

Everything cool? I'm chilling. Oh, there we go. You got stereo micro. Feeling good. I I actually we I was pretty stressed for a little bit because we we went up to the thank you. We went up to the uh the Redeemer as well, and we we we made it really fast. We literally went up, took pictures for five minutes, and went came right back down because we wanted to make this. And but no, it's been a it's been a great cruise. I've got to jam with uh Jonathan Butler, who's amazing. I got to jam with Haley Reinhardt and it's fun because I get to jam with her all the time. We're we're on each other's albums, and uh we're now we're doing the Dave Cause cruise. We just did the Dave Cause Christmas to uh tour, and it's so it's just so fun to do uh do things with her ever since we were on the show in 2011. So it's crazy. It's crazy. Haley, you've been just crushing it.

SPEAKER_08 5:48

Isn't she amazing, y'all? She's so fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Thanks, Kim. Hey guys, I'm having a ball.

SPEAKER_08 5:54

Are you?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

And Casey's right, like we just have kind of found ourselves in all these different chapters of life together, whether it's from American Idol to postmodern jukebox, and same goes with Ruben. We've done a tour together with Peebo Bryson, and now Dave Cause with the Christmas tour. It's all these different really neat chapters of just extending these uh really cool experiences together musically in different facets jazz, pop, funk, rock and roll. It's been great.

SPEAKER_08 6:19

Ruben, how's your experience been thus far?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

It's been terrible. I haven't enjoyed one moment of this, as you can see by the drink I have in my hand. It's just I'm leaving. It's just it's just awful. No. Where is she?

SPEAKER_05 6:32

Is she getting a drink? She's going to get a drink. She ordered one. Oh, nice, okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

You know, I I was telling my wife the other the other day, the thing is I I never get to do is go to concerts. Um, I just don't, I'm always on the road. And so for me, the the greatest part of being on this cruise is just getting the opportunity to see other people perform, especially the people that you admire. Like, I I lost my mind yesterday when Jonathan Butler was playing and singing. And um Avery Sunshine, like everybody I've you know, just I can't wait to get a chance to see as many people as I can see on the boat perform. So this is just for me, that is the treat of being on a cruise like this, is just getting the opportunity to watch other people that do what you do do their thing.

SPEAKER_08 7:19

Well, I appreciate that. Ruben Stoddard, everybody. Um Stutterd. Because John Stoddard and Ruben Stutter. My bad. My bad. I'm stuttering. There you go. Uh Tony Peluczi on the far side. He's one of the finest guitar players on the planet. And let's start with you talking about how you found your way into these mega music shows and and and what the vibe is like.

SPEAKER_09 7:46

Okay, I can say that um my career with live TV parallels that of Casey and Haley. Um we all met on season 11. I came in with the the point that I was backing up in the live band. Um when Ricky Minor's band moved over to the Tonight Show, Ray Chu and the crew from Showtime at the Apollo ended up being in the band. So put it this way, I I mean, I had just been out to LA like a year and a half. Um I was, you know, hustling, doing this and that. Um like I said, one right place at the right time. I got a call. They said, hey Tony, we need you down there. And I'm like, you want me to what? You want me to be on you want me to be in this band? So I went down to center staging and uh Ray was there. He was the uh with the uh celebration of gospel band, and it was great though, because of all my hustling that I came out to the West Coast, me being in um LA for a year and a half, I knew everybody in the room and they knew me, and that made it nice because I had a recommendation, but they also knew me too. So um it just one thing led to a number, and I was able to get uh the landing job in the American Idol House Band. And uh I want to say that uh being on American Idol has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Um I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and I was also a uh teacher at uh Tricy uh Tayhoe Community College, and I I've been a teacher for a lot of my career. So when I came on, that you know I had to be on, you know, and I was meeting Casey and Haley for like at the beginnings of their career, and um, so I knew I was gonna be on stage with them doing that, so I've kind of like paralleled it, was like me being helping these students, if you will, or just people, you know, in in a fact of education, so it made it really comfortable. And um even since hey, Justin. Justin.

SPEAKER_08 9:54

Yeah, there's more coming. All right, they're just slower than me. No worries.

SPEAKER_09 10:00

So, anyway, if I want to say that, you know, I was backing up everybody and playing that and being on American Idol parlayed other jobs. Um, I was able to uh play on the BET Awards celebration of gospel and uh the stints with live TV um it me it it uh brought up other um uh opportunities. I went on the road with George Benson, I went on the road with Gladys Knight, uh I played with Natalie Cole for many, many years up to her death. Uh may she rest in peace. And um I I love being on the Cos Cruise. Um everybody here is an example for what I want to be and how I want to be in my career. So that is in a nutshell, that's where we're at now. You know, we're trying to keep entertaining, uh backing up the people the way they they should be backed up.

SPEAKER_08 10:50

Let's welcome Javier Colonna and Justin Hawkins. How was the ride over, fellas? Stressful, I'm sure. We're very winded.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

But we but we made it. We had a we had a snafu with the Uber. Uh the Uber was put into a different location. I'm blaming Justin for the case.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

It's my fault.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Uh but we uh we we can't read English back alley. Uh that we're like, I don't think this is where we want to go.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Uh guys, we're coming out in lab coats. We're pretty sure we were getting a kidney taken from our uh backside.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

So we got out of there as quickly as we could.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

We're glad you're safe.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

We couldn't be happier to see you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 11:33

Yeah. Ruben, your journey is has is legendary, man. And we we'd love to get a little bit of the backstory, what the experience was like for you, and and because you're now everybody knows who you are, and you just your talent is immense, but what was it like, you know, getting there? Is it as difficult? Is it as big a grind as we we hear it is?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Well, it wasn't as sweet as these two young whippersnappers sitting next to me. Um when I was on the show, there was no Ricky Minor band, there was no musical directors, there was no anything but you going in the studio and recording your track the day before the show, and you get to sing to that track. Yeah. But yeah, we didn't have no band. No band. The band came on season three.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

So it was all backing tracks.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

All backing tracks. We were but the only plus of that is we got to record a Michael Jackson studio. But like so that was cool. Westlake, yeah. That was cool, but we were there all day because we couldn't leave until everybody finished. So if you were first, you had to wait until the last person went. So, like a lot of the things that you know, um and and honestly, you know, the whole process for me was just a blessing. Like, even though it was a lot of work, because we, you know, when I was on the show, we had four title sponsors, and that was uh Ford, Coca-Cola, Old Navy, and AT ⁇ T, and every week we had to record commercials for them every single week. In addition to uh singing and learning the music that we had all these big group numbers that we did. We had to do um, and also, you know, we recorded a single every week to sell to the consumer on uh the fledgling iTunes.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

At least one. Those increased by the further you got in the competition as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

So and it and it gets more difficult when people leave. Like it's it's easier when it's like 12 of you, but when it's just four of you and you have to do all the work for that 12 people would be doing, it's it gets more difficult. But for the most part, I say that American Idol is a crash course in the music business because what whatever we went through on the show, it it impels in comparison to the amount of time and effort that I spent recording and uh working towards making my first album a success, which it was. But it you know, it they get you prepared for what the real music business is like. And I appreciate all of the people there, like everybody that was a producer, and uh, you know, rest in peace, the bird, who was our amazing vocal coach, like every season she was just you know, like a mom to all of us because we you know we were all away from home, and and you really don't, you know, you see your family members at tapings, you don't really get a chance to like see your family for the time that you're on the show. So it was just really great to have people that bird, Michael Orlin, you know, all those people like really made you feel like they they and they did love you.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

So the show's about a year and a half kind of experience when you look at it. It's not just the you know, however a month long or whatever you think it might be on television, it's actually quite extensive.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

So I auditioned for America Idol in October. My first audition was October 20, 2002, excuse me. And then I won May 29th or 30th, something like that, 2003. So it's it takes that long to get to the end of the show.

SPEAKER_08 15:23

Yeah, that's amazing. Let's let's welcome Dylan Chambers, everybody. Woo! Fresh, fresh from his Uber experience, and I just want to say I have been watching Dylan for so many years, but he just finished a month-long residency at the Carlisle in Hong Kong. And I'm so proud of you, bro. I know we all are. So welcome, Dylan Chambers, everybody. He's gonna take it from here.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Thanks, everyone. I just want to say I've won every single season of American Idol and the voice behind. Thanks for your patience here. Hi, everyone. Hi, thank you. Justin tried to kidnap me uh and take me to a separate location when we were in the Uber, but you're never supposed to go to the second location, right? Um cool. Well, thank you. Um thank you, Cam, for uh stepping in for a little bit. Um yeah, I just want to say it's such an honor to be talking to all of these uh legendary artists, some I've been friends with for a while now, and uh I feel like Casey and I have talked about this, even though I've never uh really been involved with uh shows like this, I feel like I've like kind of been on a side road, just like meeting people along my musical journey, and Casey nominated me to host this event, so I really appreciate it. So I just want to say thank you.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

You were on it too, kind of, right? You were on you you did the idol thing, right? No. A little bit audition, didn't you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

Well, we do we really want to tell the story. No, we didn't.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

No. No, we don't. Okay. It's not about me, y'all. Um anyway, I I do want to go down the line here um and uh just ask uh a couple questions. I guess I'll start with Hav down there. Hi, Hav, long time no see, buddy. Yes, good to see you. Yeah. Yes. Um So I wanted to ask you first off, um, first of all, you won the first ever season of The Voice, and uh yes, give it up for him, in case you didn't know that. Um I wanted to ask you, since there was no blueprint for this show, you're just kind of walking in blindly to a new you know, music reality show. Did you have any reservations about this? And did you did you watch American Idol prior to try to give you a little bit of like reassurance before walking into a show like this?

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Absolutely. So I I uh I watched uh Ruben and I watched Kelly Clarkson and uh I I saw this amazing show that was American Idol, and it was it was great. I uh at the time I had a a record deal with uh Capitol Records. Um I had released uh a couple albums that unfortunately didn't do what we had hoped they would do, and then uh uh I ended up getting dropped in 2006. Um fast forward to 2011. I'm like about to quit the the industry in uh entirely, and this email comes through from my manager about this new show that's coming on called The Voice. Uh and they had had done they had done it in Holland, and it was a huge success. It had beaten the Dutch X Factor and the Dutch Idol in all of the ratings, and they were bringing it to the US, and uh Mark Burnett was gonna uh be the executive producer. And I so you got to see uh some of the they had some videos of of the Dutch version where you see the four chairs and people singing, and then they turn around, and uh once they started talking in in Dutch you couldn't understand, but you kind of got a a gist of of what the what the show was about. And I thought it looked cool, but I didn't really want to have any uh any part of it. I I still was stuck in the the the mind of like, oh yeah, you know, I I just want to be able to get a record deal again, and I want to try to find but I had been trying to find another record deal for for five years and and it wasn't working, and uh I couldn't get it through my head that that I wasn't it wasn't it wasn't coming. And uh I I had told my manager uh to cancel my audition because I wasn't gonna go. Um and then over the next couple year a couple uh weeks, I had told some other friends and and folks about it that that this opportunity that came up that I'm not gonna do. And uh everybody was like, why? Why would you you're crazy, you have to do this. And um the last thing, the last person that actually convinced me to do it was my my brother. He's uh my older brother, he's four years older than me, and is usually a good uh a good source of advice for the most part. And I told him, he asked me two days before the audition, he said, So are you gonna go? And I said, No, I'm not gonna go. Um and he was real quiet. And the next thing that he said is what changed my mind. He said, Javier, what do you have going on in your career right now that you think you should miss this opportunity? And I was like, damn, why you gotta be so right? Uh I had nothing. I had nothing but mounting bills. My wife and I had a had a almost two and an almost four-year-old um daughters, and um and I had no light at the end of the tunnel, you know, and and I said, you know what, you're right. So I called my manager, hung up with him, I called my manager back and I said, Hey, um, did you cancel that audition? And he said, Oh man, I completely forgot. I'll call them, I'll call them right now. And I said, You know what? Don't call them. I'm gonna go. And I went, and it wasn't supposed to happen, and it happened. I'm very grateful.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

And we're glad it did, man. We're very glad that it did. Thank you. We'll come back to you. Hey, Tony, how are you doing, man? Hey, man. Um, so Tony and I have been buds for a little while. Um, an amazing guitar player who I respect the hell out of. He's one of the best guitar players I for sure have ever heard. And um Tony was uh the house guitarist in American Idol for how many years was that? Yeah, for two years. For two years. So I'm curious, uh, as a musician, what what is that like? What's a typical show day like for the band when you're walking in there? Just talk us through uh a regular day, rehearsals, how much time do you have to prep a song? Uh talk us through all that.

SPEAKER_09 21:26

Okay, so the I want to say the the show is on the Wednesday, and then say the the uh the uh members advanced, the singers advanced, so the next day you guys would choose the songs. Friday, we they we would record the songs. And in my year, we had numerous producers. We had Don was, Rodney Jerkins, uh Jimmy Ivine, Ron Fair, a lot to live up. To so all of us in the band, it's like Tony, go into Rodney's room. It's like okay, and it was like I said, I was new in LA for a very short time, so I was giving a lot of opportunity exposure. So not just only you guys, but for us trying to break those things and do that. And um so I think we would record two days of the songs, and then we would head into rehearsals and get into the final mixes of those songs. There would be the rehearsals, and we would get with the singers, and then Tuesday would be the dress rehearsals that we would they they the producers would block them, and then Wednesday would be the live show. There was a uh dress rehearsal and then a live show, and then the next week after that it would go up to another level, and then you would start it all over again, and that went on all season. That went on about 12 or 13 times. What like what Ruben said, the more singers are are cut off or eliminated, the more work the existing singers have to do. So they have to have more songs. So that's that's how that whole thing works. And um no, it's a it's a lot of work, and uh the the uh the uh the backup band, we're we're right in there with them. So we have to know the cues, we have to read the charts, all the charts are are written out, it's performed live, and uh we're right there. It being on American Isle showed me a lot what is going on in TV, and something like I would know that if I was doing a bit with Casey or Haley, I might have known like 12 hours in advance that I would be on stage with them in front of 30 million people and I have to nail those parts. And uh that was that was really cool. It was a great experience.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

Thanks. That's amazing. I do have a follow-up question on that because I was thinking um as a musician as well, like with that pressure, did you ever hear anybody in the band kind of mess up? Ever.

SPEAKER_09 24:04

Well, when you have live TV, it's like some things, if you hear a TV mix, sometimes it's and it's like, oh my gosh, I messed up, or this guy did it's like and you hear a TV mix, it's pretty much forgiving sometimes. So I hardly I didn't I didn't hear any. I mean, it was amazing that you had thought you would mess up, but it didn't come off that way.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

Okay, just just curious.

SPEAKER_09 24:25

And I was amazed at that, because like, oh right.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Yeah, no, that I mean that would be a lot of pressure, and I feel like naturally someone might, but we know you never did because you're the best ever, dude.

SPEAKER_09 24:36

For the record. Tony put that.

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Yeah, Tony Peluzzi doesn't make mistakes, ladies and gentlemen. You heard that here. Never. Um Ruben, good to see you again, man. Good to see you as well. Um, yes, give it up for Ruben one more time, please. We have the season two champ here, and I'm sure uh a lot of this was covered, but um I am curious to know. Um, you know, obviously things have changed a lot through the years since American Idol started. Um when you were on it, it was still very fresh, very new. There were about 20 million viewers watching this uh every week, from what I understand. Could you feel in the moment how massive this was? And and if so, how did you how did you handle that?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Um, we couldn't feel in the moment how big it was because we only got to see the 500 people that were in the audience every week. And that was it. Like we didn't we didn't know how big the show was until I think we were in like week seven and we went to Fox Hills Mall to shop for clothes, and the mall shut down, and we were like, Oh, is it us? Because we we literally thought like it was like somebody other than us that they were like like getting security for because it couldn't have been because we'd been to the mall prior and nobody cared, and then all of a sudden it was just like we could not go any place. Like I remember so this is a uh and and and also we're we're saying this also full well knowing that we all did sign that uh uh that agreement that we weren't supposed to tell y'all about this backstage stuff. So Dave Coz, just know.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Yeah, just blame it on Dave, not me.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

We get a lawsuit, but we need you to pay that bill for us, all right. But every day, like on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the show was live, we would um we would pull up to the CBS lot and there would be a line that like stretched for days around the corner. And we thought at the time in the mornings that that was our line. But no, that was the prices right line. I got lost into the prices right. Because prices right and the and uh and young and the restless shot in the same studio as America Artist. So like in in the middle of the day, we would be like in the CBS cafeteria, and then like you'd see Victor Newman over in the corner, I'd be like, hey man, that's that's Victor Newman. That's Victoria. But it was, you know, it was a great, it was a great time to be on the CBS lot. We had a lot of fun. Um learned a lot, got a chance to meet people I never interviewed, like I never expected to meet Diane and you know, Deion Ward, and you know, um uh what's my man's name that uh that wrote the songs that Clay likes to sing.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

Paul Simon?

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Paul Simon.

SPEAKER_04 27:49

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Like just I mean, like every week it was somebody that Julina Ritchie, like like you know, we had uh um Gladys Knight named me the Velvet Teddy Bear the second week. Um Robin Gibb was there. Oprah Winfrey taped her show from our set. Like she taped she came for the whole week and taped her show from our set and our house like every day. It was just something new happening that you would never expect it. So American Idol was just it was really just a great experience. Like I can't even tell you like the amount of people that I've you know performed with, recorded with because of my experience on that show. Like it's been you know unreal.

SPEAKER_04 28:34

Thank you, thank you, Ruben. Give it up for Ruben, that's incredible, man. Wow. Um Wow, Paul Simon, Oprah Winfrey, that's crazy. I would have freaked out.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Um We did.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

I'm sure, yeah. It's like how do you hold yourself together for things like that, man? Um hi Haley, how are you? Hi, good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Good to see you. I'm happy you're here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

Did anyone catch Haley's magnificent show last night? Give it up.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

Thank you. I had a glass with you guys.

SPEAKER_04 29:02

That was very fun. Thank you for having me up there with you.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 29:04

Um so, Haley, we've known each other for a while, and um uh obviously you had a standout uh you had many standout performances on the show, and um I wanted to ask you about some of your time after American Idol. Um, I want to applaud you because you really have taken charge of your solo career and really kept riding, and you've put out so many great records, so many great songs, and I know you know personally you've had lots of twists and turns after American Idol. Um I'm curious to know how you feel that that show set you up for success after and in ways that you wish they could have a little bit better.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

That's a good question. I think to hop on what Ruben said, the show was definitely Star Boot Camp. So that's the title that a lot of us gave it because we truly were under the gun in so many ways, and we had so much to deliver and so much to learn in such a short amount of time that I took all of these lessons, even if they were harsh, even if they were lessons that, you know, as a 19-year-old, 20-year-old kid, I wasn't even prepared or you know, didn't expect to learn at that young of an age, but all these things were seeping in, and I soaked it up like a sponge, thankfully. So, like you said, Ruben, having those kinds of lessons learned and at least leave an impression on you, I felt like I could do anything. If I could get through this show, which again, you guys see all the fun and the glamour and things, and and it totally was that. And we did get to meet everybody from you know Beyonce to Gaga and Stevie Wonder and Tony Ven, all these people, it was incredible. But at the same time, to walk away with the the lessons I I had to learn that were deeper than I grew up performing with my parents' band, they've been together for 50 years in Chicago, so I I love performing live. So that was one aspect that I had felt comfortable in. But the rest of that, you know, speaking to an audience millions at home was a much different scenario. So I took a lot of the stage camera kind of action that we learned with me for the rest of my life, along with just so many. I mean, you get signed or not right after the show. So I got signed to Interscope immediately after and and released my first record. And so you learned so many things through all of these experiences, and um I'm trying to think of I really don't I I don't look at anything in life as a true negative because all of the the lessons that I I learned again have have helped me throughout. Even the ones were even things I I didn't quite learn yet, you know, like I was young. So it just the the natural progression of things have just I feel has been a blessing, you know. So um yeah, yeah, I think the show did a great job of just kicking our butts and telling us, hey, get through this, kids, and guess what? It's not an easy uh golden ticket after this show. You're gonna have to work your little hiney off to have longevity. But if you want to do this for the rest of your life, you surely can. You just know that you need to be persistent, work hard, be driven, and have integrity and authenticity while you do it.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. That's a great answer. And I want to applaud you, and I want to applaud everyone up here for hustling. You know, nothing is ever promised. And I've talked to different people that have um, you know, gone on shows like this, and uh they were younger and they thought if I do well, everything is just laid out for me for the rest of my life. And we're human. We all know that that's never true, no matter what. Um, and these guys uh and gals are always working, always putting out new music. Uh Ruben has been on tour with uh Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis uh working in their show. Can do you mind talking about that a little bit? If you don't mind.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Yeah, so I'm I met Jimmy and Terry the year after I won American Idol, and you know, we just never got a chance to come up with anything, and you know, maybe two or three records after that, they were the primary producers of like my third or fourth record. And um we've been family ever since. And you know, now that they're um delving back into the world of live performance because you know they hadn't been on stage like consistently since the 80s, you know, um it's just cool to be a part of that process, it's cool to like be with people. Like one of my very first concerts in life was the Purple Rain Tour. And so um, you know, having the experience of seeing them as a five-year-old and now like watching them, you know, and being around them and performing with them as it's just really cool. I'll I'm I'm I and if you don't know, um I'll be at the Venetian with um the the show is called Nothing But Hits. Um, and it's the the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis show featuring Ruben Studdle than Shanice Wilson. Y'all come check us out if y'all got time.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Yeah, thank you, Ruben. Yeah, please go check that out. That's an incredible show. I'd like to come too. Um so if you could hook me up with some tickets there, maybe no.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I knew that was coming.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Yeah. All right, uh, this is my man Casey Abrams, give it up for him. Hi, Dylan. Um hi Casey. Um, so uh really when um when I was in high school, I was watching uh your season with you and Haley, and I remember uh how dynamic you were as individuals, and then uh when they paired you guys together and you did uh lots of jazz tunes and you became friends, and from what I uh can recall, I think you're still friends. Is that true? Yeah, sure. No, we um so uh uh Casey, I wanted to ask you, because what I remember uh a lot about how you presented yourself on that season is that you were you to the max. You have always been unapologetically yourself, whether that's silly at times, whether that's serious. Um you have fun with your music, you have fun in your life as a as a human, and you came into the competition as a musician prior. I remember you did your first audition with a melodica, right?

SPEAKER_05 35:36

Nice, yeah. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Yeah, you sang, I don't need no doctor. I remember that. Good call, yeah. And uh and then you had moments where I believe it was in Hollywood week, you pulled out your stand-up bass for the first time and you did a beautiful version of George on My Mind. Does anyone remember that? That was incredible. Um having that sort of musical identity and background already. I know you went to school for music in Idle Wild. How did that shape your perception of yourself going into a show like this?

SPEAKER_05 36:04

Uh I don't, I didn't good question. I didn't know if I really belonged, but you know, and and uh I was nervous, you know, uh I don't know if it was like this during Rubin's uh season, but we had like four auditions, like three auditions before we actually saw the judges, and every time I made it past one of the judges, uh one of the rounds, I felt like really excited because it's like I can't believe me as a weird bearded guy. I feel like I was the only bearded guy that actually made it through to like there was there was like 10,000 people in our in our uh Austin auditions that I flew out to, and I think there was about three people with beards. Yeah. So I was like, what am I doing here? I just feel like a lumberjack in the middle of all these musical theater majors.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

I heard they made an exception for you.

SPEAKER_05 36:48

Yeah, yeah, this guy with the beard can come through. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, yeah. They have a they have a quota for beards, yeah. It's a contract. But yeah, no, I I I was just gonna be a singer. I brought the melodica just so I could get get I didn't have a tune, I I should have got a tuning whistle or something like that. Like a, you know, who here's my note. But I just had the melodica just as an instrument, so I could press the here's the F. Ooh, I don't need no doctor. I could do that. Um, but then the the producers were like, I like that instrument, and you're not supposed to bring an instrument in, but I I kind of I ignored the rules and I went up to the judges and I was I I I pulled out the melodica, I hit the ooh, and I said, I don't need no doctor, and they're like, that was cool. Uh what's that instrument you have there? And I was like, it's it's nothing. It's like, could you pull it out more? And even during the live when I was auditioning in front of the actual judges, the producers, you what you don't see is the producers are screaming, I they they gave me a yes. I was excited. They're like, all three of them were like, yes, and it was J Lo, Randy, and Steven Tyler. And they said, they said yes. And you see me just pull up my melodica on TV and start to jam. And then as I'm uh, and then and and then like almost like the um the Pied Piper, I just bring all the uh is that the right thing? Who's the guy that's Oh that's right? Okay, so I bring all the judges out into the uh into the audience. But what what's happening behind the scenes is the producers are like pull out your melodica, and then and then I'm like uh what? And then and then I'm like I start playing and they're like, leave, and then I start to leave, and they're like, other way. And then I was like, oh, okay, and they're like, judges, get up and follow him. And so then they followed me, and then on TV it makes it look like I'm just like, come on, judges, you know? So but anyway, uh being a musician, I played the upright bass. It wasn't like my first instrument, but I wheeled it on to the to the Hollywood week, and then they're like, you should play the upright bass more. And then I kind of leaned into the upright bass thing, and uh it really helped because I went behind the scenes and for that Georgia on my mind. I remember I went to Michael Orland and I said, Can we start on a B flat? I could I really had my stuff together. I could be like, could we start on a B flat? Could we end on a B-diminished scale going down? And the band just knew exactly what it what I was talking about. So being a musician really helped me out um in ways I didn't even think it would be possible.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

That's so cool. Man, thank you for sharing that. Amazing. Casey Abrams, y'all. This is my longtime buddy Justin Hopkins here. Give it up for him. Um so, Justin, before you came on to season two of The Voice, um, obviously you have been uh a working artist and a singer-songwriter for many years, having lots of ups and downs, record deals, putting in that work. Um what was it like to have had that experience and then going into a reality show like this? Did any of that prior understanding of music help you, or was it a completely different world that you had to get used to?

SPEAKER_03 39:54

Yeah, that's that's a great question. Um, you know, it it when I got the call for the voice, uh a lot of people don't know this. I played in the house band for Carson Daly on last call on NBC. If you stayed up till 2:30 in the morning, you got to watch us. Yeah, um, so I was in that house band for about six years, started in New York, and then ended up getting in TLA. And and Carson was obviously the host of the voice, so he called me for season one, and but I was kind of like, let's see how it goes, buddy. You know? Like I wasn't, I didn't know. You know what I mean? Like, do we really need another American idol? How is this gonna be? Because I was a musician, right? I I I I fancied myself that I was so much cooler than everybody, that I was I do this and I've got a career, and turns out that like the the way that they curated this show was they literally went and they found that a bunch of people just like myself, and we were all we were all grinders, and I get in a room and it's like my buddy Tony Luca and Keaton Simons and um and just these great singer-songwriter artists, and I felt okay, this is actually not gonna be as easy as I thought it was gonna be. I'm about to get my ass kicked, and proceeded, you know. But I I got to come from a TV production background, right? The band for the voice was my band on my records. Justin Derrico and Nate and Sasha, those were all my my friends. So yeah, so it was kind of like and Nicole, the line producer on the show, was the the director for Carson Daly show. So it was kind of like just being at home again. Um but I really struggled with not being able to have a routine. Like that's where the show really threw me off because I was one of those people, like you said, had five, six shows a week. You're constantly traveling, you're constantly working, they're like, hey, you sit in this hotel room for four days. Um and so, and you know, I'm missing your family, you're doing all that. So, like that that part of the show it really opened up a lot of introspection, like, well, who I wanted to be as an artist, what I wanted to do, and and kind of factory reset, right? Like, what's the next few years look like coming off of this? Because obviously, if you keep doing the same thing, like you're not happy, you wouldn't be here, right? So um so I yeah, I took it as a chance to learn and find space in a life that I hadn't had space in 15 years, right? Um so it was cool.

SPEAKER_04 41:57

That's incredible. Give it up for Justin Hopkins. This is amazing. Um I do uh since I mean, first of all, this is such an honor to be sitting here um with all of these amazing people. Uh again, we do have two winners up here, and I am curious uh from two different shows. Hav, could you talk me through what it was like in that first week after you win? I mean, obviously all of this is crazy. You just win the first season of a brand new show that millions and millions of people watch. Your family's celebrating you, people are celebrating you. What is it like when you first get to quiet down, and then what's that first week like for you?

SPEAKER_02 42:39

Um that's a great question. Uh so prior to this, uh to the win, we we were uh we were in LA for like six, six or seven weeks doing the live shows. Um and then the live shows happened, and you know, I you know I had my wife and my kids. Um they were there for the last um the last episode uh yeah, the last episode when I when I won, they were there. Um and then we all got uh I ended up getting sent to uh I got sent to New York the next day because they wanted me to do, I think it was Good Morning America, um the next, like the next morning. Um it was either the next morning or the morning after that. It was something crazy that I had to like go fly and do. Um so I did that, and then from there I got to go home to Connecticut, which was close. It was two hours I got to drive back to Connecticut, which was great. I got to be there for like five days, I think. Um with doing some phoners and some other interviews and stuff in between. Um, and then I had to go right back to Los Angeles and start working on the new the new album uh that we were gonna be working on. So it was uh it was very it was very short. There was you know some a moment where you got to kind of breathe. Uh, but I mean the phone was ringing constantly because you had uh you know managers and agents and stuff telling you, like setting up things and telling you. It was uh it was very crazy, but it you know it was what is what we asked for, you know, it's what you it's what you what you do it for, is because you want to be busy. Before that, I wasn't busy. I was wishing that I was busy. So I told myself I would never complain. Um, and and that's and that's what it uh was that that's yeah, that's what it was like. I will say that the the one of the cool things that happened was after I won the show, um, they had the after party at a club that was literally across the street from Capitol Records. And so I was looking at Capitol Records, thinking about my experience there, and then having this new chapter starting at the same time. It was uh uh it was kind of like a sign of a new beginning for me, which was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Thank you. Uh thank you. Yeah, give it up for Hob. Uh Ruben, do you relate to that at all? What was your first week like right after you won?

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Um my first week is uh a blur. Like, I mean, I honestly so to give you perspective, we we were in, we got to LA after I made the top 12. I didn't go back to Birmingham until I filmed my um hometown package. And then after that, I didn't come home again until like August of the next year. Like we like that's how because we we went straight from that to New York to record record record promotion, and then after that, we went on the America Idol Tour, which was like two months, and then I went on the road to promote my album, and then I I mean I literally like came home the following fall, like August, September around. As a matter of fact, yes, it was September because I had a big birthday party in Birmingham at the Museum of Art, and that was like one of the first times I had been home since I won Idol. Like it was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

Wow, that sounds like uh an amazing uh homecoming. Um, congratulations to both of you again. I mean, you just you guys did something absolutely incredible, um, and that is no easy feat, so I want to applaud that. Um Haley and Casey, this is a a question for both of you. Um I am curious to know. Obviously, there's a time before you get on this show, and you are who you are then, and then there's the time after you get on the show, and then you are now that person, not only to you, but to everyone else. And I imagine that it would be very strange, probably for everyone up here, to start hearing about the perception of you rather than who you really are, because you know who you are. So, Haley, uh, I'd like for you to answer this first. Um what was it like uh to be to to feel like maybe you had to live up to an image of uh what other people thought you were? And how how did you handle some of that? How do you deal with it now?

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Well, I think that on the show I really did do everything I wanted to do, and I fought for that constantly. And whether that was rock and roll or some soul, I really grew up with this music again with my parents' band, and so I I really wanted to just remain authentic to what I knew and what I loved and some jazz too. So, you know, for me, it was kind of a it's a it's a harder road for uh and I'll even say even maybe more so for a female singer doing rock and roll, doing soul, uh maybe some jazz too. And um, so that kind of feeling of being this old soul and getting that my whole life, um, remaining true to that was something that was just a little bit harder to to manage at times, but I I did fight a great deal throughout time. And once I got to, you know, sign with Inner Scope, Jimmy Ivine was one of our mentors on the show. But I also, you know, went a little head to head with him and said, I really need to write this record. I really need to co-write my first record. I wanted to portray this kind of retro, fresh Motown vibes meets a little bit of classic, you know, pop soul thing. So again, it's like I I went, I made sure that I got to do what I really wanted to do, but you're always met with people that are like, well, why didn't you do this? Or um, and and that's fine, you know, like uh the cool and interesting and sometimes strange thing is is how often people think that you know they know you more than you might know yourself because they watched you on that show. So there was a lot of interesting um, you know, things around that. But I think that within that there's a lesson there. And we got this from our mentors on the show, even people like you know, Bird and all these amazing people who gave us such amazing advice, but also at the end of the day, you have to take all these opinions in and take it with a grain of salt and really look at yourself in the mirror and say, Who am I? And what do I want to take in and what do I want to release and let go? And what do I want to bring to the stage today as my authentic self? So I think I continue to do that every day, every performance, and I just think, um, what am I feeling intuitively? Because that's truly at the end of the day, the best offering I have to give an audience is who I really am.

SPEAKER_04 49:27

So thank you. I think that's a beautiful answer. And good on you for always sticking to your guns. Um, Casey, yeah, I mean, do you have any thoughts on that? I've obviously I've you know, I've I've seen you uh go out there and perform, and I have to say, and I mean this uh genuinely, you you are a weirdo magnet, dude. You the the I've seen different types of people come up to you and treat you in all these different ways and act like they know you and all these things. And I'm just curious, like, how how does that feel? And and how did that feel like right after uh coming off of American Idol? Did that take like a shift for you?

SPEAKER_05 50:01

I I gotta be honest, uh there's there's a very big selfish part of me that I love to show, and um I you know uh I I I like attention, okay? So and I I like playing music, but I like a little bit of attention. So when we when we walked through some of those malls and and uh and people were saying your name and and it's the Philippines, oh the Philippines, right? Well, Haley and I went to the Philippines after our three-month tour, and I I hate to say it, but I'll say it. But we felt like the Beatles because we were walking through Manila, this uh this uh this what was it?

SPEAKER_01 50:35

I mean, it was incredible, and uh just to tag on to this because we had this resurgence of the show with the new judges that year, so we were selling out 20,000, 25,000 arenas every night for 50 cities, and they added some some even more shows in the Philippines and Canada, and it was it was simply incredible.

SPEAKER_05 50:56

Yeah, we we got to play at the Thriller and Manila venue, so that was insane.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

And Manny Pacquiao in the lobby.

SPEAKER_05 51:02

Yeah, that was crazy. So so yeah, you know what? It's it it's it's great. Actually, someone on the cruise actually asked me about it earlier, and uh, and they said, Do you like how do you like people coming up to you? And as I I love it, I'll be honest with you, because it's I'm lazy. I get to have people who already know my name, and they just say, Hey Casey, good job. I'm like, Oh, thanks, you know? It's just a bunch of thank you, and it feels really good. I used to walk uh in LA in into the um into the shopping malls just seeing if I would get recognized. It's and and I gotta it's exciting. I'm sorry to say, you know, I'll I'll admit it, but it it felt good to be like, I was looking around, does that person know who I am? And taking pictures? I'll never I'll never turn down a picture.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

So that's it, it felt good. I I appreciate your honesty. I'm sure a lot of people do that and they'll never say it. So thank you for saying this. There's no shame in that, dude. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Yes. Um Justin, I want to bring it back to you. Um you were on Team CeeLo, right? Okay, so tell me uh tell me uh any kind of interactions that you had with that that man. I just wanted to.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Oh, he he he liked to torture me. Like it was off. So I actually they you do your uh your entrance interviews on the show. They'll ask you a question, like uh, you know, what are you looking to sing? And my answer was anything but journey. We sit down for our team meetings, and CeeLo's in his chair, and he's got his glass of wine, and he's looking at me, and we're all there, and he's like, Justin, you old enough. Come here. And he's like, Well, he's like, sip some of my wine. Like, okay. So I have a little sip of the wine, I go back and he's like, Just looking at me. He's like And then he's like, I'm gonna start with the two the two boys, the two old men. You guys are gonna sing faithfully uh by journey. And he just keeps smiling. He never broke eye contact with me once the whole time. And I'm and the whole time I'm thinking I'm like, You watched that you so like I'm like, I want to be. Anyway, it was an awesome experience. So because what ended up happening was that uh my father-in-law, who's since passed, and my sister-in-law, who has since passed, um, he had taken care of, she had a medical condition, cerebral palsy really advanced, and he had to work on the road all the time for her entire life, basically, to make the money for her to be able to have those treatments. And every night he would sing her faithfully into the phone, and I didn't know that. And so when I when I got when I found out we were singing that, I was able to call them and be like, hey, we're gonna they're gonna fly you in to uh be part of the taping and kind of experience that show, which is one of the last things Paige ever got to do. So I always again always remind you, we're like always right where you're supposed to be, doesn't matter how much you push back, right? And that was just one of those moments, and so I like I credit CeeLo for giving my family something they will never ever forget, even though he was trying to piss me off.

SPEAKER_04 53:49

So that's great. Thanks for sharing that, man. Wow, that's incredible. Um just we're uh we're running uh we've got about five minutes here. My fault. No, no, it's okay. We're all good. But yes, it was your fault. Um anyway, um yeah, I I I kind of wanted to go down the line um and just get like a a quick answer um from from all of you. Um overall, would you encourage someone to audition for a show like this today? Uh and if you could just speak a little bit on that, Hav, we'll we'll start with you.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

I think going on the voice would really benefit you, Dylan.

SPEAKER_02 54:32

Thank you. Um I I always uh when people ask me, I always say uh it's worth a it's worth a try. Um you know when I was on it was kind of before TikTok and Instagram were were well TikTok didn't exist and and Instagram was maybe just starting. Um but you know now you know you can kind of make your make yourself go viral uh and and uh have put yourself in a better position uh than where some of us might have ended up in some of the contracts that you end up in in being on one of these shows. Um but what you're kind of signing away is is um you know your ability to get the the exposure from from a show like that. Uh if you can get that exposure some other way, that's that's amazing. Uh and now you know there are folks that can do that now where that wasn't available to us, you know, when we were on. Um but I would still say that you know it was honestly it was a it was an amazing experience for me. It changed my life, um, not only my life, but the lives of my wife and and my kids. And uh and I'm very grateful for that experience, and I know that that can help um others um as well. But I also heard folks that that you know didn't have the the best experience on on the show. And so I I know that that my experience was you know was about the about as good as it could get. And um so I know that there's varying there are varying opinions on it, but um I still you know recommend it to folks who who are trying to get out there. And I I say you have to do everything because in this business there's no uh you never know where your break is gonna come from. So you just have to put yourself out there every chance you get. And if that's doing a show, if that's you know, throwing a bunch of videos on TikTok and and and and being committed to doing that, then that's that's what it is. You gotta do whatever you you have to do. So yeah, I would say yes.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Thanks, Hav.

SPEAKER_09 56:15

Yeah, Tony, uh, what's your opinion on that? Well, I want to say coming from an angle of education, right? Music education and being on the show. Yes. And I see people making it, they're they're they're trying for their dreams, they're trying to get exposure, they're they're trying to learn how to break it into business. And we don't have a lot of that anymore in music education as far as just going out, playing in the clubs, busting it out, you know, all these bands are playing. We have a lot of loss of live music in in places, uh loss of uh just you know, everything's like you know, we have on social media and everybody's playing to a screen. So how can we get that human interaction to develop your talent? And I was talking to my friend Robbie, I said, yeah, it was just amazing how I saw these artists develop. And he said, of course, man, because people have talent, they they have these outlets. So I see American Idol, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, these things. There are outlets for people to build their craft. So now I see that I I advocate it. Either like Javier says, yeah, there may be a bad experience, or maybe a good experience, or might be a you know, a stratosphere experience, but you know, you're gonna have to take the hits to to keep going in this business. So I look at it that way, and uh, you know, that's how I that that's how I see the live show experience.

SPEAKER_04 57:44

Thank you, Tony. I appreciate that. Uh Ruben, what about you, man?

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Um, I would definitely encourage young people to do whatever it takes to get to where your dream wants you to be. And if that's being on America Isle of the Voice or wherever, like do that. You know, I spent I wanted to be a professional musician when I was five years old, and it took me until I was 24 to get to that place. And I've been singing everywhere. I did everything that everybody, every magazine, everybody told me I was supposed to do to get to that place, and nobody is coming to Birmingham, Alabama, but you can go and drive to an American Idol audition and you can see uh like a million people can see you as opposed to you just you know having the opportunity to sing around the Southeast like I was doing. So I would encourage it. You know, I mean I also encourage my kids that come to the Rubensturder Music Camp to also get their education in music so they can know who they are as a musician. That's really the most important thing, so that people can't really tell you who you are when you get that show, you know who you are when you get there.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

Thank you. That's beautiful. Thank you, Haley.

SPEAKER_01 58:55

Yeah, I think the word development that you guys have all touched on is really powerful. And for the experience alone and the way that you your growth as an artist throughout a show like that, just that alone is worth this experience. Uh I know there's totally different strokes for different folks, and the a lot of people come from bands and things, and they're like, that's just not for me. And I'm like, even my little sister. She's like, Well, your sister did it, why don't you do it? I was like, don't bug her. She's got her own thing, and she's so happy with that. And I've always lifted her up, she's lifted me up. There's no, you know, weirdness surrounding that, but people have their own journey to to go forth with. But for myself, I didn't even actually want to necessarily do the show, but I'm a believer in signs, so even in eighth grade, I got most likely to be on American Idol. I'm not gonna lie, I got a golden ticket for that one. So I saved that, and you know, I racked up all these things that were signs to me. And even if I wasn't initially like gun ho about it, I I really was like, well, you know what? Something's telling me to really go for this thing. And like a lot of you have said as well, what do I have to lose at this time? Absolutely nothing. So I'm glad I did it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

Thank you. We are too.

unknown 1:00:12

Thanks.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:12

Uh Casey, uh, you know, if you look at it as a platform, then that's that that's what you're gonna get. And you're gonna get a platform to to show yourself off. Uh our buddy Puddles Pity Party. Uh, have you heard of that guy? He's a giant seven-foot clown. Um, he he had a tour, and then he went on America's Got Talent, and then all of his tickets tripled. So it's like, you know, he and he, you know, I f I felt bad. He turned into a sad clown. He was because he felt really bad that he didn't win. I think he was in fifth or sixth place. But then then we saw him later on a postmodern jukebox tour, oddly enough, and we saw him at a uh at a giant theater, and it was three it was one of three nights that he was performing in Atlanta, Georgia, and we were like, dude, and then and then he was happy. He was like, yeah, so it's like if you treat it as a platform, you want to sing, even if you don't win, you're still winning.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:08

Sure, I'm sure defining your expectations can help too. Um Justin, what about you?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:13

Well, I this the things you do are what sends you where you go, right? Um I don't think I'd be on this Dave Cos cruise if I hadn't like listened to my wife and gone to the audition. Because I was like Hob, I'm like, I'm not going. So I think I think it's maybe you should, maybe you shouldn't. Because the system can these things can beat you up and they can, you know, they can kind of throw you off your course for a little bit too if they're not handled. So I do think it's not for the for the weaker heart, but it's a great place to learn how to be a professional.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:43

So that makes sense, thank you. Um well everyone, um, thank you so much for coming out to this event. Please give it up for everyone up here. There you go. Dylan James! Thank you. Uh I just wanted to say real fast, thank you all for uh allowing me to uh ask you these questions. I know that you've answered a lot of them a lot, but I have so much respect for all of you. You're all incredible, and uh thanks for lifting us all up and inspiring us all. Have a good night, everybody. Enjoy the rest of your day.