James Durbin releases new album, hopes to reach broad audience
James Durbin was one of seaon ten’s most memorable contestants. His metal predilections were in full display. He loved being on stage. He had a good voice, and a wail that some folks hated but regardless, he did get better as the show went along. He proved mild Tourette Syndrome weren’t an obstacle. And he showed refreshing honesty on stage and in interviews.
In the end, Durbin took full advantage of his time on “Idol,” educating the world about Judas Priest and quickly nabbing a record deal.
His first record “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster” came out last week and will sell an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 copies, according to HitsDailyDouble.com.
I spoke with him before the album came out. Some work was done before the tour began but he squeezed any free moment he could to refine it. “We were able to reach out to people to get songs written,” he said. “Even if it wasn’t written by me, I was looking for something I could connect iwth on a different level.” Topics at hand: “Life. Loss. Love. Being picked on and bullied every year in school from elementary to high school.”
It’s the hard-rock album with cuts like ‘Higher Than Heaven” and “Deeper.” At the same time, he did throw in a wider variety of songs since he was coming off “Idol.”
“You’re singing to a very very wide variety of people who listen to a wide variety of styles,” he said. “That’s the greatest part of the show: to connect with people you never get a chance to hear metal. And the show was able to showcase hip hop, gospel, country and R&B. They are now aware of what metal is. Or at least some idea, little footnotes of what it is.”
The speed of putting it together precluded getting any big guest acts except guitarist Mick Mars of Motley Crue, who joined in on “Outcast.” “I know everything that Mick Mars ever plays on,” Durbin raved. “It’s the Mick lick!”
He tried hard not to copy others. “At first, I wanted to do something like Black Sabbath, a ‘Neon Knights’ feel. Then I realized you can’t recreate that. It can’t be done again. I want to create my own destiny.”
Knowing that CD sales won’t ultimately pay the bills so he is aware that concert touring and “merch” will make up the difference. He even designs his own T-shirts. And his album is not only on sale through today on Amazon for download at a mere $6.99 but merch is 30 percent off on durbinrock.com.
One thing very hard rock he has never done in concert: stage dive. But he would have to gauge the crowd. If it’s mostly teen girls and older ladies, that wouldn’t be a good idea, he said.
As for touring, he is shooting for late January, early February. He isn’t sure who he will open for but should know relatively soon.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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104 comments Add your comment
DanJ
November 29th, 2011
10:42 am
Matt with all due respect a good CD or song is determined by number of sales and the ears of the listener. In that regard, Kelly, Carrie, Chris D etc have all done well. If you want to compare Adam to James I prefer James. The problem with James is that at time he lacked vocal control. Adam while he had a good voice his whole act seemed fake to me. James came across to me as a more natural rocker.
I like the CD cover. I think it’s something out of the Lost Boys or someone who just took a helmet off after riding a Harley. Fitting for James IMO!Hope he does well and I think he will.
Matt
November 29th, 2011
11:09 am
DanJ, I respect whatever pleases a person’s ear, but don’t believe CD sales determine good music, that’s been pretty obvious since the late 90’s. In fact I would go so far as to say the best artists out there are never heard. My main problem is that reality shows like Idol are trying to shape our listening and consuming habits to make money, they are big marketing tools. Simon Cowell is know n in the UK as the man who killed good music. Idols that actually have some talent are forced to put out terrible music that fits to some financial equation – and mostly Idols have some tv fame but no money and that’s sad. The music industry is in bad shape right now, financially and artistically and I think reality shows are not helping.
DanJ
November 29th, 2011
11:42 am
Matt, I agree and disagree with you! I say that because singing based reality shows are a double edged sword. It gives the Crystal Bowesox’s and James Durbin’s of the world a platform to perform. But it also forces them to conform to a particular format.
Often THEIR music and their identity is lost in the produced music they make. Bo Bice is another one who comes to mind. The CD’s released at least from Crystal and Bo lost something. Crystal’s CD even failed to have Up To The Mountain on it. Bo was a southern rock guy yet his CD had songs that had cross-over potential but lacked the southern rock feel. The problem is they lost their fan base trying to gain a bigger audience.
Any singer had better know who they are and fight to make the record they want their name attached to. Especially those who compete in these shows because fans EXPECT the CD to reflect what they see on the show.
Deirdre
November 29th, 2011
11:50 am
Matt…let’s not over-estimate the power of reality shows. Their purpose is to make money and most do to some extent, Idol being tha absolute pinnacle of money-making prowess in this country. In most years, Idol has a balance of singers. Broadway, pop, country and R&B are fairly well represented.
Idol’s main problem is its voting procedure which allows those with nothing better to do than vote half a million times for their favorite. This gets us winners like Scotty who has a good voice and is a nice guy but is limited to what he is capable of singing. The fact that 2 teenagers who sing country music came in first and second last year tells us a lot about who is doing most of the voting.
Another problem is the inconsistency of the talent from season to season. Some seasons we have at least 2 people who should win. Underwood/Bice for example. Studdard/Aiken. And other seasons we just have to hope the best of a not so good bunch gets to the top of the heap.
All that being said, Idol is not really about the individual singers but about the competition. Young, innocent, relatively inexperienced people vying for the attention of the public. Idol only has 2 winners who have hit the “big time”, Kelly and Carrie but that has more to do with their individual work ethic and general popularity.
JTesla
November 29th, 2011
12:41 pm
Matt: “Simon Cowell is know n in the UK as the man who killed good music. Idols that actually have some talent are forced to put out terrible music that fits to some financial equation”
“Good music” as defined by being non-terrible music that doesn’t fit some financial equation mostly died decades ago. Neither Idol, nor Simon had anything to do with it. Current events often act as blinders to what went on before. Idol is one current aspect of the ‘musical financial equation’, but it by no means started the trend.
RxDawg
November 29th, 2011
2:40 pm
Seth, Drew slipping in her popularity is definitely not a bad. If I was in charge she would of been gone 2-3 episodes ago. Bleh
I always said James Durban would have the best career out of his AI class. And I still stand by that.
RxDawg
November 29th, 2011
2:42 pm
“but don’t believe CD sales determine good music”
I one billion % agree with that statement.
I’ll point to exhibit A —–> Taylor Swift
Deirdre
November 29th, 2011
3:04 pm
“good music” is in the ear of the listener.
Rickster
November 29th, 2011
5:01 pm
You’re right, Matt. There’s a big ol’ world out there and we need to stop drinking the Idol kool-aid and get a life!
Thanks for turning my life around.
I’m so pumped up… I’m going to sign off now and go home to the lovely Mrs. Rickster and our (not-so) little girl.
Seth T.
November 29th, 2011
5:04 pm
There are so many different readily available genres, and sub-genres, of music – from classical to punk-rock, dirty word rap, clean pop-rap/hip-hop, etc. that it’s like 101 flavors of Ice Cream. Some people like only one flavor, while others like several.
When we play gigs, we shoot for what “moves” or holds the crowd, or gets dancers onto the dance floor. This will go from Kelly to Taylor to current Hot Country to the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry to yes- Lady GaGa, to Cee Lo to Colbie, to old Jerry Lee Lewis & Elvis songs. With the right young female singers, we can cover Martina McBride and Adele – but better left alone without the right vocalists.
It’s harder to cover some of Kelly Clarkson’s material than it is to cover Taylor Swift material – because some of the better Kelly material is more difficult for a vocalist to come near the range and dynamics of the song.
I think James Durbin has enough twitter and Facebook followers from AI, that he will have a degree of success on his release, especially when priced-down to $6.99. Individual downloads are a big plus , so album sales are not as important as they used to be. Ticket prices at a concert are also an indication of the level of success he is at.
Seth T.
November 29th, 2011
5:28 pm
Copy from Deirdre’s post:::
“”"Idol’s main problem is its voting procedure which allows those with nothing better to do than vote half a million times for their favorite. This gets us winners like Scotty who has a good voice and is a nice guy but is limited to what he is capable of singing. The fact that 2 teenagers who sing country music came in first and second last year tells us a lot about who is doing most of the voting.”"”
Very well put – and X-Factor’s adding of Facebook & Twitter has made the “average” voters influence even less significant.
They did not even put a good individual country singer into the top 12, so that tells us something about what they are shooting for.
Simon was on Wendy Williams recently, he said that Lady GaGa exemplified “The X-Factor”, writes much of her own material, wild, confident and knows what she’s doing.
Mo Schreibman
November 29th, 2011
5:42 pm
If he sang and looked more like that Deanna Durbin then maybe he would make something more of himself even though she is from Canada of all places.
JTesla
November 29th, 2011
5:50 pm
“Simon was on Wendy Williams recently, he said that Lady GaGa exemplified ‘The X-Factor’, writes much of her own material, wild, confident and knows what she’s doing”
Yet no one currently on X-Factor appears to meet two or more of these criteria.
Mo Schreibman
November 29th, 2011
6:17 pm
The so called X Factor singing contest television program is instead one of those new reality television programs about guest panelists and there is not a Bill Cullen or Peggy Cass amongst them you can believe me hands down.
Seth T.
November 29th, 2011
7:34 pm
“”"Yet no one currently on X-Factor appears to meet two or more of these criteria.”"”
True so far, and they all need much more development and experience to be in the big International Star league. The 5 million recording/promo contract means they will have to do a lot of support work to try to “manufacture an image” for the winner.
There are also a lot of ways to designate how the 5 million will be spent. You can charge huge fees by your studio and promotional machine — which just might be partiallly owned by you and the other funding producers — and pay yourselves under a different entity name — while official and legal money is charged against the 5 million designated pot of money.
In other words, if you agree to produce a $5,000 local recording deal for Buffy B., you can charge her $2,100 in consultation and recording, mastering, distribution, booking and promo fees. And there is nothing illegal about that, no watchdog entity that I am aware of that can watch the pennies or intervene, or tell you what you can charge for your services to the second entity. It’s a free market.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
7:38 am
Morning!
I finally caught up with the last 2 episodes of The Walking Dead last night. Very good! One small request. Please do not post spoilers of scripted shows. I might have guessed how the last episode would end but, with the spoiler, I knew for sure. Kind of took away from the OMG moment. Posting song spoilers for Idol is all together different than posting a climax spoiler for a scripted show. Thanks.
Harriett
November 30th, 2011
8:05 am
Good morning. I have been MIA for awhile, first dealing with the death of my brother-in-law and being there for my sister, and then I am completely covered up with end-of-semester issues, etc. But, I have peeked in from time to time to see what the conversations have been like.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
8:06 am
Hubby is recovering from his cold just in time for XF tonight. I think the main reason I want to watch the show is the happiness I’ll feel when 2 more of these contestants are eliminated!
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
8:07 am
Good Morning!
AJC headlines from the rap establishment Astroboy is so eager to join:
“7 shot during filming of rap music video”
“Rapper Lil Boosie gets 8 years”
Can’t say I’m looking forward to X-Fix tonight. It’s become a show I record, so I can save time (a 2 hr show has 40 mins of commercials) breezing through it, just to have it done. No enjoyment factor left, except for hearing Josh and – brainfreeze – the kicked-off/returned girl sing.
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
8:08 am
Harriett, so sorry to read about your brother-in-law.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
8:08 am
Harriett, my sympathies again on the passing of your b-i-l. And I remember how semester ending business keeps you very busy. We know you haven’t deserted us.
Rodney Ho
November 30th, 2011
8:11 am
Good news: the seven acts tonight on “X Factor” are going to be stretched out to a mere 90 minutes. Remember when “Idol” used to do seven acts in one hour? Those were the days…
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
8:12 am
Mercedes, happily, XF is only one and a half hours tonight so that would be only about 35 minutes of commercials, right?
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
8:14 am
Rodney, those days are long gone on Idol and I don’t blame Idol as much as I do the Fox network. I think they’re stretching the biggest money-maker in gigantic proportions.
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
8:33 am
Post at 8:12 – sounds about right, D.!
Harriett
November 30th, 2011
8:45 am
Thanks, D and Mercedes.
By the way, did you do a review of J Edgar a couple of weeks ago, Mercedes? I took my sister to see it on Sunday and was bored about halfway through. Some people actually left before it was over. I thought it was terribly slow in places and was actually glad when it was over. But, having said that, I dearly loved Armie Hammer and Leo.
DanJ
November 30th, 2011
8:54 am
Does anyone know if those contestants who made it to boot camp but failed to make it to the top 16 are locked into a non-compete contract? In other words could Jazzlyn, Caitlyn, Brennen or Tim try out for Idol or The Voice this year? Just curious because it would be interesting to see then on another show.
Sam-A
November 30th, 2011
9:18 am
this is for Deirdre and anyone else who may love Sir Paul and Doris Day – beautiful interview between two beautiful and wonderful people. Who knew – having loved both most of my life, I never knew they were friends!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8733533/Doris-Day-and-Paul-McCartney-in-conversation.html
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
9:36 am
Thanks Sam. I had such a girl crush on Doris Day as a child and then I had a regular crush on Sir Paul. How nice to see this!
Rickster
November 30th, 2011
9:46 am
The only things about XF I’m looking forward to are:
1. Melanie’s performance
2. Josh’s performance
3. Astro getting booted tomorrow.
Sad that a show with such promise has failed so miserably to deliver.
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
10:02 am
Harriett, I enjoyed “J. Edgar” greatly, because it gave such a different picture of the man most people have seen as a bully and a creep, blackmailing all those people over all those years. Both Leo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer gave wonderful performances and Naomi Watts was unrecognizable!
Slow and tedious are words I’d use about Martic Scorsese’s much-lauded “Hugo”. And it’s just not me, “normal” moviegoers like friends my age and my favorite niece in Iowa (who took her kids, thinking it was a kids’ movie) were bored silly.
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
10:06 am
Sam-A, thanks for link! I collected Doris Day movie star pics as a child! Did you know that when Charles Manson went to Roman Polanski’s home with his murderous gang he picked that house because he thought Doris Day’s son Terry lived there?
Sam-A
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
I did know that – scary. I have loved DD since I was about 4 and saw her in a movie (do NOT ask me which one!). When we were kids, we played “movie stars” and I was always DD. Bought all the movie mags (precursers of “People” et al) with her pics on the cover and read everything I could about her. My Grandmother used to take me to the beauty parlor with her and I’d take the latest mag and ask for that haircut – wanted so to be just like her. That she ended up being a tremendous animal lover and savior of animals is just an added bonus.
About 15 years ago I wrote a letter to her telling her how much I’ve always admired her, and sent it to her hotel in Carmel – a few weeks later got a little card with red DD at the top, saying how much she’d enjoyed my letter and thanking me for thinking of her. A true STAR!
Rickster
November 30th, 2011
10:26 am
If Simon was wanting the new GaGa… he shouldn’t have sent home that one girl with the tattoos whose fall-back career was to be an auto mechanic.
DanJ
November 30th, 2011
11:37 am
My predictions for tonight’s Michael Jackson theme show. I am picking the obvious songs, I hope I’m wrong and they shake things up.
1) Chris Rene: Will probably rearrange Bad. “I used to be bad….”
2) Astro: Will rap while Thriller probably plays in the background!
3) Melanie: Will probably sing a Mariah version of I’ll Be There.
4) Marcus: Will probably sing Billie Jean
5) Josh: Tough to pick but my guess is Ben or Dirty Diana
6) Drew: Will probably sing Got to Be There. Can she sing it any slower than the original?
7) Rachel: Black or White is probably the song Simon wants her to sing. I think she’ll sing Human Nature.
Debbie
November 30th, 2011
2:59 pm
Why bother to comment with the negativity? Just to spread some doom & gloom? James’ album is legendary. As more people hear it, his sales will probably surprise many. No, the first week’s sales will not be that high, as many people who will enjoy it have never seen Idol. When James tours next year, excitement will build, and his fan-base will broaden. Then, watch his record sales climb.
Seth T.
November 30th, 2011
3:13 pm
Rickster – That would have been 21 year-old Tora Woloshin – with the tat’s, platinum blond, glowing red lipstick,
She has actually released a song, which I think is her own personal project. And I don’t think that anyone under the top 12 has any type of binding contract with X-Factor, unless it is for a re-apperance quik-flash on the finale – but that is just a guess, as I haven’t seen one of their contracts.
If this link works, Tora’s song
http://tweetmysong.com/f245548.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
3:21 pm
Debbie, I hope what you say is true but I’ve read soooo many statements just like yours about other Idols that I fear you might be in for a big disappointment.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
3:24 pm
Re the contracts…Idol keeps all the top 12 or 13 or whatevernumber on contract straight through the tour which usually ends around mid-September so yes, I imagine that all the top whatever it was for XF are on some kind of temporary contract until the show decides to release them. Don’t know for sure but, if they run the show anything like Idol, then they probably are contracted to stick around until XF is through with them.
Rodney Ho
November 30th, 2011
3:24 pm
Ratings are down in the U.K. for Britain’s Got Talent minus Simon. So guess what? Simon is putting himself back on the panel. He can’t do that in the U.S., of course. Contractual issues with Fox. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2067992/Simon-Cowell-returns-Britains-Got-Talent–makes-Barbara-Windsor-judge-too.html?ITO=1490
Mercedes S.
November 30th, 2011
3:26 pm
“James album is legendary”… you probably have to do something more amazing than record an album to be an actual legend.
Simon Cowell will be among Barbara Walter’s “10 Most Fascinating People of 2011″.
Others: The Kardashians.
I abstain from comment.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
3:35 pm
Ms Walters appears to be scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Deirdre
November 30th, 2011
3:37 pm
Rodney, Simon will be spreading himself kind of thin. Is he also going to return to the XF UK panel since it isn’t doing that well either? And what makes him think the ratings are about him? Idol’s ratings weren’t hurt by his leaving.
Sam-A
November 30th, 2011
3:39 pm
Seems Babs is easily “fascinated”! The K’s are the most tedious family I’ve ever seen. Only poor old Bruce is even slightly interesting. The rest are just a pack of imbecilic bimbos, famous for being famous and notorious.
Seth T.
November 30th, 2011
3:45 pm
Guess the link that was supposed to lead to Tora’s song, picks-up a lot of the aspiring hip-hop & rap acts, but not her song. Oh well…
A lot of the rap music has a very danceable, shake-it-loose, good beat – but many of the songs are only slight variations of the others – talk about “doing the same-o type of songs each week” they should discuss the non-singing rap selections as well.
They will also have a British Rapper as a guest on the show this week, Tinie Tempah, I think it is.
Simon said on the Wendy Williams show that Mariah Carey could take take part in the X-Factor “whenever she wanted to.”
JTesla
November 30th, 2011
3:57 pm
Barbara Walters scrapped bottom last year… this year she’s just catching the muck that is floating around down there. Simon stopped being fascinating 5 years ago, and there is only one fascinating aspect to the Kardashian’s. Unless they put Kim’s booty up on a rotating pedestal then they will miss it.
Legendary… LOL. That’s a good one.
Rodney Ho
November 30th, 2011
4:49 pm
Looks like not a lot of changes for season 11 of “Idol,” according to Nigel. http://www.starhq.com/2011/11/28/%E2%80%98idol%E2%80%99-producer-no-major-changes-for-new-season/
Sam-A
November 30th, 2011
4:54 pm
Sorry to hear that – Idol needs LOTS of changes, incl judges. And I’m not a real big fan of “diverse” “talent” – that’s why we’re stuck with the 13 year old ego on XF!
Safe trip home, everyone.
Rickster
November 30th, 2011
5:06 pm
I guess its about time for:
1. Someone to go unplug Mr. Roboto and perform a systems check before tonight’s show.
2. Me to go home!
Good night, everybody.
Seth T.
November 30th, 2011
5:10 pm
With Leroy and Lakoda out of the mix now, it will be interesting to see who that helps the most in this weeks voting.