Adam Lambert Live Interview

By Susie Salva
Intelligent, articulate and endearing the American Idol runner up Adam Lambert takes time from his busy schedule to answer some questions that he participated in on a conference call prior to his first night of his Glam Nation tour.

Q: Can you tell us more about the show itself? The look and how you’re going to approach it that way? And also the repertoire, what else are we going to hear besides the songs from the album?

Adam Lambert: There is a surprise cover in there, one or two. But I’m kind of leaving them as wonderful surprises (as a way to place) the show. And then the show itself was actually – it’s being visually inspired by kind of like a blend of turn of the century New Orleans meets like psychedelic classic rock.

I had a lot of fun with the projectionist and my costume designer and we’re working with a fashion line called Skin Graft Designs, which I have worn a lot of their pieces in the past on Idol and since then. And yeah, it kind of has its own little world.

Q. Are people who were up in arms about your AMA performance going to be comfortable at this show? Or should they stay home?

Adam Lambert: I definitely think they will be comfortable. That was kind of an artistic experiment, the AMAs, and I learned a lot from it. I learned kind of what my limitations are. I learned what my audience wants to see. And there is definitely – the concert definitely is sexy. But I feel like if anybody felt that that was not tasteful, this is tasteful.

Q. About your inspiration or your vision for the Glam Nation tour but what in your mind, like what shows did you see growing up, what tours did you see that you wanted to do this for your first headlining tour that maybe inspired you or influenced you or in your mind, this is kind of carrying on the tradition of? Anything come to mind?

Adam Lambert: Yeah. I definitely have always loved like the big pop tours, people like Michael Jackson and Madonna and even my first tour that I ever saw was Paula Abdul.

People that put on a show, you know what I mean? They take their music and they create a visual and a story and a theme and they kind of reinterpret maybe a song both musically and visually to kind of give it a context and that is something that is really important to me.

And also I think that my background in musical theater really came into play a lot with this production. I definitely wanted it to be first and foremost about the music but a close second is giving the audience something to look at and giving them a reason why okay, this is the next song in the set, this is the next song. There is definitely like a thematic through line throughout the show.

Q. Talk a little bit more about the thematic elements that you say are woven into the show. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Adam Lambert: Yeah. That’s actually been one of the most exciting parts of this is trying to give the show a world to exist in and kind of a reason why each song comes next.

And what I decided, I had a song that came out on my remix EP a couple months back that was a track that was written for the album and it’s called Voodoo and I wrote that with Sam Sparrow. And it’s a real fun kind of sexy, modern disco type song with a lot of visual references to New Orleans and kind of mysticism and it’s kind of kitschy, not to be taken too seriously and very sexy.

And that kind of – I kind of fell in love again with the song and was like I want to do this for my concert, and then realized slowly but surely that the more I listened to all my music, I was like they could all live in that world, that kind of turn of the century New Orleans meets modern New Orleans, voodoo, crystal balls, magic kind of look.

And it’s also there is a lot of psychedelic kind of classic rock visual references. People like Jimmy Hendrix and Jim Morrison and Keith Richards – these are all people that have kind of inspired the look and the feel of the show.

Q. How would you classify your image right now both from a musical and fashion perspective.

Adam Lambert: I always have been fond of like the glam rocker title. I think glam is a broader term than maybe people realize because I think that there is definitely the ‘70s glam, there was the ‘80s glam movement.
And then right now with the tour, I think I’m exploring a look that is really inspired by psychedelic rock stars, Jimmy Hendrix, Keith Richards, Jim Morrison and then blended with this whole thing called scheme punk is what they call it. And what it is, is it’s like Victorian era fashion mixed with modern elements like punk rock mixed with retro kind of historical clothing. It’s hard to explain but it’s a really, really cool angle.

And there is a fashion company named Skin Grafts that I have worked with for the last couple years and they are designing a lot of custom pieces for the tour so I’m really excited to show everybody.

Q. What would be the best thing an aspiring artist can do for their career in light of your experience?

Adam Lambert: I think it’s really about making your own opportunities. Nothing is going to come to you. You have to go to it. I think that that was one of the reasons why I decided to audition for Idol, is I thought that’s going to be a great platform, a great launching pad for me if I can get through it.

And so I’m going to take the risk and go audition and really put myself out there. You have to put your eggs in lots of different baskets.

Q.   Just after Idol I wanted to know what your band that you formed and
also the new tour, what is the most amazing thing that has happened to you on this journey?

Adam Lambert:  What’s the most amazing thing? I mean it’s all pretty darn amazing. I think that this right now, getting to conceptualize my first headlining tour is like a dream come true.

I definitely think my album is really strong and I love all the music on it and getting to put it on stage is really kind of what I’m best at, coming from the theater originally and doing a lot of live performances in Los Angeles. Translating this material and making it come alive on stage and giving it an emotional through line and a visual through line is really exciting.

Q. I’m wondering if there is anything you learned about yourself from the first go round with Idol pre-Idol to now, to all that you have now. Anything on a personal level, reflection – any of that, that was a revelation to you about you?

Adam Lambert: That’s a good question, deep and good. I don’t know. I think that ultimately I think that just trusting my instincts has been kind of the biggest challenge and test since coming off of Idol.

It’s a business this music industry and it’s a lot of amazing, talented, very experienced people working in it. And they have their opinions and I have mind and coming to compromises and figuring out what the best plan of action is is definitely something that I’m learning a lot about.

Q. Tell me about how your style or sound has evolved since your time on Idol. We have talked about the infamous AMA thing and that caused some people to be concerned about the type of performer you will be. Would you say you have toned down your style? I mean you called that an experiment so what have you…?

Adam Lambert: Yeah. I think that for me it’s like every week on Idol I was doing something different. I was singing a different song, dressed differently, expressing a different emotion or vibe.

And I thought it was funny that people got so nervous about what kind of performer I’d be based on the AMAs. I’m like this is one performance. If you didn’t know anything about me at this point it’s that I change it up all the time. And then coming out with Whattaya Want From Me and all my subsequent performances of that with a great way to show that I’m more than one type artist.

I think I have a lot of different sides and I like to show all of them. So that AMA performance was me expressing my sexuality and that scares a lot of people. But I think that it’s healthy. And the Whattaya Want From Me song and performances were me expressing vulnerability and honesty.

And this new single If I Had You is about joy and connection. And so every song on the album has a different emotion and my performances will reflect that emotion.

Q. In an interview where you said that you felt like your career had been a series of proving yourself in weird moments. Is it kind of a different challenge now that it’s your tour and you’re sort of creating it yourself?

Adam Lambert: Yeah. I mean there is definitely a different kind of freedom with this. This is my show and people are buying tickets because they are usually fans and they most of them I would say already are aware of my music and my career.

So there are not as many first impressions that I’m making but that’s just as much of a challenge is trying to kind of reinvent songs and give them an emotional and visual through line. I think yeah, I feel less pressure to prove anything and more of an opportunity to create something. So there is a lot of freedom.

Q. if you had to pick one song on the album that best represents you as an artist, what would it be or can you even pick one song?

Adam Lambert: It’s really hard to pick one song because I really feel like the whole thing about the album was that every song on there I wanted to reflect me as an artist.

I wanted there to be different elements of my personality. I think it’s really easy in today’s music market because there is so much to choose from and generally things kind of come and go so quickly. I think it’s hard to find artists that are trying to show you all different dimensions. A lot of albums kind of sound all alike for the commercial benefit of that.

But for me it was really important for me to have an album that was super diverse showing different sides of who I am. My current single If I Had You I think is a really great reflection of where I’m at currently. I have been fortunate that my singles have kind of been released in the manner that reflect where I’m at in my life at that moment.

For Your Entertainment, the first single, was definitely about sexuality and I was kind of in the hot spot on that kind of having recently come out and done a lot of press about that. That felt like an appropriate first single because that’s what it was about. And then it subsequently ended up kind of scaring some people as sexuality often does.

And then with Whattaya Want From Me it’s like it was a response to that. It was the hey I’m human and I’m doing the best I can and thank you for believing in me and this is me being honest and scared. And then the current single is If I Had You. And like I said, it’s about joy and connection and realizing that happiness comes from that and not from success.

And I find that one of the best things about being in the position that I’m in is that you get the chance to make people feel something and inspire people. And so I really believe in that current message as a way to connect with the audience.

Q. Have you talked to Elton John or other artists to sort of have a really big image about what it’s like to sort of build a career when you’re sort of this out there kind of personality. But yet you still want to produce quality music.

Adam Lambert: I think that my interaction with Madonna was a great example of that because she basically said you can’t pay attention to all the extraneous crap. You can’t listen to the critics, you can’t be affected too much by what people want.

You have to kind of keep your eye on the prize, and even though your intention and your goal is to entertain people, you have to kind of follow your own instincts. And that is what I have been really working at, and I think that I’ve come to a really great space of late of how to achieve that and what my goals are and just coming from a positive productive place. I feel like that’s the best I can do.