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Exclusive Interview with Stan Walker

2010-07-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to catch up with Stan Walker, Australian Idol's hot favourite to win. Read on and find out what his favourite Kiwi bands are, why he loves smoothies and where he wants to be in ten years time.

TV: How are you feeling now you've got this far in the competition?

Stan: It's awesome, I didn't think I would get to this point at all.

TV: How far have you come since your audition and the first week both musically and personally?

Stan: I've really grown a lot. I've got stronger in my character and musically I've come to appreciate lots of different styles of music.

TV: What was it like meeting Liza Minnelli, Suzi Quatro and Harry Connick Jr.?

Stan: Oh man, they're awesome. It's so wicked because when we go into the work shops, I don't go in there on a high because they're celebrities. I'm not about that because at the end of the day, we're all people and we're just people who have accomplished stuff and they have too. They've got a lot of knowledge and I love learning from them and the experience they have to share.

TV: What song have you enjoyed singing the most?

Stan: I enjoyed singing Single Ladies by Beyonce the most. It was so much fun it was a real challenge for me but I had a lot of fun singing it.

TV: Which contestant do you fear the most and why?

Stan: We are all so, so different and so strong at what we do. They're all my competition!

TV: In your Week Six Blog (on the official Australian Idol website) you say you get nervous. What do you do to combat your anxiety before you walk on stage? Do you have any special rituals before you go on stage?

Stan: I always pray before I go on stage. I zone out from the whole crowd, noise and lights and I humble myself. I just do what Ive got to do and remember why Im there and do what I love doing.

TV: How has your Bible College and time at church helped you musically? Is your religion a big part of your music/who you are?

Stan: It's probably the biggest part really. Without god, I can't do this. Hes the reason why I'm here and why I've got this voice and do what I do. The least I could do is to give it back to him and represent him. It's really helped me a lot and helped me grow and helped me have integrity in my character and standards in my life.

TV: What message do you aim to spread to your fans through your music?

Stan: My biggest goal is to be an ambassador for broken people who have come from nothing to gain everything. You don't have to be anyone special or come from anywhere special to be someone special. I just think no matter how many times we fall and get back up, we've just got to keep on moving forward and we can achieve what we want to do. Dreams are not impossible.

TV: You've talked about your love of smoothies and juices, do you drink these to help keep your voice in good condition?

Stan: Its a great start to the morning! I haven't had a few lately, I've been a bit drained. It actually helps you poo good (laughs very loudly). It is the bomb, it cleanses your body out, it really does. I've been feeling a bit yuck so I'd better get on those smoothies soon!

TV: You've said you wanted 10 kids but would settle for 7 as its more logical - thats going to be one hell of a sing song!

Stan: I was bought up around family. I've always got family around me and I love kids. I can't wait to get married; I'd get started straight away. My wife better be ready!

TV: Please finish the sentence, Music for me...

Stan: Music for me...is a refuge, a language that everybody can speak and a passion.

TV: What is it going to take for you to be the winner of Australian Idol, Season 7? What are you going to have to pull out of the bag?

Stan: I think just being consistent, to hold on to what I represent and keep on pushing the boundaries with music and doing what people haven't done before. I need to be creative and take risks. A big part of standing out and being a great artist is taking risks and doing things no-one has ever done before. I try.

TV: You're of Maori decent and from Tauranga, New Zealand, how do you weave your Maori heritage in to your music?

Stan: Im so proud of who I am and where I come from. Every chance I can get, I always try to get my Maori thing in there and make known to the world who and what I am. Were really proud people. I'm so blessed to be in such a strong culture. Anything I can be a part of back home (our Maori, our language) Im all for it, man.

TV: What Kiwi bands do you enjoy listening to?

Stan: I love Katchafire, House of Shem, Che-Fu, Fat Freddys Drop, Kora Im actually related to a few of them.

TV: Will there be a trip to New Zealand given your new found fame?!

Stan: Its definitely in my goals and future plans that I will go back home and do a tour and hopefully do some collaborations with people back home.

TV: Apart from wanting to win the show what are you looking forward to over the next few weeks?

Stan: I'm looking forward to what happens after the show regardless of winning it or not. I just want to get started, I want to start making music and doing my stuff with this.

TV: It's October 2009, let's fast forward ten years. Where are you? What are you doing?

Stan: Hopefully I will have a few albums and I will have toured New Zealand and Australia by then and expanded in to America and England. I'll be married and have a few kids I need to get started on my tribe!

Australian Idol auditions: dreams on line

2009-05-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

Some sang softly as they strummed guitars, others sat in the corner with their iPods, cramming last-minute lyrics.

But for all of these hopefuls, the nerves were definitely kicking as they waited to put their dreams on the line at auditions for Australian Idol in Wollongong yesterday.

By 2pm almost 100 people had formed a line at the University of Wollongong's conference and function centre waiting for their big moment. They ranged from schoolkids, to mums with the same dream of becoming the next Australian Idol.

An infant in the crowd let out an impromptu scream as the TV show's executive producer Greg Beness took charge of proceedings.

"Geesh what a voice she's got, she has some lungs on her," he quipped.

Beness has been talent scouting for some time and knows exactly what the show is looking for.

"The three main factors we look for are personality, pitch and musicability, which really comes down to knowing the music industry."

However, the benchmark has already been set with producers surprised by the amazing talent found in some unusual places around Australia.

"Surprisingly Tamworth and Mackay have produced some really good talent so there is a chance that the next Australian Idol may even come from Wollongong," he said.

Contestants travelled from as far as Wagga and even Brisbane to audition in the Illawarra.

However, Beness said contestants should not be upset if they were not chosen for the program.

"Contestants need to be committed to music and be good singers, but for the Idol program they need to be marketable and relatable and that's a big factor that we look for," he said.

Australian Idol has produced some top talent with 2008's winner Wes Carr's first album reaching No 2 on the Australian charts and 2006's runner-up Jessica Mauboy awarded Best Aussie at the Australian MTV awards last month.

Mark Holden breaks silence on Idol sacking

2009-02-16T00:57:00.000-08:00

He busied himself to regain focus. Did he mope? "I did," he admitted. "But I had to get over it. Idol was a big part of my life, but I had to look at the next part of my life."

He was starring in the stage musical Shout when the Idol axe fell.

"How did I get over it?" he asked. "I sang 101 duets with Glenn Shorrock."

Last week, working for the Ice Project, helping young people at risk in SA, Holden insisted he was not bitter.

"But you are seeing me after I've been in America, had a real positive experience and come back energised," he said.

"The aggravating thing is people still expect me to know about the show and who got voted off."

Why doesn't he watch Idol? He laughed: "I just don't."

Meanwhile, Holden has pitched a music reality show format at Network Ten and a US producer.

US music industry powerbroker Jimmy Iovine met Holden in Los Angeles last month.

Holden, wife Anna and daughter Katie enjoyed an extended break, staying with Hasselhoff in Bel Air.

Holden has a law degree and plans to do a legal practitioner's course with a view to practising as a barrister. Then he wants to "save" the music industry.

"The freefall being experienced by the stock market at the moment has been happening to the music industry for the past three years," he said.

"I have an understanding of those problems, the erosion of copyright and what it means to creators."

Holden said it was time internet service providers faced the music on free downloads.

"Music is free. That is the new paradigm and we have to accept that," Holden said. "But creators of music need a royalty from the provider. We need more of that share.

"That needs to be advocated and it's something I want do as a barrister."

Sandilands once said Holden created a persona for Idol. "I was doing a bigger version of myself and it was a blast," Holden said. "As a performer, you don't want to waste that. You use that space. I preferred to actively use that space rather than occupy it.

"I enhanced the loony guy. I am a loony guy. It was an opportunity to have fun and max it out.

"I am a little bit cracked, but when you put it under pressure, the cracks show."

Holden said his multi-faceted career runs in five-to-six-year cycles.

"I'm still hungry to do things. But different things," he said. Judge reveals his dark days

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Mark Holden breaks silence on Idol sacking

2009-02-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

JILTED judge Mark Holden has broken his silence on the dark days after being dumped from Australian Idol.

"I had to tell myself the same thing as I tell artists - it's business," Holden said.

"Sometimes, business happens. Sometimes, you are at the winning end of the business. Sometimes, you are not."

And Holden, 54, sacked from Australian Idol in March, appears to be back in business.

In his first interview since leaving the talent quest show, Holden revealed:

- He no longer watched Idol - "I don't know who's competing, I don't know who got kicked off . . . I don't watch the show."

- Judge Marcia Hines had a naughty side off camera - a so-called "Ghetto Marcia" came out when the show stopped for a commercial break.

"Ghetto Marcia is awesome - a foul-mouthed, sassy woman, a 55-year-old woman who has lived and loved and rocked and rolled for a long time - and who's still on top after all these years."

- He thought Idol winner Damien Leith was ugly "before he had his teeth fixed".

- His inspiration for his rants - gooni-goo-goose and gooni-gooni gay - was from Eddie Murphy in Raw. "I'm a songwriter, mate. You beg, borrow and steal."

- His Wanker of the Year award - "Rove won the following year. He earned it, believe me" - sat next to his Logies.

- Working with David Hasselhoff, of Baywatch fame, brought focus to the equation - "He gives me a lead and I make it happen inside the chaos of his life."

Holden said of his Idol role: "I had a unique perspective. I had been a producer, artist, record company and manager."

And he said Hines' role as caring judge was real.

"She fits the formula naturally," he said. "But it's not all of her."

He would not be drawn on tough judge Ian Dickson, who has openly criticised Holden.

Dickson has claimed Holden was full of "inane ramblings" and was "trapped in this ridiculous buffoon's body and mind".

Holden said, "Those comments are his issue, not mine" and added: "I don't accept his criticisms. I don't. But that's his business."

But he praised Idol judge Kyle Sandilands as "the hardest-working man in show business".

"Kyle impresses me," Holden said. "I've watched him in stressful circumstances and he handles himself well."

Sandilands, who is battling health issues, needed to take care of himself, Holden said.

But Holden hinted he wallowed in negativity after he was sacked from Idol.

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Anger over Idol vote glitch

2009-02-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

The website of reality show Australian Idol misdirected fans to the wrong voting numbers last night, casting doubt over the validity of tonight's final two verdict.

A Channel Ten spokeswoman said for about 25 minutes the wrong numbers were posted on the internet for contestants Mark Spano and Wes Carr.

Contestant Luke Dickens' phone number was posted for both himself and Carr while Carr's number was posted under Spano's name.

But the spokeswoman insisted the error had not impacted tonight's results show, which will announce the final two contestants to go head to head at the Sydney Opera House.

"Last night a page including incorrect Australian Idol voting details was posted to the Idol website for a brief period," she said.

"At all times the correct information was displayed on-air.

"Viewers can be assured that the outcome of tonight's verdict is unaffected by this incident.

"However, we recognise this error would have been confusing to those who visited the website during that brief period, and our website management procedures have been reviewed and tightened to ensure no repetition."

But Melbourne viewer Anne Macindoe said she found it hard to take Channel Ten's "search for a superstar" seriously when the station had failed to acknowledge the glitch on its website.

Ms Macindoe said her 10-year-old daughter had wanted to cast a vote for Spano but when they checked the numbers on the website she had ended up voting for Carr.

"I can't see how it won't affect the result," she said.

"There's no way that they can accurately judge how many people have been diverted to the wrong people.

"If they're going to make it open and fair and have any degree of credibility they need to be open and fair and at least acknowledge there was some drama that could have impacted on the result."

Ms Macindoe said she ended up making three extra phone calls to balance out the error and make sure her daughter's vote had still counted towards Spano's tally.

Voting calls cost a maximum of 55 cents.

The spokeswoman said Channel Ten and Idol production company Fremantle Media had today looked into the voting irregularity which sparked only eight complaints nationwide.

She said it took a total of 25 minutes from when the error occurred until the correct numbers were uploaded on the website but she could not say how many votes may have been affected.

Sportsbet currently has Carr as clear favourite to win the reality television singing competition followed by Spano and Dickens.

Life after a fallen Idol

2009-02-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

After the premiere, the new, so-called super-Sunday Idol will each week begin with a major production number, before immediately revealing which cast members are in jeopardy of leaving. After the first break, a contestant will depart. The show will then return to its regular performer mode, with one major caveat: voting lines will now be open immediately, instead of after the show as in previous years.

Asked whether the Monday show was axed due to a lack of content, Tate bristles.

"It's not true. Monday sometimes even outrates Sunday," he says. "It's never been a struggle to fill it. We just felt it was time for a change. Everybody singing after the elimination has the reminder of what's at stake. These new super-Sunday shows are two hours long. While we are combining them on one night, it's not a significant reduction of our production in content."

Ironically, last week Sandilands was the most candid Idol team member regarding the Monday-night slots.

"We've never been big fans of the Monday," he said. "It was all padded out. It was really 10 minutes' worth of business to be taken care of that had to be stretched out over an hour. The Monday show does rate pretty well compared with some of the other stuff that's on TV. But we're happy it's all taken care of in one big super show, to tell you the truth."

With The Biggest Loser and MasterChef, Idol is one of Ten's flagship productions. Although expensive, its ability to generate revenue is traditionally built around a core group of six sponsors that fund the production for the year.

Eyebrows were raised in the advertising world earlier in the year when McDonald's, a sponsor from season one, dropped out. This came after Telstra and Procter & Gamble dropped out last year. Tate maintains the franchise has still secured a full complement of sponsors.

"There's been a lot of movement and incumbent sponsors haven't had the ability to return but their places have been taken very quickly," he says.

Helping Idol, too, is the blockbuster success of MasterChef. Tate declares that Ten is a significantly different place to work, thanks to it and Talkin' 'bout your Generation's prosperity. Remember that this time last year, Idol was being promoted via the flatlining final season of Big Brother.

The network has been galvanised by the public reaction to this year's promotional spots for Idol, which feature the contestants dressing as performers such as Prince and Michael Jackson. So positive has been the response, the contestants have recorded a full-length version of the song, Emotions, for commercial release. "We're a very different network now," Tate says. "MasterChef was an incredibly well-crafted program that struck a chord because everybody could identify with it. Our promos are reaching far more people."

Dickson, who is hoping to translate his improving ratings on Vega 91.5 FM to Idol, says the production cannot take MasterChef's success for granted.

"We're nervous we don't become too generic," he says. "Yes, it's such a well-oiled process, you've seen it before. But the thing is, you haven't seen the contestants."

Series seven of Australian Idol began last night on Channel Ten.

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Life after a fallen Idol

2009-02-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

"Can I sing another song?" Mujiono pleads. "No."

Joel Spence, a 26-year-old from Hallam, is up next. Spence auditioned three years ago; Burness recalls that audition, though not particularly fondly.

Spence says he is studying music at Victoria University and playing guitar and piano. He strums his way through Noiseworks' Take Me Back, coming across like a less-polished Shannon Noll. He then offers to play his own song, What You Gonna Do, and the room breaks into spontaneous applause. He is through to the next round.

Tate says Spence is a great example of the talent the competition continues to unearth.

"The core of the format is supporting talent," he says. "When a family sits down to watch Idol, they are part of the process of uncovering talent and giving it a shot. They support them beyond the show. That, in its pure essence, is the success of the format."

Gunsberg, who appears to be in his element among the folk in Flemington, is perhaps the most strident advocate for Idol's ability to nurture musicians.

"The old way of making a demo, sending it to a record company, getting some money off them and so forth doesn't happen any more," he says.

"If you can get yourself and your story and what you do in front of that many people ... Record companies as we knew them 10 years ago don't exist any more. I mean, the numbers this year have been incredible.

"There's something about Wes Carr's victory and Jessica Mauboy's success that has solidified that this is a step in the right direction."

Asked for a musical trend in this year's audition, Gunsberg quickly names US singers Taylor Swift and Beyonce.

"We try to stress that we already have a Taylor Swift and Beyonce," he says. "While it's great people can sing a note-for-note rendition, all they're often doing is an impersonation."

Which is, surely, how Idol was conceived. One of Tate's proudest accomplishments as an Australian producer is the local franchise's ability to generate concepts that are replicated around the world.

For instance, Australian Idol was the first to allow contestants to play instruments and allow original songs to be performed. It's also the first to go with the single, stand-alone episode.

"All of the other markets will be watching keenly to see how it goes," Tate says.

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Life after a fallen Idol

2009-02-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

"If we had to rely on everybody loving the judges, then we'd probably have had no show in the first place."

He did not return calls after his sacking.

Idol is also adjusting to two other personnel changes. Musical director John Foreman will be replaced by his right-hand man, David Pritchard-Blunt. More significantly, the show's sardonic wildcard, James Mathison, has quit the series, leaving Andrew Gunsberg as the show's host, along with former contestant, Ricki-Lee Coulter.

Amid the show's rampant egos and hyperbole, Mathison was arguably the voice of reason.

Now co-hosting a Nova FM program and contributing to Ten's fledging 7pm Project, he has proved himself a comedic asset.

"It was pretty much presumed every year we would jump back on board each time," Mathison says. "Towards the end of last year, I started taking stock and thinking, 'I don't necessarily have to do it again'. I feel like it's time. If my heart's not in it, I can't."

He insists his decision was no reflection on the show itself. "It's hard for any show after their first year; it has the challenge of not being fresh," he says. "You have to continually morph yourself. MasterChef will have to do the same thing in a few years. But, I have to say, they didn't tell me they were going to one night a week. I found out after I left."

The show will now rely heavily on Gunsberg, who says producers never sought a replacement for Mathison.

"I was surprised and disappointed James left," he says. At the same time, I'm happy for him. I'll just have to talk the whole time. I've been broadcasting for 15 years. I can handle it."

BACK in April, Green Guide attended Idol's opening day of auditions in Flemington.

Although registrations opened at 8.30am, contestants began arriving before 3am, carrying doonas and sleeping bags. They must pass through two sets of judges before they face the televised panel three days later.

The first is the show's vocal coaches, the second an executive producer panel comprising Greg Burness and Stephen Tate.

"All we're looking for at this stage is potential," Tate says.

The first contestant through is Danielle Hockley, a nervous 22-year-old from Perth, who was knocked back in the Perth leg but is looking for a second chance. She weakly covers a Joss Stone song before theatrically pleading her case.

Burness, perhaps seeing her suitability for the audition episode, invites her to return on Monday. As she bounds out of the room, he sighs heavily.

"Oh dear," he says to no one in particular.

Next is Mughien Mujiono, a freelance artist, who does a rough reading of Michael Buble's Fever. Crumbling with nerves, he fluffs his lines.

Burness is polite but honest. "You have nice tones," he says, "but it was a bit all over the shop. It was a good audition but it's not good enough for the show."

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Life after a fallen Idol

2009-02-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

Kyle Sandilands' departure isn't the only major shake-up for Ten's flagship show. By Andrew Murfett.

THE mantra that all publicity is good publicity will be seriously tested on Sunday with the seventh-season premiere of Australian Idol.

The veteran reality series, which began in 2002, is undergoing its most dramatic programming and personnel changes, the latest of which is the dumping of judge Kyle Sandilands following last week's outcry over the incident on the Sydney radio show he co-hosts with Jackie O'Neil Henderson.

During its early, halcyon days, Idol was scheduled three nights a week on Channel Ten. But this year, the dreaded Monday-night results episode is gone and the series is reduced to a single, two-hour weekly event.

Tellingly, it is being programmed in the family-friendly 6.30pm Sunday slot.

The move is a calculated gamble aimed at rejuvenating what even several of the show's key players concede is a tired format. The show's ratings have been on the slide in the past three years. Last year, Idol averaged 1.16 million total capital-city viewers, down from 1.3 million in 2007 and 1.56 million in 2006.

It is among those aged 18 to 49, Ten's target market, where Idol's fortunes hinge most. The program's share last year dropped from 33.1 per cent to 29.5 per cent. Among 16 to 39s, it fell from 36 per cent to 31.9 per cent.

The show's prodigal son and flamboyant judge, Ian "Dicko" Dickson, who quit in 2004 but returned three years later, is blunt about its status.

"You look at the trajectory of the show and it's clearly plateaued," he says. "I don't know if we can develop, in a ratings sense, any further. When I moved to Australia, a successful show was 1.5 million-plus; now, it's a million-plus."

The Monday-night edition, in particular, struggled last year, regularly falling below the benchmark 1 million viewers nationally. At its lowest ebb, late in the season on October 13 last year, it recorded an alarming 783,000 viewers.

"It did need to be tweaked," Dickson admits. "It's bizarre, really. We were considered upstarts seven years ago but now, it's almost like we're establishment television. We're suddenly at the more conservative end of the television market."

If the change of format was not enough of a gamble, the impact of Sandilands' sacking is unknown. The former judge will appear in the three audition episodes, which were filmed in May and June, but nothing recorded after this week. Ten is already hunting a "fresh new talent" to replace him.

The vitriol directed at Sandilands through blogs, forums, talkback radio and letters to the editor undoubtedly forced the network's hand and Ten believes it has made the right move.

Nevertheless, there was plenty of internal agonising over the decision, prompted by Sandilands' influential position as co-host of Sydney's highest-rating FM breakfast show. When contacted by Green Guide late last week, Sandilands was unrepentant. "People watch Idol for the singers, not picking and choosing judges," he said.

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Idol ratings nothing to sing about

2009-02-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

PARENTS have turned their back on Australian Idol, with last night's series debut slumping up to 20 per cent in the ratings.

In an apparent snub of controversial judge Kyle Sandilands, Sydney audiences in particular switched off the first audition episode, with ratings dropping 12.7 per cent on last year.

Beaten by Nine's Domestic Blitz and Seven's Dancing With The Stars in an earlier 6.30pm timeslot - with an average national audience of 1.29 million people - ratings across all key demographics took a hit.

Viewers aged 25-54 and those in the over 40 category tuned out, shedding 10.5 per cent and 20 per cent respectively on last year's audience figures.

Sandilands was last week dumped by Channel 10 in the wake of The Kyle and Jackie O Show radio rape scandal, where a 14-year-old girl was humiliated about her sex life in a live broadcast.

Channel 10 moved swiftly to distance itself from the drama, terminating Sandilands contract on the grounds his radio persona was increasingly at odds with the family values of the Idol brand.

However Sandilands appeared last night's episode and will feature in two more shows, which were recorded before the lie detector stunt on his radio show.

Sandilands and his sidekick are expected to return to the airwaves on August 17, after Austereo management put their program "into recess.''

The shock jock's hometown of Brisbane was the only city to support Idol's return, with an audience increase of 4.3 per cent.

A decision about the future of the pair and their morning radio show is expected to be announced tomorrow.

Kyle 'is to blame' says Guy Sebastian

GUY Sebastian says Kyle Sandilands has no one to blame except himself for being axed as an Australian Idol judge.

Sandilands was axed by Channel 10 after a 14-year-old revealed on his radio show that she had been raped.

"He is controversial and has created that brand, so it wasn't like someone went up to him and said, 'This is the person we want you to have and this is what we want you to do'," Sebastian, an Idol winner, said.

"He forged his own way to the top and so I guess it's pretty hard to say it's not his fault."

Sandilands' good friend and fellow Idol judge Ian Dickson would not enter into the controversy surrounding Ten's decision to dump the radio star, other than to say he had spoken to Sandilands. He said: "Kyle and I talk on the phone a lot and I think it's fair to describe us as friends.

"There is obviously a professional impact for the show and a personal impact and I don't think anyone likes to see their mates in strife and upset.

"But, to be honest, I don't think it's going to help the situation by airing my views."

Sandilands and his on-air radio partner, Jackie O, remain bunkered down in their Sydney homes and are believed to be frustrated by not being able to put their side of the story across.

Austereo is still deciding whether to axe the pair from the station.