To make it in the music industry is akin to making every green light on Sunset Boulevard from the ocean to Caesar Chavez. Everything must be properly timed and aligned and it will still take enormous skill to scurry the pedestrians, the perpetually lost, and the gawkers who will risk life and limb to see anybody they may recognize. And yet, at the end of it all, you still have to look back into the rear view mirror and admit, “Damn, that was lucky.”
I bet Lukas Rossi had that same fortune cookie epiphany running through his head while standing on stage waiting for Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke and Jason Newsted to announce he was the newest member and winner of the talent discovery reality show “Rock Star Supernova” (circa July-September 2006).
Unfortunately, reality came crashing back after harsh reviews of their shows and recordings, including the headline of 2006 New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
“It was a bit of a deflated ego for me, especially after Sony/BMG dropped us off the label in mid-tour,” admitted Rossi in a brief interview prior to his solo show on the bill with Clarke and a host of openers at Brixton on a recent Saturday. “It was there… then it was gone.
“It’s crazy really. We (he meant ‘he’, but his Canadian-born humble nature won’t allow for self righteousness) had 19 million votes. I thought that would have counted for something and establish an instant following. But critics can be tough,” Rossi contended. “I also have to realize that it opened so many doors for us (beautiful bride and manager Kendra on his side). Sure, we were in the spotlight all over the world, but we can use it as a stepping stone for what we will do next with our music and with my new band Stars Down.”
So it’s not the end of the world and you don’t feel slighted by the Hollywood machine?
“I feel blessed and it gave me a chance to grow and connect on an entirely different level. I truly love the intensity of the crowd and I don’t really care what the critics said, or say, or will say. When you write a really good song and it makes a difference to you or to someone in the crowd and you can hook in to it, that’s all that really matters. I was playing Lee’s Tavern in downtown Toronto just a few weeks before the auditions began, then I was onstage with some of the best musicians in rock ‘n’ roll playing in front of thousands, on TV, in auditoriums. I am proud of the accomplishment.”
Rossi and his partner in crime, Lou Dawson (Berlin), finally took the stage after a long wait and several troubled youths later. They performed as a duet with Rossi playing all his own music, with a couple surprises, and Sweet Lou as accompanist on piano.
His music is worn on his sleeve and taps into his emotions like a spigot into a keg of Labatt’s Blue. He played “Let It Shine On” alone with his guitar as an opener. He reveled in “Don’t Wanna Be a Rock Star,” of which one can only surmise the meaning with lyrics like: “I don’t want the fame and I’m not a freak.”
And then he played a magnificently eclectic version of the Eurhythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again.” That tune had never been played so dark and dissonant and Lou throttled the keys while Rossi brought it home with a very rangy voice that was absolutely soothing one moment and curdling the next. But it is a beautiful instrument and he plays it with obvious talent. And he leaves every bit of himself on stage.
On the way home after the show, I couldn’t help but wonder who the “damn lucky” one was: Rossi, his former Rock Star Supernova band mates, or we the music lovers for Lukas Rossi allowing us in to his world of talent.
Tired of the race to mediocrity in music? Stars Down is touring. Find ‘em. ER
Rossi Brings It Home
