July 12, 2008
Jon Peter Lewis

Cathy: Tonight's your last show in a 2 week stint of San Francisco dates. How have these shows been going and how has working with the other Idols been?
Jon: It’s been an enlightening experience getting to meet other Idols that have been through it all before. It’s been interesting, it’s been educational, it’s been fun. It’s awesome to be around such really talented people. I love it.

C: Have you had any chances to explore San Francisco at all?
J: Not as much as I want! I still haven’t made it out to Alcatraz, which I’m kind of sad about. I ventured over to the Golden Gate Bridge and did a couple touristy things, but I haven’t done as much as I’d like.
C: Are you going to stick around here for a little while longer?
J: I wish I could! I’ll be back though, but I’ve got to run back to Los Angeles tomorrow. I have a bunch of shows down there, and then I’m in New York the week after that.

C: Do you have any interesting stories from the last couple weeks?
J: Nothing really out of the ordinary. I’ve basically been sequestered in my room most of the time - I only come out when I need to. I think I’ve seen every movie at the movie theater, but other than that I don’t think I have anything really entertaining… I wish I did, but I don’t.

C: Your 2nd full length album is coming out in a couple weeks. What were some differences between the recording processes of Stories from Hollywood and Break The Silence?
J: The process really wasn’t hugely different. Both of them were very scattered as far as recording. The first one was like, “I’m doing this song right now, and this guy’s available, and this guy’s available.” We’d do the drums on the day the drummer was available and the guitar whenever the guitarist was, so it was scattered about in different studios. I guess a main difference is that for this one, we knew all the songs that we were going to do before we started. When we went in to record Stories From Hollywood, we weren’t sure which songs were going to be on the record. I put some songs on there that I did almost a year before I released it, and the others I did maybe 6 months later. Very scattered… But it was very similar.

C: What about differences between the albums, content-wise?
J: I think there are some pretty significant differences. Coming out of Idol, I needed to have something done. I felt the need to just have something created, for product. I was scrambling to just make it happen. I wasn’t completely ready for the record and I felt the record came out that way, it was half-baked. I liked it, it was just a representation of me that was a little too broad. I wanted to focus in on the personality that I wanted to present to the world musically. The second record became more of a self definition. I wanted to say, “This is who I am musically, and this is what people can expect from me.”
C: I definitely noticed a style change in it.
J: Yea, there was a shift. It’s a little less bombastic rock & roll and a bit more introspective. It’s not that those parts of me, like the rock & roll, aren’t there, it just might be a little later until it comes out again.

C: Do you have a favorite song off of the record?
J: Yea, I like “No Fire” a lot.
C: That one’s my favorite, too.
J: Is it really?
C: I was thinking about it earlier and hoping you’d say that, because I like it a lot.
J: Yea, it’s my favorite. It was just that song that after I finished it, the producer played it back for me and I heard it and was like “… Was that me? That can’t be me.” I went back and listened to it again a couple days after recording it, and realized that it sounded a lot better on the other end than it did coming out. But yea, it’s one of my favorites. I can really identify with it.

C: What are your plans for after the album is released? Will there be a tour?
J: We’re working on tour dates right now. We haven’t really solidified anything, but we’re definitely planning on playing a lot of shows all over the place. I’ll be doing as much as I can to promote the record. People can keep up with me on that on the website and the Myspace, all that. C: Yea, just stick in a plug here. –laughs-
J: jonpeterlewis.com, J-O-N.

C: You are a former contestant on American Idol who has chosen to embrace your Idol roots. What do you think about former contestants who try to shy away from this label? Do you think it helps or hurts their career?
J: I think it’s asinine, really. Someone who tries to forget their Idol roots or shy away from it or make people forget that they were there… It’s like trying to deny where you went to high school or where you went to college. It’s part of you. It does have its stigmas, which are constantly changing. Every season there is a new crop of people, and there is a bigger budget, and people taking it more or less seriously… It’s always changing, but I think it’s silly to just try to make people forget it. I’m grateful for it, it did so many great things for me.

C: What's the biggest change from your Idol days ‘til now?
J: There are so many things. I think now I feel very confident in who I am as a musician. I’m not just a cover artist, or an Idol singer singing someone else’s hit songs. I feel like I have more of a musician’s personality and I’m more comfortable on stage. So many things have changed. I have the classic case of hindsight, where my vision is very clear. I wish I could go back with what I know now, but there are a lot of things that I’ve learned along the way. I’m not as easy to take advantage of. I’m not a vulnerable youth anymore, I’m now jaded and cynical. –laughs-

C: You have a blog on Blogger that you and your friends made for your fans. What gave you the idea to do this? How come you update it the least out of anyone?
J: I know, right? –laughs- Every time I sit down to update it, I want to do it, but I don’t ever get to it because I have a million things to do during the day. I’m like, “Alright I’ve got to get this done,” but I never do get it done. Every time I sit down, I know what I really want to write but I’m not allowed to talk about it at that time, so I put it off for “a time” that I can get to it appropriately and make it exactly what I want… And that time never seems to happen. My friends and I put it together because they are writers, and we decided it would be a fun place for us to keep up with each other and have fun and still talk about things that we like and dislike, as well as things that were happening. They’re a lot better at it than I am, I’m glad you called me out on it. –laughs-
C: I’m just saying, people are noticing. Well, maybe just me. I noticed.
J: No, you’re right. I actually sat down yesterday to blog and the exact thing happened. –laughs- I just can’t do this right now, I don’t have time…. I’ll do it tonight! [Editor’s note: he didn’t.]
C: it’s a little bit of a bad argument since you were the last one to update it.
J: I know, right? Well, it is a good argument though because I am the least to update it, even if mine is the last one.

C: What artists have you been listening to lately?
J: I’ve been listening to Joshua James recently, and I downloaded Amos Lee last night. I’ve been listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, too. Also, I’ve been listening to a lot of my friends back in Los Angeles who are musicians. I stick to all my old favorites, like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I like Ben Folds, I listen to him a lot… He’s out of Nashville!
C: Yea, he lives pretty close to me.
J: Oh my god… I love that guy. I love his music a lot. I can really identify with it. That’s really cool. Say hi to him next time you see him, which is never I’m sure.
C: I think I’m the only person who still hasn’t seen him. Someday, someday.
J: Some serendipitous day. –laughs-
C: I’ll be like, “Jon would be so proud of me today.”
J: No you won’t, no you won’t. Don’t blow smoke at me!

C: What's one thing not many people know about you?
J: I guess people don’t know that I speak Spanish. I don’t know what they don’t know anymore. Somebody came up to me once when I was in Singapore and was like, “Hey, I heard you got a cold”, and I had a cold just that morning. At that point I started realizing people knew a lot about me. One time I had a group of fans come up to me and start telling stories about memories that I had. I had written down a memory of an occasion and they were like, “Hey, remember that one time that…” and they were talking about an experience that I had. I was like, “Yea I remember, how do you remember it?” It was really weird.
C: I actually do know that you speak Spanish, one of my friends told me. The first time I interviewed you I asked you what your best Spanish pickup line was. J: What did I say?
C: I don’t remember.
J: Do I even have any Spanish pickup lines? Maybe I had one at that time.
C: You did come up with something, and then you promised you had never used it before…
J: I probably haven’t, before or since… I’m trying to remember what I said.
C: Can you think of any now? It could be in English if you want.
J: I don’t use pickup lines. I’m not even sure if I know any pickup lines anymore. I was never a pickup line kind of guy, I was too shy for pickup lines. I used to have a good one. You asked me at the right time, when I had one. I can’t think of any, I really can’t. I’m out, I’m empty.

C: Let's say Justin Timberlake walks up to you one day and tells you he wants to collaborate. What do you say?
J: I’d punch him in the face and say, “Never.” No, I’d say, “Have my people contact your people.” I don’t know, I’m not a huge Justin Timberlake fan. I respect him for what he’s done, and the fact that he’s sold a lot of records is impressive to me, but personally I’ve never really understood his appeal. I never have. I don’t know why people like him. He’s got a mediocre voice and he can dance – so? Millions of people can do that, so why him? His music isn’t that great - ten years from now people are not going to be singing to Justin Timberlake songs.

C: Closing Statements?
J: Well, if I think of a pickup line you better turn your recorder back on so that I can give it to you.