24 seconds with Kalan Porter
Since winning Canadian Idol in 2004, 22-year-old Kalan Porter has grown a lot as an artist and is impressing fans and critics alike on the strength of his latest musical offering, Wake up Living, and its solid lead-off single, "Down in Heaven." Joe Leary spent 24 seconds with Kalan Porter.
24: You've got a brand new CD called Wake up Living; it's highly acclaimed, and a lot of people are saying it's a more mature sound. When people say it's more mature, I always wonder if people think, 'What did that mean then for my other stuff - it was young and juvenile or what?'
Porter: [Laughs] I think that I have grown up a little bit. I was very young when I went into the Idol thing and made that first record. Now, I've matured a little bit, I've lived a bit more, so I hope that it is a bit more of a mature sound, and that I've grown a little bit and I hope I continue to.
24: You grew as a human being during the process of recording the album as your mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. What was your reaction when you first heard that?
Porter: It just shook my whole world and it was pretty overwhelming. I remember running to the computer and Googling "breast cancer life expectancy." It was pretty terrifying. Once I started to understand a little bit more, it was definitely easier to cope with - and I'm very close with my family and I was writing during the time - so I decided it was important for me to go back home and spend some time with family. It was a tough decision because I wondered if the fans would still be there when I came back, the label would still be supportive, all that kind of stuff, but it was the decision I needed to make.
24: Did you find that writing was what you needed to keep your mind occupied?
Porter: It's funny because before I was writing and I wasn't really sure what I was going to write about, I hadn't had a lot of life experience in terrible relationships, so I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about, so this kind of gave me a whole new creative thing to draw from. I think the record turned out a little darker and moodier than I expected, but you write about what you're going through at the time.
24: What's the update on your mom?
Porter: She's doing a lot better. We've done a few shows in Toronto and she came down and we hung out. She's actually doing a lot better. Our story was one of the happy endings I guess, and fingers crossed she stays well, but the more and more I've gone across the country and met a lot of people, it seems that a family member or someone they know is being touched by the disease. It's a pretty scary thing and I just have to be thankful that ours turned out the way it did.
Source: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2007/11/13/4651643-sun.html
24: You've got a brand new CD called Wake up Living; it's highly acclaimed, and a lot of people are saying it's a more mature sound. When people say it's more mature, I always wonder if people think, 'What did that mean then for my other stuff - it was young and juvenile or what?'
Porter: [Laughs] I think that I have grown up a little bit. I was very young when I went into the Idol thing and made that first record. Now, I've matured a little bit, I've lived a bit more, so I hope that it is a bit more of a mature sound, and that I've grown a little bit and I hope I continue to.
24: You grew as a human being during the process of recording the album as your mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. What was your reaction when you first heard that?
Porter: It just shook my whole world and it was pretty overwhelming. I remember running to the computer and Googling "breast cancer life expectancy." It was pretty terrifying. Once I started to understand a little bit more, it was definitely easier to cope with - and I'm very close with my family and I was writing during the time - so I decided it was important for me to go back home and spend some time with family. It was a tough decision because I wondered if the fans would still be there when I came back, the label would still be supportive, all that kind of stuff, but it was the decision I needed to make.
24: Did you find that writing was what you needed to keep your mind occupied?
Porter: It's funny because before I was writing and I wasn't really sure what I was going to write about, I hadn't had a lot of life experience in terrible relationships, so I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about, so this kind of gave me a whole new creative thing to draw from. I think the record turned out a little darker and moodier than I expected, but you write about what you're going through at the time.
24: What's the update on your mom?
Porter: She's doing a lot better. We've done a few shows in Toronto and she came down and we hung out. She's actually doing a lot better. Our story was one of the happy endings I guess, and fingers crossed she stays well, but the more and more I've gone across the country and met a lot of people, it seems that a family member or someone they know is being touched by the disease. It's a pretty scary thing and I just have to be thankful that ours turned out the way it did.
Source: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2007/11/13/4651643-sun.html
You can also watch the actual interview here --- http://www.24hrspodcast.com/index.php?id=322
ReplyDeleteThis is a great interview over the radio --- http://www.680news.com/mediaplayer/audioplayer.jsp?mediaFile=http://qml.quiettouch.com/files/radio/680news/podcasts/entertainment/Kalen-Porter_Rudy-Blair_2007-09-28.mp3
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!