***ROCKSTAR: Supernova*** (spoilers welcome)

[emmabelle]

Well I had hoped that Toby would pull it out in the end, I would have bought that CD. I don't hate Lukas, but a whole CD of his music would be too much for me. I had already read the spoiler so I knew it was Lukas, but I think the Survivor commercials were a bit too much. On to "Dancing with the stars"!

 

[cardaway]

I guess "Supernova" didn't either since they picked Lukas.

Lukas sure wouldn't have been my choice, but since the band picked him, he obviously was theirs.

But there is a lot more going on than thinking he was the best singer in the group. Given who won, we just watched another version of American Idol, and I have lost a little bit of respect for Tommy Lee.

If Tommy tried to replace Vince with somebody like Lukas back when they first broke up, Motley wouldn't exist anymore. No way Mick and Nikki accept a poser like Skunkboy.

It's really beyond sad.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Howard Stern called Lukas a gnome yesterday.

He does look like a gnome, a creepy little gnome that will come alive at night and attack you.

anyone who was a fan of HEAVY METAL in the 80's would understand why they chose Lukas over anyone else.

My DH was and is a huge fan of heavy metal, especially back in the 80's and he hates Lukas.

 

[dturner]

Those of you who don't "GET" Lukas never will, apparently TLee and the guys do "GET" Lukas or they would NOT have picked him.

I don't like a lot of people but I would never ever go around calling people I don't even know names..............that's pretty sad.

 

[TurboKitty]

I don't care for Lukas' style of singing mostly because I don't understand the lyrics when he's growling. I do agree that the namecalling is uncalled for, though.

 

[cardaway]

Isn't the vertical pic of Skunkboy way too big given the signature rules?

 

[dturner]

Isn't the vertical pic of Skunkboy way too big given the signature rules?

Fixed!

 

[Crankyshank]

It is very possible to get Lukas and not like him.
I get him just fine. He's not my cup of tea and I think he's a bad fit for a super cheesy stuck in their glory days band like SuavePorn. Toby would have taken the edge off the cheesy. Lukas just makes me want to sing "one of these things is not like the others"

Even the band picture just looks weird. Jason looks depressed and faking enthuisiasm, Tommy looks smashed, Lukas looks someone from a alternative/goth battle of the bands person taking a photo with some guys he met at topless bar, and Gilby looks like a dillweed. Ok that's nothing different for Gilby.

I get that Lukas has talent. I just don't think he was a good choice for them or really for him. Not that it really matters when a year from now the guys will go back to their old bands because Mark Burnett's money train went away

 

[declansdad]

If you're a fan of any of the guys in the band, don't worry. This has big failure written all over it since none of the fans of those guys will buy Lukas as a front man. The people who voted for Lukas are a fickle bunch and this will not last long after the tour. Each of those can do better in another group.

Well, I'm all-a-tingle. I've been called a lot of things but fickle has never been one of them.

I'm so excited.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

It is very possible to get Lukas and not like him.
I get him just fine. He's not my cup of tea and I think he's a bad fit for a super cheesy stuck in their glory days band like SuavePorn. Toby would have taken the edge off the cheesy. Lukas just makes me want to sing "one of these things is not like the others"

Even the band picture just looks weird. Jason looks depressed and faking enthuisiasm, Tommy looks smashed, Lukas looks someone from a alternative/goth battle of the bands person taking a photo with some guys he met at topless bar, and Gilby looks like a dillweed. Ok that's nothing different for Gilby.

I get that Lukas has talent. I just don't think he was a good choice for them or really for him. Not that it really matters when a year from now the guys will go back to their old bands because Mark Burnett's money train went away

SuavePorn.....hello fellow TWOP'er I like the new name they have for SN over there....SNots (after the lawsuit and all)

 

[Crankyshank]

They'll always be SuavePorn to me. Well for as long as Gilby's involved

 

[cardaway]

I don't care for Lukas' style of singing mostly because I don't understand the lyrics when he's growling. I do agree that the namecalling is uncalled for, though.

I'm sorry if I offended anybody, but I fail to see the difference between describing Lukas with one word (like Skunkboy) and some fo the really terrible ways people have described others in past weeks. How is one word of "namecalling" any worse than two sentances comparing somebody to a streetwalker or talking about how ugly they are?

If I wanted to be offended there have been plenty of descriptions I could pull out that are IMO just as bad as namecalling.

I too get that Lukas has lots of fans, but I completely disagree that he's a good for the songs I heard, or that the band picked him because he was the best singer.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

And in fact Toby looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin at any moment. He wasn't the normal Toby.

That is very true. I know that he and Lukas have become big buds and all, but I think that it was a mistake to take fashion tips from Lukas for the final show. Toby looked wierd and uncomfortable in that odd outfit that he was wearing. He should have been in his tank top and Jean jacket. MUCH better. I'm not necessarily knocking Lukas' style, because I think that it suits him, but Toby just looked weird.

You might be on to something with them knowing. I mean how was Magni ready to come out and play that song with "The Band that Must Not be Named" if he didn't have some practice with them.

I LOVED what Magni said when they commented that he looked more like he was part of the House Band and not FRONTING it. It was something like "I don't want to front the band, man, I just want to me IN the House Band." I really think that he liked them better than the "The Band that Must Not be Named" anyway.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Dilana, for one looked po'ed when TLee said, "Lukas, you're our boy."

Is THAT what he said? I played that part over a few times and still couldn't figure it out. I thought he said, "You're a VOID" I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, but obviously Lukas and Dilana knew what he was saying. I thought that maybe he was cracking a joke since they can't use the name of the band. Makes PERFECT sense, now.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

There was a lawsuit filed by a band in California named Superniva and they won their suit. So TLee et al. have to rename the band.

They actually haven't won the suit yet. They were just granted an injunction (I think that is what it is called) to stop the show from using the name until it could be dealt with in court. I am by no means a legal person, but I think that is what happened.

The other band is a Punk band that I think is best known for their song, 'Chewbacca' being in the movie Clerks. I remember the song too! Kind of funny. I wonder if Geroge Lukas will now sue THEM for using Chewbacca?

 

[dturner]

Great article!


Canadian Rossi wins 'Rock Star'
By KAREN BLISS -- For JAM! TV
canoe.jam

http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2006/09/13/1837797.html

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------There was never any doubt Toronto's Lukas Rossi would win "Rock Star: Supernova" and go on to front the new band comprised of Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. And today, he did.

The show finale, which aired this evening, was actually recorded this morning. Tonight, they party. Then, Rossi will immediately join his bandmates to finish the debut album and launch a tour in the new year. A recent lawsuit might force the group to change its name.

There will apparently be two singles to go to multi-format radio in the next week on Burnett/Epic/Sony BMG. Hopefully, one will be "Headspin," a song by Rossi's former band Rise Electric that he performed on the show.

"I've paid my dues that way," Rossi said of his past in rock bands Cleavage and Rise Electric, sitting by the pool at the famed Hollywood Hills mansion for an in-person interview for Lowdown a few weeks ago. "This is just prep for a world tour. I'm ready for it, 100 percent ready for it.

"I already know I can be on the tour bus with them because I'm a very good judge of character and I've spoken with them numerous times and they're down to earth guys, so I'm not worried about that at all."

If Rossi sounded then like he knew he'd win it's because he did. He wouldn't let himself think otherwise. But there were more than just a few clues. Lee would often make telling comments after his performances that seemed to signal as much -- "see you on the tour bus" and "cheque please" -- and that's not to mention what was said the rest of the week when cameras weren't around.

Even the other contestants were rumoured to have known he was the guy and were resigned about the outcome.

One week into the show, when Navarro did an interview with this reporter and was asked if he was surprised by the supreme confidence of the notoriously nice Canadians -- last year's J.D. Fortune, who was crowned the new singer of INXS via the first Rock Star show, displayed similar belief that he would win -- the guitarist said, "Not at all.

"I think that Lukas is totally honest and I don't think there's anything negative about someone being honest. Both of those guys, they seriously want to win and they're aware of the fact going in that this is a competition. This isn't summer camp."

The 29-year-old Rossi has been at it in Canada for more than a decade. Back then, the teenager fronted Cleavage and was managed for two years by Zack Werner, who currently manages Esthero, Down With Webster, The Johnstones, Ali Milner and James Robertson and is a judge on "Canadian Idol."

"While there were certainly other elements of that band that I was attracted to, I thought Lukas, even at that age, showed the potential to be one of the best front-people I'd ever seen," recalls Werner, whose firm also managed Fortune when he went by the name Jason Dean.

"I've got nothing but good things to say about the kid. I've always had a great deal of affection for him, both personally and professionally."

John Redmond signed Cleavage to a publishing deal with PolyGram Publishing Canada back then, but the band never did get a record deal.

"I hated the name and fought like crazy to get rid of it. A petty as that is, it was a problem," says Werner.

"But the true bottom line was the sound that he was making was directly competitive with every mainstream, harder-edged alternative rock band in America, and they either had slam-dunk hits or they didn't. (Cleavage) never had the single that would make the difference. The difference between him and My Chemical Romance was that My Chemical Romance wrote smashes and Lukas's band didn't.

"But I always thought that Lukas had the potential to do unbelievable things. At a certain point, when had the realization that I didn't think the band was going to turn the corner, I had discussions with him about moving on and the things that I thought that he should do because I thought that he was that good.

"But he was fiercely loyal to his boys (Cleavage) in those days and by the time he decided to move on, it was well down the road."

Taking over from Werner's role was then-soulDecision manager Garry Francis. In 2000, the band got an indie distribution deal with Universal Music Canada after winning best unsigned band at Toronto's North By Northeast music festival. They put out a self-titled indie EP, which sold about 1200 units, according to Francis, and released a video for "Riddled," but the major recording contract still proved elusive.

"Talent-wise, Lukas is up there with the best in the world. He's just one of these guys who never could get the right break," says Francis, who now manages indie band Rides Again. "We went to New York twice by different labels, flown out there, and both of them passed."

Francis continued to manage Rossi even after Cleavage broke up in 2004. "The only thing he did solo was I got him his publishing deal with EMI," says Francis.

Rossi had immensely improved as a songwriter. He had written a song called "Sometimes" that he thought would be suited to soulDecision, Rossi recounts, when Barbara Sedun, senior vice-president of creative at EMI Music Publishing Canada, heard it and played it to her boss, president Mike McCarty.

"I was quite familiar with him through Zack and Gary eras and I always thought that was Lukas was great and I didn't like the band -- not the band members, there was just something that wasn't quite musical enough about the songs," says McCarty.

"Barb called me into her office one day and said, "I want to play you something; I'm not going to tell you who it is and see if you can guess.' So she played that song, piano and vocal. It was a very soulful vocal. I couldn't figure out who it was and she said, 'It's Lukas Rossi,' and I couldn't believe it because it was so much more musical than anything I had heard Cleavage do. So we called him and we had a meeting with him."

Rossi recalls that he played some songs on an unplugged electric guitar.

"We talked to him at length about the process of writing songs with Cleavage," says McCarty. "I got the impression, when he told me the process and what would happen with the songs, that he was a very musical guy who somehow his bandmates ironed the musicality out of his songs. So we decided to sign him because by now the band had broken up."

Francis then bowed out of the picture as well.

EMI put Rossi together with a variety of "musical people." He demoed with Gavin Brown (Three Days Grace, Billy Talent), and others, but Rossi wanted to put together another band.

It was Toronto entertainment lawyer Chris Taylor (Nelly Furtado, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne), who told McCarty that Montreal guitarist Dominic Cifarelli of the band Pulse Ultra (formerly Headspace which had once played with Cleavage) had always wanted to work with Rossi. So they hooked the pair up and Rossi packed his bags for Montreal. They wrote a number of songs and formed Rise Electric with bassist Jay Cianfrini and drummer Maxx Zinno.

Confident about the songs and line-up, EMI set up a series of showcases for Rise Electric during North By Northeast 2005 in June. A parade of A&R caught the band at its rehearsal space in Toronto, even though there was no demo yet made.

"We were together a week or two then we had every label known to man that really mattered come to see us, but we were green," recalled Rossi, now seated in the sunroom at the mansion beer in hand in the early afternoon.

"I think it was premature. We knew our songs better than each other, which was frightful if you're on the other end, if you're someone who wants to sign a band. 'Okay, they have great songs, but will these guys last as friends?'"

One night, Rossi's then-girlfriend spotted actor and musician Kiefer Sutherland outside Clinton's in Toronto and convinced him to come in and see Rise Electric. "He was fantastic," Sutherland told Lowdown shortly after. "That's a fantastic band. I was just walking down the street and I heard them playing and I walked in."

Rise Electric then recorded with Toronto's Brian Moncarz (The Junction, Pilate), but there were no bites from labels.

"I wrote an album that I was going to record with a friend of mine, with Rise electric, which still no body has heard It's still in my back pocket," says Rossi of his next step. "It's more like Muse, Radiohead ****."

Broke and disillusioned, and living in Montreal (where he was working as a telemarketer and composing music for animated scores such as "Beyblade"), Sedun called up Rossi earlier this year to let him know about the second season of "Rock Star," and that an audition would be held in Toronto in mid-March. He declined. The band had not yet been announced.

"I thought it was for Van Halen. I couldn't see myself being the singer," says Rossi. "That was the rumour on the street and I was like, 'Hell no!'"

By the time Vancouver auditions had been added weeks later, the band had been confirmed -- Lee, Clarke, and Newsted,, a.k.a. Supernova.

"Barb told me who was in the band and I was like '****, yeah, but I can't afford it and she said, 'I'll pay for you to go.'" (Sedun was later reimbursed by EMI Music Publishing Canada).

Rossi hopped a plane to Vancouver and at the audition played a minute or so of his original, "Headspin," and Live's "Lightning Crashes" for the show producers.

"He had something special," says Peter Cohen, talent producer for "Rock Star: Supernova," who scheduled the referrals by respected members of the music industry for appointed audition times. "He came very highly recommended from the Toronto music scene. He had an element of risk and danger to him that some of the other performers didn't have and it definitely stood out."

He, obviously, made the final 15, and when "Rock Star: Supernova" debuted in July, it was clear that Rossi was the only singer that fit, was real, was true, and lived rock 'n' roll. He didn't have a pop background. He didn't have to develop or adjust or "put on" a snarl. He was the ideal person to front "Rock Star: Supernova."

"From the first moment of the first show, he's been the guy who's destined to win," says McCarty. "He's the most real person on there and he's the most true rock star on there. I think he was born to be a rock star and he was born to be on this television show. Unwittingly, everything he's done his whole life has prepared him for this moment in the spotlight. And I think he's absolutely the right person for it."

 

[dturner]

They actually haven't won the suit yet. They were just granted an injunction (I think that is what it is called) to stop the show from using the name until it could be dealt with in court. I am by no means a legal person, but I think that is what happened.

The other band is a Punk band that I think is best known for their song, 'Chewbacca' being in the movie Clerks. I remember the song too! Kind of funny. I wonder if Geroge Lukas will now sue THEM for using Chewbacca?

I am a legal person - in fact, I work in the Intellectual Property field and when I first read about this lawsuit the first thing that caught my attention is that the old Supernova NEVER applied for a trademark through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...........Mark Burnett Productions has applied for a trademark for Supernova. The old Supernova are suing on the fact that they've been using the name for 20+ years..........I'll be anxious to see how the court rules.

Just because your using a name and have used a certain name for 20+ years does not give you exclusive right to that name UNTIL you've filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

I disagree with you and the thousands of people in the ROSSI POSSE would disagree with you too.

I was/am a fan of all those guys - YUP, saw Motley Crue on their first tour - SHOUT AT THE DEVIL in 1983 - anyone who was a fan of HEAVY METAL in the 80's would understand why they chose Lukas over anyone else.

I agree with you that they will do fairly well with their shows and the album, and that Lukas was a good choice for them (even though I was pulling for Dilana). However, as a Glam/Heavy Metal fan myself back in the 80's (and still now, if truth be told. I admit that I OWN Monsters of Rock), I don't think that Lukas really fits in with the singers back then. He actually comes off to me as the 'brooding tortured soul' type of guy, not the 'lets get some chicks and some beer and party on the beach until everyone is naked' kind of frontman of 80's metal.

Of course, there are some exceptions there, I guess. I suppose you could look at folks like James Hetfield, Ronnie Dio or Geoff Tate (I think that is his name, from Queensryche) because they were more of the 'Dark and Brooding' types but I don't think that you can really compare their intensity to Lukas. I think he COULD be that guy if he tried, but he is somewhee between the two types right now, which is probably exactly what they wanted.

As a side note, I just found a site that has recordings of Headspin and Lonely Ones with Rise Electric. That boy has some serious parent issues to work through. but Lonely Ones is an AMAZING song. I kind of wish that he would have used it on the show at some point.

 

[cardaway]

Of course, there are some exceptions there, I guess. I suppose you could look at folks like James Hetfield, Ronnie Dio or Geoff Tate (I think that is his name, from Queensryche) because they were more of the 'Dark and Brooding' types but I don't think that you can really compare their intensity to Lukas.

Agree with Dio (another little gnome if you ask me, but soembody who took singing seriously and was much better than Lukas will ever be) but I disagree about James and happen to actually know Geoff (not at all like that).

Personally I think the type Lukas matches are the singers for the other hot genre at the time. The ones we called bat cavers. Robert Smith of the Cure, Morrissey of the Smiths, etc. I don't see anybody in the "Monsters of Rock" era being anything like Lukas.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

I am a legal person - in fact, I work in the Intellectual Property field and when I first read about this lawsuit the first thing that caught my attention is that the old Supernova NEVER applied for a trademark through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...........Mark Burnett Productions has applied for a trademark for Supernova. The old Supernova are suing on the fact that they've been using the name for 20+ years..........I'll be anxious to see how the court rules.

Just because your using a name and have used a certain name for 20+ years does not give you exclusive right to that name UNTIL you've filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

See? This is why I leave the legal mombo jumbo to someone else. I haven't heard all that, but it makes sense. I mean Mark Burnett isn't an idiot. I couldn't imagine that they didn't check it out before they chose the name. Besides, I don't even think that the other band is even still performing together, are they?