News Segment
SLASH AND ROB ZOMBIE GUESTING ON ‘ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA’:
July 3, 2006
Dave Navarro is using his celebrity to add more star power to the already shining Rock Star: Supernova.
As an executive producer and host of the CBS reality-TV hit, which paired Toronto singer J.D. Fortune with INXS last summer, he’s enlisted a few of his friends to help pick this year’s winner.
“We are going to have a weekly guest judge that I’m bringing from my own personal Rolodex — Macy Gray, Slash, Rob Zombie and Moby,” says Navarro. “They are going to give their opinion of who they think should stay and who should go.”
This season, the band Supernova — made up of Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke — will chose its lead singer from 15 of the best rock singers the world has to offer.
Navarro says because the group, unlike INXS, has no back catalog of songs, it will be up to the bottom three finalists, who’ll be forced to perform one more time for the band during the weekly elimination shows, to decide what song they’ll sing .
“What they chose and how they perform it will say more to Supernova than if they had to do one of their songs because if someone picks a Duran Duran song, I am simply going to say, ‘You want to join Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted and Gilby Clarke and that’s the song you choose?’
“They are really going to have to rely on who they are as opposed to fitting into something that the band is.”
As part of another change this season, the weekly behind-the-scenes episode will be streamed exclusively on the web on MSN. The unscripted drama, available at rockstar.msn.com, will allow viewers to follow the contestants as they interact in the Rock Star house.
While Navarro has met this season’s finalists, which include two Canadians, Jenny Galt from Vancouver and Toronto’s Lukas Rossi, he refuses to weigh-in on their odds of making it to the end.
“I am really taking a page out of last season — I never spoke with INXS about who I believed was the best singer for their band. It really was left up to them,” he says, adding viewers should also not expect him or co-host Brooke Burke to be too harsh in their criticisms of the weekly performances.
p”With rock ‘n’ roll it’s really about the individual who brings what they have in their heart. This is something that can’t be taught — you either have it or you don’t.
“That’s why, last season, our comments were not as critical as some people would want them to be — I can’t tell someone to wear a different dress or put their hair up and that will make their performance better.
“On a pop show you can get away with that, but this is really about the individual and what’s going on inside them.”
Finding undiscovered talent is the reason Navarro has now started up the internet radio station called Spread Radio Live (spreadradiolive.com) and signed on for another season of Rock Star, despite having a seemingly full-plate.
“I believe rock ‘n’ roll deserves a place on primetime television and I have a real interest in helping unsigned artists get their craft heard.
“To me (Rock Star) is a great avenue, not only for the winner, but for the 15 individuals to get to do what they love to do in front of millions of people.”
While Navarro has no problem switching the conversation to his new band, The Panic Channel, which will release its debut album on Aug. 15, and it’s upcoming tour, one thing he won’t discuss is his rumoured rocky marriage to Carmen Electra.
“The truth is, I was put on the phone today to discuss Rock Star and that is not on the agenda,” he says. “Every time I respond to it, it gives more fodder.”
Rock Star: Supernova debuts on CBS and Global July 5 at 9 p.m. and will air twice a week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Courtesy of www.calgarysun.com