American Idol, Montreal indie & R. Kelly

Jacob Lusk

Hatched from the mind of Pop Montreal creative director Dan Seligman himself, Jacob Lusk & the R. Kelly All-Stars promises to be one the most interesting shows happening at this year’s festival.

Leading the charge is Jacob Lusk, a big-voiced balladeer from Compton who finished fifth on the 10th season of American Idol. Backing him up are the R. Kelly All-Stars, a ragtag bunch made up of some of the Montreal music scene’s most recognizable faces:

Patrick Gregoire (aka Pat Jordache)
Jaime Thompson (ex-Unicorns, ex-Islands)
Ira Lee
Alex Chow (ex-islands)
Mozart’s Sister
Jef Barbara

and possibly Cadence Weapon as well.

As the backing band’s name suggests, Lusk will be singing his favourite R. Kelly tunes, including “I Believe I Can Fly” (the Idol performance that inspired Seligman to put this show together), “I Look to You” (a song R. Kelly wrote for Whitney Houston) and, of course, millennial dance-party favourite “Ignition (Remix).”

“I cut it from the list originally, but they told me that if I didn’t play it, the place would probably erupt,” Lusk says with a laugh. “So I am playing it, although you’ll have to come and see how we do it.”

I spoke to Lusk about transitioning from Idol to headlining showman, R. Kelly’s raunchy lyrics and his own music plans.

Erik Leijon: How are you preparing for the Pop Montreal show?
Jacob Lusk: I’m trying to learn my songs. I’m trying to get my moves in order. It’s amazing that I’m doing a list of R. Kelly songs, but I’m also going to be doing some original music that no one has ever heard live yet, which is extremely exciting. The truth is, I haven’t done a show like this since Idol. I’ve done 20-minute sets and I’ve done opening sets, but I’m doing a whole hour here and some change, so it’s pretty nerve-racking. It’s crazy to think that people are coming to see me, and there’s that pressure of not knowing if people are going to come, because I’m not opening for Gladys Knight tonight, I’ll tell you that much. It’s taking me to a place musically that’s really testing me because I’ve always done the big ballads, the up-tempo singing, and this is forcing me to try some things I never have done before.

EL: Are you an R. Kelly fan?
JL: I am an R. Kelly fan. To be honest, his music is a little raunchy for me sometimes, and I’m known more as the good kid next door, so I did find myself blushing a couple of times. I was thinking this wasn’t going to work, and I don’t know if this is going to fly. It’s been a struggle because even though I’m a big fan of R. Kelly, I never thought I’d be singing a full concert of his songs, so that’s what I’ve been looking for, to find the balance between who R. Kelly is as an artist and making sure that when people come to see the show, they’ll get to see who Jacob Lusk is.

EL: Right. With American Idol, we only heard you sing for two minutes at a time.
JL: This is where the chicken flies the coop. On American Idol, you sing for two minutes, then you go home ,and that’s it. In two minutes, you sing, you smile, you say vote for me, this is my phone number; here you have to put on a show, and this is where the real artist, I believe, shows up. You have to please the whole crowd for an hour — you gotta talk, you gotta dance, you gotta get the crowd involved and you gotta make sure they’re having a good time. That’s what separates the corn from the husk [laughs, avoids obvious pun].

EL: You’re in L.A. right now — how have you been communicating with your new band?
JL: I’ve talked with them on the phone, and they seem like a great group of guys who love music and know what they’re doing. I’ve looked at a few YouTube clips, and I’m excited. It’s always great to work with new musicians who love what they do and are amazing at what they do — that’s going to be the fun part. This is going back to what I’m used to; before American Idol, that’s what I did, I open mic-ed with bands, so to get back to that natural environment… I’m not going to have a suit and tie on or make-up people coming to retouch my eyes; we’re just coming to have a good time. I come into town Friday, and we’ll jam all Friday, then hopefully Saturday I’m going to be able to check out a couple of shows.

EL: Was “I Believe I Can Fly” your favourite performance on Idol? It sure as heck impressed Pop Montreal’s creative director.
JL: That was one of my favourite performances on the show, yes. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, although to be honest I messed up my performance a little bit. R. Kelly and I come from similar backgrounds, so to see somebody like him overcome — I mean, we know he has a criminal background, he’s done a lot of things, and he’s been accused of a lot of things — so for him to overcome and still put out the amazing music he does, to write a hit song for someone like Whitney Houston, too, one of my favourite songs of all time [“I Look to You”], it’s great.

EL: What are your original songs like?
JL: I have an album coming. I want to revive real good R&B pop music, like Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross. I want to bring that back, to put pop R&B on top. I don’t believe we have a Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross or Janet Jackson right now. I’ll be singing a few of them at the show, so you’ll just have to wait and see. ■

Jacob Lusk & the R. Kelly All-Stars perform as part of Pop Montreal with Ain’t No Love and AKUA at la Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Saturday, Sept. 22, 9:45 p.m., $20