Post by Kari on Jul 28, 2006 0:37:10 GMT -5
Pike's streak
Austin singer's 'Rock Star' hopes are still alive
By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Patrice Pike was not going to be intimidated by Hollywood hotshot guitarist Dave Navarro.
The Austin singer, who once fronted Sister 7 and currently performs as a solo artist, has been in sink-or-swim meetings with legendary label boss Clive Davis. She's been signed to three major labels in the years since she fronted Dallas funk/jam band Little Sister as a teenager. Where her career is concerned, Pike's not going to back down from someone whose biggest claim to fame is marrying (and recently separating from) Carmen Electra.
Robert Voets
CBS BROADCASTING INC.
It went down to the wire, but Patrice Pike survived the Week 4 elimination on the CBS reality show 'Rock Star: Supernova.'
Robert Voets
CBS BROADCASTING INC.
Patrice Pike (she's the one in the center with the black sleeveless top) and the rest of the contestants are holed up in a converted convent.
Watch the show
"Rock Star: Supernova" airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on CBS. The elimination shows are at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS. Go to rockstar.msn.com to catch up on episodes and for more information about the contestants and judges.
"OK, Patrice, I'm not seeing anything different and, frankly, I'm getting a little bored," Navarro told Pike on Tuesday night's episode of "Rock Star: Supernova," which is "American Idol" with a pierced lip. Pike had just performed a version of "Remedy" by the Black Crowes.
"Do you do a lot of things differently when you perform, Dave?" Pike shot back. Ooh, testy. Some in the crowd gasped.
But then Navarro, who's one of the show's executive producers as well as a co-host, put it all into perspective: "The difference is that I already have a job and I'm not auditioning."
The ultimate "singer wanted" classified, "Rock Star: Supernova" is a summer-long CBS reality show out to find a lead singer for a new "supergroup" consisting of drummer Tommy Lee (ex-Mötley Crüe), bassist Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica) and guitarist Gilby Clarke (who was in Guns N' Roses for a minute and a half). Somehow, the 35-year-old Pike — who has toured with touchy feely femme fest Lilith Fair — finds herself in the middle of all this, battling kids named Storm and Magni for the right to sing Tommy Lee songs. But she's not going to apologize for seizing an opportunity.
"I don't think there are too many musicians out there who wouldn't want to perform in front of 5 million people a week on national TV," Pike said after surviving week four's elimination, which aired Wednesday. For the first time, Pike found herself as one of the bottom three vote-getters and thus had to sing for her "Rock Star" life. And did she ever! Pike pulled out a riveting performance of Radiohead's "My Iron Lung" that had Lee exclaiming, "That's what I'm talking about!" In two minutes, Pike went from the bottom to the top.
Still, Pike has virtually no chance of fronting the Supernova band-to-be. She'll ride this rockin' rollercoaster as long as she can, hopefully to the round where the contestants sing their own compositions.
Lukas Rossi, the gaunt, gothy, glitter rocker, seems a shoo-in to be the Scott Weiland vocalist in this Velvet Revolver knock-off. Although a vote by viewers determines the bottom three acts, judges Lee, Newsted and Clarke pick the one that has to leave the show each week, and Rossi should be the last rocker standing. If the band goes the unexpected route, selecting a frontwoman, look for them to tap Houston's Dilana — Stevie Nicks in need of an exorcist — who will least make a female-fronted Supernova sound like Heart.
Tell Pike that she just doesn't fit with this over-the-hill, bad boy rock band and she'll disagree. "I'd love to be in this band," she said. "I've been chilling for two years with my solo stuff. I miss being in a rock band. I'm ready to cut loose."
Expect Supernova to cut Pike loose around Week 8.
And if you think it'll bum her out to read that, don't worry. Pike and her fellow "Rock Star: Supernova" hopefuls are holed up like a deliberating jury, with no phones, no TV, no Internet access and no newspapers. Pike has a list of five people she can call, twice a week, for 15 minutes, on a monitored cell phone. They can't talk about the show or any aspects of the music business. There's no coaching in "Rock Star."
"Don't tell me anything about what's happening on the outside world," Pike prepped a reporter on Monday, interview day, at the converted convent in the Hollywood Hills where the contestants live together. Pike has no idea that "Patrice Watch" parties have become a regular Tuesday night happening in her home town. During a recent lunch hour at Enoteca on South Congress Avenue, strangers at adjoining tables were debating Pike's chances after overhearing a conversation. "Who's the girl who told Tommy to Google her?" asked one diner. Told it was Storm Large, who's got naughty pics on the Internet, the woman said, "I think she'll go all the way. There's chemistry with her and the band." The show's addictive.
"Probably the worst thing about this experience is the isolation," said Pike, who nailed the cattle call tryout in April, then spent a long week auditioning in L.A. before making the on-air cut. She gets paid each week, but business partner Todd Walker declined to say how much. Pike has had to put her solo career on hold, postponing a European tour and pushing back the release date of her new record until "Rock Star" wraps in late September. Or until she's sent home.
"I really want to win this thing, and I think I've got a chance," she said. "I'm just so comfortable onstage. I don't get the jitters."
She's certainly the most experienced rocker in contention, with some of the other contenders often picking her brain for career advice. Just how does it feel to get signed to Arista by record company legend Clive Davis, then watch him get fired a few months later, putting your record in limbo? Pike is one of the few folks who could answer that.
"Everybody gets along so well in the house," she said. "We have a lot of respect for each other, knowing just what we had to do to get here." But what about that Week 3 dustup with Jill Giola, termed a "catfight" by Tommy Lee? "They made a big deal about that on the show, but it was really nothing," Pike said. The cameras caught her and Giola in a heated moment after Pike claimed "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles as her song to perform that night. "It was just a misunderstanding. Jill wanted to do another song anyway." It was all patched up by show time, and Pike and Giola were sitting together holding hands.
There's very little of that kind of behind-the-scenes drama on "Rock Star: Supernova," where almost all the action happens onstage. "When I was deciding whether or not to try out for the show, the thing that convinced me was because the music was the most important element," Pike said. Created by Mark Burnett, who brought us "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," the show is a follow-up to last year's "Rock Star: INXS," which has been credited with re-igniting the Australian group's popularity.
Just as in the inaugural season, when the more charismatic Marty Casey was passed over for J.D. Fortune, who gelled better with the band, the most talented singer won't necessarily be chosen to front Supernova (which might be forced to change its name because it's just been sued by a California band that has had the name since 1989). Pike has the tattoos and the 'tude; she just needs to convince Lee, Newsted and Clarke that she's the singer who can make them matter again.
"I have to challenge myself to pull out that over-the-top stage presence they're looking for," she said.
Six little letters, Ms. Pike, and they're not "Google." Six little letters: Go girl! We'll be watching.
mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652
Austin singer's 'Rock Star' hopes are still alive
By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Patrice Pike was not going to be intimidated by Hollywood hotshot guitarist Dave Navarro.
The Austin singer, who once fronted Sister 7 and currently performs as a solo artist, has been in sink-or-swim meetings with legendary label boss Clive Davis. She's been signed to three major labels in the years since she fronted Dallas funk/jam band Little Sister as a teenager. Where her career is concerned, Pike's not going to back down from someone whose biggest claim to fame is marrying (and recently separating from) Carmen Electra.
Robert Voets
CBS BROADCASTING INC.
It went down to the wire, but Patrice Pike survived the Week 4 elimination on the CBS reality show 'Rock Star: Supernova.'
Robert Voets
CBS BROADCASTING INC.
Patrice Pike (she's the one in the center with the black sleeveless top) and the rest of the contestants are holed up in a converted convent.
Watch the show
"Rock Star: Supernova" airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on CBS. The elimination shows are at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS. Go to rockstar.msn.com to catch up on episodes and for more information about the contestants and judges.
"OK, Patrice, I'm not seeing anything different and, frankly, I'm getting a little bored," Navarro told Pike on Tuesday night's episode of "Rock Star: Supernova," which is "American Idol" with a pierced lip. Pike had just performed a version of "Remedy" by the Black Crowes.
"Do you do a lot of things differently when you perform, Dave?" Pike shot back. Ooh, testy. Some in the crowd gasped.
But then Navarro, who's one of the show's executive producers as well as a co-host, put it all into perspective: "The difference is that I already have a job and I'm not auditioning."
The ultimate "singer wanted" classified, "Rock Star: Supernova" is a summer-long CBS reality show out to find a lead singer for a new "supergroup" consisting of drummer Tommy Lee (ex-Mötley Crüe), bassist Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica) and guitarist Gilby Clarke (who was in Guns N' Roses for a minute and a half). Somehow, the 35-year-old Pike — who has toured with touchy feely femme fest Lilith Fair — finds herself in the middle of all this, battling kids named Storm and Magni for the right to sing Tommy Lee songs. But she's not going to apologize for seizing an opportunity.
"I don't think there are too many musicians out there who wouldn't want to perform in front of 5 million people a week on national TV," Pike said after surviving week four's elimination, which aired Wednesday. For the first time, Pike found herself as one of the bottom three vote-getters and thus had to sing for her "Rock Star" life. And did she ever! Pike pulled out a riveting performance of Radiohead's "My Iron Lung" that had Lee exclaiming, "That's what I'm talking about!" In two minutes, Pike went from the bottom to the top.
Still, Pike has virtually no chance of fronting the Supernova band-to-be. She'll ride this rockin' rollercoaster as long as she can, hopefully to the round where the contestants sing their own compositions.
Lukas Rossi, the gaunt, gothy, glitter rocker, seems a shoo-in to be the Scott Weiland vocalist in this Velvet Revolver knock-off. Although a vote by viewers determines the bottom three acts, judges Lee, Newsted and Clarke pick the one that has to leave the show each week, and Rossi should be the last rocker standing. If the band goes the unexpected route, selecting a frontwoman, look for them to tap Houston's Dilana — Stevie Nicks in need of an exorcist — who will least make a female-fronted Supernova sound like Heart.
Tell Pike that she just doesn't fit with this over-the-hill, bad boy rock band and she'll disagree. "I'd love to be in this band," she said. "I've been chilling for two years with my solo stuff. I miss being in a rock band. I'm ready to cut loose."
Expect Supernova to cut Pike loose around Week 8.
And if you think it'll bum her out to read that, don't worry. Pike and her fellow "Rock Star: Supernova" hopefuls are holed up like a deliberating jury, with no phones, no TV, no Internet access and no newspapers. Pike has a list of five people she can call, twice a week, for 15 minutes, on a monitored cell phone. They can't talk about the show or any aspects of the music business. There's no coaching in "Rock Star."
"Don't tell me anything about what's happening on the outside world," Pike prepped a reporter on Monday, interview day, at the converted convent in the Hollywood Hills where the contestants live together. Pike has no idea that "Patrice Watch" parties have become a regular Tuesday night happening in her home town. During a recent lunch hour at Enoteca on South Congress Avenue, strangers at adjoining tables were debating Pike's chances after overhearing a conversation. "Who's the girl who told Tommy to Google her?" asked one diner. Told it was Storm Large, who's got naughty pics on the Internet, the woman said, "I think she'll go all the way. There's chemistry with her and the band." The show's addictive.
"Probably the worst thing about this experience is the isolation," said Pike, who nailed the cattle call tryout in April, then spent a long week auditioning in L.A. before making the on-air cut. She gets paid each week, but business partner Todd Walker declined to say how much. Pike has had to put her solo career on hold, postponing a European tour and pushing back the release date of her new record until "Rock Star" wraps in late September. Or until she's sent home.
"I really want to win this thing, and I think I've got a chance," she said. "I'm just so comfortable onstage. I don't get the jitters."
She's certainly the most experienced rocker in contention, with some of the other contenders often picking her brain for career advice. Just how does it feel to get signed to Arista by record company legend Clive Davis, then watch him get fired a few months later, putting your record in limbo? Pike is one of the few folks who could answer that.
"Everybody gets along so well in the house," she said. "We have a lot of respect for each other, knowing just what we had to do to get here." But what about that Week 3 dustup with Jill Giola, termed a "catfight" by Tommy Lee? "They made a big deal about that on the show, but it was really nothing," Pike said. The cameras caught her and Giola in a heated moment after Pike claimed "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles as her song to perform that night. "It was just a misunderstanding. Jill wanted to do another song anyway." It was all patched up by show time, and Pike and Giola were sitting together holding hands.
There's very little of that kind of behind-the-scenes drama on "Rock Star: Supernova," where almost all the action happens onstage. "When I was deciding whether or not to try out for the show, the thing that convinced me was because the music was the most important element," Pike said. Created by Mark Burnett, who brought us "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," the show is a follow-up to last year's "Rock Star: INXS," which has been credited with re-igniting the Australian group's popularity.
Just as in the inaugural season, when the more charismatic Marty Casey was passed over for J.D. Fortune, who gelled better with the band, the most talented singer won't necessarily be chosen to front Supernova (which might be forced to change its name because it's just been sued by a California band that has had the name since 1989). Pike has the tattoos and the 'tude; she just needs to convince Lee, Newsted and Clarke that she's the singer who can make them matter again.
"I have to challenge myself to pull out that over-the-top stage presence they're looking for," she said.
Six little letters, Ms. Pike, and they're not "Google." Six little letters: Go girl! We'll be watching.
mcorcoran@statesman.com; 445-3652
