Last week, I had the privilege of checking out Canadian Idol backstage. As part of my experience, I got a chance to talk to the final four contestants hours before they heard the results of who would be moving on and who would be eliminated. My first chat was with Port Hood, Nova Scotia’s Mitch Macdonald.
Murtz Jaffer: Are you ready to roll?
Mitch Macdonald: Yeah, let’s do it.
MJ: The main thing that I am curious about is the backstage process. Can you walk me through what happens on a Monday before we see you on TV?
MM: Sure. We come in, usually on a Monday around 11 AM. It starts off with going through camera blocking which is just kind of like what shots they are going to take while the performance is going on and then we’ll go through that a couple of times to make sure that everything is good to go before we actually do dress rehearsal. So after the camera blocking, we’ll go into hair, make-up and wardrobe and we’ll get all that done and ready to go. And we’ll have a nice big meal around like 5 pm (a couple of hours before). Then into dress rehearsal and do that and as long as everyone is good to go, we’ll have a little bit of time to chill out before we have got to get back into wardrobe.
MJ: How many times do you get to go out on stage and actually try the song out before the live show?
MM: On a Monday, just a couple of times but throughout the week, we start off doing like our band rehearsals (which are actually in another room, upstairs in a conference room kind of thing) but we get on stage probably, I am going to say five times, something like that. Just once in dress. It’s around five times but that’s just a guess. It could be a couple more or a couple less depending on audio problems and how comfortable you are. Just making sure everything is good to go. That’s an average Monday.
MJ: When do you guys get together to pick your song and is it ever competitive in the sense where you’re like ‘I want that song’ and Theo is like ‘no way, that song is mine! You picked first last week!’ Is it ever like that?
MM: Not too bad. Back when it was Top 10, I remember there were a couple of times when a couple of people picked the same song but it was never really a problem. We agreed upon (before Top 24 started) that if somebody was to have the same interest in the same song and if they wanted to do it, they would have to flip a coin for it and whoever didn’t get it had to go with their second choice.
MJ: Would CTV ever step in? Let’s say you want to do a song and Earl wanted to do the same song… would you both be allowed to do it? You can’t do that on a live show can you? It would have to be different songs?
MM: Yeah, for sure. You need to do two different songs. But yeah, we pick our songs… we find out what the theme is for the show and we’ll pick our top five a couple of weeks before.
MJ: How quickly do you have to start prep for the next performance show. Like this week for example, you do the Monday show, on Tuesday somebody leaves and then how quickly is the turnaround before you start working on the next week?
MM: Wednesday morning. Right back into it. It’s never fun because it’s tough to see somebody go on Tuesday because we have become a pretty close bunch so it’s crazy. It’s crazy because you get right back into it on Wednesday morning. You almost have to forget about Tuesday and that’s hard to do. Honest to god, it’s like we get back up early on Wednesday morning and we start our workshops for the following week.
MJ: I was backstage last night and I am going to be backstage again tonight and one of the things that I noticed was the five or six people milling around that back area and it’s like you’re in the middle of conversation with Drew or something and somebody just comes up and starts fixing your mic or touches your collar… was that weird for you at first because you just seemed like a pro at it yesterday?
MM: It wasn’t too bad. I suppose at first, you stop the conversation that you’re in so that they can do it but now, it’s like you don’t even notice it. Unless they needed to ask you something or say something to you, you can have a conversation with somebody as they are fixing your mic or perking up your collar and you don’t even notice it now anymore, it just becomes a natural thing after a few shows.
MJ: One of the things that Mookie told me last week was how he wanted to come out of a coffin for Rock ‘N Roll Heaven week and how there was this big controversy about whether or not it would come off as disrespectful. I want to know how far in advance you have to clear what you want to do on stage?
MM: It’s usually Friday. Because that’s when we do our first band rehearsal and camera blocking on stage kind of thing. So we want to have a pretty good idea of what we want to do on stage by Friday and if we think of something… because we usually have one day off and that’s usually Saturday and if we come up with something…
MJ: There’s still a little bit of breathing room?
MM: Yeah, there’s still a little bit of breathing room and sometimes, like last night for example, Theo wanted to throw his hat to somebody and that was actually Monday that he came up with that. All that has to be mentioned to Joan who is in the camera truck and so she’ll just get a camera shot of that.
MJ: So even something as small as like throwing your hat off or the time that Mookie took off his glasses and threw them at Ben Mulroney’s mom…
MM: (Laughs) That wasn’t supposed to happen! Well, he was supposed to throw his glasses but he was never supposed to hit Ben’s mom!
MJ: So even the smallest thing like that all has to be cleared?
MM: Well sort of. I wouldn’t say cleared but I’d say to let them know because they could be taking a shot of the guitar player and Theo could throw his hat and it wouldn’t come across on TV.
MJ: So do they have to know the exact moment or the exact line in the song where it goes down?
MM: There should be like a ten second period where they will have the camera on. And usually, if he waits a little longer, they’ll just keep that camera shot on him until he throws it. So they’re pretty good. Earl for example, sometimes he’ll do something completely different on stage than he does in dress rehearsal kind of thing. He’s just very spontaneous and there’s an amazing camera crew out there. It’s all improv. Because if you have ever seen it in the trailers, I think they have like 14 cameras and he’s just going ‘camera 2 go, camera 5 go.’ Joan is great at that. I think she said that the most cameras she has ever done was some ridiculous number like in the 30’s or something like that.
MJ: What was the Idol home life like this year? The focus has really been on the lack of girls, was it just a bunch of guys playing video games all day and reading Maxim magazine?
MM: (Laughs). No, not quite. To be honest, our days were pretty filled up.
MJ: But the lack of females? Come on, guys don’t know how to cook!
MM: I can cook! I can cook! Of course it would have been nice to have more of a balance with guys and gals but we all got along really great and Amberly said it herself and she said that she’s the tomboy type and likes to play sports and so she got along with us great. Katherine for a 17 year old gal, she was very mature. We’re a really tight bunch and the time that we did spend together, we’re still there supporting each other. For the most part, we just hang out, watch movies and go in the pool.
MJ: Did the lack of females surprise you?
MM: For sure. It’s hard to say. It’s was in Canada’s hands as to who was going to make it and a lot of people do say that there more female viewers than males and females are more like to…
MJ: Vote for guys…
MM: Right, exactly. So that’s kind of the reality of the show, but there were some very talented gals throughout the top 200 that didn’t make it. Right off the Top 24, I think there were 15 guys and 9 girls and those were the judges picks for the Top 24. That’s the name of the game. It’s in Canada’s hands, it’s not in ours.
MJ: You’re the only one who hasn’t been in the bottom 3 I believe.
MM: That’s correct.
MJ: What is that like? Have you settled into a comfort zone or are you still on pins and needles?
MM: Not really. I guess probably since Top 10. It was kind of my goal to make Top 10 in the Top 24. And here we are Top 4…
MJ: You have to be thinking about the win now.
MM: It’s obviously in the back of your head. You’re so close. But really, I am trying just to have fun. Life’s too short to stress out and everything happens for a reason. That’s one of my motto’s. I just try and chill out and relax and there might be a little bit of butterflies going on 30 seconds before you hear who is in the bottom 3 and who is going. I am pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Some people are different.
MJ: Who do you think is going to win? I don’t want the whole ‘anybody can win’ because Mookie and Amberly both went on the record. And you can say yourself (because I would definitely say myself)…
MM: (Laughs). I am not going to… oh geez. I really don’t know. All of us are very different. Yes, I know I am the only one who hasn’t been in the bottom before…
MJ: Yeah, because I would look at it like you’re the favorite right? Never in the bottom.
MM: I don’t know. I could be gone tonight. I find if you get put in the bottom, then all your voters get a scare and they will be like ‘oh wow, we really have to vote.’ It could be no bottom at all and then I could be gone tonight. That’s just the reality of it. To be honest, my two favorites from Top 10 were Mookie and Amberly. Just people that I could really see making a huge career out of it. They’re both very unique and so are the rest of us here. They were kind of my two picks. Myself, I have been trying different waters with rock and folk-y stuff and so are the rest of us. Theo definitely for Canadian Idol would be a great winner. We have preconceived ideas of what the winner is going to be. We sign this contract. If you win, you put out this CD and you’re not really sure if it’s going to be really really what you would put on a CD if it was all your choice. We all know what we signed up for and may the best man win.
MJ: And you can actually say that this year!
MM: Yeah, you can!
MJ: That’s perfect, thank you.
MM: Thank you very much.
