Clay Talks About "Spamalot", New CD with The Day

Connecticut's The Day has posted a superb interview with Clay at their website. The interview, focussed on the the current Christmas In The Heartland tour and his stop at Mohegan Sun this Sunday, offers some new information about Clay's new album and Spamalot.

On Christmas:

He likes celebrating Christmas so much that he does a holiday concert tour each year, but he doesn't like celebrating his birthday and so did nothing special for his 29th.

On Spamalot:

He thought “Spamalot” was “one of the stupidest things I had ever seen in my life” — and yet he's agreed to star in the Broadway musical beginning next month.

He never saw “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the movie that inspired the Broadway musical “Spamalot.” There was talk of him being cast in it, so he decided to see the show.

“Earlier that weekend, I had seen a typical Broadway musical, which gives you the highs and the lows and you leave with your heart soaring, blah, blah, blah. You go to 'Spamalot,' and your heart's not soaring, necessarily. It's confused.”

He went a second time, now understanding that the show doesn't have a real storyline, that it's just fun and silly.

“I laughed so hard. It's the funniest show that's possibly ever been on Broadway. It's just that off,” he says.

On the forthcoming CD:

Aiken is due to release a CD next year — his first of entirely new music since “Measure of a Man.” He and his team are looking for material now and expect to record next year. As for what folks can expect, Aiken says, “It's kind of hard to say. We're going to do all original material, but it's going to be me. I can promise it's not going to be trying to stretch into a new arena, something that's so out of the box that it's unrecognizable. We're going to try to do stuff that's just one millimeter left of center. The producer says, 'Stay in your own lane.' That's what we're going to do.”

In the beginning, producers suggested material more appropriate for pop performers who are in vogue on the singles charts, like Timberlake or Maroon 5.

“It's always the issue, I think because there's such a push for really commercial stuff, and Justin Timberlake and Maroon 5 are very cool. I can't do that type of stuff,” Aiken says. “It's a struggle, because a song, a demo, will come in, and it'll be such a great song, and I'll love it. But the more I sit with it (I realize), let's be honest, I'd love to listen to it — from someone else.”

That said, Aiken says his new CD is “going to be very current in sound, but we're looking for songs that are great for me and will produce them in a current way.”