Q&A: Josh Steely of Daughtry

By Amy Johnson

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Josh Steely has spent most of his life out on tour. During his childhood he spent a lot of time out on the road with his musician parents. After finishing high school he joined a band and pursued his passion for making music. Years later, after taking a hiatus from his ambitions, Steely took a shot at an audition he says he was too old for and impressed a certain shaved-headed American Idol contestant. One quintuple-platinum, Grammy-nominated debut album later, Josh Steely, lead guitarist for Daughtry, talks about the band’s new album and being back out on tour. Daughtry will play October 19 at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka.

Jayplay: When did you first fall in love with music?

Josh Steely: I’m sure it happened probably before I can remember. As soon as I can remember my parents' friends were coming over and having jam sessions and I was into watching and listening. I was about 13 when I knew it was forever and ever. I was able to start trying to express myself. You get to that age when you feel no one understands you and I picked up the guitar and realized what a release it was.

JP: What bands or artists have influenced you in your career?

JS: I truly do appreciate all kinds of music. Right from the beginning I think my favorite band was Black Sabbath. Then a little later I got into The Cure and Led Zeppelin. The older I get the more open minded I get. Now I’ve gotten into eastern music, like music from Turkey or Israel. These days I am just open minded to anything that is real and honest.

JP: When your second son was born you decided to get what you called a “straight” job, where were you working?

JS: I would do anything. I was a laborer, working construction just on a small basis. I basically hijacked this guy’s tile job one time. The owner of the house asked my boss if he could install tile and he didn’t like doing it so he said no. After my boss left I told the owner I would do the tile job. I knew the owner was going out of town and he left me at his house. I’d never laid tile before, so I called friends who did tile and got advice and that was my first handyman job.

JP: What made you decide to go to the audition former American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry was holding?

JS: Basically I was really lucky. One of my good friends ended up being the musical director for Chris and he called me up and said, 'You’d be really good for this you might as well give it a shot.' I was probably about 36 when I did that audition, thank goodness I don’t look my age because they were looking for younger guys. During my audition the band manager told my buddy, 'Wow I wish you would have told me this guy was so old.' But by then it was too late. I got the job and we all blended and meshed so well together as a band.

JP: You’re getting ready to start touring. How do you deal with being on the road and having a family?

JS: It’s very hard. We all cherish every day we get to go home even though sometimes it’s only one or two days every six weeks. We’re leaving on the 13th to start our shows so we wont see our families until Thanksgiving, and then we’re back to the road until Christmas. It’s torture. You miss a lot of little things your kids do. I iChat with them and read them books before bed when it permits. My wife and I talk and write little love notes.

JP: What do you guys do in your down time while touring?

JS: If we do get a day off and we don’t go home, usually we go see a movie or try to go to the mall. Touring gets very monotonous sometimes. Being inside and traveling a lot. We play late at night and rarely get outside much. On breaks I’ll just go on a walk around the town for the day to just get outside and do a little exercise.

JP: How do you think you guys have grown as a band since your first album?

JS: In every way — musically, as friends. We are very comfortable with each other. We feel we have gotten to this level because of hard work. We feel so strong together. We have built this thing that is, as of yet, unstoppable. We honestly feel we are going to be one of those bands that can help change things and help people through music. The first album we were figuring out how this was going to work. Leave This Town was a total band effort. We’ve been able to seriously be our own band versus people saying it’s all a corporate thing, or an American Idol thing.

JP: With all the success of Daughtry, what do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

JS: Definitely working with the one.org campaign, Bono’s charity to make poverty disappear. We went to Uganda for the Idol Gives Back tour, and we raised money for orphanages. We also did the "What About Now" music video over there. I felt very proud that we were able to sell that video on iTunes and raise money for the orphans. To be able to do that in such a young career, really making a difference, has been the biggest.

JP: Is there anything you’d like to say to the students of KU?

JS: One thing is we can't wait to come out and start our tour there. And the times we have been able to come you guys are great, definitely one of the loudest crowds. We hope everyone can make it out to our show.

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