Kannapolis native relishes 'American Idol' opportunity

Regardless of whether he makes it to the finish line on this year’s “American Idol” competition, Kannapolis resident Josh Sanders is already taking advantage of his time on the show’s premiere.

The popular Fox show didn’t air his actual audition, and he only appeared for less than 3 seconds, but he’s lined up radio and television interviews as a result. And his appearance on the local Fox news station got the attention of the Chairmen of the Board. He will now perform at shows with the band, and one venue seats 500 people with the other seating 1,500 people.

“There’s no plan B,” the 23-year-old Sanders said. “I don’t want to be 40 years old and going, ‘Why didn’t I do this,’ or, ‘I should have pushed more then.’ I’m trying to make the best decisions possible.”

John Miszuk, who operates 2 Giants Entertainment, represents Sanders and was responsible for hooking Sanders up with the Chairmen of the Board. But it was Sanders’ talent that got the band to agree to have Sanders appear with them, Miszuk said.

He said the Chairmen of the Board had seen Sanders on the Fox news piece and were already interested in him when they met. Before long Sanders bonded with the group.

“You take that from 40-year veterans who have won Grammys and been on the road for years and are at the top of what they do,” Miszuk said. “To have those guys go, ‘Here’s my number, you need to call me.’ ”

SAVANNAH, GA.

As Sanders plans his future, he also knows he might have to juggle his schedule for “American Idol” obligations. He is scheduled to appear in upcoming episodes of the show.

Sanders got his chance to go to Hollywood after he went to audition in Savannah, Ga., last year. But it was almost a near miss.

The day of the audition, he almost missed his chance to compete, having slept longer than he meant to. A lot of people might give up without even trying, but Sanders knew this was a chance to help his career.

“’I’m going to go anyway. I’ve got to try,’ ” he remembered thinking. “So I pull in, get out of the car and they just let the line in. So I literally just walked in, got a seat and sat down.”

He was number 48039 at the audition, and got to perform in front of the judges, including Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, singer Jennifer Lopez and Grammy award-winning producer Randy Jackson.

Sanders started off performing “Whipping Post,” by the Allman Brothers. And while the group seemed to like the song, Tyler said he wanted to hear something different. Sanders followed up with the Rolling Stones tune “Gimme Shelter.”

By the end of the audition Sanders had three “yes” votes, sending him to Hollywood. But Jackson did say Sanders needed to focus on promoting himself, saying he felt more like a front man.

Jackson told Sanders he could totally see the young singer perform with the Zac Brown Band or Blackberry Smoke.

Sanders — who has shared the stage with those acts — was polite, but the whole time he was thinking, “Bro, I just went on a cruise with those guys!”

DEVELOPING CAREER

Sanders is starting to get a bit of national spotlight, thanks to “American Idol,” but he has already had the chance to play with top talent. He has performed on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man Cruise, the Rock Legends Cruise as well as other venues.

Over the years he’s had a chance to share the stage with ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Thorogood and others.

Sanders may be just 23 years old, but his music career has been developing for many years.

He grew up in the Kannapolis and Enochville area and his father, Darren Sanders, has been a minister of music for several churches. He is currently the minister at Northwest Baptist Church in Concord. Josh Sanders said it made sense to perform, considering his musical upbringing.

“My dad certainly did give me my start,” Sanders said. “Coming up they had a gospel group and my uncle played drums. And I was probably 7 or 8 years old and I would get his kit for him. And I would actually set this kit up so I could get up there and beat on them before they did their singing. So that’s kind of were I started getting into it. And I would sing as a boy at 10 or 11 years old in church.”

By the time he was 12, his dad’s bass player had left the band. So Sanders was asked to jump in. He was hoping for a go-kart, but instead got a bass and a little amp.

“And (Dad’s) like, ‘Bass player at church quit. I need you to learn how to play,’ ” Sanders remembers his father telling him. “If it wasn’t for him throwing the bass at me like that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”

Over the years Sanders performed, doing a lot of gospel music. But when he got introduced to the music of Alice in Chains, his music evolved toward rock.

“So I’ve got kind of this Southern rock, blues, grunge thing going on as far as my style,” Sanders said.

Before he was even 18 years old his work had him playing with a 1980s cover band called Smokin’. They needed a bass player, and Sanders agreed to travel the Southeast and gain some valuable experience working a crowd.

“It was a big production,” Sanders said. “You would think Bon Jovi was coming into the bar. It was a ridiculous amount of speakers and lights.”

Sanders credits that experience with building his confidence and making him a stronger competitor for the “American Idol” audition.

After the audition, Sanders went to Hollywood late last year. He said he was among 300 people who made it to Hollywood.

“One of the hardest parts was getting to know people, and then as cutthroat as it is, there’s cuts to be made,” Sanders said. “So you get close to people and people are dropping.”

While in Hollywood, Sanders would work 17 hours a day and said he would average two or three hours of sleep a night. He actually fell asleep one night listening to a song he had to practice for the filming. He said he had to work hard on practicing songs, choreography and everything else needed to perform.

“It’s one of those deals of, who is going to put in the most effort,” he said.

In the end, Sanders knows his time on “American Idol” can help his career.

“I don’t know how this is going to go down,” he said. “Ultimately, I’ve got to figure a way to win these people over and keep them around.”

The show airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays on Fox. For more information, visit www.joshsandersmusic.com.

Contact Michael Knox at mknox@independenttribune.com or 704-789-9133.