Chris Daughtry has some thoughts on rock fans who feel they ‘own’ the genre.
“I feel like the artists are probably more welcoming than some of the fans,” the Daughtry frontman shared in an interview with Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown. He discussed the band’s reception in the rock world, saying, “I think the fans can be a little gatekeeper.”
He continued, “If they’re into this band and you’re on the same bill, it doesn’t quite align with how they… The bands that they’re into. They may have something to say but it’s never the bands. It’s never the other artists. It’s usually certain fan bases.”
Daughtry signed with Big Machine Records in August 2023, releasing a new single titled ‘Artificial’ on August 11. By February 9, 2024, the song reached number one on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
Speaking on Jamey Jasta’s The Jasta Show last year, Chris reflected on the creation of ‘Artificial.’ “When we wrote ‘Artificial,’ it was just like, ‘Dude, this feels like the freshest sh*t we’ve ever written’ and I don’t know how people are going to react to this but I know this is my favorite thing I’ve ever done. So I say, we pump the brakes on the rest right now and we turn this in, get it mixed, mastered, and ready to go.”
The singer went on to say, “I think they just couldn’t help but believe my excitement in it and I even called Scott Borchetta, the head of the label and I was like, ‘Look here’s my vision for the video. Here’s my vision for the song. I think we’re touching on something that no one’s talking about right now and this AI stuff is about to break loose in a big way and I feel like we need to be ahead of the curb on this.'”
“He was like, ‘Dude, I am full aware of all of that stuff. I read up on it all the time and I think you’re absolutely right. Let’s go. Let’s be loud about it.’ And then, I had to convince him to spend 100 grand on a video [laughs],” Daughtry added.
The band later released another single, ‘Pieces,’ on March 22, 2024. In June, Daughtry announced their next album would be split into two parts, with the first part releasing in September. Another single, ‘Nervous,’ dropped on June 28, and on August 9, 2024, they released ‘The Reckoning.’
