Lukas Rossi

“Music has changed, man, and there’s hardly any more record stores,” he says. “Everything’s on the Internet now or on television. I think the people who are hatin’ are jealous. I’m sure they would’ve taken the opportunity I took. I’ve been in a bunch of bands in my life, and struggled and came close to grabbing record deals in America and so forth.…But this is the way I chose to do it, and the way we all chose to do it, and I’m happy as hell doing it.”

"I'm finding out a lot of things about my voice that I didn't know about," he said. "I'm going to a lot of cool places that I've never been to and making new friends and meeting new people. The driver of my bus has even become a good friend.

"The best part is being able to reach so many more fans that believe in my music. They all matter to me. Before, it seemed almost impossible to reach them. I cherish the ability to be able to do that now."

Q: When will we hear a record from you and/or the band?
A: Right after the tour. Tommy and I are writing songs right now. It should be rad, dude. It will be heavier than the first stuff because I’m writing a lot more on it. Not too long. I have a lot of music that I don’t think that fits Supernova. I’d like to spread my wings.

He’s so one of us it’s frightening — musically and personally. It’s a perfect marriage. I’ll never forget watching him audition and he came walking in and they put him through these crazy tests and psychological analysis and I remember Lukas finishing and he set his guitar down and he goes, “Is it cool if I go get a beer yet?” (The contestants) had all been penned up in a hotel and not allowed to speak to us or to each other and he just wanted a beer. I knew he was one of us.

"They were both showing something special. At the end of the show, we got to hear them sing on a couple of our tunes. As soon as I heard Lukas ... (I said) 'That's it,'" Clarke, the former Guns 'N Roses player, said in a recent interview from his Los Angeles home.

"He made us sound like a band. He put the vocals on there, where Dilana sounded like a singer in front of a band. (Rossi) made it come together as a band. He was the right person."

"The record we just did, we truly believe in and we love it and we're already starting stuff for the next record," Rossi said. "We definitely see it as being something bigger than everyone is actually seeing right now. That's fine, I think it'll catch on, I definitely do."

And you know what? The guy is up for the job. For a singer known mere months ago only to devout fans of the late Toronto bar band Cleavage, Rossi pranced and preened in front of 3,000-odd concertgoers – and a band behind him composed of former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke, Black Crowes bassist Johnny Colt (filling in for injured Metallica ringer Jason Newsted) and inimitable Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, the rock star's rock star – not only like he owned the place, but like he deserved to own the place.

Alone on stage, bathed in a spotlight and the applause of a soldout Massey Hall, the lead singer of Rock Star Supernova paused and waited for the crowd to stop. And when they kept going, he turned away, seemingly overcome. Here was home-town proof for the reality TV show winner. The former fry cook at a local Hooters really is a rock star. Forget California, Rossi said of his newest address. "I'm coming home."

It's the premise, really, that's disturbing. There's nothing that offensive about Rock Star Supernova singer Lukas Rossi. However the idea that by winning a contest on a reality TV show, a kid from Toronto lands himself a spot fronting a so-called supergroup with a bunch of old rock vets is nothing short of absurd.

LAS VEGAS -- Toronto singer Lukas Rossi promises a sexually tamer show when Rockstar Supernova pulls into Massey Hall tomorrow night.