By Odeisel

You ever wonder how people like Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Drake seemingly pop up from nowhere? Hollywood doesn’t work that way folks. Most “sensations” and phenomena have been on the grind for years, with a surprising amount coming from Canada or Canadian television. Drew Seeley is a Canadian import that happened to perform many anonymous tunes for the House of the Mouse.

As a teen he performed many tunes for Disney shows, including singing for Zach Efron on “High School Musical,” and filling in for Efron during the North American and Latin American tours while Efron was filming Hairspray. After a few guest appearances on a few television shows, movies and musicals, Seeley has garnered his own role on “Glory Daze,” a time-period show, set in 1986, about a group of friends during their freshman year at an Indiana University. We caught up to Seeley after a performance for the Voice of an Angel Charity concert to talk about his career and the difference between singing on stage and acting in front of cameras.

Planet Ill: How goes it brother?

Drew Seeley: It goes great, I just jumped off the stage, the show went great, the crowd was really into it and it’s an amazing cause, so I’m happy to be here.

Planet Ill: California is a long way from Connecticut. How did they reach out to you?

Drew Seeley: Alex Cantrell is producing for [concert organizer Angelica Salem] Angelica and we’ve been friends for a couple of years, so he reached out to me and asked if I wanted to come help.

Planet Ill: How different is it being a performer on stage than it is being one in front of the camera?

Drew Seeley: Filming a TV show, you don’t get that immediate crowd reaction and response, which I love. That’s my favorite part of performing live. When you film a show, you have to wait six months to see it and you’re like well, you don’t know if you’re doing bad. If you’re performing on stage, you know pretty soon if you’re doing bad; the audience will let you know.  I like that immediate feedback.

Planet Ill: Is it more difficult to be spontaneous, or is harder to learn those lines and feed within an ensemble cast?

Drew Seeley: I think at first I was just scared out of my mind because I was working with all these seasoned SNL vets, you know, Tim Meadows has scenes with me, and I’m like “Wow, I’ve been watching you for ten years, how am I supposed to be relaxed?” But you know it didn’t take too long to get comfortable with it because they’re all really cool.

Planet Ill: How difficult is it getting used to being recognized? The first time someone you didn’t know recognized you because or acted like they knew you because they’d seen you on TV, how creepy was that?

Drew Seeley: It’s not usually creepy. Sometimes people can make it creepy, but most of the time it’s flattering. It’s not like I’m Justin Beiber status where people are like clawing at me. But it’s like “Hey man I like your show!” That’s great to hear. I love it.

Planet Ill: What about your show? What about the character [rich kid Republican Jason Wilson for TBS show “Glory Daz”] that you play grabs you?

Drew Seeley: He’s so totally different than I am. He’s so uptight; he doesn’t take any chances and his parents want him to follow the straight and narrow. Grow up and be President. My parents were like go to California and be an actor. My parents were just cool. We come from different worlds so it’s fun to jump into that and be able to just turn it off at the end of the day and just be me.

Planet Ill: How hard is it to turn off? Have you ever gotten lost in a character?

Drew Seeley: I am starting to turn into this guy Jason a little bit more than before the show. I find myself kinda saying the same things. It’s kinda hard to turn off.

Planet Ill: [Playing]Republicans ain’t as cool as dancing on stage in front of screaming girls, I’m sure that will snap you out of it.

Drew Seeley: I’m flying back to California tomorrow to Democrat land.

Planet Ill: Is there anything you would like to get out there to fans or people that are seeing you for the first time?

Drew Seeley: Yeah. I don’t know if everybody knows, but I have a new album out called The Resolution. The second EP from it came out. There’s still five songs that haven’t come off of it. The full album is coming out soon. There’s eight songs on iTunes and Amazon now. To me it’s the best work I’ve ever done; I’m real happy about it. It’s all original stuff that I’ve written so please, please, please, if you like good music, go check it out. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Also look into Voice of an Angel, the reason why we did this show tonight because for all the self-promotion I can do, we all have our own agendas, but it’s nice to see people give their time for something bigger than themselves. I was flattered to be asked to come to be here. Look into it and if you can give your time, not just money but time to people that need it, please do it. That’s my resolution for 2011.

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Follow Odeisel on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/odeisel

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs