You came third on Australian Idol's fourth season, in 2006, behind Jessica Mauboy and Damien Leith. To be here now [on Glee] and to look back on where you thought you might end up, how did it go?
Well, it was interesting because obviously I didn't win the show. I got picked up by Sony and that was really the turning point for me because they allowed me to release the album and become a household name in Australia, which led to Neighbours, which led to me meeting my American manager, which led to him bringing me over here [to Los Angeles] to be doing auditions for pilot season. It just seems like everything happened for a reason, you know? Australian Idol was such a great learning curve for me. Within a couple of weeks, I had to get used to the industry and how it worked, how you evolve into a performer, you know? As a kid I was always a performer, but you have to learn how to do it in the real world. Everything kind of just happened, gradually, but it seems just like the other day.
You're playing Brody Weston on Glee. This is the fourth season of the show, and in a sense he's part of the new wave of Glee, one of the new characters who is part of the show's New York storyline.
We know he's moved to New York from Montana to pursue his dreams, kind of like me. He comes into Rachel's life - we find him as this charismatic, confident dude who is one of the more popular students at the school, almost like Rachel was at her high school. Now she moves into the picture being unsure and insecure about who she is, only he is the one who helps her start to develop this confidence in the new town, so as well as being a friend we see that he's attracted to her and there could be something more in this season, but obviously she has to figure all that other stuff out. He comes in as a friend to Rachel.
A show such as Glee brings with it a cyclone of attention. How comfortable are you inside that cyclone? How comfortable are you with all this attention?
Going back to Australian Idol, I used to get noticed everywhere I went. It got to the point where I couldn't go to the shopping centre without one person coming up to me to get something signed, and then a whole group of people would come up. My cousin had to pull me out of there. And, you know, as much as I love taking pictures and making people smile, that got really overwhelming. And then it settled down for a while. I haven't really experienced the Glee fans yet, but I think once the show comes back on and my first season ends it might be a different story. But I think Australian Idol was a great learning ground for that and how to handle it.
Glee obviously presents an opportunity to be back in the recording studio to record songs that are part of the television performance. Do you still want to record music yourself? Is music still a dominant part of what you want for yourself?
At the moment I am just focusing on acting, but music will always be a part of me. I don't think you ever lose that musician side. I am a songwriter at heart and I feel like I would, in the future, write songs for other people. I don't think I want to pursue it for myself, for a solo career. I would like to release an album maybe, but it's not something that I am looking to do in [the next] couple of years. I am still songwriting, so I'd like to pitch those songs to other artists. It's a goal, for sure.
What is the muse in that? What drives you write songs? What compels you to put notes on paper?
I don't know, I think it's one of those things, that … artists tend to want to express everything that they feel and think. I've always been one of those people that, if I am angry, I just hold it in. And I always kind of, like, wrote it in a song and put it aside for myself because it helps me get it out. It's almost like exercising; it's almost like that for me. That's how I can explain it.
Glee, Ten, Wednesday, 7.30pm
