Tyler Grady: " I meant no disrespect"

When Tyler Grady was eliminated Thursday night, he immediately chastised the judges for not giving him constructive criticism. And on his media conference call Friday, he was still feeling feisty…

Here’s some of what he had to say…

On his comments Thursday night: “First of all, I would like to say that I’ve seen that I’m getting some heat in the media about my comment before the show ended, and I just wanted to let everyone know that I really meant no disrespect by that. I just wanted to—I felt that when I watched the show back on Wednesday, I felt that I was too caught up in the moment to stand up for myself, and whereas contestants are absolutely encouraged to express themselves when they’re being critiqued. I felt like – I was kind of shocked with the criticism, and I just didn’t get a chance to express my feelings. So when I said that, I was just kind of – I was expressing myself. I meant no disrespect and I’m not bitter at the judges or anything like that. That was kind of silly.”

On what he would have done next week: “If I would have made it through to another week, it would have been due to a fan base that appreciated what I was doing, so I probably would have just stuck to my guns and performed in the same style I’ve been performing in. I may have chosen a more recent rock song, but you wouldn’t have seen me coming out in baggy jeans and wearing a headset microphone. I wouldn’t have been changing my performance style at all.”

On the judges’ critiques: “I definitely respect the judges and I think that they’re very qualified to be critiquing the contestants on the show. But at the same time, like I said, when you’re building a fan base and your fans are supporting you, they’re supporting you because of what you’re doing. So you can’t turn on your fans. You can’t change up what you’re doing to the point where you irritate your fans. If they’re supporting you, you need to give them what they want, support them back, you know what I mean?”

On the conflicting advice he got from the judges: “When you’re a contestant in that situation and you’re getting conflicting views, it’s very confusing. But you know what, at this point I’m trying to move on from that. I don’t have any bitterness or anything from that, and I’m going to go back to Pennsylvania and work with my band and you will see the same sort of performance that you did on the show with my band. The name is Wailing Waters, so keep an eye out for us.”

On the “Idol” experience: “‘American Idol’ is one of the best education programs you can possibly get into, and you can’t buy into it, you have to audition for it, and it’s very difficult to get into. But there’s no better school for the entertainment industry than ‘American Idol.’”

On what he was going to sing this week: “There was a list of songs that I had cleared. Two of the songs I was considering were Bob O’Reilly by The Who and Remedy by the Black Crows. But after the critique, I was definitely considering picking a more modern rock song. I wasn’t sure which one. The style of performance would have been the same, but just to show the judges that – when I’m performing with my band, we’re performing original material that’s written in 2010, and we’re also, when we do any cover songs, we’ll cover sixties rock, we’ll cover 2000 rock. It’s not about the era, it’s about the performance, it’s about the emotion.”

On whether lack of screen time doomed him: “I don’t want to make excuses, and I know the media is already claiming that I’m making excuses as far as blaming the judges for what happened on the show, and I don’t blame the judges at all. When I made that comment, I was simply expressing my feelings at the time. I felt like as a contestant on that show, you need to stand up for yourself and go out with some dignity. But I really don’t make excuses for what happened, and I don’t think – Kelly Clarkson and Kris Allen, both winners of American Idol in the past, didn’t have that much air time going into the live show, so I wouldn’t say that that would have affected the results.”

On why he was eliminated: “To be honest, I can’t explain to you why I was eliminated. Well, actually, I can explain to you why I was eliminated. I was eliminated because I didn’t get enough votes. I got one of the least number of votes out of the 12 guys, that’s why I got eliminated. As a performer you have to stick to your guns. You have to be honest and you have to stay true to yourself. If you’re going to change your style of performance and your style of vocals and be inconsistent, you won’t be able to build a solid fan base, because people won’t be able to catch on to you. So you really can’t – and once you do build a fan base, you need to feed them what they appreciate about you. I mean, you can’t constantly change yourself or you’re not really respecting your fans.”

Photo Credit: Michael Becker/FOX