Were on the road right now, Schneider tells the Music Mix.
My mom called me and said shed just seen it.
I was like, Whoa!
Credit: Joshua Kessler
Then when we got to the hotel, we watched it online.
It was pretty cool.
Its a song I wrote for my son and for a friend of mine.
[TheIdolperformance] was hard to process it was on such a larger scale.
In a good way.
And they kept it pretty close to my original arrangement.
I cant really say I have any complaints in that way.
I expected theyd schmaltz it up.
Are they going to hip-hop it up or something?
I could see the song going that direction.
I havent watched it in the last few seasons just because Ive been really busy.
I have a set of shows that I do watch religiously, andAmerican Idolwas one of those.
But you have to take shows out of rotation.
Whos your all-time favoriteIdolcontestant?I cant remember.
There have been so many seasons that Ive seen.
Often the ones I liked would get eliminated.
I can remember my favoriteAmerican Idolguest person, though:Barry Gibb.
Seeing Barry Gibb onAmerican Idol thats one of the musical highlights of my last five years.
Hes not someone you see in the public eye a lot, even though hes extremely famous.
You imagine hes at the top of a mountain in some sort of Greco-Roman temple or something.
Tell me about the new Apples album youre working on.We started it last fall.
Its really, really different.
My manager reprimanded me its so different that he doesnt want me to talk about it.
Its like theres a party on a UFO, and everybodys invited to come in.
Its sci-fi R&B.
There was a song a couple years ago by Gwen Stefani called The Sweet Escape that blew my mind.
I love it so much.
God, its a good song.
Its not technically R&B, but it kinda is.
Anyway, most of the R&B I like is from the 80s when I grew up.
Michael Jackson and Kool and the Gang are big influences on me in general and this album especially.
I love 60s R&B Motown, Stax.
Its not psychedelic indie-rock.
Its a different style.
How far along is the album?Right now Im just immersed in trying to produce awesome tracks.
Most of the backing tracks for the album are done.
I havent recorded the vocals yet, and theres still overdubs and sound effects to do.
But up until an albums finished, theres always more songs.
Last week I just wrote and recorded a backing track for one of the best songs Ive ever written.
Itll probably be the last song on the record.
So even though the records mostly recorded, its still also in the writing phase.
