(November 16, 2007) Levi Kreis is a singer/song writer and a pianist. He was been on the Apprentice with Donald Trump and has appeared in a few major motion pictures as well as playing Roger in a touring cast of Rent. But most recently he has been playing Jerry Lee Lewis in the Million Dollar Quartet, soon to return to L.A. to begin his new album.

Levi: Erin?

E: Yes? Hello!

L: Oh, my apologies. This is Levi. I am so sorry.

E: That you're 12 minutes late?

L: I'm calling you 11 minutes late.

E: Don't even worry about it (giggle).

L: I apologize.

E: No, please don't.

L: I rolled out of bed, got some coffee and I was like, oh, wait a minute, I have to talk to Erin.

E: The coffee is important.

L: So how are ya?

E: Good, how are you?

L: I'm doin' alright. I'm comin' to the close of this ride, and looking forward to it. It's been a really good . . .

E: Oh, cool.

L: But tiring experience, ya know?

E: I can imagine. You're in Washington right now, correct?

L: Yeah, that's been since August doing a really fun musical playing Jerry Lee Lewis. But I tell ya, a high energy performance like this . . .

E: It'll wear ya down.

L: Definitely has some wear and tear on the body, ya know?

E: I heard you injured your knee. Could you tell us about that?

L: (Giggling) yeah, the encore I was vaulting over a piano . . .

E: (Laughing) bottom line!

L: I know. Why? Because . . .

E: Because.

L: It makes the people respond.

E: And you know what? You get so worked up with your performance. I can completely understand.

L: Yeah. I vaulted over it and came down on my knee way too hard. Full tear of my ACL.

E: Oh, that's kind of a big deal.

L: Actually, someone has video of the encore performance they put on Youtube.

E: (Laughing). So you can watch it over and over again?

L: Of the vault, not the actual injury, but where the vault used to happened. But yeah, of course your body has to readjust itself and try to compensate for the weight you can put on this or that and the other. So Ishould say, I have been enjoying really good massages this week.

E: Oh I can imagine. And how long is it going to take to recover fully?

L: Well, I'm going to have surgery once I get back to Los Angeles.

E: Oh, ok.

L: Probably in about two weeks I'll have to have reconstructive surgery on it. Which means I'll be recording my new album . . .

E: The introduction?

L: As I'm recovering.

E: Oh, well at least you're staying busy. You're definitely staying busy.

L: I'm way too inspired about this new album. It's been around and I would be able to sit. I'm way too excited about it. The band is kind of already pulled together and they're really excited about the new video guys I'm working with for ya know, ever since I've moved to Los Angeles. Which you know, we're all in agreement that this is the strongest material and the most concise sound that has happened so far. So we're all way too excited to wait around for two months for a new . . .

E: That's very exciting.

L: We're in the studio like by the second week of December.

E: Is this the album coming out in spring?

L: Yeah, slated for spring. I don't know exactly what month. I'm really hoping that it can hit in March.

E: Oh great. What kind of feel is this album gonna have?

L: The cool thing about this new album Erin is that it's the first time that I've discovered really who I am. I mean the first album "More Then One" was the collection of songs. I was looking at the songs Atlantic Records had not chosen after I was off the label. I saw an obvious theme of romance and I had $200 in my pocket. So I spent $200 to sit down at the piano and play these songs for me to record them and all of a sudden like 20,000 CD's later and songs on Days of Our Lives, and Young and the Restless, and the Apprentice . . . and I'm like wow, ok, that was a really cool start. And the second one I think really was for me personally to put a lot of things on my chest behind me, ya know about my journey with the church and therapy and all that sort-of stuff, and lyrics came first. I found out that lyrics kind-of sort-of started to determine the style of these particular songs. Leading to every song that is kind-of being in a different genre where it's supposed to be.

E: Well that works well for the album.

L: This is the first album that I feel like ok, it's concise musically, stylistically, lyrically. It's really an overall whole statement of who I am as an artist and it really draws back from the fact that I grew up in the gospel church and ya know I was influenced with music that when gospel became secular, like Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles recordings. It's like really, really very basic and simple with the trio of me, my bass player, and drummer, of 3 back-up girls, the little touch of another instrument here and there. Very minimal and pretty soulful, and just straightforward and "rootsy". Kind of brings them that southern soul into it.

E: That's great. Now do you feel like you have a chemistry with the band that you play with?

L: Oh, absolutely. These guys actually saw me . . . these guys are people that I met like the first year that I moved to Los Angeles in 1997, and we've been together. They've supported me and always . . . whether I could pay them or not, they were there.

E: And that is very important I think.

L: And they've seen me go through so many different phases, and ups and downs, and through twelve different labels.

E: Twelve?

L: Either demo deals or whatever. I mean they've been through it with me. So, there's not only a musical understanding of who I am, there is a really tight personal bond.

E: That is so cool.

L: Specifically with my drummer, Sammy K, who was actually featured in Modern Drummer Magazine in November.

E: Oh, that's so great. That's so great. So now this is different then the album that was put on iTunes, The Bygone?

L: Yes, and I think I took a terrible tangent about that new album being so excited about it. Bygone's is actually a collection of songs that were speaking of going through those phases with my band about different labels and producers and all these little opportunities that we've gone through together that hit or missed. These songs are songs that were kind of part of demo for a Records deal, or when Newsweek producer did a recording of me, or when these big song writers came together to write for me. These are songs . . . 9 of my first studio endeavors in Los Angeles which I just put out there because a lot of the fans, my little fan club I put it, I put a couple of them out that I really liked them that we'd really like to hear some of that stuff. That we'd like to hear what your journey was. They like to see where labels put you. To see what writers would write for you, to hear your history.

E: Because yeah, it creates who you are now. That's very nice, cause yeah, it makes who you are now. I think that's awesome.

L: Right.

E: And so growing up, to change the subject a little bit. What was it like in Tennessee?

L: It was simple. It was simple and beautiful in a really sweet way. Where people worked and they go to church and my parents were always very supportive of my music so it's very hard. Ya know I grew up in a graduating class of 5 people. The valedictorian was "c" average. This little small town with this kid who comes up in Kindergarten graduation and is playing Pomp and Circumstance with both of his hands on the piano, you have . . . they're like ok, we definitely need to get how to educate this guy, this kid of ours.

E: Oh, sure.

L: They were very supportive of getting me the education. It was a strong family unit. A simple life, family values, and a lot of love. I was really blessed to have a lot of love.

E: Yeah, that's amazing. Now, when you moved from Tennessee did you go right to LA or did you take steps west? How did that work?

L: I went to Nashville. I grew up pursuing Christian music. I really thought that I was going to find my path being a minister of music. I mean since I was 12 I was singing in a different church every weekend. Ya know, preaching and having alter calls and leading souls to Christ, ya know?

E: That's amazing, yeah.

L: So by the time I got out of high school and into college, I went to a Southern Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee and it didn't take me long to start getting attention from those Christian record labels there. So, and I of course had been at that point really well versed in doing that, being on the road since I was 12. But it turned out unfortunately that once a deal started going with a major Christian record label that I had come to terms with my sexuality and that word got out and they screwed and dropped me from the label . . . and, ah, I felt like I kind-of needed to leave and move to LA and kind of find myself. Because I had invested my whole life up to that point in a church institution that I really wanted to pour my heart and soul in to, and the minute I got there with a sincere heart, it was turned away because I couldn't help but be this particular thing. So, that was what really propelled me into Los Angeles.

E: And you found yourself in Los Angeles?

L: I found myself in me. I found a nice group of gays in Los Angeles and I think that anytime someone is kind-of forced into a life of one extreme, or crammed into a box, it's kind-of like shoved through and go through the other extreme until they find a balance. Los Angeles provided me with all the extremes I would have wanted to experience, ya know?

E: (Laughing) Sure, oh, I've been there. I understand.

L: Yeah, yeah. But I was wanting actually to find a little bit of southern in Los Angeles because I found the very best friends I've ever had in LA,, and they're also with me in Alabama, in Georgia, in Kentucky.

E: Is that the Southern Baptist?

L: And I found them as soon as I was there. They were the first people that I met. It kind-of just like dropped in my lap and they have always been the circle of singer/songwriters that have been like my family.

E: Oh that's great. Great. Yeah, like a home away from home I guess with them.

L: Yeah, but musically to tie as Bygone, once . . . Bygone is actually a really good snapshot of where in the hell do I go now that I've left Christian music.

E: Oh ok, sure.

L: You know what I mean. Like the first recordings that ever happened that I had ever thought in my life of . . . I'm not going to be doing Christian music. So these were the byproducts of like really the first endeavors of trying to find myself musically outside of the church.

E: Sure. And I think that this album, being on iTunes, I think that people can really appreciate something like that, ya know?

L: I really hope so, ya know. I've already had some people writing in that appreciate the material, the coziness of the material, ya know?

E: Yeah, very cool. So which do you prefer. I know that you've done TV, you've done movies, you've done theatre, and you've done your singing. Which one is all time your favorite, or most important. What do you think?

L: Definitely my own music. It's funny because acting is a really a close second, and sometimes I think it's a tie. But I think when it gets right down to it being a singer/songwriter is just way too necessary for me. It's sort-of, this sounds really trite and retarded, and mind freezing to me, it's like my . . . it's an outlet I can't live without.

E: Ok. That's awesome. So could you talk a little bit about The Apprentice and Donald Trump?

L: I wish I would have met him (laughing). Nobody sees him until like ya know the eliminations, and he lurks around . . . I had actually just gotten off of Atlantic Records when the producer I had been working with unknowingly submitted me to this episode and they were looking for a singer/songwriter to write a song, produce, package, and present to XM radio channel XM Café. Thousands of people were submitted and I pretty much thought "ok, great, thanks for submitting me, I appreciate it." Totally surprised when they called because I didn't figure it out or submit myself and I wasn't really invested in it, ya know? And so I'm like ok whatever, I just left Atlantic Records, I'm not happy I'm catering, so why would I . . . all of a sudden bam we're doing it, we're there, and there's really no time to even think about what this is going to be like. All of a sudden there a 3 cameras surrounding you for 36 hours you're on this ride. The funny thing about it is Erin this is one episode. This is one little episode of a show, but it was fascinating what happened from it. Like 6 months between the recording of it, and the airing of it to realize ok, I needed to take what I could get or what I had, and make the best out of the circumstance. Atleast have a product. If people hear this and can go Yeah, it happened and the TV show aired and the very next day I couldn't keep up with sales. I had to re-order like 3 days in a row thousands and thousands and thousands. It was fantastic, so the show was incredible because these guys really knew how to interpret what I was after musically speaking, and I really think that the song they created for me actually was pretty indicative of the style you're going to hear from the new album.

E: That's great. So it's like the exposure was just . . .

L: The exposure was crazy. I mean it was really something else to have just one episode of something that so many people respond to it that it would start a career that I can comfortably live off of now. You know, that you can build on.

E: Oh, that's great. But did you always know you wanted to do this?

L: Favor or something, I don't know.

E: Did you always know you wanted to be in the entertainment industry?

L: Oh yeah.

E: Yeah. There was no other options?

L: No other options. I can't do anything else Erin.

E: Well that's great.

L: Well I can't do anything else.

E: Well when you've got a talent this big, do you really need to do anything else?

L: As of this morning I think I'm almost ready to let go of my worry and insecurity and say Levi, it's ok, you're fine now. You're alright. You've built this up now, and even if it doesn't grow anymore, this is comfortable, and relax. But I can't necessarily . . . I have to keep pushing.

E: So what's after The Million Dollar Quartet? Are you going back to LA?

L: Yeah. I'm gonna start recording and ya know, as long as The Million Dollar Quartet is . . . kind of thinking of surfacing in several other cities, and I'm not quite certain that I'm going to be a part of it, but I'll tell you this Jerry Lee Lewis film was just awesome for me because I grew up listening to him and playing Great Balls of Fire. My Mom playing those old 45's, so it's just so natural to be doing it, and it's fun, and the press has been great about it. But I really know that I'm going to be really invested in this new album this spring. And I don't know how long I'm going to want to be away from that.

E: Ok, I understand. All right, well I have one last question. This is kind-of a silly question. For Myspace, is that you? Or do you have somebody who runs Myspace for you and checks it?

L: Yeah, I do have someone who . . . I mean I do check in on it, but for the most part for general like stuff I do have someone that helps me out there because I'm on like 10 different communities. I answer all my email through my website myself and that keeps me like a month or so backed up, and that's doing several a day. So I try to stay on top of that because that's a direct toward to me. A lot of the Myspace stuff oftentimes is either, hey, you're hot, or not. Things there that you would be spending so much time sifting through someone's spamming that I do mine on my website.

E: Oh cool. I noticed on your pictures you have tattoos? How many tattoos do you have?

L: Oh just two. I have one on my right arm of the Trinity: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit done by an incredible artist Jack Roody (?) who lives in Orange County. And then I have one on my chest that's a symbol for truth.

E: Oh, very cool. Did they hurt?

L: No not really. I don't know. But I have a high threshold for pain. Do you have any?

E: I don't, but I'm such a sissy that I don't think that I would ever get one. I don't have . . . I love them, I love them, and I just don't think I could ever have one. But, ok do you think with your tattoo being the Trinity, do you consider yourself still religious?

L: No. Because I think . . . absolutely not. I consider myself having my own spiritual structure. However, I believe there's been one inherent problem with religion and that is religion needs to be right. That our way is the only right way, and if you look back through human history and see that the exclusive mentality of organized religion has caused more destruction, and more death, and more war then anything in human history. So, I would like to believe that my way is another way, and that everybody has a Divine, and that's an organized religion. So organized religion has to have a separate consciousness about it in some form, ya know? So, I kind of at this point don't believe . . . I'm not Christian and I don't believe . . . I do believe in Christianity being a divine path for some people, but I also believe in Buddhism being a diving path for some people. I believe in whatever is divine for your journey in this life is absolutely divine, and I have no reason to judge it.

E: Right.

L: it provides you with the truth that you're meant to learn in this life, and that . . . . how can I ever truly love you if I think that your path is the wrong way and if you don't see that my way is the right way.

E: Gotcha.

L: We gotta evolve past that in my opinion.

E: All right. Well I thank you.

L: Sorry I got a little deep and started to preach a little bit.

E: Oh, that's ok. That is fine. Well I think that is all of my questions. I just want to thank you so much. We wish you the best of luck.

L: Oh Erin, thank you. I appreciate it.

E: We should definitely keep in touch. If you ever make it to the east coast, please let us know.

L: I'm sure you'll see me next year.

E: Oh great. Well, we are so excited.

L: Well thank you again Erin. I appreciate it, and I apologize for being a little late.

E: Oh, no problem.

L: Well have a great weekend.

E: Thanks, you too.