Shane Harper

You may know him from Good Luck Charlie, but Shane Harper is more than that role. He is a talented singer, dancer and actor. His infectious voice and skilled moves are more than enough to capture the crowd. I sat down to chat with him while he was in Arizona for the Outlets at Anthem Annual Tree Lighting festivities. Check out the interview and photos below!

Arin: Why don’t you start by telling us a brief history of your background?
Shane: I got involved with dance and theater when I was about nine years old. I started competing in regional national dance competitions, and when I was thirteen I got scouted by an agent who was a judge, and then I started working as a professional dancer. I got to do a few movies and stuff; I got to be in “High School Musical Two,” which was cool because I was only thirteen turning fourteen on the set thinking, “Oh my gosh! Zac Efron’s right there!” That was a killer job. Then it kind of just snowballed from there, and I had always done music and acting because I had done musical theater, and I have been playing the guitar since I was eight. So, a kid. It all just kind of blew up from there! Then, I wound up doing a show that I’m on now.

A: What’s it like being on a label that has so many ties in Glee?
S: Yeah, you know, it’s wild! It’s really cool. I actually met with him before when he was doing the pilot for Glee. It hadn’t been picked up yet. He was telling me about it over coffee and he was like, “Yeah, I’ve got this pilot I’m doing for Fox called Glee,” and I was thinking, “Yeah, sounds lame. It’ll never work. That sounds so strange.” Then, six months later, it’s just like the biggest thing ever; the biggest thing in the world! It’s kind of surreal because from that meeting where he was just talking about a pilot casually, and now Glee is a thing! With like millions and millions of records. It’s kind of an international phenomenon. So, it’s exciting! It’s really cool.

A: If you could create a role for yourself on Glee, what would it be?
S: I think it’d be fun to be a cross breed between a bunch of different characters. It’d be cool to be edgy because you know, Puck’s kind of edgy, but not too edgy. So maybe like Sam. Somewhere in between; something that I can relate to. Maybe a dancer, or someone with a dance background that likes to play music. They’re all pretty cool!

A: What can people expect to hear from this album?
S: Well, right now we’re working on getting a deluxe version of the album out, which is going to have new songs and stuff. That’ll sound a lot like what we’ve been doing and what’s out right now, a nice sound. It’s not like a full length album, but, it’s an album. It’s acoustic based, very acoustic driven, but still pretty poppy and peppy. I grew up really loving Jesse McCartney and stuff like that, so I tried to do that but not as Jesse McCartney. More Jason Mraz, than Jesse McCartney, but that same kind of vibe because I really love that summer-y feel in the music, but with good lyrics and stuff! I make it radio friendly, but still fun.

A: What’s your favorite song lyric you’ve written?
S: I don’t think I can narrow it down. It’s hard to pick because I’m always writing new songs. When I was writing rocket ship, in the studio, I was just messing around with the chorus. I just said rocket ship in the session; I didn’t really even know what I was saying. Then I was like, “It’s like a rocket ship. Stole your heart, boxed it up, and took it all the way to mars.” I kind of just said the lyric and thought, “that was weird.” Then everyone in the studio room was like, “That’s great! We’re keeping it! We’re going to call the song Rocket Ship!” And I was like, “Cool!” I just blurted out the line when I was playing the guitar, and I was really excited about it. It wasn’t anything that I had planned to say, I just kind of said it. So that line in particular was a really fun thing to stumble upon.

A: What is your favorite song to play live?
S: I love playing Rocket Ship live because the band and everyone. It’s got this like really cool swing to it when we’re playing live and the harmonies are fun. It’s got a great flow. For some reason, it’s always been my favorite. When I was on tour with Cody [Simpson] and Greyson [Chance] even doing it acoustic live, was still a blast. Really getting the band in there is even more exciting.

A: If you could go on tour with anyone, who would it be?
S: Can I give you a list of three? I’ll make a little dream concert festival! Okay, Dave Matthews Band! I love Dave Matthews; I’m a big fan. I think like, Coldplay. John Mayer. Jason Mraz. Adele. Adele will be there as well! As well as Dave Matthews because Dave Matthews can’t not be there! I think that’s pretty much it for artists that would be touring right now.

A: What is your favorite part about playing the music?
S: I think the process of writing a song and getting to see it go from a melody to lyrics to production to a record to playing it live. — That whole process is the coolest thing about being an artist who really cares about what people are going to listen to when you’re in the studio and you get to be a part of the creative process. The journey of a song is the coolest thing because it goes from an idea to all the other things where it becomes an actual record and you can hear it and play it for people. That journey of a song is the coolest part about being a musician.

A: If you could pick any TV show to guest star on, do you have one in mind?
S: This is impossible now because the show is off the air, but if I could guest star on 24, like if I could be Jack Bauer’s assistant? It would be so cool. There’s really good acting and great action mixed into one on that show. So that’s the one show I would love to guest star on it. Modern Family’s a really good show — if I could guest star on that, that’d be cool. Sitcoms and dramas would be cool.

A: Do you have a favorite tour food?
S: I discovered on my last tour that I really, thoroughly thoroughly love honey roasted cashews. Ah, they’re the best! I lived off of honey roasted cashews on my last tour. I genuinely ate them all the time. I always had a bag of honey roasted cashews on me. They’re just so good! It’s filling and it’s salty! And it’s protein! And fat, but good fat because it’s from.. natural sources? I’m a mixed nut guy. The deluxe mixed nuts you can get in a jar — classy. It’s got like, macadamian nuts, almonds.. It’s rockin’! That’s definitely my tour food.

A: What has been your favorite part about Good Luck Charlie?
S: I think just the whole.. process. For me, it’s always the process. It’s really cool. We did the pilot, and then it got picked up! They don’t have to rehire people after the pilot, they can change things and set stuff around. But, I got to be on the actual show after the pilot, and it was awesome! Then just, lasting through all the seasons so far has been really fun because my character was really only supposed to be in one or two episodes originally, but apparently they got good responses to the relationship between Spencer and Teddy. So getting to stay on the show for as long as I have and getting to meet everyone… I love those guys. They’re awesome, fun and chill. Just normal, down to earth people. It’s like a dream job. You just get to laugh and it really never feels like work.

A: What has been the most interesting fan moment where someone has come up to you?
S: There’s a lot of them… It’s strange. It’s not really awkward, but it’s strange when someone’s like, “I drove nine hours to see you!” And it’s like, wow! That’s awesome! You almost feel bad, you’re like, ‘I’m so sorry,’ but they’re so excited. That was really cool. There’s no real like, terribly awkward moments. If fans are excited to see the show and watch us play music, that’s awesome. It’s never really weird. It’s fun for us.

A: Social networks: Where can people find you?
S: I’m not on any. I don’t believe in twitter. Hah! Just kidding, twitter, @theshaneharper, @shaneharper was taken. Whoever out there has that, can you please give up your domain? Haha, I sound pretentious! I have Facebook and myspace, so just search my name. I tweet a lot, and do a lot of contests on my Facebook. So I do a lot of cool stuff for fans to win stuff.

View concert photos here!