JB- You made it to the top 12. Now, the judges all had praise for you, saying that you were one of the best sounding guys on the show, and then you're the first one voted out of the top 12. What do you think happened? What was that all about?

DH- What do you think it was about?

JB- You know what? It's the same thing we see every season. It's the shocking eliminations, and nobody really knows. We have these campaigns all the time. Vote for the Worst is doing it for Canadian Idol, as well. They rally and campaign to keep the wrong people in, or at least people in for maybe not the correct reason, and so the point of the show. I don't know. I really enjoyed it. I was rockin' out all the time, but I can't vote from my country, so what do you think happened?

DH- I don't know. You never really know what the consumer wants. I don't think that certain stories that broke helped my situation, and I never said that I don't really feel like I was voted off because of my talent. I don't know. It's hard to speculate. I would say that a lot of it had to do with the simple fact that a lot of people couldn't handle the fact that one of my previous jobs three years before that was dancing. I mean, I think it's just people being judged for that. If we took any of those people that judged me for that and put them on the spot with their personal lives, I'm sure it would be less than glamorous what they had.

JB- That's what I was going to say. Some people were murmuring that it could have been that past that might have affected the length of the time on the show. There were some reports that I had read that said you think it actually helped you in popularity, that it would've put you further in the competition. What was your take on the whole thing?

DH- Honestly, when I first got voted off it was sort of a mixture of emotions. (The American Idol PR team) is coaching you on things, and what to say and what not to say, and while I'm not knocking anybody from American Idol, I didn't feel like those opinions were really mine, like, when I said, 'Oh, I think it helped me in popularity' or 'I think I got voted off because of my song choice.' I don't feel like I got voted off because of my song choice, and I don't think that necessarily being a dancer in my past helped my popularity either. America caught wind of that, and was just, like, 'Oh, we can't have our future American Idol being a former stripper.' Yeah, whatever. I kind of don't know really how to word it. I've been asked this question a million times, and I just sort of forgot how to answer it. (laughing)

JB- What did they teach you?  (laughing) What did they tell you?

DH- They didn't tell me what to say. It was more, like, 'You know, you don't have to answer this question.' I guess what it comes down to is when I was asked this question before, maybe there was a part of me that thought maybe this had nothing to do with that, and now that I've been given five months since I left the show, I've had a chance to really think about it and analyze the situation. I will say that that's what did me in. But, you know, the good news is is that it doesn't take 35 million album sales to go platinum. Although, 35 million would be amazing to sell, wouldn't it?

JB- Yeah. We're far more opened minded in Canada. Maybe we'll find that out about one of the contestants on Canadian Idol. Who knows? But again, like you're saying, what does that mean?

DH- What does that matter to anybody? I don't understand why people. . . that's the world that we live in and it's getting better every day, but I don't understand why people dwell on stuff like that. It's so irrelevant to someone's talent and to what they're trying to do. You could have the most phenomenal artist that writes the most amazing music be stopped dead in their tracks because of some stupid thing they did in their past, and it's all because people are being judgmental. I think it's disgusting.

JB- And I guess the thing is, too, you're not ashamed of what you had done in the past. It's not like you were denying it or anything like that, so why make a big deal? It's when people don't say something that all of a sudden it becomes this big issue, because everything is so hush-hush.

DH- I don't know. If you, personally, I don't think that you open up your personal life to everybody, to the entire world, and as a performer you're obligated to do that, or celebrities are obligated to be, like, 'Hey, this is my life. Go ahead. Dive into it.'

JB- I know you've been doing the interview thing. You've been doing some TV work, haven't you?

DH- Yeah, for Extra and other news outlets. I love doing it. I was saying [before the interivew] that since that was my major, I'm pretty good at answering questions and digressing to a different topic if I'm uncomfortable with a question. I feel like now when asked these questions I can totally be honest about it, because I'm not ashamed of it.

JB- We often hear the contestants talking like this is a close family. You're bonding. You're with each other almost 24-7. Of course, then Simon goes and says, "You know, you're competing with each other. It's not all sunshine and flowers." I ask contestants this often. Is that exactly how you're feeling? "You know what? I don't care. These are my friends. I hope somebody wins." Are you actually in the back of your mind going, "Oh, I'm going to beat you. I'm going to win."

DH- I've never been the kind of person who's "Oh, I'm going to beat you. I'm going to win." However, I'm competitive. I will fight fairly. I want everybody to have the best opportunity, and may the best man win. Speaking in terms of family, going through that process we are all pretty close. I'm not going to say that we're best friends for life, but there were a couple of people that I bonded with on the show and when they left it was sad to see them go. When I left, I'm sure it was sad for them to see me go. We were all pretty respectful of each other.

JB- Obviously, Idol wasn't the end of the road for you. It was, just as you were saying, it's platform to go anywhere, really. And you've been a busy guy since then. You have some new music out. You just mentioned doing some TV stuff. So let's talk about your music. You've got how many new songs out? One or two?

DH- Well, I haven't released anything officially yet. I have been recording stuff since idol. I think I've recorded about 10 songs, but I'm not releasing them. I'm trying to get a major deal behind me, and then hopefully, have that huge push of a big label. Then there's always that independent route if that doesn't work out. Most people don't know, but I'm a songwriter. I write and arrange my own music. It's good stuff that we're doing right now. Right now I'm doing gigs and just getting my name out there. I'm acquiring more of a fan base right now and then once I get the major deal, then I hopefully will record more songs and I'll release a record.

JB- So about the new music. What's the sound? What's the style? What's the vibe? What can we expect?

DH- You're going to definitely expect some R&B, because I was raised on soul, R&B music. So you're going to get that vibe in there, but also you're going to get, I would say, a rock-R&B. Do typical ballads and stuff like that, but I think naturally that with my voice, whatever I sing over it's going to have the David imprint on it, because I'm the only me. So we're just going to see what direction my music is going to go, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be R&B influenced.

JB- Any cover songs?

DH- Maybe one or two on the record. Why not?

JB- I'm going to get made fun of here, but what about some Celine Dion?

DH- (laughing)

JB- You're laughing. I'm not making a joke. I think that was one of my favourites that you did.