On one of the first warm nights of spring, 18-year-old Josh Batstone sat on the corner of South Franklin Street and West Fayette Street in downtown Syracuse, strumming his guitar and singing for a crowd much smaller than the one he had grown accustomed to.

The Fulton native recently came back to the area after spending several months on the set of NBC’s “The Voice.” The singing competition’s average TV audience is over 10 million, but on that spring night, Batstone was content with the small crowds coming out of Armory Square storefronts such as Pastabilities and Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub and Restaurant, stopping to listen for a few moments, then walking away into the dark.

“It’s still humbling because I know people still care,” Batstone said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh he was on “The Voice,” now throw him in the trash.’ It’s very intimate and sincere, the comments that I get back and the reaction.”

Before he sets out in June to live in New York City to pursue his dream of becoming a recording artist, Batstone is in the Syracuse area, booking shows and attending promotional events. He’s bounced back from what he called a post-production depression after being eliminated in the second round of “The Voice.” He will play his first major show in the area since his elimination on May 1 at the Fulton War Memorial.

The experience of performing on the show and getting eliminated from it has served as a coming-of-age experience for Batstone, both personally and professionally.

He remembers how nervous he was on the show’s blind audition, the portion of the competition when contestants first sing for the celebrity judges. If the judges want them on their respective team, they press a large red button that will turn their chairs around to face the performer.

But before stepping on stage in front of millions of viewers, Batstone worked with Michael Hanley, a voice instructor at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. They tirelessly practiced Batstone’s audition song, “Amnesia” by 5 Seconds of Summer. Hanley said he had Batstone sing the song through a straw to concentrate on his voice control.

“We worked on the lead up to it, I can remember him in my studio and I was trying to reorganize his thoughts, telling him that big note in the middle was the goal — the landing point.” Hanley said.

He landed the note in his blind audition, moments before two of the judge’s giant red chairs whipped around to face the young performer.

“So I hit the note in the middle, and it was super good and in my mind I was going ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes,’ and I had my hand in the air, and Blake (Shelton) turns around and I’m like ‘What?’ I freaked out, ‘What the heck is going on here?’” Batstone said. “I am walking around the stage and Adam (Levine) turns around seconds later, and I finished the song not very strong — it was really scary.”

Batstone decided to join Team Adam, because of the musician’s pop genre, and because he felt they connected on a personal level from the start.

During the rest of Batstone’s time on the show, Levine, who is the lead singer of Maroon 5, took Batstone “under his wing.” They worked on Batstone’s performance and trying to control his boisterous stage presence.

“It was really cool hanging out with Adam Levine, obviously, and I’d be talking with my friends or something like that and I would get a phone call and I’d have to be like ‘Hey it’s Adam, one second guys,’” Batstone said with a laugh. “‘I got to take this.’”

Despite being eliminated early in the competition, Batstone said the lessons he learned are innumerable. He credits his development as an artist to his fellow contestants, “The Voice” coaches and the celebrity guests who visited the show.

One of Batstone’s favorite moments during the competition was when Ellie Goulding came to the set to help coach the contestants. After practicing with the team, Goulding talked to Batstone individually.

“She told me, ‘You got to get off this show, you have to make a career outside this show,’” Batstone said. “When Ellie Goulding tells you to do something, you just do it. That’s not why I am off the show, and I probably wouldn’t have taken that advice, but now that I am off the show — it’s OK — because Ellie Goulding told me it was.”

After his elimination Batstone said his girlfriend, Chloe Rodgerson, helped him overcome his post-production sadness. Now he sees the show as a launching pad for his career.

Rodgerson, an actress living in France working as an au pair, said in an email that the couple is constantly making each other better. They practice her lines over Skype, and she talks to him about the songs he writes for her every night.

“Josh usually writes the song after I’ve already gone to bed, so I always have a new song to wake up to the next morning,” Rodgerson said in an email. “This is really good songwriting practice for Josh, and they are always so sweet and they really make my day.”

Batstone said his girlfriend encouraged him to be a musician outside of the TV competition.

Shortly after getting eliminated, he changed all of his social media profile pictures from his picture on “The Voice.”

The show gave him freedom to pursue his professional career without going to college, which he said is exciting and terrifying. The high school senior wanted to attend Syracuse University for musical theater, and said leaving drama behind was not an easy decision.

His mother Nicole Batstone agrees with his choice, and said school will always be there. Nicole is currently acting as Batstone’s unofficial promoter and agent, driving him to signings in the car they share and helping to organize his upcoming concert.

“It is an emotional ride, it was fun for me to be able to experience that with him,” she said.“I mean let’s face it, he’s a teenager, he doesn’t want his mom following him around everywhere.

“(‘The Voice’) was a great way to kind of send him along to adulthood.”

Published on April 20, 2015 at 10:57 pm

Contact Jacob: jagedets@syr.edu