Sexy and he knows it

Aside from his stint on the popular Fox show, Guthrie is known for his YouTube videos of quirky pop music covers. (His bluesy cover of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” has racked up over 23 million views.)

Guthrie, 21, is currently on tour in support of his debut album, 2014’s “Among the Wildest Things.” City Pulse caught up with the musician between tour stops.

You’re well known for your time on “Glee” and your YouTube covers. Is “Among the Wildest Things” your first foray into original music?

That was my first real, all original piece of work, but I’ve been writing since I was probably 15. When we started doing the covers, that was more to get the name out. No one was searching for “Noah Guthrie originals” because they had no clue who I was. So we started with the covers and tried to do them consistently. Once I had some big success with some of the covers, there was a big push from fans who wanted to hear the original music. And that was amazing to me. So we put together an album of about 13 songs and released them a year ago, and we’ve been touring ever since. Now I’m working on some new stuff, hopefully I’ll have that out soon. It’s still in the writing process, I’m writing as much as I can and hopefully getting some good stuff — I think it’s going to be good stuff. I’m very excited about it. Hopefully recording in mid-November. That’s what we’re shooting for. I’m pretty much on the road until then.

What is the difference between being on the road versus a regular gig like “Glee?”

They’re both hard work in their own way. Being on the road is fantastic. You get to see new places, you get to meet new people every night. You get to perform for all kinds of different people who enjoy your music, and that’s awesome. But it’s tons of early mornings and very, very late nights. And you’re in a car all the time or in a plane all the time — it’s a lot of travel and a lot of work.

As far as “Glee” goes, it’s still a lot of early mornings and late nights, but you’re in one spot all day, doing the same thing over and over and over. It has its ups, because it’s a national TV show and it was really fun. I basically learned acting from the people there — I had never acted before — so it was like school for me. I met lots of amazing people I still call friends and it did a lot for me. But it was very hard work. You’re on set for 14 or 15 hours at a time, just shooting the same thing over and over. They’re extremely different but also the same.

Do you have any good stories from the road? What’s your craziest tour story?

Honestly, me and the band are all pretty boring. We pretty much go to the show and see any sights we can see. But we’re usually in a town for a couple hours at the most, and then after the show it’s straight to bed. We always say we’re the most anti-rock ‘n’ roll rock ‘n’ roll band, because we’ll be on stage and it’s always like, “Am I too loud? Do you want me to turn down a little bit? I don’t want to invade your space.” It doesn’t get too crazy in the van or in the hotel rooms.

How did your role on “Glee” come about?

Everything really cool that has happened to me has come through a random phone call or just being in the right place at the right time. I’ve just been very blessed to get to work and do the show and do all the things I’ve gotten to do. “Glee” came because a fan saw one of my shows and referred me to a friends of his. That friends had said, “Hey, we’re looking to cast a new character on ‘Glee’ and we can’t find the right person.” So they passed along my info. Then I got a very random phone call from the glee casting department saying, “We think you should audition,” and I was like, “OK.” Pretty much everything that has happened to me has been that way. I’ve just tried to take whatever opportunity is given to me and run with it as far as I can.

Do you plan to do more acting or are you focusing on your music?

Right now it’s pretty much all music. That’s my real passion. Before “Glee,” I never had an agent for acting. Now I have agents for that. So I guess if they find anything that’s the perfect role for me, that would be great. I’d love to do it. I really enjoyed it.

Noah Guthrie

With Sierra Denae, Ashlyn Chambers, Half | Love

7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9

$15/$12 adv.

Mac’s Bar

2700 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing

(517) 484-6795, macsbar.com