Musician, actor and former Disney Channel star Ross Lynch visited SRU on March 17 for a conversation and performance.
The event, sponsored by University Program Board (UPB), took place in Miller auditorium and was sold out. It began at 7:30 p.m, with doors opening at 6:30.
The group of girls at the front of the line arrived four hours before doors opened.
One of them, an SRU sophomore named Mikayla, said she was most excited to hear how Lynch got to where he is today.
“I’m aspiring to be a singer and an actress,” she said. “I want to hear about his experiences, and the difficulties and the struggles, but how he came through it.”
Another student named Rachel shared why she wanted to be at the front of the line.
“’I’ve been a big fan of Ross, honestly, since I was a kid, but now, like listening to his music, he’s my number one top Spotify artist, he’s been for the past couple of years, and his music has honestly changed my life.”
Before the performance, Lynch and two of his brothers ate at local restaurant Katana. He said he had not heard of SRU before, but that the campus “blew [his] expectations out of the water.”
Lynch’s tour is not exclusively for colleges, though he claimed to see the value in performing at schools.
“I think everyone that’s in college right now pretty much grew up watching me on TV. So I think it’s pretty fun to visit college and talk about those experiences and what it was like, because I think a lot of people are curious about it. So that’s kind of cool,” he said. “Almost every time [the show] has involved music. So I’m usually, like, entertaining in that way, right? And then also me and my crew put on a pretty kick-ass show. So, I think it’s worth seeing.”
When asked if there was anything he wanted students to know, Lynch said, “Time goes fast. Make the most of it.”
After speaking with The Rocket, Lynch went on stage and discussed his career with moderator Brittany Fleming.
He described his family background and said it always helped ground him.
“I always had to do the dishes and like, be normal,” he said.
He claimed he was always a Disney Channel fan, and was very excited when he landed his role in Austin and Ally.
“Technically for me, [the show] was my high school. So those are actually some of my closest friends today,” he said of his co-stars.
He was then asked what some of his favorite episodes of the show were.
“One that sticks in my memory is ‘Claws dun, dun, dun.’ Also, the episode where we get stuck in the freezer gets stuck in my memory, the swamp gets stuck in my memory…the carnival with the bad breath.”
Lynch is also known for his role in Teen Beach Movie, and he shared fun facts about the filming of it in Puerto Rico.
One of the most famous scenes in the film is a performance of the song “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’,” which Lynch was not originally supposed to be in. However, the film crew found out he was good at dancing and put him in.
He was only 16 years old at the time.
“I think at first everyone was pretty nervous about me being young and also already being on the Disney Channel, and kind of expecting me to be a certain way. And when they found out it was me, they were like ‘Oh, he’s just a dude.’”
He revealed that the cast went skinny dipping together in the rainforest and then told the crowd, “Don’t put that on TikTok!”
Lynch also discussed his role as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the film My Friend Dahmer
“‘You successfully got past the Disney Channel stigma.’ People say that because I played a serial killer,” he said.
Playing such a “dark” character put Lynch in a difficult head space, he claimed. “I definitely kinda had some nightmares and stuff,” he said. The film was more “method” than he was used to, with actors referring to each other as character names the entire time they were on set.
He described how the movie was filmed at Jeffrey Dahmer’s real childhood home. “We full-sent it,” he said.
He recalled saying he wanted to do something weird after Austin and Ally concluded, and said it wasn’t long after when the role of Dahmer came along.
After that, the floor was opened up for audience questions about his career and personal life.
Finally, the former Disney actor brought one of his brothers out as a surprise and performed songs from his old band R5, his new band The Driver Era and some covers.
He ended his performance with the theme song from Austin and Ally as the crowd sang along.
“Slippery Rock forever!” Lynch yelled at the end.
