"On
the Town with O-Town"
We hit the streets with the five harmonizing
honeys of O-Town to gauge how girls rate them on the boy-band meter
by Patty Adams
Girls everywhere are swooning
for the sweeties of O-Town, the newest boy-band on the block...even though
the five foxes haven't even recorded a CD yet! They're making our hearts
hum with their hilarious hijinks and tune troubles every Friday night on
ABC's Making the Band. YM hung out with the small-screen singers
to get the complete uncensored scooop on a real day in the life of O-Town.
Their song story began
when they beat out 1,800 other boy-band wannabes. Each guy had to
sing, dance, and interview with a panel of judges headed up by Lou Pearlman,
the legendary boy-band backer of 'N Sync, BSB, LFO, and Take 5. Soon
the guys were hooked up with a killer waterfront pad in Orlando, the Florida
city nicknamed O-Town. Yet life hasn't been exactly cushy for the
crooners.
Each day's hectic schedule
includes two hourse of voice lessons, five hourse of dance rehearsals,
workouts at the gym, personal appearances, interviews, photo shoots, and
time in the studio recording their upcoming album. All the while,
they're wearing mikes and being stalked by cameras.
Taping the show has definately
taken its toll. The guys weren't quite prepared of their TV audience
to have an all-access pass to their lives. "There has been no privacy,"
says Trevor. "If you ask the TV crew for a little time alone, they
just say, 'You signed the contract.'" Adds Jacob, "It's especially
hard having our phones tapped and wearing microphones 24 hourse a day.
But it's forced us to be comfortable with ourselves."
The guys haven't always
appreciated the way the cameras captured them however. "Sometimes
the show takes one aspect of our personalities and blows it up," says Ashley.
That's benn especialy tough when a less-than-positive personality trait
is involved, such as Erik's hot temper. "Yeah, I may have an attitude,"
admits Erik, "but they don't show the other 90% of the time, when I'm goofing
around. I guess it helps the story line, but I don't like it when
viewers say, 'I hope you lose the attitude.' Because I don't usually have
one."
Still, Ashley believes
that overall, the TV audience has gotten to know the real guys. "Seeing
us in our bad moments, messing up, has made us more human," says Ashley.
"We've shown our weaknesses. Trevor and I are the criers. We're
the totally emotional ones."
That emotion emerges in
tunes such as "All for Love" and "Baby I Would." Yet Ashley insists that
they don't want to follow in the footsteps of every other boy band.
"We want our sound to be more aggressive pop/R&B." The guys are
now writing some of their own songs and working with the biggest hit-meisters
in the biz, such as Diane Warren, who has written for Christina Aguilera
and Aerosmith.
O-Town hopes to earn respect
from their industry peers, refusing to let boy-band bashers get them down.
Dan is quick to point out that, besides writing some of their own music,
the guys also choreograph some of their own dance numbers. "And we
wear what we want!" he says. "We're not letting anyone tell us what
to do."
Time will tell where these
guys are not just cookie-cutter cuties. But with a hit TV show, a
deal with a major record label, and a CD and world tour planned for next
year, it looks like their off to a rocking start.
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With O-Town