INTERVIEW
They were the last
of the boy-band
gold rush back in
the day. Finding
fame on MTV’s
Making The Band,
O-TOWN became
an overnight
talking point with
their debut single
Liquid Dreams. So
when we heard
that 11 years later
the lads had
teamed up again
to tour and release
a comeback single
and album, we
had to find out
about their
nocturnal
secretions...
S
o how are you finding London?
Erik: Well we brought the LA weather
with us!
Have you been to the UK much?
In the past yeah, we were in the UK all the
time. But it’s been about 12 years though!
Yeah it’s been a while since we’ve been back.
So it’s been a while since you last put out a
record, has the music industry moved on
much?
Trevor: Yeah definitely! There’s a lot that has
changed, business wise and musically with us and
our band just in general. I mean with Twitter,
Instagram and social media, we can really put
ourselves out there and you don’t have to rely so
heavily on radio play, a lot of things have changed
and we’re taking it in. We’re taking it in our stride
and learning as we go, but it’s a cool process, because
we’re doing everything internally, the 4 of us. We
don’t have the big machine or Clive Davis this time –
it’s very grass roots. Picking the album cover, the logo
design… Everything we’re doing is our stamp, so
that’s what’s really cool this time around that we
didn’t have last time – and we’re older and maturer.
(laughter).
This maturity, how is it manifesting itself –
especially with artistic disagreements?
Jacob: There’s always artistic differences and
disagreements, but we’re more mature in handling it.
We’ve kinda got our business practices set to alleviate
any kind of stress like opinions on music – now it’s
what’s best for the song and whose voice is best for
the part. We’ve been pretty diplomatic about doing
that and knowing that we’re not being personal. We
all do love each other’s voices and song writing, but
we’re trying to do what’s best for O-Town. So far it’s
been happening really smoothly.
Are you getting new fans or are you
reconnecting with old fans?
Erik: We like to call them the Town Folk. (They) are
the fans that have been around since the beginning,
but hopefully now that this new song (Skydive) is out
that we can garner some new fans. Everything is just
so new.
Have you noticed any of the old faces in the
crowd?
Dan: Yeah! Yesterday we got off our flight at the
airport and we saw a bunch of faces that we
recognised that were just 10-years older. They were
showing us pictures they had from 10 years ago.
People got to know us from our TV show, Making
The Band, and they’re personally invested in our
struggle because they’ve been there. They saw the ups
and downs. So that’s why they’re there. They’re still
interested in what we’re doing. If along the way we
can bring some more people who weren’t aware of us
the first time - that’s awesome, because we think we
do okay sometimes! We think we’re alright! So it’d be
nice to get some more people interested.
Do you write your own music now?
The first album was done so quickly; it was done in
less than two months. It was already pre-chosen
predestined for us. The second album we had a little
bit more say in, but I don’t think as writers we were
there yet. I think the beautiful thing about this
process is that we’ve had 10 years to become
individuals and really hone in on our different
AUG / SEPT 2014 | THEGAYUK 83