Most of you have probably heard of O-Town by now, after all, they
were on the front cover of Kiwibox just 4 issues ago. You know, the guys from
making the band? Well, most of you probably have a crush on either Ashley, Dan,
Trevor, or Jacob, but it was the cutie Erik who took the time to sit with
Kiwibox for an interview. He told me about making the band, their new house,
their label, and lastly, how they almost died.
The last thing I got out
of Erik before he had to run to rehearsal (I kept him on the phone way longer
than I was supposed to) was the story about the near death experience the group
encountered on a small commuter plane. I think that the story would be best
told in Erik’s own words: We were on a flight from LaGuardia (New
York) to Buffalo. It was the day we were signed and the day we also found out
that Making The Band was coming back for it’s second season, which is kind of
ironic…about 20 minutes into the flight our left engine caught on fire and
burnt out and it was up in flames. We started descending rather quickly and it
was about the scariest situation I’ve ever been in…lack of control…and it’s
kind of hard when you are flying everyday. Everyone tells us that the odds of
that happening are slim-to-none, but I say ‘hey, it happened to us.’ Now all we
talk about is getting a bus. Trevor and I sit around and keep saying ‘I can’t
wait for that bus, I can’t wait for that bus.’ We’ll take that bus to Europe if
we have to, just give us some snorkel gear. It just was the best and worst day
of my life. We achieved so much, and I see it as a sign from God saying that he can just take it all away in a heart beat.” So, since they are now fine, making the band is going into it’s second season.
Erik was all too happy to talk about the new house.
…it makes last years house look
like jack. This house is amazing. We have a basketball court, a tennis court,
the front door opens to a pool and courtyard and the house is around the
courtyard and it’s amazing. It’s a shame that we’re not there more often to
enjoy it…Right now they’re building a recording studio inside it so that we can
just fly people down to the house and record there…It’s great because it’s 2
blocks from AJ’s house (Backstreet Boys), five blocks from Chris’s house
(n’sync), and a couple blocks from Scott’s house (Creed). When I told him that I was jealous of his new house, his only reply was “ I
would be also.” Their new single, Liquid Dreams is playing on radio stations all over the US,
and on the day of our interview, they had just found out that Liquid Dreams was
at #1, and therefore they were put in the Guinness book of World Records for 2
different records. These two records are: The first group to ever debut their
first single at #1, and for The first group on their first time label as their
first release at #1. Congratulations to them! Things got kind of goofy on the set of the Liquid Dreams video, and Erik was
happy to tell us about his goofy embarrassing moment.
We were dancing in the water,
and there’s this one part where we have to jump one after another like
(imitates music beat) Thum Thum Thum Thum Thum. So it goes, slowly (begins to
sing the part of the song) ‘Li-quid Dreams My Li-Quid Dreams’ (He then makes
the beat sound) and I jump on the last Thum. But when [I] jump and slam into
the water, [I] slip and [my] feet go over [my] head and [I] land directly
parallel to the bottom of the pool. The camera caught the whole scene. When I
jumped, I slipped and all the water splashes towards the camera, and it’s such
a visual affect. It’s funny. It’s going to be on Making the Band. When asked how he feels about all the cameras all the time, Erik explained that
they really hard to get used to. It’s hard to have all of your business on
camera. He realizes, though, that it’s for his fans, and they love it, so he
learns to deal with it. So it sounds like O-Town has a lot on their side, and everything going for
them. Kiwibox wishes them luck in the future and all that they do.
