Popstar! February 2001
Because of our unique support of
O-Town from the very beginning, and because you guys have mad them your #1 new
write-in faves, Popstar! was fortunate enough to land an exclusive cover shoot
for this month's Valentine's Day *LOVE* Issue. We stayed at a hotel on the Sunset Strip in L.A., right next door to where
O-Town was staying. The shoot was set to take place late at night, after a typically full day for
the boys. First, they had a fitting in the morning for the outfits they would wear
in the next day's filming of their first-ever music video, the eye-popping clip
for "Liquid Dreams." They spent about seven hours with no breaks at
an exhaustive dance rehearsal. The guys needed to get their moves tight, plus
they needed to learn new steps cooked up for them by the amazing choreographer
Swoop. But while they worked, the Popstar! staffers weren't just sitting around
soaking up the sun! Instead, we had to make a perilous journey in a cab full of
nine-foot seamless background paper (red, white and lavender) and set up a back
lobby in O-Town's hotel for the shoot. It was a cool, open space with huge
portraits of '30s movie stars, a cool black Art Deco couch and a piano, not to
mention a panoramic view of the City of Angels. By the time the place was all set, the guys arrived from their dance rehearsal
looking beat. Still, Jacob and Ashley had hugs for us and all the guys showed
signs that if they could just shower they'd get a second wind to help us bring
our readers the best pictures ever. At this time, the camera crews from Making the Band arrived and had everyone in
the room (even the photographer's daughter!) sign releases and pose for
Polaroids...we were going to be filmed for the show! For those of you who are wondering what it's like when the crew is around, it's
insane! There are two producers who float from conversation to conversation,
always monitoring who's saying what and directing the camera guy and the guy
holding a boom mike on a stick. You'll be talking with someone and suddenly the
mike will silently descend between you and someone will be all up in your face
recording your every word, nervour glance and - yes - extra pound! ARGH! When the guys returned, Dan and Trevor hopped onto the makeup stools to get the
star treatment and began razzing Ashley for all his extra pinups in the teen
magazines. Whenever Trevor said something funny, we teased him that we were
going to credit that to Ashley! They also playfully bullied Ashley into
changing his shirt to better match the "back in black" look we were
going for. We chatted with Erik-Michael about his parents, who we'd met at our
Orlando Planet Hollywood mag signing. Jacob arrived with a bright red bandanna tied around his head and immediately became
embroiled in a tug of war from all sides on whether or not it looked good in
the shot. He seemed to take it in stride, but the bandanna war, the sudden
appearance of cameras and a long day of rehearsals piled up. It's incredible
what the band has to go through to get from Point A to Point B. The shoot began with some solo shots that looked great on the bright red
backdrop, but when it was Jacob's turn, he left the set, saying he didn't want
to continue. The cameras - thrilled for any little kernel of conflict - chased
Jacob into the nearby elevators. We freaked, thinking he was walking out on the
entire shoot, leaving us high and dry after travelling 3,000 miles to shoot
O-Town. When Jacob returned from his break, our editor implored him to reconsider and
to do some more solos and group shots, which he did with no problem. We were able to put up the white back-drop and get some great shots on the sofa
that helped the guys loosen up, ending the shoot early to give them time for
slumber before one of the most important days of their careers so far - the day
they would begin lensing their first music video. As people trickled out, we were left with a nagging feeling that must haunt the
members of O-Town every day that their filmed: WHAT WILL MAKE IT ONTO THE SHOW?
DID I SAY WHAT I WANTED TO SAY? HOW WILL PEOPLE SEE ME? The next day was the video shoot that we showed you last issue, but we left out
the following tidbits so we could clue in all at once. During the course of the two-day shoot, Jacob's mother, sister and grandparents
visited him on the set. Nice people! At one point, Jacob was showing his mom the O-Town feature in the December 2000
issue and he expressed his dislike of trivial questions (like, "What's
your fave color?"). Of course, the cameras were right there to try to pick
up anything controversial. In Jacob's defense, he doesn't like to be asked about his ideal dream girl and
stuff, but as you guys know, Popstar! prides itself on asking good question
about music as well as trippy personal stuff. When the episode air, if *anything* is used from this time period, hopefully
the footage won't make it look like Jacob is dissing Popstar!, the teen mag
that has given O-Town the most love. Hey, at least we didn't yell at him and
call him a lab rat, right?! The second day, our editor did one-on-one interviews with each guy. Each guy is
miked all the time, sot he Making the Band producers could tell when the boys
were giving interview answers and the crew would surround us whether we were
out in the sun (like we were with Dan) or tucked away in a food tent (like we
were with Jacob). During the one-on-one with Jacob, he displayed all the positive aspects of his
personality that have made him one of O-Town's most beloved members: when he's
feelin' it, Jacob has a magnetic star quality, oozes charm and is incredibly
articulate about his goals and about his love for music. The interview was sort of a make-up session between popstar and Popstar!, and
the perfect closeure for what on film might seem like a shocking episode - even
if it never does end up becoming an *actual* episode of Making the Band. We thought being on TV would be a blast, but as we learned from watching the
guys who don't mind being filmed 24/7...it's sometimes pretty crazy!!!
But what you *can't* see from looking at these hot pix is the *real* story of
what happened at the shoot and at their "Liquid Dreams" video shoot -
and how it *might* just end up as an episode of ABC's second season of Making
the Band!
Here's the scoop!
It seemed like a fun idea.
