Cosmo Girl  April 2001

Take five talented (and hot!)guys from Anywhere, USA; put them in a vocal group backed by the same people who brought you the Backstreet Boys; and throw in a camera crew to film every moment of their lives for a major network TV show. What do you get? Making the Band! In case you haven't seen it, it's like The Real World meets Survivor - with enough angst to rival Felicity! WEll, we got you a little behind-the-scenes scoop from Ashley Angel, Erik Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood, and Dan Miller.

CG: SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT ONTO THE SHOW?

JACOB: Ninety percent of the time we try to make each other laugh. The show is so serious, we relax by poking fun at each other.

CG: WHAT IS THERE TO MAKE FUN OF?

JACOB: Ashley's the girl of the group. He has to do his own hair, even if someone already did it. He'll be like, "Cool, perfect, thanks," and then five minutes later he's in the bathroom fixing it. At photo shoots, he checks out his ass in the mirror to make sure his pants fit right. We call him Vanilla Ice because he bites down to make his jaw bone look stronger in pictures. Erik used to do the "I'm a model," look too, but we gave him so much crap he stopped.

ASHLEY: Trevor is Extreme Man. If he's sad, he wants to cry, and if he's angry, he's irate. There's no middle ground. Dan's the responsible one. He takes care of bills and cleans without anyone asking him to.

CG: WHO'S THE MESSIEST?

DAN: Ashley leaves bowls everywhere!

JACOB: There's this trail of Ashley. You can find him by following the mess.

ASHLEY: Dude, I'm telling you! I came into the group straight after high school. I've never lived on my own. I'm sorry, but I'm working on it. Once, Trevor came into my room hiding something behind his back. Then he threw a bowl and spoon in my lap and goes, "That's how the counter feels!"

CG: WHAT WAS THE LAST FIGHT YOU HAD?

DAN: We don't have punch-each-other-out-cause-he-stole-my-girlfriend fights. We have is-a-cucumber-a-pickle-fights. We'll argue about it loudly for, like, fifteen minutes, and then it'll all be over.

ASHLEY: There was one fight between me and Erik over whether or not I can put "Love, Ashley" on my autographs because he puts "Love, Erik" on his. It wasn't really a fight, though; it was more like a bicker.

ERIK: I don't like the word bicker...

ASHLEY: It was discrepancy.

ERIK: I put "Love" on all my autographs, and he never used to.

ASHLEY: I've written "Love" since the eighth grade! Sometimes I put a heart, because as soon as I wrote "Love," he was like, "That's mine." Now I'm thinking I'll either put two doves or a lightening bolt.

CG: HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT HOW TO DODGE THE CAMERAS YET?

TREVOR: They go everywhere, even in the bathroom. I'm an exhibitionist. Sometimes when I get out of the shower and just have my towel on, I'll go, "Whoosh [makes towel-coming-off motion]! Hey, Dan!"

DAN: I'll just be sitting there listening to my headphones, and he taps me on the shoulder, and I'm like "Ahhhh! Get Away!"

CG: JACOB, EXACTLY HOW DID YOU GET YOUR CHIPPED TOOTH?

JACOB: I got hit the fave with a Snapple bottle in the eight grade. I never bothered getting it fixed. It doesn't bother me.

CG: NO, DON'T FIX IT. IT'S CUTE!

JACOB: Yeah, I can't stand fake people, and this business is full of them. People are insecure because they see picutures of celebrities and they're like, "I'll never look like that." I'm like, "Dude, I've seen them in real life. They have about thirteen zits and have tons of make up on. You're fine." We're forced to be real because of the show. People don't see us in makeup all the time. They see us when we wake up in the morning standing around in our boxers with sleep in our eyes!

CG: OKAY, YOU SET YOURSELVES UP FOR IT: BOXERS OR BRIEFS?

JACOB: Boxer briefs, actually.

TREVOR: I don't wear anything, except when I'm onstage dancing I wear boxer briefs. I might be singing a little bit higher if I didn't.

ERIK: Boxer briefs. Because they don't ride up you butt like boxers.

DAN: Boxer briefs.

ASHLEY: I pretty much switch off between briefs and boxer briefs.

CG: THANKS FOR THE DEBREIFING, GUYS!