By STEPHANIE McGRATH -- AllPopLast TV season, fans of reality TV and boy bands were introduced to "Making The Band," a show that followed the creation of a manufactured group through auditions, rejections, and school-gymnasium performances.
Thousands of hopeful young singers auditioned for the group but the final five was (and still is) made up of Ashley Parker Angel, Jacob Underwood, Trevor Penick, Erik-Michael Estrada, and Dan Miller.
The series saw the group known as O-Town rehearsing one pop track, "All For Love," but when O-Town's single was released to stores on Dec. 5, fans heard a very different sound.
"Liquid Dreams" doesn't have the typical pop beat and sounds nothing like the music we'd heard O-Town practising all season on "Making The Band".
Trevor -- the group's muscle-bound softie, who wept openly when he made the final O-Town cut -- told AllPop that the sound and style of "Liquid Dreams" (the chorus of which lists various attractive women, among them Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Halle Berry) was a deliberate attempt to set O-Town apart from the pop pack.
"Clive Davis [the music-biz legend who recently signed O-Town to his brand new label, J Records], along with us was really ... he wanted to make sure that we didn't come out with the same sound that everyone has out there in the music scene already," Trevor said recently from his hotel room in Detroit.
"He loved 'All For Love'. He thought it was a good song, but nobody thought that was a song we should come out with and hit radio with. It's a really poppy song and sounds like a lot of stuff out there. 'Liquid Dreams' was really distinctive."
Trevor and the rest of O-Town are hoping that Davis, founder and former head of Arista Records, and BMG Entertainment will give O-Town the prestige the group needs in order to be seen as more than just a musical version of "The Real World".
"Obviously we're manufactured," Trevor says about O-Town's image. "We can't get away without saying that. We were put together on television. "
But when the group was invited to perform for Davis in his home in Westchester, they knew they had a shot at getting the backing of the powerful musical exec.
"We went there, talked to him [Davis], sang two songs a cappella, and then a week and a half later he wanted to sign us," Trevor said. "Right away we were really excited because we knew it was going to be hard for people ... 'Another boy band, they're TV stars, not musicians, they can't really sing.' But once Clive Davis signed us, it's like, 'Wait a minute, these guys must be for real, 'cause Clive Davis don't mess around.' That was a blessing."
Davis's blessing has resulted in O-Town's self-titled debut, scheduled for release Jan. 23. According to Trevor, O-Town's freshman effort is something to look forward to. It also won't remind you of *Nsync or Backstreet.
"We have five different personalities in our group, and everybody knows that from watching the show, so we got songs that are for all five of us," Trevor said. "We have a pretty ballad towards Ashley [already established as O-Town's heartthrob], R&B songs for myself and Dan, a rock song for Jacob ... it's a very diverse album. It's not what anyone is going to expect us to come out with. I love it!"
But the album won't mark the end of O-Town mania on TV. The group will be back for a second season of their reality show, expected to air during the winter of 2001.
This time, "Making The Band" will focus less on the insecurities of each group member and more on their blow-ups during rehearsals and the recording of the "O-Town" album.
"The next season will show us recording the whole album, going on this radio show tour, dealing with our personal lives," Trevor said. "You saw us before we made the band, and now you'll see how it's affecting our personal lives."
Last season, melodramatic promos boasted about the emotional moments when the final cuts were made and former group member, Ikaika, decided to leave O-Town. This season, Trevor says the climactic moments will revolve around rehearsals and performances.
"We get in a lot of arguments during rehearsals, 'cause we're crushed for time so much," he said. "Last week for the first time we performed in a sold out arena in Sacramento, in front of 15,000 fans. Oh my God, it was the greatest feeling ever. It was incredible, I never felt that rush ever."
Last year also witnessed the group members' new-found fame ruining their relationships with their girlfriends. Ashley's girlfriend, in particular, found his new-found fame hard to handle, and their arguments in person and over the phone were frequently caught on camera. Trevor says the pressure on O-Town's life outside the group isn't getting any easier.
"It's getting worse now. Last season we were staying in the house, we weren't really going anywhere," he said. "We're on the road every single day now. We're so busy all the time. The only time you have time to make phone calls, you want to relax. It's hard to be a good boyfriend. Unless they [the girls] are completely, 110 percent positive, know what they're going to deal with and are okay with it, then you might succeed."
Trevor admits that he and his group-mates have finally succeeded in ignoring the cameras that document every wrong note, eye-roll and argument.
"We're all pretty much used to it by now," Trevor said. "We've had a lot of in-depth conversations, heated arguments, or whatnot. Half the time, we're like, 'Were the cameras there for that?'."
But easy-going Trevor completely understands the audience's desire to watch real people in bizarre situations. In fact, he confesses that he's a fan of reality shows such as "The Real World" and "Road Rules" and is eagerly awaiting the return of "Survivor" to prime time.
"I never watched one episode of 'Survivor', but the final episode was so blown up that I watched it and was like, 'Oh my God, this is the greatest show ever'."
For more details on O-Town's upcoming album, you can check out their
official website (www.o-town.com).
