By STEPHANIE McGRATH -- AllPopTORONTO--A hit album that reached number five in the U.S. and number two in Canada makes the O-Town boys excited and...relieved.
"Pretty much if we aren't successful we pretty much need to shoot all of ourselves in the head," says O-Town member Trevor Penick.
What Trevor means is due to the massive support they've enjoyed from legendary record label executive Clive Davis (who signed the group to his new label J Records), boy band super-creator Lou Pearlman (Backstreet Boys, *Nsync) and the backing of ABC and MTV, it would have been embarrassing if the group's self-titled debut, self-title album had flopped.
O-Town members Trevor, Dan Miller, Erik-Michael Estrada, Jacob Underwood and Ashley Parker Angel were hand-picked and trained in front of a TV audience fans each week on ABC's "Making The Band". The group was then signed to Davis' newly-formed label and had access to reams of positive publicity and respected producers and writers. As O-Town prepared to release their album, they knew that a lot of important people were expecting big things from them.
"There's not only pressure from Clive," says Dan. "I mean, a lot of people have invested lots of time and lots of money. Not only do we have Clive Davis, where we're his first act on his new label, ABC and MTV has big stakes, and Lou has a big stake in us. These are all people we can't let down."
Dan and Trevor knew their O-Town's debut album was going to be a big deal as soon as they came face-to-face with Davis.
"Let me tell you what was intimidating," remembers Dan. "The first time we auditioned for him, we didn't go to a studio or a rehearsal space. We went to his house in New York in the woods. It's big, and we walk in, we're like 'Wow this is the best house ever' and he's like 'Actually this is my guest house'."
"He's like 'Look up the hill'," says Trevor. "And it was like, this bridge, this hill and then, like, WOW and this big, huge house."
Despite all the high hopes, intimidation, support and encouragement, making it to the top five on the U.S. album charts still wowed the group members, who were surprised to hear they were even expected to make it into the top 15.
"We're very fortunate, very blessed," says Dan. "We wouldn't be here without our TV show. The fans were with us before we were even that great, and they stuck with us the whole time, so that's cool."
Like every eventful moment in an O-Town boy's life, the cameras were there to capture their expression upon hearing news of "O-Town's" chart success.
They first heard about their impressive standing onstage in the Bahamas, and Trevor says the group celebrated and "jumped around onstage, made idiots of ourselves".
"Because of our TV show, everybody has this knack of surprising us onstage," says Dan. "They just want to come onstage and make an announcement so they can be on TV."
Unlike the "Survivor" gang or the tacky couples on "Temptation Island," the O-Town boys aren't handing over their lives to TV for a brief, controlled period of time.
O-Town's onstage exploits, their phone conversations and private arguments are all documented and whittled down to 22 minute episodes. Last season of "Making The Band" focused on the creation of the group, and the second season, expected to begin in March, will follow O-Town through the recording, promoting and touring process.
The show is the inspiration for the group's upcoming U.S. tour, which kicks off on Feb. 10.
"It's basically for the TV show just so they can get us out on the road, a normal group wouldn't be on the road this fast," says Dan. "The world wants to see what it's like to be on the road and on the bus and with each other all the time and doing shows every night, what that's like."
But it sounds like Trevor, Dan and the rest of O-Town are learning to put the cameras in the background of their lives in order to concentrate on making more O-Town music.
People who have followed O-Town's musical exploits until now might think that the group members don't have much control over their sound, considering how many people have a special interest in their success. But, the group is already planning ways to have more control over their next album.
"We're always thinking about the next album and trying to get some time for us to sit down and start writing for it, 'cause we want to have a lot more songs written by us on the next album, but we need time, though," says Trevor. "We didn't have time for this one. We only submitted four songs, they only took one. Next time we want to actually sit down, maybe have a couple weeks and write for it."
When asked if Davis would veto their plan to write for themselves, Dan and Trevor say no - if they can manage to write a smash hit.
"Clive Davis was like, 'Hey, I take hits -- like if it's a hit, I'm gonna put it on the album, so I don't care where the hit comes from. If it comes from you all the better, but I'm not going to discriminate against the best writers in the world'," says Dan. "As a matter of fact, Jacob has a song on this album and Clive told Jacob that Whitney Houston has written songs for every album that she's had, and she hasn't gotten one on her album yet, so for Jacob to get one on the first album is a pretty big deal and it was encouraging for all of us."
The fact that O-Town now has a hit album is pretty encouraging too. The group hopes to bring it's much-in-demand record on a larger tour this summer with stops in Canada.
