All Pop - Artists

Think TV shows such as Popstars and Making the Band do justice to pop music today? Ask soulDecision's Ken Lewko and he'll beg to differ.

"They're making the climate worse, because the more people see which bands have been put together, the more they're going to get turned off by pop music," the keyboardist-singer for the Vancouver R&B-pop trio says by phone during a break from tour rehearsals. "And that's not how most bands work, anyway."

Lewko's solution?

"Maybe there should be a Making of the Real Band, demonstrating all the hours of rehearsals, wrestling with the songs, trying to get that perfect line ... "

Perhaps a modern take on The Beatles' film Let It Be, minus the overwrought tensions? "Yeah, there you go," he laughs.

That's not to say soulDecision is dissatisfied with the boy-band-crazy world of pop music. On the contrary. They've benefited greatly from hopping on board tours with mega-selling pop stars Christina Aguilera and 'N Sync last year.

"Those tours were awesome; they gave us a good opportunity to meet new people, a cool experience all around," says Lewko who, along with cohorts Trevor Guthrie and David Bowman, make their headlining debut at the National Arts Centre tomorrow night, along with newcomer Ricky J.

"'N Sync's show was absolutely amazing. Every special effect you can think of, they've got. But we weren't intimidated by that. They're doing their thing, we're doing our thing.

"We were surprised by how much people liked us. They weren't saying, you know, 'Booooo! Get off the stage! Put 'N Sync on!' They were interested in what we had to say. And it's helped increase our fan base."

The year 2000 was very good to soulDecision. Already platinum-sellers in Canada with their debut, No One Does It Better, soulDecision is charting admirably south of the border: The disc went No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart a week after its American release.

"Even MTV is giving us major love right now," Lewko says of their exposure on the U.S. music network's Total Request Live.

Up next is a video shoot in Cuba for their next single Let's Do It Right, due out next month, not long after their appearance at the Juno Awards in Hamilton on March 4.

Lewko, Guthrie and Bowman are up for three Junos: Best single (Faded), best album and best group. Along with a European release of No One Does it Better (with some new tracks thrown in), the guys then fly off for a tour of Australia, Germany and Singapore.

Lewko admits he's not overly bothered if soulDecision often get tossed in the market-friendly boy-band hoopla.

"People first see a picture of us and go, 'Okay, they're clean-cut, good-looking guys,' so naturally they're going to think that," he says. "And the pop scene is big right now ... But come see our show first. It's all us. Then you won't be calling us a boy band anymore."

soulDecision not just another boy band