It's been over 2 years since you first announced the reunion. Why hasn't anything happened yet?
We have been working hard to do something fun for the fans but we will still have to keep that secret. I'll answer as best as I can without trying to give to much away.
But there is something coming.
It's a tough question to answer. We haven't been able to find the right relationship because when O-Town stopped it kinda all went disappeared and we wanted to start fresh. We have been seaking out new label or new management or new situation where we feel comfortable moving forward. That's one issue. Outside of that we were spread out across the entire United states with people in Nashville and people scattered throughout California so getting together to rehears or record was really tough. I've made some flights and done a little bit of recording but nothing ever got finished and it was just trying to find the right relationship. So after the last few months have been going well we feel like we're getting ready to be able to do something finally and not just talk about it because it was just talks for a long time and it has been between us. We wanted to do something it's just been trying to find the right thing. I hope that answers the question.
Yes it does. It actually answers it quite well. We figured that was the issue. And then you still have your other band and Dan with the new baby.
Yes and that has been a big one too. Dan has his baby and his wife and we can't just go on the road and tour for 2 or 3 months at a time. We had to find a situation where we can find a company who'd be willing to fund us going out and help us to do maybe 2 or 3 weeks at a time but it was just trying to find the right relationship where we could still have our family and life and be able to go out and do the O-Town thing still too.
And did you find the right ones now?
I think we are on target right now. We have a lot going on this week so we'll have a lot more to say depending on how this week goes but right now we've got some green lights. So we are planning to announce something within the month... is our plan. That's why I dont want to give too much away since we haven't figured out what we are going to do for this build up. But we wanna plan like a month long build up where we get everybody envolved and give clues to what we are going to do. I think it's gonna be fun. We wanted to start slow cause we didn't have anything to promise but we wanted to at least have a forum where we could engage with our fans and its been so long since any of us had any kind of group website or group twitter or anything where we can do that and we finally just decided to get that going again.
Can you go into more details like what are your plans when it comes to liveshows like festivals or tours. It's also interesting to hear about Europe but since most fans are from the US they wanna know if there are any tour dates?
No tour dates planned. With everything that we are planning right now that would obviously come with it. We would definatly be doing some shows. Uhm let's see how I say this. I can say that I personally, I'm expecting to be spending some time in Europe next year. And I might be bringing some friends with me. And we'll just leave it at that. It's gonna be a fun year. So actually I'm not in Nashville anymore. I'm in San Diego where I am from you know. So I am back living with the family and the guys are mostly, they are all in LA so we're gonna start seeing each other a little bit more which is nice. We closed the gap.
What type of music will be doing now? Is it the typicall O-Town boyband music we know or is it something new?
Well you know, we're not gonna go into a brand new genre. We are gonna stick to what we know and love and what O-Town was which is good pop, adult contemporary music. I think the sound that we are actually looking for, the stuff that we've been writing cause we've all been for years still. It's a little bit more mature. We have experience a bit more and we can write a little bit more deeper thoughts I'd say. But it's gonna stay pop music. We are not gonna be go death metal anymore.
Will you be playing some of the old stuff too?
We'll have to, yeah. Can't do an O-Town show without doing „All or Nothing“. We are gonna have to do that. It's been fun. We've definatly gotten to a farther step than we have in the past to actually coming to an agreement and doing something which is why I feel we can talk about it. Yea it's gonna be fun. Reliving the old stuff and maybe putting out some new stuff to people. I don't even know if I have the second album anymore. I think I do. But I went through it after now hearing it for 10 years. I was excited to get back on stage and sing these songs cause they are good songs and I haven't given them a thought in a long time so it's gonna be fun to go back.
On Making the Band there were all these little snippits of songs that you guys wrote for the first album. Is there a chance that we get to hear those now? Do you still have them?
I have a couple of them. Every once in a while I go through my old sessions and find stuff that I never knew I had. Cause there was a song, I don't know if you know the guys name Edwin McCain. He was a singer here in the states that was really big. We wrote with him a few times and there was a song that Dan and Ashley wrote with him that I just loved and it got cut from the second record but it was a great song. Wish I had a copy of that now that I think about it cause I don't. You just always look forward and keep writing new stuff. I can't promise anything but I'd expect that we not go back and rerecord some of that stuff but we just keep writing for the future. Writing the new stuff, recording the stuff we are writing now. You know honestly, the stuff we are writing now is much better than the stuff we wrote 10 years ago. I would at least like to hope so. Well I can dig through and talk to the other guys and see if they have anything that's worth listening too cause that's not a bad idea to throw some of that stuff out there. At least for people to have cause we wouldn't like put it out and pay for promotion or anything but at least releasing it so you guys have it.
Yeah, just so we can remember. Kinda like getting back into the old O-Town groove basically.
Yeah you know some of those recording were done on actual tape. Like cassette tape. That makes me feel old.
How did your family and friends react, when you told them about the reunion?
Everyone has been wanting us to do something for a very long time. I mean, the families all loved it. They thought it was fun. And they have been getting asked for years when we are gonna do something again so I think everybody has kinda been on that same tip. Everytime we see them it was like: Why haven't you done anything yet? And there wasn't a specific reason. It just nothing had lined up where it would work out for everybody with their shedules and where we were at in our life. So they have been wanting us to get back together and have fun and now that we are really looking like something solid is gonna happen I think they are pretty excited for us. Those were fun days so reliving these is gonna be even more fun now that we are older. I think all of us have a sense of humor about it now where it's just fun.
How does it feel to be back together after so many years?
Well I am excited. Just after we spoke on Friday with everybody uhm, we've been all getting onto the phone a lot more often recently. So kinda rekiddeling the friendship. It's fun since we spend a lot of time together and we haven't seen each other in a little while. It is the only 4 guys who know what we went through. We're excited. We are in a different place in our life where I said, Dan's got a baby so he has priorities. But I think we're excited to get back together and like I said relive the old days for a little while and visit some places and countries that we haven't been to in 10 years and see the fanbase that is out there that has lived with us the first time around. See who's still out there. Just to reconnect will be fun. And to sing together. I think that's what I am most excited about. I was listening to the old recordings and man Dan can sing. That boy can sing. I'm looking forward to singing with him again and Erik and Trevor, like everybody sounds great so it's gonna be fun to get back into the studio again.
What do you expect from the reunion? What are your goals?
Well. There isn't any big goals and I don't say that with a lack of excitement. It's just, we're not in it to do anything more than just to have fun at this point. We've all been doing music individually and other things since we have broken up and had other bands and other partners but I think it's been, like I said, everybody continually asking us for 10 years and then like the nostalgic of it. I think we are just looking to get together and have fun. The more cities we get to tour the better.
We have also realized, we are all doing the O-Town reloaded project now for 3 years since the first time you announced something like a comeback, that there are still so many fans out there who would die to see you again or to listen to some new music. I think you had the best fans on earth and you still do.
You guys are awesome. I love you for that. I do appologize it took so long. It wasn't anything I wished happend. We've had some good people come and go along the way, make some promises that fell through and it just took the kinda time it has taken now, 2 or 3 years to find the right relationship where we feel comfortable moving forward and making music again.
Was there one special moment on tour with O-Town that you keep remembering?
Trying to think of a good one for you. Well the first one that came to mind was when we were in New York for 9/11. We had a show scheduled on 9/11 in New York and we were stuck on that island and our whole crew was stuck for a few days. Just to be there, to see that with my own eyes, I'll never forget. That wasn't a great thing, a great memory but it is in history. To be there, to witness that is something unpresidented. I'll never forget it. And every year that time comes and goes. We've got pictures of that day. It's just one of those living histories.
You know the other one too and this is funny how these are the memories. The day that we signed our contract with Clive Davis we were in New York and we got downstairs and they had a surprise in a limo for us. ABC, the television company and MTV was in the limo and surprised us with a second season of our show. So we were on cloud 9. That was like litterly the best day of our lives. And then we go on a plane, we go straight to the airport we get on a plane headed to Buffalo and the engine explodes, lights on fire. So we had to make an emergency landing in Scranton, Pennsylvania of all places. Landing gear was stuck, they had to blow the landing gear down with explosives and hopefully they would stick down. Everything was lined with fire engines and we landed and everything was fine but that went from Cloud 9 to nearly dying. We all were on the plane and kind of held hands, saying a prayer and just kinda watched as we tried to make a landing. I still have the ticket stub framed. And here is what was said to us and this is what I thought was always kinda funny. So we land and we tell the record lable at this point „You know what. We almost died. We are not getting on a plane ever again. We're only going busses. We're done with this.“ You know what they said? „It's one in a million chance that you would die on an airplane or it would light on fire and that already happened to you once so it's like one in a billion chance it will ever happen again."
Ashlee, who we have talked to yesterday wanted to know, how you have grown as an artist over the past few years?
I spend 5 years in Nashville and was bacially emercing myself in the most competitive music town in the world. So I am not the same musician I was before moving there, that's for sure. It's very competitive not only on the performance side but mostly on the songwriting side. So gotten a lot of expierence writing everything from rock to country to pop and r'n'b and soul and just experiencing a lot of different things. Playing with a lot of the best musicians in the world, learning studio tricks. I've build microphones for a while for a private company so I have learned a lot about actual mic sonic quality and how to tune mics. I've build my own microphone and definatly grown up a lot just learned a lot more. I put a lot of work in.
What has been your biggest accomplishment or struggle since the band?
Well, I got my business degree. That's been a big one. I'm working on my masters right now in music. I think just the experience in Nashville is what I needed to get to the next level as a musician and as an artist. And I got myself to a really postive place. Especially throughout the last few years. I've been married and divorced and life is perfect right now.
Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
That's a good question. Honestly I would probably try and care a little bit less. I'd take everything a little less seriously in order to enjoy it more. See at that time we were doing so much that we were trying to control as much as we could and it took a lot of the joy away because we were struggling so much to control rather than just sitting back and enjoying the ride. So looking back I would probably have calmed down and not try to care so much, not try to control so much and just sat back and enjoyed it.
Until recently you did have another band „The Midnight Frenzy.“ What's going to happen with that?
Midnight Frenzy is a cover band and thats what I used to just go out and play shows and have fun. So I change out musicians. It's just a band and we get together and do three-four hour cover sets in bars and just have fun. We weren't doing any originals. I have been doing a lot of solo stuff on the side. See I love playing live and even more than playing my own music I love playing other peoples music that I grew up listening to, my favorite songs. Just for fun. We just put that together to go play at the bars we always hang out at anyways and party. So I'll probably continue that band in any city that I am in. I'd like to continue doing covers and I probably keep doing it in Nashville and wherever I am at. What we'll do is I'll keep Midnight Frenzy going as a party cover band that you can hire to come and play for whatever amount of music. You can help put the set together if you like a certain style cause we can play anything. But that's really all that its for. I mean I am setting up website for that and for the solo stuff so at least people can have forum to go to but thats a company that I started in Nashville just like I said for parties. We can basically play anything. I would like for this band to be hired out for anything. Corporate events, private parties, you name it.
What is your favorite thing to do at Disneyland?
I like the flying over California. But I also like the ESPN zone and drinking tall beers while watching sports on giant screens.
And what is your favorite Disney movie?
Let's see here. Peter Pan by far is my favorite. My sister calls me Peter Pan.
What is it with celebrities and Peter Pan?
We dont wanna grow up.
Thank you Jacob that you took time to answer all those questions.
© OTOWN Reloaded
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