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We hit the streets with the five harmonizing honeys of O-Town to gauge how girls rate them on the Boy-Band Meter. by Patty Adams Girls everywhere are swooing for the sweeties of O-Town, the newest boy band on the block...even though the five foxes haven't even recorded a CD yet! They're making out hearts hum with their hilarous hijinks and tune troubles every Friday night on ABC's Making The Band. YM hung out with the small-screen singers to get the compltere uncensored school on the real day in the life of O-Town. Their song story began when they beat out 1,800 other boy band wannabes. Each guy had to sing, dance and interview with a panel of judges headed up by Lous Pearlman, the legendary boy-band backer of 'N Sync, BSB, LFO and Take 5. Soon, the guys were hooked with a killer waterfront pad in Orlando, the Florida city nicknamed O-Town. Yet life hasn't exactly been cushy for the crooners. Each day's hectic schedule includes two hours of voice lessons, five hours of dance rehearsals, workouts at the gym, personal appearances, interviews, photos shoots and time in the studio recording their upcoming album. All the while their wearing mikes and being stalked by cameras. Taping the show has definitely taken it's toll. The guys weren't quite prepared for their TV audience to have an all-access pass to their lives. "There has been no privacy," says Trevor. "If you ask the TV crew for a little time alone, they just say "'You signed the contract.'" Adds Jacob "It's especially hard having our phones tapped and wearing microphones 24 hours a day. But it's forced us to be comfortable with ourselves." The guys haven't always appreacited the way the cameras captured them, however. "Sometimes the show takes one aspoect of out personalities and blows it up," saus Ashley. That's been especially tough when a less-than-positive persona;ity triat is invloved, such as Erik's hot temper. "Yeah, I may have an attitude," admits Erik, "but they don't show the other 90% of the time, when I'm goofing around. I guess it helps the story line, but I don't like it when viewers say,' I hope you lose the attitude' because I usually don't have one." Still Ashley believes that overall, the TV audience has gotten to know the real guys. "Seeing us in our bad moments, messing up, has made us more human," says Ashley. "We've shown our weakness. Trevor and I are the criers. We're the totally emotional ones." That emotion emerges in tunes such as "All for Love" and "Baby I. Would." Yet Ashley insist they don't want to follow in the footsteps of every other boy band: "We want our sound to be more aggressive pop/R&B." The guys are now writing some of their own songs and working with the biggest hit-meisters in the biz, such as Diane Warren, who has written for Christina Aguilera and Aerosmith. O-Town hopes to earn respect from their industry peers, refusing to let boy-band bashers get them down. Dan is quick to point out that, besides writing some of their own music, the guys also choreograph some of their own dance numbers. "And we wear what we want!" he says "We're not letting anyone tell us what to do." Time will tell whether these guys are not just cookie-cutter cuties. But with a hit TV show, a deal with a major record label, and a CD and world tour planned for next year, it looks like they're off to a rocking start. |