UK: Reformed 'man band' O-Town talk harsh lessons learned and looking to the future

Record ID: 1375097

  • Title: UK: Reformed 'man band' O-Town talk harsh lessons learned and looking to the future
  • Date: 23rd June 2014
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 13, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNBITE) (English) MEMBERS OF O-TOWN, ON WORKING WITH CLIVE DAVIS, SAYING: Trevor Penick: 'All positive.' Erik-Michael Estrada: 'He was a mentor, for sure.' Dan Miller: 'We learned a lot, that was the biggest thing from that. You know, we got tied up in some bad contracts but what people in the music business haven't but that wasn't necessarily the fault of Clive Davis." Jacob Underwood: "He actually had nothing to do with it because our deals were set before we had our record deal with Clive.' O-TOWN BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACOB UNDERWOOD, MEMBER OF O-TOWN, SAYING: "People say because your contract was bad - that's not why it's taught. It's taught because it's confusing. Our contract, it was actually fine - it was doing business with people like Lou. If the record label would send the money to Lou, our furnishing company, he would just keep it and say "Sue me for it", and I'm just talking candidly. That's the problem. It's not necessarily the contract. The contract is only as good as the people involved." (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAN MILLER, MEMBER OF O-TOWN, SAYING: "It took a long time to realise that it's never going to go back to just being Dan Miller. It will always be Dan from O-Town, and so when you're not necessarily in O-Town anymore it gets weird for people to constantly refer to you as Dan from O-Town."
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2014 22:52
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music
  • Reuters ID: LVAEQC42CN9A2LGO8CTAE5BXATCI
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Noughties American boy band O-Town get back together and talk about the harsh lessons they have learned from the past, and about their new music.

    American boy band O-Town are reuniting, having learned the harsh lessons of their original career in the early noughties.
    The group, made up of Erik-Michael Estrada, Jacob Underwood, Trevor Penick, Dan Miller and Ashley Parker Angel, originally formed on the ABC reality TV show 'Making The Band' in 2000.
    The series chronicled their formation and rise to fame. The band's eponymous debut album sold 1.7 million copies, according to Nielsen Soundscan, spawning hits both sides of the Atlantic including 'Liquid Dreams' and 'All or Nothing'.
    After a decade of being associated with their boyband past, Estrada, Underwood, Penick and Miller chose to reform. Angel chose not to participate.
    The band's comeback single 'Skydive' is released on June 27.
    The single will be featured on their forthcoming studio album 'Lines & Circles' released worldwide August 4. "I mean it (the original O-Town) was a Clive Davis production, and we thank him for the great songs of course, and the schooling, but there were songs on there that I wouldn't listen to, I'd say I'd never find in my own car. This is a record I would literally say that I could put on my car and blow on my speakers so they can, they know that they're getting a record that we love as well," Jacob Underwood said.
    Legendary music executive and record producer Clive Davis acted as "a mentor" to the band, and they became the first signing to his newly formed label, J-Records. However, despite Davis' involvement the band's experience of the music industry was not plain sailing. "We learned a lot - that was the biggest thing from that. I mean, you know, we got tied up in some bad contracts but what people in the music business haven't, but that wasn't necessarily the fault of Clive Davis," explained Dan Miller. "He actually had nothing to do with it because our deals were set before we had our record deal with Clive," added Underwood.
    In fact, the band's "bad contract" is now widely studied as part of media law university courses in the United States. "People say because your contract was bad - that's not why it was taught. It's taught because it's confusing. Our contract, it was actually fine - it was doing business with people like Lou (Pearlman). If the record label would send the money to Lou, our furnishing company, he would just keep it and say "Sue me for it", and I'm just talking candidly. That's the problem. It's not necessarily the contract. The contract is only as good as the people involved," said Underwood.
    Lou Pearlman was O-Town's former manager and a US boy band mogul who also launched the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. He is currently serving a 25 year US jail term for fraud.
    Looking to the future, the band performed their first UK live show in over a decade on June 13, and their new album they describe as "ten years in the making". "We didn't really know who we were individually, so this time, this time around we're getting an album chock full of experience, life and all the things that we learnt over the years. It's gone into the writing, it's gone into the song production, so you can hear all that, it's evident," said band member Erik-Michael Estrada.
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