Q & A WITH *NSYNC



This Q & A is from the October '98 issue of Teen Beat All-Stars. It was done during the filming of the *NSYNC Concert Special for The Disney Channel.



ALL-STARS: Did you do anything special to prepare for the show at MGM Studios?

JOEY: Everything!

ALL-STARS: What did you do?

JUSTIN: I drank milk.

JC: Actually, we did this show with our band. So we were rehearsing for a week with a live band.

ALL-STARS: And this was the first show with a live band?

JC: On TV, yes.

JOEY: In America.

ALL-STARS: How is that different?

JC: Everything about it is different. It's not just the same old thing--you can change the format of the song, we have breaks in the songs, more crowd oriented stuff.

ALL-STARS: How did you guys get discovered?

JC: After doing our demo package, at Pleasure Island [in Disney World], we videotaped the whole thing and what we did was we created a package. We sang some stuff in the studio, put it on a CD and sent it out to all these different record companies. When it came across the desk of our manager and he was interested in it. So Johnny Wright picked us up, and then he shopped for our record deal.

ALL-STARS: That all happened in '95 and you guys were stars?

LANCE: Within one year. We made the demo in '95. We worked all through the beginning of '96, we just rehearsed everyday, and then in the summer of '96 we really started getting some attention.

ALL-STARS: Do you guys recognize the fact that you're stars or has it still not hit you yet?

JOEY: It still hasn't hit us yet. We're still normal guys. It's always fun being recognized and everything which is wonderful, but we're normal guys, we keep each other in check, our feet are always on the ground and what you see is what you get.

ALL-STARS: How did you all come to Orlando? Did you come to Orlando because of the opportunities here?

JOEY: Yeah, my neighborhood was getting a little bit bad, and my family wanted to move to Florida--it's sunny all the time, and nice. The houses were a little bit cheaper, and there was more space. Orlando's always developing. We moved about six, seven years ago.

ALL-STARS: What about the rest of you?

LANCE: I came down for the group. When they called me to join the group, I immediately moved down here. So I've been here for 2 years.

CHRIS: I moved down here to go to college.

ALL-STARS: Is it neat, the recognition that you're getting?

JOEY: Oh yeah. I mean a lot more people know you. Instead of saying you were this, on this stage, but now you are Joey. You are Lance. It's you up there.

LANCE: I'm just 'N Sync. Last night some guy passed by and said "Hey! 'N Sync!" Uh, my name's Lance. [He laughs.]

JC: The difference being, when we performed before, we were performing for somebody else. Now when we perform, we're doing it for ourselves. We're not working for somebody else.

ALL-STARS: Who came up with the name?

JUSTIN: Actually my mom came up with the name. She came up with it, we shot it around and we thought it was a good name to represent us, because initially that was the idea--we wanted a name that would describe or represent our personalities, our singing, and our dancing all in one. And we felt like 'N Sync was the perfect name. Shortly after we copyrighted it, we recognized that all the last letters in our names spelled 'N Sync.

JOEY: When we first met Lance, we called him Lansten all the time as a nickname. So it worked. Justin for the 'N, Chris for the S, Joey for the Y, Lansten for the N and JC for the C.

JUSTIN: We just thought that was fun. We didn't plan for that to end up as a promotional gimmick. I want everyone to know that. We just thought is was a funny fact for ourselves.

ALL-STARS: Has the tour schedule been grueling?

JOEY: We've actually just had a little bit of a break, and now we're starting to get back into things with all the promotion. We've started doing some stuff in Canada. We've gone platinum over there!

LANCE: We're going to be doing the theme park tour in August. You know Six Flags, Disney and state fairs.

ALL-STARS: What's your favorite kind of music?

CHRIS: I think we all listen to pop and R&B, but it ranges from Country, I know Lance likes Country, to techno to house to R&B and hip hop. Pretty much, if you've got it, we listen to it.

ALL-STARS: Is there one individual artist that you would like to emulate?

JUSTIN: I don't think we want to emulate anybody. We want to be pioneers in the music industry. We want to make our own name. We have inspirations individually and as a group. We look up to groups like Boyz II Men, Take 6, groups that really take time to do a capella harmonies and those really tight intricate chords. But as far as being somebody, we want to be 'N SYNC.


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