Scheananigans with Scheana Shay - O-MG! it's Erik-Michael Estrada from O-Town

Episode Date: March 12, 2019

Erik-Michael Estrada from O-Town joins Scheana and Janet to talk about their new single, the rigors and joys of performing, the songwriting process, and they're joined by a VERY special guest caller! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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If you don't love it, just simply return it for free. And right now for $20 off your Buffy comforter, visit buffy.co, enter code Sheena. You are going to love this comforter just like I do. And again, that's buffy.co, enter code Sheena for $20 off your first Buffy comforter. From Vanderpump Rules to Vegas and everywhere in between, it's time to party with Sheena Shea. This is Shenanigans. And now here's your host, Sheena Shay. All right. And we're back. I'm in town for like all of what, Janet? What is it? Like 48 hours we're here? Five minutes. Yeah. But my voice has come back a little bit. It was gone last week. It was gone even more the week before, but we're back. So last night I fell down a rabbit hole on YouTube watching old episodes of Making the

Band, the original season, and in my opinion, the only season that actually really mattered because my guest here sitting next to me today is eric from otown what's up hey how are you how was it a long fall into the rabbit hole it was about 4 a.m when i looked up and i was like i should go to bed yeah but i would have said go to bed they were just like it wasn't even i don't even know if i was really watching the full episodes because it was like episode one, like part one. But then it was like part two and it was just like, was it, were they 30 minute episodes or hour? It changed.

They've changed format a bunch of, a bunch of times, but on the internet now they are fragmented. Okay. So I watched a ton of fragmented episodes last night, but all the way up until Ikaika came back. But then I think I was like, yeah, it was... I was wondering what you were doing. I woke up this morning at 7 to text you at 4.45 with like, hey, are you up? Have you seen Making the Band?

I'm like, what is she doing? Yeah, and I, well, okay, no. Confession, last night I did smoke weed. I haven't smoked weed at home in a couple of months. And last night I did. I don't think I've smoked weed and watched making the band yet. You should. It's really fun.

I should probably try. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I had to go like dead sober a few months ago for like two months. And so now I'm like kind of like easing back into drinking and smoking but still like in very much moderation. Good. Jaina and I have been like world travelers. We're going to Australia tomorrow. Really? Yes. What's going on? What's the traveling for?

Um well the show that I'm on Vanderpump Rules is actually very popular in Australia. Yes. So I'm doing like a bunch of press and meetings and interviews and stuff out there but while I'm out there I'm like why don't I bring my girlfriends and make it a fun trip? Oh, yeah. So we're going to pop over to New Zealand.

Oh, yeah. It's very green over there. Yeah. It's super fun. Always down for a girl's trip. Yeah. Well, congratulations on everything. Thank you.

You know, we were discussing very briefly before we walked in that we've known each other for years. Yeah. I was like, wait, do you remember me? I need to hear the story how do you guys know each other we went on a date oh my god so long ago I'm like I mean I obviously remember because I was like oh my god I'm going on a date with Eric from O-Town but then we like became friends but then we didn't talk for so long and then I was like does he remember me

like I don't know I've been following you all the way you actually don't follow me I checked Twitter and Instagram last night and you don't technically follow me. You should check your Instagram right now. Oh, so you did it in the last 12 hours, did you? Well, I thought I was following you already and then I'm like, well, I'm going to have to like post a picture of us while I'm there. So let me go ahead and follow. So I'm not asking her and then have that awkward moment where I have to ask you what your Instagram

handle is. But I am following you. Oh, okay. Okay. I have to know you what your Instagram handle is. But I am following you. Oh, okay. Okay. I have to know, was there a kiss on this date? I think there was. Do we need to refresh our memory? Wait, do you have a girlfriend?

I don't, no. Okay, cool. Then I'm going to flirt with you this whole show. Please, please. Date number two, right after this. Yeah. You're single. See, I feel like I'm very single yeah she's dating me mostly but

yeah okay okay i thought i thought you were i thought you were in something for a while because you stalked my instagram yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna follow you back after but i just i want to make sure it does say that there's a follow back because last night when i looked i was like he doesn't follow me and i like to click follow back instead of just follow. It does say follow back, people. Are you going to follow him and bump someone so you keep it 420? So now I have to unfollow someone. Oh, is that a rule?

Yes. You got to keep it low. I keep it at 420. Oh, really? Yes. 420 people follow me. I have for five years. I refuse to change it. It's just like I'm very OCD and I like the way it looks.

Even like having 1,162 posts right now, I don't like the way that looks. That number – You got to bump that post up to at least 63, 64. Something like that, yeah. But our feed is about to be so lit in Australia and New Zealand. Our other girlfriend, Courtney, coming with us is a professional photographer. It's going to be amazing. I mean the lighting is just going to be so perfect.

I can't wait. I can't wait. I'm going to tell selfies in the morning. We've already scoped out all the Instagram hotspots at all of our hotels so that we can get our pictures as soon as we get there. No, we're recreating so many of these pictures. I'm going to hug a koala. Oh yeah. You got to do the whole thing. Yeah. Maybe even like, you know, meet an alligator and stuff. Maybe I See, I've done that in Florida. They're crocodiles. Oh, yeah. I don't know the difference.

Yeah. Florida is the alligator. Okay. Yeah. So. Australia's the crocodile. I've seen them. But I'm more kangaroo koala on this trip.

Definitely. Did you guys ever tour in Australia? We didn't. We didn't. Actually, the one time we were scheduled to go to Australia, on a sad note, that was like the weekend of 9-11. Oh. Which obviously dates me back way back then. Wow.

But that was the one that we were scheduled to go to Australia that weekend, and we didn't because of all of the nonsense with the planes and stuff. But yeah, we never made our way back, and obviously we missed out on a whole market there. But, you know, I would love to go, actually. Yeah, it's been top of my bucket list for I don't even know how many years now. And especially New Zealand, I think even more so than Australia. But now being on a show that I found out is so popular out there, like literally every night at Sir, no joke, any night of the week, any day out of the year. There are people visiting from Australia on their honeymoon, on holiday, birthday, bachelorette, whatever it is. And I'm just like, I've got to get out there and just see what this place is like because I've always wanted to go and just knowing that I can also like make it a work trip.

Yeah. You can write it off. Exactly. You'll be able to get into everywhere. Yeah. My business manager was like, so is any part of this trip business? I was like, yes, it is a business trip. I'm doing press.

I have photo shoots. I have – I got Defyware coming with me. Yeah. It's going to be amazing. And the zoo gave her – sent her a text message saying that they're giving her a VIP tour of the zoo and that we can hug the koalas. I feel so cool. It's going to be amazing. I don't know what I did to deserve this trip.

I don't know. I'm super jelly. But hey, if you want to hop on a red eye with us tomorrow tomorrow night I wish I could I wish I could we have so much stuff going on yeah we're gonna get into a lot of that so okay going back to this date we had yeah do you remember what we did well I remember I remember where you were living you were living up by Runyon Canyon yeah time right um Does that mean you went back there? We did, but I could keep the suspense going, but just clear it up. It was a very respectful date.

She does blushing. It was great. I dropped her off outside of her place. I didn't go in. No, you didn't. Okay. No, I had been to your place before, but it was like an after party. I remember there was like a music studio set up.

That was right around the corner. Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was like my younger party days. Yeah. Not so much anymore. But I think it was, did we go to the Grove?

Because we saw a movie. I believe we went to the Grove, yes. You don't remember what movie? No, there's no way. It was Transformers. Oh, wow. oh because it was special yeah i had never seen i don't know maybe it was the first one because that's how long ago this was but anytime another transformer movie comes out i always think back to that date because i'm like that like i it's not i mean i enjoy any movie I go to see. Like, I just love movies.

But I wouldn't if there's, you know, a romcom, a scary movie and Transformers out. I'm probably not going to pick Transformers as the first one. But if I'm hanging out with the guy who wants to go see one of those like boy movies with hot Megan Fox. You'll do it for the guy. Sure. So I was like, oh, my God, that looks so good. Like, let's totally do it. So into it.

I love it. That sounds like every teenage girl's dream yeah boy band the Grove movie it was actually one of my to be honest one of my first like proper dates here in LA I don't think I've even been on like so many of those proper dates but that was like one and that was like okay Eric that was like a decade ago we're gonna okay then we going to have to redo this. I know. Let's do it. Let's go.

Let's go catch a flick. Yeah. Yeah, let's do it. So down. Isn't there a new Transformers movie coming out? Well, there was Bumblebee. There was Bumblebee. I saw that.

Which I, yeah, I just saw. But that technically wasn't a Transformers movie. It was like its own like entity or whatever. Did you like it? I did. You did, right? See, I liked it. I went with the group.

It was a couple guy friends, a couple girlfriends, and all of us girls loved it. entity or whatever did you like it i did you did see i liked it i went with the group it was um a couple guy friends a couple girlfriends and all of us girls loved it but the guys were like that was so cheesy and it was i'm like okay look it was very cheesy yes i'm obsessed with the 80s yes so i loved all of those i loved all of that the setting the music the soundtrack like all of that was amazing at the end of it and not like we're giving anything away, but like at the end, it's like you can't even hold his hand. Like kiss him. Like come on. It was so PG.

It was a little annoying. I think that's sort of like where we're at now too. I think all that, you know, just sort of on the nose expecting for this to happen. The guy meets the girl. The girl falls for the guy. I think we're in a different world now especially with like content and media like it's really about like i can be like like you i can be friends with a guy even sleep in the same bed with the guy and not hook

up with said guy you know and be cool how was that experience tell me i mean we obviously we're like now you're a reality show you know vet um just like I guess I couldn't be considered that. Yeah. How does it feel to work there? Yes. I mean, not nearly as much as we used to because it's impossible, but yes. But you work there, and then now you're also this star. How is that dichotomy now, like working in a restaurant and then being a reality star from that restaurant? and then being a reality star from that restaurant. I've always wanted that.

So we've kind of had to alter our shifts in a way that it's more of an appearance and less of a picking up tables type of shift. Because there is a place who pulls tips. And it was becoming unfair when those of us who were on the show were getting pulled this way and that to have a conversation, to take photos, to sign a menu. Like people still ask for autographs in 2019.

It is bizarre to me. I'm like, you don't want a selfie? You want my autograph? What are you going to do with that? You're not going to get any likes with that. Exactly. That's what we do at our shows too. There's no more signings.

Like it's only a selfie. Yeah. It's like selfie is the new autograph. It absolutely is so it was becoming very unfair to the people who are you know covering my tables while i'm taking photos and they're you know refilling their drinks when that's something i should be doing and then i'm getting the same amount of tips so we all got together with our bosses and everyone and we're just like okay like we're not too good to work at the restaurant by any means like i will i mean i don't want a wait table till the day i die but i'm never going to be above doing that type of work and i enjoy being at sir i'm actually going to sir

tonight for dinner like i you can come with us if you want um but i love going there and meeting fans because like i said they travel from across the entire world, from Australia. Every single night, I guarantee we go to certain night, there will be at least one, if not ten Aussies we meet because they just love the show. And so it's like to be able to go in and like make someone's trip, which is crazy to me. I had one person the other night or not the other night, but I was telling the story the other night. And they told me, which I still to this day do not believe they're like we've met kobe bryant and this is cooler and i was like okay i don't believe you for a second but he was like no like you don't understand like we watch it we feel like we know you like we met kobe but like this is cooler and i'm like

okay maybe you do mean that but i've had people say things like that to me before even like gifting suites i've gone to where they're a-list celebrities who are like oscar award-winning actors and they're like oh my god like sheena from vanderpump rules i'm like what yeah i'm not that cool but people just like that's what happens with our show you guys are the modern day friends or cheers i think people love it and get to see it yeah i mean it's all like you know this bar you know like you know cafe based friend group and wait i think that's like the best comparison anyone has ever made we're the reality version of cheers yeah friends yeah that's really good that's so good people do freak out i will say i thought the woman in denver might kidnap my God. I've never seen somebody assault her like this. You have definitely experienced stuff like this.

So we're at – do you know who Bryce Fine is? Yes. Okay. So he's a very good friend of mine. Okay. So I – have you seen Almost Famous? Yes. I am his number one band-aid.

Got it. I'm not a groupie because I'm not sleeping with him. I am a band-aid. We're homies. Right. I have been to four different cities across the country to see his shows. It's so much fun. So we were in Denver for one of his shows, which I know you have experienced those type of fans who are aggressive.

Grabbing you. But this is his show. It's not mine. And we're in the audience, and this girl, literally, she was like, I don't even know if she was five foot. Itty bitty. She yanked Sheena down to her level. And literally, she was squeezing her in her arms and hands so tight. I was like, do I intervene here?

Like, what happens? But she was so excited to see Sheena. I was like, do you want me to take a picture? She's like, no, I can do it myself. I was like, okay. So you're like, she was like protective. It was a little much. That's what happens with reality TV.

I think, you know, it's like your real personality comes out. People start to attach themselves to that and they see a little bit of themselves in that. People think they know you. They think they know you. They really do. What's the most aggressive thing a fan has ever done to you? Oh, man. Well, I've had some pretty scary moments. I've had some stalkers. I've had some. Oh, man. Well, I've had some pretty scary moments. I've had some stalkers. I've had some –

Oh, wow. I've had some – I think that's just – to me, that's it. Even pre-social media days stalker. Pre-social media days, post-social media days. That's a real stalker if they're just like following your like geotag. Right. If you have to actually Google shit to find someone, that's a lot. Yeah. No, it's gotten pretty intense.

But for the most part, you know, I just get surprised when they show up to the show. Honestly. Like we've been doing this for so long. You know, the fact that, you know, we got back together in 2014 to do a reunion tour in Europe. And then when the United States got a hold of that information. Got a little jealous. Yeah, I think they got jealous. And it kind of took off here.

And that was five years ago. Actually, we've been in the band now longer than the first incarnation of it. Wow, I didn't realize that. Yeah. Yeah, so. So you guys were only together, what, three years the first time? Three and a half years or so. I mean, if you count like the end of 99 into like in the 2004-ish, you know.

But now, the fact that we're still doing it and people show up to our VIPs and I mean, it's become quite a different event. You know, our shows are, you know, just fully immersive and I know a lot of my fans now

on like a first name basis, which that was never the case before right um so there's been some crazy moments with fans but overall like it's just it's just like uh it's just super cool to be able to like see a person face to face and i've had you know we have these immersive experiences and sometimes the girls get a little drunk and they uh and then they'll start to get like emotional and they'll start to like, you know, and then he left me. And they start like confiding in me. And, you know, I don't know.

I just I love people. I love getting to know people as I've gotten older. I think I've the social media game has changed that sort of interaction. And, you know, there's been some, you know, there's been some intense moments. But overall, I think they're just grateful to be able to get a chance to get to say all the things that they've been whining to say to you. And I'm just open to listen. And I'm sure a lot of your fans, like me, were younger when you guys first came out

and were like the screaming teeny bopper girls and now are like old enough to come to your things and drink and then feel ballsy enough to tell you all the stuff they wanted to tell you when they were 13 absolutely yeah no it's it's really cool i mean and that's another thing like you just hit the nail on the head we didn't connect with our fans before as much i mean primarily because of social media but they were 15 yeah you know and i was 20 21 right you know i just couldn't you know yeah but now good not all artists follow that clearly yes I'm not from Chicago um uh but no no shout out to Chicago I love it yeah those are not people who go fund me for bail um but yeah it's been really it's been an awesome experience to be able to do the getting with the guys again do music um you know been an awesome experience to be able to do the, get in with the guys again,

do music. Um, you know, we weren't supposed to be doing it this long. It was supposed to only be that reunion tour for the summer. And then we did an album. And then, um, uh,

after that we decided, okay, if we're going to do another album, we're going to, uh, we're going to let the fans decide if they want it. And so we, we opted on doing a Kickstarterstarter campaign and so we set the

bar we set the you know the goal at a certain dollar amount and we you know the way kickstarter works is if you don't hit your dollar amount you don't get it so we set it up at a mark where we felt like well if we don't get it you know we can always throw in the rest of the money. And then we can make the album. We hit our mark. We actually hit our mark in. We're just talking about whether or not we should call them. I didn't mean to distract you. I'll segue into it.

So we hit our mark actually in four hours. Or no, I'm sorry, seven hours. We hit our goal. Whoa. Wow. Which is pretty intense. We didn't expect it. Like I said, I don't expect people like to care but they do and um there's and they're super supportive and so the rest of the month we just started to create what we call stretch goals and

we doubled that money by the end of the month and ended up actually having way more than we thought to like make the album that's awesome and that's what's coming out now that's what's coming out you know coming up in here and i think may, I believe, is going to be the drop month for it. And obviously, Hello World, which is the song that Colton is like the first... It wasn't expected to be, but it's sort of like the teaser single for it. It's catchy. It was stuck in my head for a couple hours while watching Making the Band last night,

but then All For love was in my head then i was like liquid dreams and it was all for nothing and last night we were leaving disneyland and we just had like a whole like boy band like jam session in the car on the way back nice but we started with o-town oh that's good that's good yeah yeah yeah hello world is a song that um Yeah, Hello World is a song that a buddy of mine, my bandmate, my bandmate Jacob wrote. And I know, I think we're going to try and get him on the phone. Yeah, I want to play a clip of the show and then if we can, or the clip of the song, and then if we can get him on the phone because he couldn't be here today, that would be awesome. So the song itself was a song that Colton, okay, so let me give you the backstory. Jacob is in Underwood as much, as well as Colton... Okay, so let me give you the backstory. Jacob is in Underwood as well as Colton. Yeah, I wanted to ask that when we got him on the phone.

Okay, I'll leave that for him. I'll leave that for him. Yes. So people thought like, oh, you guys should meet and they connected the two. They hit it off and it turns out Colton secretly in like a very like secret way always wanted to be in O-Town.

That does not surprise me at all and so uh he decided to um he you know he said hey listen i got this uh i got this really cool charity that i work for for cystic fibrosis yeah and i would love to do a song and maybe we can have some of the proceeds go to my charitable fund for us you know this stage in our career it's less about hey look at me the ego talking it's really more about like how can we use our talents to better the world right you know um and and so we've been trying to align ourselves with a charity for quite some time and this just made a lot of sense um jacob had been working on this song for about two years wow he had oh my god he had the hook he just couldn't nail the verses down

and he had the hook and he had the track and i actually took a stab at the verses and i don't know why he didn't like my verse now that i come to think about it but um he it took a while for him to actually just finish the song and i think this sort of kind of took him over the edge once he knew that this was going to be a part of the charity yeah and he completed the song do we have him we do oh hey how are you i'm great man how you guys doing good we wish you were here today we're gonna have to get you in the studio when you're back in town i know i know i'm sorry i have a daughter and a lot going on so it's like oh please let me call it yeah no appreciate it. Yeah, Jacob has a newborn. Aw, congrats.

Thank you. Yeah, full time. Okay, so I have to know, how did the Underwood connection happen between you and Colton? Because the first thing I was like, are they, like, related? Or was it just, like, social media?

People were like, oh, my God, you guys have the same last name and you're both white? Like... No, we met organically. Like, we met, like, most people. We actually you guys have the same last name, and you're both white? We met organically. We met most people. We actually were at a charity event in San Diego. He was playing for the Chargers at the time.

Shout out to the Chargers. I went down, and I see the guy with the Underwood shirt. I'm like, oh, I want to take a picture. They told him the same thing. They're like, we've got to take one because we had matching last names on our jerseys. So we took this picture, and that was probably about six years ago. We did, like, you know, we're social media friends. I love the Chargers.

Root for you. He got traded to the Raiders, and then we were enemies. And then, lo and behold, he circled back around to his bachelor life. But the whole time, his main focus was his charity and has been. Yeah. So he knew me from years back probably six years ago and the old town connection he's like i i've been wanting to do a song for the charity and what would you think about writing it and and you know that's when i had this this song hello

worldly idea was mulling around the chorus for a while just didn't have the right directions for the for the verses so when we sat down and talked about his charity and kind of got the whole rundown of what he's up against what these kids deal with then the idea for the verses just kind of started flowing it was very easy after that nice yeah i was saying it's such a catchy song it literally was stuck in my head last night as i fell down a rabbit hole watching the first season of Making the Band. I love that. Thank you. Yeah, but no,

that's so awesome. I can't wait to see you guys do this song live. I think, was it like a year or two ago, y'all performed somewhere in like West Hollywood? Yeah, we actually had two shows here so far.

Yeah, okay. We performed the Troubadour just last year. It wasn't the Troubadour. It was somewhere else. It was like a small... Oh, El Rey? The El Yeah, okay. We performed the Troubadour just last year. It wasn't the Troubadour. It was somewhere else. It was like a small... Oh, El Rey? The El Rey, yeah.

Okay, something like that that a few of my cast members were at, but I know for sure it wasn't the Troubadour. And they were like, yeah, O-Town performed. I'm like, what?

I didn't know there was a pop-up O-Town show tonight. A pop-up O-Town show. And I missed it. But now I'm so excited that, like, you guys have tour dates.

I see April, you're in Southern California, a few different dates. Mm-hmm. So I'm definitely going to have to come. I think we've got to get Sheena and her girls

a VIP. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah. You've got to see the experience. It's pretty fun. We've come to the West Coast, most of our families.

Yeah, right. I even remembered that when i was watching the show last night i was like oh yeah a lot of you are from like i mean i grew up very close to where trevor's from he's from like the 909 i was more 66 but like 20 minutes from rancho yeah and i was like that's right like you guys a lot of you are socal not you yeah still out there all my family's still in san Diego. So we're playing a show on my birthday in San Diego. I've never gotten to do that. How fun.

Wait, when is that? We love that place. On April 25th. April 25th. If I'm in this country, I'm in San Diego. Come on down. It's going to be a fun one. Amazing.

We've got a beach and a Pasadena, so flirting around the L.A. area, which we do every year. Yeah, I grew up just outside of Pasadena, so I saw that too. And I was like, okay, I'm definitely coming. There are a few options, so I'm definitely coming to one of them in April. Got to make it. Not going to miss this. I'll be there too. Yes.

I'm inviting myself. She is quite a little musician herself, Jake. I don't know if you know that. No, no. No, I love it. I do have a new single out right now. It's called Better I Call It You. Gotta get the plug.

No, I'm a performer. I'm not a singer. I will never call myself a singer. Can I entertain a crowd? Hell yeah. But can I carry a tune after a weekend in Vegas? No way. After a weekend in Vegas. Yeah. No, I'm still recovering from Park City Sundance like five weeks ago but oh man yeah that sounds fun I've actually been able to go up there for one of those um I'm not really good with the cold so

it was tough for me well yeah especially being from Southern California it's like okay maybe you go to like Arrowhead or Big Bear for like two days but it's like oh yeah we grew up in sunshine yeah we actually have a show on Big Bear coming up here. I know. I saw that too. Struck a nerve. I'll tell you why later.

Yeah, that's going to be fun. I mean, dude, we've been going up there since we were in high school. That was where we went to go snowboarding. Yeah. Packed in the Big Bear

like lake cabin. Yep. I have a lot of memories of it. My family had a cabin up there. Yeah, I've been going there my whole life. So I probably am not going to go to the Big Bear show but i'm gonna go to pasadena or san diego yeah yeah how are your shows different now than they were in the early 2000s i mean other than the fans

how do you guys perform differently oh well y'all still dance oh yeah yes oh yeah i love that backstreet boys is like 32 backup dancers now. They're all like in their mid-40s or 50s. Yeah, I think the one thing I think surprises folks is how much energy our show really has still. Awesome. It's not easy on the body, I can tell you that, as we get older. But we're jumping around and we're having a ball. And I actually tell Jake, I'm like, Jake, I think we need to bring more ballads back into the show. as we get older. But we're jumping around and we're having a ball and it's,

trust me, I actually tell Jake, I'm like, Jake, I think we need to bring more ballads back into the show because we're just constantly like jumping around.

Yeah, we're a constant argument. Yeah, but it's a lot of fun. I think mostly it's just more immersive and like we sing the hits, like we sing our like go-tos,

right? Sheena already mentioned them. But we sing a lot of new songs, you know, and I think people start to get really sort of surprised that like our new song you know like some people don't even know that we're back together yeah like having new records and new songs so yeah um it's weird like four years into it now like people are starting to realize like oh wow they're back together still and um i think that's the biggest change right jake would? Would you agree with your boy? Yeah, I do.

What's crazy is some of the hardcore fans that have been with us for the last four years know all the words to all the new stuff, which makes us feel good because now our show is a lot more fun and diverse to have the new music in there. And to have people enjoy it like the same way they do with We Fit Together and Liquid Dreams. Yeah. It's refreshing for us to get out there. It's funny because everybody goes, man, I had no idea your show had that much energy. Each time, that is the argument because they're like, okay, we're almost 40.

Maybe we should slow it down and do some ballads. Then people come back after the show and they're like, that was amazing. Your energy's incredible. I look at them like, see? We just gotta run more. Hey, J-Lo's like 50 and she's still killing it. Oh, true, true. So age ain't nothing but a number.

True. BX, shout out to Puerto Rican. Shout out to BX. Right? Okay, well, I want to play everyone a clip from y'all's new song with Colton the Bachelor, Hello World. And Jacob, I will see you at your show soon. Oh, I can't wait.

Congrats on the new baby. Thank you so much. You might be there, too. Yes. I can't wait congrats on the new baby thank you so much you might be there too yes can't wait i am a warrior i am unbroken another day older and the battle is spoken Guns I've been fighting all my life and I won't give up you get up when you fall So here's my message to you I hope you got a little patience. It's such a beautiful arrangement But I'm not waiting for my turn So hello world Things can get a little crazy

But I'm not looking for your safety I just wanna see you learn Too many times I just sat on the side of my mind I love it. Oh, don't fade out on the question mark. Okay, okay. No, I love it. It's catchy, and it's like the dance vibes. It's very, like, today. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know if Jacob's not on the line anymore, right? No. it's very like today yeah yeah I'm I don't know Jacob's not on the line anymore right no yeah you know we had a lot of people come to us the last record and they're like you guys don't have any

like uplifting songs like a lot of breakup songs and this one is really special because it has like there's like a lot of hope in it

yeah you know and like I said like as we get older and we're leaving a legacy for I mean I don't have any children get older and we're leaving a legacy for, I mean, I don't have any children, but Jacob and Dan do. Just having something that has hope and has like, and is happy, you know, to us is like,

just really nice. It's a nice change of pace. You know, our biggest song is a breakup song, you know? Yeah. So, and people want us to sing it at their wedding and it's like, guy, no. You don't want us to sing All or Nothing at your wedding. No. No, no no no no no but yeah it's really cool to have that and have the dance vibes and um the beautiful thing about this album probably more so than anything else is every song on this record is

written by one of us um there's not one song that was given to us by someone. That's awesome. That's unheard of nowadays. Yeah. It is. I mean, it took us two years to make it because we were touring while we were trying to make the record. But I feel like now with it being completed and the diverse sounds that it has, we brought back a lot of ballads and we brought back some up tempos. I even threw in like a two-step john in there that i wrote um it just has like this really complete vibe complete album feel to it which um you know i'm i'm a i'm a stickler for quality you know and that's why we didn't land on anything for a while and the guys are too um so once it was completed we kind of knew it was we were like all right

that was the last one. All right, we're good. Yeah. Now let's do this. You know, it's a nice feeling to sort of move forward with that feeling, you know. Love that. Well, I love it. And I can't wait to see you guys perform.

Me too. I had never, like, been to a boy band concert, like, back in the day, like, in high school and stuff. Like, I went to Britney Spears concerts, but couldn't really afford any more than a britney spears concert so it was like pick and choose what show you want to see this year and it was always britney spears sorry but you guys did open for her we did yeah yes yeah that was one of the best experiences of my career actually yeah what was britney like on tour um britney was well britney's great she's she's gracious. At that time, that was the overprotected record. It was like 2001? Yeah. And she was at that time super overprotected.

Oh, yeah. Whenever she would have to come down the hallway, it was like, everyone out. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, they do that for everybody. But she was also, I don't even think she was 21 yet. I don't think so either. Yeah.

I don't think so either. But obviously, she's just such a worker. You can say what you will about her singing abilities or whatever, but her work ethic. She's amazing. Yeah, I stan her. You're not going to hear anything negative about Britney over here. No, no. Nothing negative.

I have a mixed amount of respect for Britney. And it was just an incredible moment. Our song was number one at the time. And so we had the B stage and we were in this in the round and it was like the first time we had been in an arena setting and because our record was number one it was like actually a packed house you know so it was our brief i mean we've done arena shows since then but that was like our first you know entree into that you know see now i'm wondering i mean i my my weed smoking over the last 10 years has just

burned brain cells but i'm like wait did i see y'all open for her because i definitely went to like every tour back then yeah i mean we opened for her in vegas and i think we did i thought were you at the mgm grand i think we were okay because i was at that show and i remember at the time i had blonde hair and i totally like dressed like her and when we were walking walking in, I used to, people would tell me all the time that I looked like her. And like at that show, like people were coming up and like thinking I was, this is so cool. Yeah. Yeah.

But, um, yeah. So I was at the MGM show. Um, that tour, that's actually like an infamous tour. Obviously that's like the time of like Wade and all that stuff was going down. Ooh. Yeah. I actually, I actually met just, that's when I actually met Justin like wade and all that stuff was going down and i actually met just that's when i actually met justin i met justin on that tour um during the backstage and she had like a personal masseuse like on you know goals that father that father that came with us on tour oh my god we actually got to use them

during that time which was which was awesome yeah So most of the time, more than anyone else, I'd be the one waiting on first to go when Britney was done. So she would walk out and I'd just go in and get my work done. How fun. To tour with Britney Spears in that time is just so iconic. It's sort of crazy. You guys, you're on a reality show. It's just so iconic. It's sort of crazy.

You know, you guys, you're on a reality show. So for us, we were sort of just picked out of our normal lives. And then all of a sudden we were on a TV show and we were known before we even signed. And then we got signed to Clive Davis, which was like, oh, by the way, they're like legit. So just having that moment, it was just a whirlwind of stuff happening at the time it's sort of surreal to even look back now having been displaced for so long to think like wow that's how it went down yeah that's pretty cool

and back in those days Lou Pearlman was like the person he was managing you guys right and running everything obviously since then so much negative stuff I mean he passed away like in what 2016 I then, so much negative stuff. I mean, he passed away, like, in what, 2016, I think? He did, yeah. But so much negative stuff about how he was taking advantage

of a lot of the bands he was managing came out. Do you have any stories or experience about working with him? Or was your experience what everybody else came out later and said? I can say this. When he passed away, there's no doubt there was like this juxtaposition of feelings where you know

he I think he was over ambitious and sometimes I felt like I felt like his over ambition sort of forced him into situations that he didn't even know he was capable of doing you know I can't speak for him obviously the man has passed but for all of us you know know, I'm really close friends

with all the guys in the band, in the boy bands. Now me and Alex, AJ from Backstreet Boys and Joey from NSYNC. And we were actually on tour with 98 Degrees during, when we found out that Lou had passed and we were all FaceTiming each other and we all had the same feeling. It was like this, you know, he gave us such an enormous opportunity that our lives would never be the same. Right. But there's this, this sort of checkered path, this checkered side of it.

Yeah. It's like, we can't necessarily excuse. Yeah. And there was like an anniversary that just happened. We were, you know, okay. So we're doing a pop 2000 tour now. Yeah. I want to get into that.

So Lance Bass is hosting that. Does he mean like, does that mean like he's like announcing y'all? Okay. Yes. Pop 2000 tour now. Yeah, I want to get into that. So Lance Bass is hosting that. Does that mean he's announcing y'all? Yes. Okay. Yes, he's the emcee. Yes. Yes. Love Lance.

And so we're in Nashville, and Chris Kirkpatrick is there too, because Chris lives in Nashville now. And he came out and- We should have hit him up last week. We do. Oh, you're in Nashville? Yeah. So was I.

So we ended up having him come out we do this like this sort of impromptu surprise uh-huh you know in sync cover section and then lance comes out at the end and performs with us sick so wait you didn't do that last week did you we did what what day you missed it and what bar? You missed it What day? It was like on a Saturday You didn't do it this past Saturday, no way No, a week from last Okay, I was gonna say if that happened Well, we did get an impromptu

Oh, Sunday, I'm sorry, Sunday Okay, we were in Denver at Bryce Vine on Sunday Yes But we did get an impromptu Kid Rock concert Which was completely out of left field and awesome But continue So we were all backstage And Chris was prepping to get on stage with us and we did this whole thing and it was awesome.

I mean, they missed their cue, but whatever. What bar? It was, oh man, I'm really bad at venues. I just know like cities. Okay. Even though we did perform at the Ryman, which I'll never forget because it's like a really famous Nashville place. Gotcha. But I forget. I forget i forget it wasn't a bar it was like some oh oh i'm sorry it was uh top golf top golf oh wait i saw okay when i was like insta stalking

you when i realized you weren't following me i saw a picture like at top golf and i i love top golf so do i i lived in vegas i went there all the time but it's awesome okay so we performed there they have a cool venue there yes the people there are great thank you everyone at Topic Golf Nashville you guys were great fantastic we can't wait to come back um so we were backstage and we were talking about it and we all feel the same way about Lou like it's just like yeah we wish we wish things ended up a little differently because honestly he was like the Barry Gordy of like the 2000s yeah you know he kind of set off so many stars that are still going you know like britney went through the lou the lou camp and obviously in you know justin from in sync and and um joy

fatone and you know orlando was kind of like the epicenter for all the the music that came up yeah yeah good old town yeah no doubt i mean even louis fonzi you know from despacito uh-huh he's actually from Orlando too there was a lot of music came out of Orlando back then that's still sort of out here making noise so you know we've moved on and we're still going and we're so happy

that we get a chance to still do it there was a lot of boy band rivalry back then oh totally okay were you team NSYNC or team Backstreet you have to pick you can't say both you have to pick well oh man like i actually was first and i was living in florida at the time so i knew very much very like i knew of backst, you know, so I always felt that I was going like I was, I was meant to be in Backstreet Boys, but I missed my, I missed the calling.

Okay. Well, you're a little, well, I mean, you and Nick are probably about the same age, but you're a little younger than them. I'm a little younger. Yeah. So NSYNC was far more, but then when NSYNC came out, I really related to Justin, like heavily, like just everything about him. He had curly hair.

He had a very similar timbre to voice. He had like we dressed the same. And that was like the first time where I was like, wait a second. I can be me and be in a band. And at that time, there was nothing but like Jodeci and Nugana and Boyz II Men. It was dominated by like, you know, R&B. like Jodeci in New Ghana and Boyz II Men. It was dominated by R&B.

And when these guys came out, obviously I'm Puerto Rican, but I felt like, oh, I have a shot. I have a shot. So I can't really pick a side because I felt like both of them had influence. And I always say there are big brothers in the business. If it wasn't for them, there would be no us. Yep, that's what I say about the hills. Yeah, paved the way. There you go, there you go.

Totally. Okay, so you're split between. Where does 98 Degrees fall on the spectrum? Well, you know, I can't, I love 98 Degrees. I mean, I've grown really close with those guys over this last few years because we did a tour together, the Y2K tour, which was two years ago. And that's what set up for the Kickstarter campaign.

So, you know, they're number four on the list. Gotcha. So did you grow up, like, singing and dancing? Because, like, I was watching, obviously, Making the Band season one last night. But, like, I feel like I'm not just saying this because you're sitting here. you had like the most range and like the best voice out of all of the guys and you're really good dancer

so is that something like you had done since you were a kid or you're just naturally blessed I think I have like natural Hispanic rhythm I didn't really have I didn't have like a lot of dance training yeah that was probably like the thing I had to work on the most when I got in the group. But singing wise, I had been singing in church from a very young age. My parents, they met in church singing with each other. They were like worship leaders in church. So they met doing that. That's cute.

And so I kind of always been around that. And that's how I sort of like expanded my range and learned how to harmonize and do that, that sort of thing. And then I went to school, I was in choir in high school and ensemble. And I say it all the time, like I was a mess in high school, a mess. I was so lost and music actually really saved my life during that time period. And I got me a full vocal scholarship to college and it was right after that that i ended up uh getting into the group so voice wise i was prepared yeah um dance wise not so much yeah i had so much fun watching that last night

it was such a throwback and like i because i remembered so much like i remember like ikaika's brother like taking him back and then him coming back and you guys were like we're not gonna be in the band if he's in the band and i was like i remember all of this but it was like almost 20 years ago that's crazy i want to binge watch it again i need to see i feel like when you look at us i'm like we're still so young but then when you think about it i'm like jesus we're old uh-huh That was so long ago. You look very young. You look great. Oh, thank you very much.

Yeah, we're going to get a drink after this. So I know we had some fan questions come in. But one thing I did want to ask you, too, because when I met you, obviously it was in between the band breaking up and getting back together. Did you just work on music the whole time in between? Absolutely not. So what else were you doing in between getting back together and breaking up?

I actually had to go down. I like to check myself sometimes. You know, 2007 to 2011 were the dark years. That's when I met you. Very dark. Very dark. Just trying to find myself. Yeah.

Figuring things out. I'd come here to be an actor. I had an agent. I had a manager. Like, I was testing all over the city, meeting casting directors from everywhere. Got a lot of close calls, a lot of no's at the end of the day,

and it really, really messed with my self-esteem. And the city will do that to you. Oh, yeah. And I had never been in L.A. for living and working and stuff. And so when I came here, I was trying to act. And then eventually I said, okay, I can't do this anymore. I'm going to go back to what I do, which is music. And I started songwriting.

I started songwriting heavily and I started trying to put myself in rooms with people who were better than me. And that's what I did. But that couldn't pay the bills. It just wasn't paying the bills. So I eventually had to eat some humble pie and I decided to – I knew that I had a very limited skill set i was a musician but i had spent so much time on reality tv and product and and production of that show

that i was like okay and i had acted yeah i had done a few like independent films at that point and i loved being on set um just being part of the creative process. So I was like, you know, I'm going to go and be on set. And I asked a friend of mine if she can get me a job on this reality show as like a producer on it or associate producer. She's like, there's no producer jobs for you, even though you're fully qualified. But there's a PA job for you. And I became a PA. Oh, wow. At like, you know, I guess I was 29, 30 years old.

Yeah. It's not like you had to become a garbage man. No. No, you weren't a boss for me. And like getting to be on set and be around all the entertainment industry is still awesome. One of the PAs from Vanderpump Rules, he was probably about my age, actually, when he started on the show, about 33, 34. He was a PA the first couple seasons on the show, then ended up bartending at Sur, working his way up,

and he's now the general manager of Pump and runs, like, all of Lisa's shit. Excellent. So it's like, yeah. Love that. Yeah. I went from a PA to key set PA to assistant, to assistant director, to assistant director, to field to the assistant director to assistant director to field coordinator.

And I was getting ready to move into directing. And that's really where my passion was. And that's what my day job is outside of the band. I'm now developing scripted content and I'm in development with a couple of networks now, too. So that's been like my that's like sort of like, you know, my day job. That's amazing. But it's like that's amazing because now you have like all of that extra experience too that you wouldn't have had so even like with music videos like in the future and stuff like you have more behind the scenes on set experience

than you do just being a talent absolutely i mean it's helped even with the band just like the way we sort of um we're a group we're a band but we are a band, but we are a company. We own everything. We do everything from the marketing, VIP, the art direction, the touring aspects. We own the Pop 2000 tour that we're doing with Aaron Carter and Ryan Cabrera. O-Town owns that. So for us, it's helped in terms it's helped, you know, in terms of just the nuts and bolts, um, the grind, the daily labor between myself, Jacob, Dan, um, and Trevor, like we were really hands-on. And if it wasn't for that time that I, that I went back and being PA and producing and stuff, I wouldn't have been prepared for it. I love that. Do any of you still talk to Ashley?

No, no. I mean, Trevor Trevor I think does every once in a while but no I don't yeah somebody else asked Rick G. Smith asked if you watched Ashley's reality show there and back um

I saw I was actually on an episode I mean it's hard to say I'm on an episode I went to his birthday party so you saw that one yeah I saw that one

yeah I don't I honestly didn't really watch the seasons, the season. No. Yeah. All right. All right. Um, let's see.

We had a lot coming. Do you have another one? I was gonna say Rick G. Smith asked you guys a lot of questions. Right. So shout out Rick. So many. Um, he wants to know favorite song you've recorded and if there's one that you just hate performing.

Favorite song recorded. Okay. Well. Well. Well. Uh. there's one that you just hate performing favorite song recorded okay well well uh you know i'm partial to the songs that i write obviously wait which ones did you did you write any of the ones on the first album i didn't write any on the first album i wrote on the second album okay none of those songs even though the joint is like i did write the joint and that was a pretty cool song but um on this last record um lines and circles I actually wrote lines and circles which is the title track for the album cool and that up until this new album was my favorite song to record and sing with the guys just because I felt like it was the first song that really spoke for us as as a group you know we

sang so many other so much of other people's music that we didn't relate to. So doing that is just another level of gratification as an artist. So that Lines and Circles was that until now. And I think OTWN, which is on the way now, which is also the title track for this new album, which is a song that I co-wrote with Dan. I believe that is going to be the new song. Fun. And what about the one you – is there one that you hate performing or you're like, I've done this? Liquid Dreams.

Okay. I can imagine. I'm like, how many times do you think you've performed Liquid Dreams and All or Nothing? It's got to be a few hundred and a thousand, maybe a thousand times. To be honest with you, God bless Clive. He knows I love him. Clive played us two songs when we walked into his office that first meeting one was liquid dreams and i said no we're not signing here i don't want to do this song

and then he played all or nothing and i was like okay okay yeah um so liquid dreams is sort of like that one that just uh that one kind of fits in and i can't say this in london because people in the uk absolutely love that song still people in the UK absolutely love that song still. People in the US absolutely love that song still. You've only performed that a thousand times. That's probably how many times I've listened to it. It's just a weird song to sing because it's like, you know. Yeah, there's a lot going on in it.

I was actually surprised last night in our jam session that I pretty much knew almost every word to it. So I'm like, how do things stick in your head 20 years later? Yeah, yeah. It's about no 20 years later like yeah yeah it's about nocturnal emissions so it's weird to kind of sing about that well i love it i don't think i ever realized that a lot of people didn't there's a lot of pop songs like that that i had no idea were dirty until somebody told me yeah after i've sang them thousands of times well then there are so many like boy band songs that i've now related to in the last couple years of like breakups and relationship stuff like quit playing games with my heart when that song came out couldn't but like last breakup

i was like oh my god this song speaks to me all or nothing in the last six months of my life i was like this speaks to me like yeah yeah i hadn't actually i'd never really experienced anything like all or nothing when i was singing it in its heyday. Like I was just singing a song. I had never broken up with someone on the telephone call and left me here with nothing. It just didn't happen up until then. This guy's got a lot of questions. He had so many. I see a scroll right now.

Yeah, but we got to get some. Oh, wait. One more person wanted to know, Brittany, state of mind, if you guys are going to tour in Oklahoma. Oh, Oklahoma. Yeah, I would love to. I don't know. Dates are coming in. So now that this, you know, it's weird.

Dates are filling up. Okay. Check their website. Yes. I know that we have a lot of friends in Oklahoma that would love for us to come see them. So yeah, I would love to. Or just come to Southern California in April and go to a show. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Yes. I'm so excited. Okay. So all info can be found on y'all's website, which is? O-TownOfficial.com or O-TownOfficial on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And you personally, now that you're following me, let's shout out your Instagram. My Instagram is IamErikAstrada. And maybe you can actually help me with this because I'm trying to change my handle.

I'm trying to change my name. And it's not letting me do it for some reason. So see this man sitting right out there? That is my publicist, Mark, and one of my best friends. All right. He's got the Instagram hookup. So we'll chat after that. Please.

Well, thanks for being here. This was fun. It was a lot of fun. We're going to have to do a better version of that first date absolutely i'm totally into it all right of course i'm totally about this i will follow sheen at all backstage shows you just want the perks i'll be the band-aid i mean lance is already my homie so this will be so much fun we were sitting behind ryan cabrera at the Laugh Factory last week. Just randomly. We were like, oh shit, that's Ryan Cabrera. And he was with another, which Bachelor guy was he with?

He was with Jordan Kimball. Yes. Yeah. Random. Yeah. These are my guys. I love these guys. Yeah.

I love them. They're this. So awesome. Such a, just like nostalgic. I know. I love it. This is awesome. So many happy memories.

I'm going to listen to all or nothing again tonight cry yourself to sleep no i'm actually i'm i'm very good i'm in a very happy place in my life right now good it was just a song that i had like related to like same as a backstreet boys song in the last like year i was like huh when i was singing this in high school i just like was singing words but i'm like they actually were writing about shit yeah yeah yeah they were anyway all right well um this has been fun thank you this was so fun uh shout out to jacob who called in you guys be sure to download their new single hello world and check them out in the pop 2000 tour yes yes yes yes, yes. All proceeds go to the Colton's Legacy Foundation for cystic fibrosis.

These kids need all the help they can get. Love that. Get the song, Hello World. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening

to Shenanigans. Download new episodes every Tuesday and subscribe on the Podcast One app at podcastone.com or at Apple Podcasts. And don't forget

to rate and review the show on Apple PodcastOne.com or at Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Looking fine and I got my girls with me. With the boys at the table getting tipsy. Miss me, kiss me one more time. Get over here, boy, I'm gonna make you mine. Do you want it? Let me see you shake that.

Do you need it? Let me see you shake that. Do you want it? Let me see you shake that. Come and get it. Let me see you shake that. Step in the club, little black drug. This week on Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow.

Join Caitlin as she covers the finale of this season of The Bachelor. You want to get real for a second? Let's get real. Who will win Colton's heart? And this is why they need to have the cameras come in the morning after the fantasy suites, is for these exact moments. Find out by listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow every week on podcast one.

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