You thought 1999 was 'N Sync's year, right? Well, that was just the beginning. Now it's 2000--time for a big jump forward for one of 1999's hottest bands.
In an exclusive interview with Disney Adventures, JC, Lance, Joey and Chris talked about their tour, their new CD and their fans. (Justin would have chatted, too, but someone had to keep working!)
Q: You guys have a new CD out--tell us about it!
Lance: "The album's name, No Strings Attached, means that we're past our growing-up period. We feel we finally have control of our careers, like no one's holding us back."
JC: This time we created an album from the gut; we just did everything that we liked. We've been listening to rougher beats, like Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx--stuff like that."
Joey: "We have a lot of fast songs on this album. They're more percussive, jungle-beat songs. Fast songs really get the crowd going in a live concert."
Lance: "The new album has a real big party vibe. We wrote a lot of the songs on the album--in fast, we even created the album cover! We came up with the design, and we asked an artist friend to draw it."
Chris: "We enjoyed making the songs, and hopefully people will enjoy the album."
JC: "The first single, "Bye, Bye, Bye," is our way of stepping up, moving on, leaving the past behind and moving on to the future."
Q: What are your thoughts about taking off on your first worldwide tour?
Lance: "It's going to be absolutely huge! We're going to spend a lot of time overseas. It's the first time we're doing our material in other countries like Japan, Australia and the countries in South America."
JC: "We're looking forward to Japan--that sounds like fun. But we always like touring the U.S. Even though we're not in our actual homes, it feels like home because people speak English!"
Joey: "It's great when we have a concert move that works on a slow song, like when we go out into the crowd in "Sailing." Or when we bring people onstage or do something that involves the crowd--that's great, too."
JC: "We have some ballads we're sure people are gonna cry over, like "Promise." That's gonna be a tearjerker, we think. But right now we're still figuring out how the stage will look!"
Q: What do like about touring?
Chris: "I love getting the fans' feedback. Just to hear their response--it's so great to have that positive reinforcement. To pull into a new city and see people waiting for us to get off the bus--that's so flattering! We know the energy it takes to be a fan. We're very blessed."
Joey: "We try to answer fans' questions as much as we can. Whenever we get the chance, we let fans ask us anything they want."
Chris: "I like touring itself. I like being in a different city every night, and I like being on the bus after the show, when the five of us hang out watching videos. We play a lot of football and basketball and Mario Golf on the Nintendo. I'm a video-game junkie! Plus, I love any frozen food that you can throw in a microwave on the bus--burritos, Hot Pockets, anything!"
Lance: "The people--our fans are why we do tours. We get to meet so many every day and they're the ones who make us!"
JC: "Yeah, they're really cool. Honestly, they're the people who got you there from day one, and you should be there for them on day two."
Q: So what are your plans for the future?
JC: "To be honest, we don't even feel like we've made it at this point. We feel like we got a good start, but we have a long way to go. We sold millions of records, yeah, but it was only one album--you can't base a career on one album. Now our fame is like a 24-hour thing. We learn new things every day. It has made us better musicians--we've gotten better at our craft. Just like with athletes--the more they practice, the better they get. The more we're around music, the better we get."
Lance: "After the album and tour, we want to do a movie. So hopefully we'll have our own blockbuster! It'll be a real movie--we won't be just playing ourselves."
Joey: "Tom Hanks came to us to talk about it! That was cool, just talking about it."
Q: We know you guys love going to theme parks. We have to ask: What's your favorite ride at Walt Disney World?
Lance: "Oh, my goodness. Well, I like the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I actually want to design a roller coaster some day and name it after us! That would be my ideal goal. It would definitely be inverted, outside, with lots of loops and lots of drops. It would be the 'N Sync thrill ride!"
Chris: "Didn't Aerosmith just do a ride? [Editor's note: Aerosmith's music rocks the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster ride.] Lance is copying them!"
JC: "My favorite part isn't even a ride--it's called the Monster Sound Show. It's a three-dimensional audio experience. You put on headphones, close your eyes, and it's a 3-D experience--you can actually feel everything go on around you."
Chris: "I like the Tower of Terror, and I dig all the roller coasters."
Joey: "I like the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster!"
Q: You've starred in several Disney Adventures comics over the last year. What were your favorite comics when you were kids?
Lance: "Archie comics! I loved them. Every Sunday I would get the paper and read every single comic, from Garfield to Peanuts."
JC: "I always liked Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, but I wasn't into hardcore superheroes, like Joey and Chris were."
Joey: "Plus, I loved the Sunday comics, like Garfield and Marmaduke."
Chris: "I loved Spider-Man! I've got them in stacks in my house. I heard a Spider-Man movie is going to be made--I want to do it! I can play Spider-Man! I'm a good actor! I'm just afraid of heights."