Through the vision of pop mogul Lou Pearlman, the journey to the creation of O-Town began, with the ABC reality T.V. series "Making The Band" in 2000. THe program was intended to present viewers with an insight into the process of creating a boy band, from early auditions to their pursuit of that all important record deal. The show was a moderate hit, although O-Town went on to find legions of fans and a number of hit singles as a result.
Formed of Ashley Parker Angel, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood and Ikaika Kahoano, the members successfully beat over 1,800 applicants over months of auditions to become the final five members. Kahoano left the band shortly after, citing personal reasons, but was replaced swiftly by Dan Miller and the remaining members quickly found themselves with a record deal, signing with Clive Davis' J Records.
Their debut album, "Liquid Dreams" arrived in 2001, with the reality T.V. series documenting the whole process, eventually lasting over three seasons. With their first album, they made two Top 10 hits, selling over three million albums worldwide. With their second, 2002's "O2," they failed to meet the same levels of popularity, only just becoming certified Gold, with the band losing their contract as a result the following year in November 2003.
After this failure, the band split, with the members departing to pursue solo careers. However, in 2013, they reunited as a quartet, with Erik, Trevor, Jacob and Dan bringing back O-Town's music to their former legion of fans. The band quickly returned to the studio to work on new music, with the result being the single "Skydive," serving as a teaser for their third full-length, "Lines & Circles."
In the heyday of 90s boy bands, MTV decided they wanted to be part of the action and started a show called Making the Band. The end result: O Town. The group consisted of Jacob Underwood, Ashley Parker Angel, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick and Dan Miller and had really caught tremendous momentum in gaining popularity.
Not surprisingly, the audience was about ninety percent tweens and teen girls at their shows, with the scattered parent who had to drive and supervise a group of girls. The show itself didn’t have much live instrumentation but it did have a lot of flare. The choreography that was performed was just as entertaining as any of the other relevant boy bands at the time. You also better believe that almost all of the crowd knew and sung along to every single song, not to mention danced along as well.
One of the benefits of the band coming from a reality show was that all of the members did have actual vocal ability. When you saw them live, you got what you expected from their voices. Their shows never really reached the same level as the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync, but they had still given and energetic, fun show.
Sometimes there’s record labels that simply, by their own involvement with an artist, speak as a seal of quality for their music; the Sheffield-based imprint Warp Records is one such example, given that they’ve discovered and supported some of the most exciting and influential electronic musicians of the past three decades. It’s proved to be the case with LFO, too, who blended techno, IDM and acid house to stirring effect in the late eighties and early nineties; since the 2003 resurrection of the moniker, LFO is now Mark Bell alone with Gez Varley having left, but that’s done little to temper the excitement he’s provided as a live act over the past decade or so; you’d be forgiven for thinking that the sight of Bell perched behind a laptop and some decks might not be the most thrilling, but the sheer dexterity of his constantly-evolving sets, as well as the complexity of his smartly-designed live show, make him one of the dance world’s most enthralling performers, as he continues to tour to this day.