November 21, 2024 • 52 mins
This I Promise You … you're going to be in a Better Place after listening to this episode! Here We Go! NSYNC's JC Chasez joins Jenna and Kevin to talk about his connection with Glee, why there's a possibility his vocals might be in one of your favorite Glee covers, and his honest reaction to the show's mashup of "Bye Bye Bye" and "I Want It That Way." Will his response tear up the duo's hearts? You'll have to listen to find out! Plus, JC reminisces about his days on tour with Britney Spears, opening for Janet Jackson, and his new musical theater concept album, "Playing with Fire," and the inspiration behind it!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin An iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's what you really miss Podcasts is
a monumental, baby monumental we have. If you would have
told me at fourteen fifteen years old, with like Ryder
(00:32):
Strong and j C on my wall that I was
going to have Jac on my podcast one day, I
would have punched you in the face and said, you're crazy.
But here we are, the one and only Jac Chef.
(00:53):
Are you kidding? I don't know how like I been
like so nice and like referst to he live by Jenna.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's really the thing, the amount of time and effort
I've spent on being like cool around him. But the
longer I've known him, the more that the fan just
jumps out because I have no filter anymore. And He's
He's very nice about it. He's probably so used to it,
but just one of the most talented people on the planet.
(01:24):
Obviously grew up watching him. Honestly, I don't say this
just like as hyperbole mm hmm, Like formed how I
sing and dance, like watching him on stage, the amount
of hours I would talk to like my sister or
mom about like how good he is as a kid,
and like trying to mimic that.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Totally, totally. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
First of all, thank you for being here, JC, Yes,
having me? Are you kidding me? We needed to as
soon as like you were putting this album out, We're like,
we have to get Jason, bring him on. We have
to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You might know a little bit more than most about this.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Actually, I sure do.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
He was just filling us in.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Kevin's an experimental human. We know this, so he doesn't
mind going along for a bit of fun. I think
that's probably the best way to say it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
He's always down.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
He's always up for a bit of fun. That's right,
He always up for a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Who down or up whatever it is. And if jac
says jump, I jump, that's what happens.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Jenna. I don't think I've even gotten to see you
since you've had a.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Bambino, yes, and the second bambino coming soon.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, congratulations, thank you, thank you too long.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Anyway, Well, we're so grateful to have you. And I'm curious,
so I need to know about the connection of Kevin JC.
And then also Kevin's experimental life with Playing with Fire
on the album, Yeah, tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So, I mean I would say like our connection is
through mutual friends. Starting with uh, I guess he was
working on Glee and things like that, and uh, we
had some mutual acquaintances and mutual friends and met through there,
and uh, it's just look, you know, as well as anybody,
he's very easy to get along with.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And we don't need to talk about me.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And so.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know, look, the way Playing with Fire came about is, look,
we basically, you know, Jimmy and I are working on
a musical and uh we had put together uh and
the music for it, but we're also writing the book
and so uh, you know, we were just kind of
like of the mind that wouldn't it be great to
(04:02):
hear this thing out loud? And uh, so we basically
just called people that we trusted and people that we
thought would be able to, you know, give us honest
feedback about it. And and look, you know, uh he's
saying it all. He's you know, been on television, he's
(04:23):
been an actor for years and and obviously, by the way,
congratulations on the spelling bee. So just another way for
you to show off but it was like, uh, just
chatting with my my manager, Eric, who is somebody we
have in common as well and we're all friendly with.
And uh, he was just you know, he actually brought
(04:45):
up Kevin. I. You know, I wouldn't presume he's a professional.
He doesn't need to be bothered with, like just you know,
basically practicing and experimenting with things. And he's like, dude,
are you kidding me? Like he's a phone call away.
I'm sure you know he would love, you know, to
do it if you you know, if you asked him.
And I was like, I'm I was thinking about reaching
out to people who are like not professional and on
(05:07):
I don't even know what that means. But like I
was like, I wouldn't want to bother him because he's
a freaking you know, he's a television star and you know,
whatever star. So so he was kind enough to answer
the call. And and uh and we sat around in
the in the studio for a couple of days and
and uh and read the book along with playing the music,
(05:29):
just so Jimmy and I could start to feel the
transitions and to see what the book was doing. Because
it was our first draft, it was our first attempt
at it, and it was immensely helpful. Like I didn't
even tell you how much we walked away with because
of of the actors just kind of breathing life into
(05:52):
the characters for the for the for the first time
with the completed uh music from Playing with Fire, at
least the first edition of the complete Sure you know
it's going to change over time, but as a first draft,
who's our first draft? And uh and so he was
kind enough to share his talents and again, thank you
(06:12):
so much for doing Are.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You kidding me? I think I can speak for probably
most of the ge audience, all of us and our friends.
You are a vital part of like us growing up
and like your artistry trained all of us. So the
fact that you would ever consider me to participate in
(06:36):
any form of anything you ever wanted more of your artistry,
like absolutely, are you kidding me? I was like, yeah,
let me just let me get into that studio and
just here and again.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
The same I mean, look, you're you guys, auld were
We're all the same animal right Like again we're we're
we're we're a little threat group here. You know, everybody
has basically had dabbled and singing, dancing and acting, you know,
and doing it all on television. And look, this is
(07:07):
a big transition. The stage is very different than getting
two and three takes, and it's on camera. You can
correct the mistakes.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
And.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Even in television you can constantly change it. You know,
if it's not working, you might work in the rehearsal
space and all of a sudden you get it in
front of the camera and something's not right. You get
another take to try a different.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And there's always an edit. You always have it editing.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yes, yes, So the thing with this, and this is
why it was so helpful to have Kevin and the
other actors step in. It's like you have to kind
of work through you have to debug the thing before
it gets in front of a group of people. And
so that was our first time getting to kind of
hear it and go what what did me right?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I remember when you originally told me that you were
starting to work on this, and how I know from
just hanging out with you, how deeply you think about
movies or how you think about story in general, and
so knowing your also musical style with how seriously you
take story, it seemed like it made so much sense
(08:12):
to me, and also hearing it, I think it probably
makes sense to everybody. But was doing something in the
theater world something you always wanted to do or is
that something that just sort of happened You're like, oh,
this may be a fun chob.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I've actually had the itch for a long time, and
that sounds disgusting, but that I've always had the urge
for a very long time. I was working on potentially
doing Jesus Christ Superstar and it just it never came
to fruition. But when I was exposed to that for
(08:48):
the first time, it got me excited about the theater
because I just felt like, oh, this is different as
a child, you're actually people. I don't even think kids
realize how much they're exposed to when they're young, when
it comes to even musical theater, like the first things
that you're watching. Not every kid, I won't say every kid,
(09:09):
but I'll say the majority of the I would say
the majority of the people that I know in my generation,
they grew up on the Disney musical cartoon experience. Yes,
you know, it's like between The Little Mermaid and The
Lion King, and these are musicals like they might be animated,
but their music, you know, I even updated Today's the
(09:32):
Moanas and the Frozens, and yeah, it's always there. It's
like it's always kind of in the foundation. And then
when I was exposed to The Jesus Christ Superstar, I
was like, oh, this is like a rock concert. You know,
this is a concert. That's a cool way to do it.
(09:53):
It feels, you know, even though it was done in
the seventies, in my mind, that's a bit of an
update even to now. And so that's what we started
thinking about when we started messing around with the idea
of writing musicals. Jimmy and I am I writing part
of Jimmy Harry who heaven knows whenever we're writing a
(10:16):
song or even writing the book, and how we want
these characters to be portrayed. It's almost like every character
isn't just a character. We're almost thinking about every character
being a rock star. It's like in the Frankenstein story,
there's five main characters and that's kind of it. Everything's
laid bare, and you know, it's like the creature, you know,
(10:41):
who is Frankenstein's creation? Like I just look at the creature.
It's like the creature is a rock star. It's like
Frankenstein is a nerdy rock star, so it's and Elizabeth
is like she sings all the powerhouse numbers, so it's like,
of course she's a you know, a rockstar or a
(11:03):
pop star however you want to frame. But it's just
that's how we approach each character. We're like, you know,
what would what would be hard? Like what would be
dope if you were like a pop star rock star,
Like you know, what's that vibe that you want to
be putting out there? And that's how we're kind of
approaching each character.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I feel like you've done such a good job too,
with the other voices you brought in the singers who
are so stupidly good. Yeah, it is so dumb, Like
all of you singing together is just and that's sort
of the thing. Like I in that studio when you
played some of these songs for me the first time,
obviously a fan of your voice, and then on top
(11:44):
of it, I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Them I'm the worst singer of the three.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's like everybody is as good as one another, which
I think is crazy. And you all sound so good together.
And also you can write, you two write songs for
like singers.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, maybe look again, these are this is all it's
just all instinct. This is all instant, and it's like
we're we're writing something that we think we would enjoy. Yeah,
that's just the approach that we're taking, you know that,
and so you know, but we're also learning a lot
along the way. And what's been fun is is seeing
(12:24):
shows now and seeing how people are updating productions now
and thinking about all of the possibilities. You know, the
world has really opened up recently, you know in terms
of like people's approach to what they're seeing on stage
now in terms of theater, it's it's really they're they're
(12:44):
kind of they're moving the conversation forward and that's exciting.
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So the world is your oyster.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Really, yes, we just gotta get somebody to make this thing,
you know Rightctly that's the next step, which is like whoa.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You're on your way.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Look, we're controlling what we can control, Like Buddy knows
Jimmy and I from music. So it's like our best
foot forward is to start.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
With the music totally get people are.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Open to the idea, you know, and then and then
uh and work on the rest with really hopefully really
smart talented people. You know.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Well, it's a great The book is great. All of
it is really wonderful. The take on the you know
story that we all know is also just so nice
to have like fresh eyes and perspective on something like that,
so it feels new. The music is obviously.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Wonderful and very exciting.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It needs to get made a sap.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, man, use your influence from the Spelling b people.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
All right. I get a couple of emails.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
By the way, wasn't one of your co stars in
the Spelling Bee from a Juliette Yes, and saying it's
going to be me Yes, Yes, I thought that was
the best thing ever.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And has such a good voice, by the way, so
we can cast to leap.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, I met him briefly. Again. You know, those those
cats work. You know, they're doing seven eight shows a week,
So I don't like to see people too long after
a show when they say they all want to say
hi and and meet everybody after the show, but you
know they tired.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, Jaz shows, you got it. You want to say,
hid from the show. Yeah, exactly, but you know I
get it again.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Jenna's won a couple of Tonys from producing on Broadway. So, Jenna,
this is actually the purpose of HICH is just to
talk about this.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
No, we're so excited for to see the life it
takes on. We really really are, and we're so happy
for you and it's so cool. And it seems like
the departure, but obviously it's not. It makes total sense
and it's all instinctual.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It is a departure and because it doesn't sound like
obviously an instinct record or a JC record, because it's
not in that context, but it is still you know,
my point of view, a shared point of view with
me on something, and we're passionate about it.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Yeah, so we have to talk about the Glee obviously,
the Glee version of Bye Bye Bye.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I'm curious if you remember this happening, if you remember
the kind of being asked if we could do this,
and then also like being mashed up with Bakshi boys, Like,
I'm just curious about your experts with this.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
You know what, For us, it's usually we get asked
stuff every day, Right, it just comes to me and
we're like, oh cool, and it's like my first reaction
for Glee was as an automatic yes, because you know,
I actually you know, have friends that you know, we're
part of it, and that it's like there's not going
to be there is no resistance here. So I was actually,
(16:25):
you know, really excited. It's like, again, any anytime that
you know, somebody asks you to do something that you
were a part of, it's it means that you know,
it's a bit it's flattering, right, It's like that was
years later, you know what I mean. It's not like
asking while the singles out, they're asking years later, Hey
are you into this? And it's like, yeah, go, you know,
(16:47):
especially on a show like that with a with a
cast that talented, and you know, it's like you know
that it's going to stand up and and it's gonna
also you hope introduce uh an audience into a different
way of seeing it, you know, and this is still
this is accessible in this way, in this way. And
(17:08):
so and again I was friends with one of the
music producers of the show, Adam Anders. And you know,
you guys work with a time and and uh and
and I would come in and and you know, he
was working on he's working on Rock of Ages. Do
you remember that? So I came in and I laced
a couple of vocals on some things for that and
(17:30):
and I can't remember if I did a Glee thing
or not, but he was just like, do you mind
laying this down real fast? So I just have I
was like, yeah, cool, I might I don't know for sure,
but I might be.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
We have to ask him. So fun if there's some
rogue JC vocal in the background of.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Might be, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
If if my demo, if my track was you, I
would have been like, no, I'm not doing this today, No, no, just.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
As a background vocus. He's like, I just need to
lace this real quick.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's like, that's funny because.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
We actually met in New York before Lee, and we
knew each other before Glee and stuff like that, and
we wrote a couple of songs together actually because yeah,
well blown songwriter mode. Yeah, it's just funny how these
worlds converge, right.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, small small world that was doing Bye Bye Bye
was one of those moments on Glee. There's a handful
of them where I was so upset that I wasn't
personally more involved in the number.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
This seems like a running theme for you, Kevin, where
there's a lot of numbers and yeah, I mean you're
a music guy, so I get it, but your.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Specifically like doing and sync, like, oh, we're finally doing
and they have the strings and all that, and it's
just like I want to be doing this. And then
I also was like, I feel like this is disrespectful
to be matching up these songs. They need the moments.
I wanted a full boy band episode, I think, is
what I really that is.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
What we wanted. We wanted more of it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
We all did. We all talked about it.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To mash those two groups together at the time does
make a ton of sense, right, co existed they were
and look, even the fandom always kind of rallied around
and created a competition around one another, and and so
that was like that was a fun thing to be
a part of it, and it was kind of it
(19:24):
was crazy how they kind of fed into each other.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It's likely I think.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Either band would have been as big if the fans
didn't really create something themselves and take it to the
level that it went to. It's like without that kind
of emotional conversation in terms of like, you know, this
(19:49):
is my team and this is my team. Well, yeah,
but that was actually pretty good creating that drama, raise
the stakes, you know, and raise the awareness.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And r Yeah, you're right. It's kind of like the
Beatles and Beach Boys at the same time. They keep
they always said like they always kept each other on
their toes. They always made each other better as artists,
which is like what you want, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It also that you could coexist because I feel like,
like within similar spaces, but we're very different, yes, and
I feel like that doesn't happen a lot now. Everyone
has to be very I feel like separate or like
for two groups, especially in a group situation, to be
like within the same world and still be successful, successful
(20:41):
independently of one another is like a really unique thing.
And also for you guys too car about your own
lanes within that, Yeah, it feels like a really maybe.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I mean, who knows. It's like anything you can't predict it, right, Yeah,
it is. There is something to be said for Yes,
all the effort, all of the work, but at the
end of the day, organically, whatever is going to happen
is going to happen. There's so much out of your control.
(21:10):
So you know, it's like you might think you wrote
the greatest song on Earth, and that's the song that
nobody's into. You might have written a song and you're
like it's cute and they're like smash.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, are you speaking about anything specifically? Was there like
this is it? And then it just didn't? They all hit.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
They did though, Yeah, Jenna, did you ever see syncro Oh? Yeah,
multiple times? I saw you guys at NASA Coliseum where
we toured as well, so that was like my home,
my home arena, and it was like, I think I
saw you guys multiple times on all of your tours.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I yeah, it was you guys in Brittany that like
my parents, Those were the tickets I was getting at
the time.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But did you see the show where Brittany opened for us,
like the Stuff of Legend, because it was like, right,
that is our first like big tour in America and
she was just starting out and it was crazy because
you know, look we were mouse Club, you know together.
(22:30):
She wanted her to win so bad. Yeah, it was
like the very first show we went out there and
they were not excited to see her because it was
a girl who was around all the guys that they liked,
strange stage together, but they just associated it that way
that the fans and the audience. So for like the
first couple numbers, they'd be like quiet or to be
(22:52):
some like hissing and a little bit of like a
little booing. Man, this girl, all of a sudden the
song drop and it was like, no, dog, you can't
deny that. It was like right before the song dropped
and then begin to playing shows, it was like it
was like a total flip, and that was like, oh,
(23:15):
so we're the we're the main act, and yet oh
they really like this song. Yea like her. Okay, she's
not going to stay as the opening act much longer
to find somebody else to help us out.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I didn't see I didn't see that one. Sadly, I
will never forget though her album dropping and Autumn good
Bye and Hit Me One More Time on that CD,
and I was like, oh, that single, it's so good.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I remember the news reports covering I don't know why
I remember this, probably because I was obsessed with all
of you, but like actual like local news covering your guys'
tour and her opening up Oh interesting, yeah, Like I
remember specific like the show of the news camera at
whatever venue you were at in Dallas or something and
(24:06):
talking about how her single was like, you know, like
blowing up, and there she was on tour already with
an already successful group and crazy times.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
The first few shows we were like, oh, we felt
so bad, like like our heart. Yeah, the show she's great.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Yes, as soon as she gets on stage, like it's
like forget about it, you know what I mean. And
she she was going out there like giving it. And
it's just like the audience were they were just kind
of mad at her just for being there at first.
And look, we felt that because when we first came
state Side, we were opening for Janet, right, and it's
(24:44):
like when you say the beam opened for Janet Janet,
that was our crazy Yeah, it was like and we
were all we thought it was the coolest thing. We
were dressed like the Beatles we we to met like,
so we were kind of in our little Sergeant Pepper
Satiny you know, outfits and stuff that we're all.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like, that's right, and we have to win the audience over.
You know, they're there to see us. They're there for
an R and B show, and here we are, like
a pop show and it's just not what they were
like they were expecting or I don't know, what it was.
But Janet was kind enough, she saw something and she
(25:24):
was like, yeah, come on, let's go, like wow, you know,
and and uh and so for the first kind of song,
a couple of songs. You know, we didn't play a
whole show right where the opening app I'm like, I
can't remember how much time we had, but you get
X amount of songs to win the crowd over.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah, the first sprint it's like.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Quiet and they're just kind of like what and then
like maybe the second song you might hear a couple
of booze and stuff like that, and then by the
fourth song, they're like Okay, they work hard, you know,
it's like okay, I got it. And then we kind
of they didn't go crazy by any means, but they
were certainly way like they were receptive and we were
getting cheers by the end of our set. And that
(26:04):
is something that I'll forever be thankful for because that's
that's like work, you know what I mean, it's better
that makes you sharpened. Trying to winning a crowd when
they're not there for you is one of the best
things you can do. Uh, It's one of the best
skills you can learn as a performer, you know what
(26:26):
I mean, Like, this isn't my room, but you got
to get it. Yeah, really got to go and flex
those muscles like and you know, sing as well as
because again, when it's your crowd, there's a bit of forgiveness,
right if you're not taking your best.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That night, you know, you like, you know, they're just
happy to be.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I love it, I love it. And you know they're
like a little flat today, heavy in my phone when
they're your people, a little bit when they're not your people,
Oh they don't let you know.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, that's where you're making it.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We saw this on such a smaller scale than you
guys of like the blow up, you know, when there's
lightning in a bottle and it's just the phenomenon. I'm
just so cue, come on, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
You're being humble and you're being shy now, Like it
was a cultural movement.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
It happened, sureft it, Sure, sure, But there's a difference,
I think, I mean, no, there is, there is. We
were a glorified cover band like you guys, you know,
as original artists, like we all got to cover these
songs that were already tried and true. We you know,
people love these songs, right, and it's like, sure, we
may be introducing them to a new generation, but these
(27:54):
songs worked once or twice already, it's gonna work again. Yeah,
and so we get to benefit like we're not having
to write them. We're showing up and do Adam Anders
has already figured out who's singing what you know. It's
it's a really sort of a glamorous way to enjoy
the fruits of your labor. And so like that's why,
like we are like, yes, the show was a phenomenon
(28:18):
and we absolutely got to experience a lot of that,
but we were all very aware of like what the
deal really was. Like we're going on tour and the
the show represents something we didn't create, the show, and
we're singing these songs that mean so many to people.
We didn't write these songs. We're sort of the conduit
to everybody be together.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
True, you just have to deliver.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, that's true, but it was you know, we got
to do perform Britney songs on tour, and we got
to do Janet and then Sink and Backstreet on the show,
and so being able to actually don't pay.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Minimize We're gonna fight. Look Every movie star you see
didn't write that script. Every movie star you see didn't
direct that film. Every movie star you see didn't you
know what I mean. It's like that doesn't make them
less balcable to the entertainment that you're experiencing, you know
(29:14):
what I mean, Like.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Don't minimize, right, you're right here, don't minimize.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Look, I appreciate one hundred percent all of the talent
that was on that show and what it takes to
make something, by the way, because you're also cranking it out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, that's for real.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
You're not like rehearsing one song, you know, for months
and months and months at a time. You're like, got
this song done? What's next? You know what I mean?
And so there I appreciate that, Like.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Don't minimize, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Speaking of that, you mentioned the Mickey Mouse Club earlier. Yeah,
which time and time again. It comes up every couple
of years, like no, no, no, no, everyone, do you realize
how many incredibly talented and wonderful people came from Like
your guys a single, I don't know how long you're
(30:08):
on it, but like your crew, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And like actors, musicians, artists, I mean all artists.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Speaking of like turning it out, Like did you guys
cranking it out? What was that process? Do you even
remember like the process of doing a because I mean
that was fill in front of a live audience.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
The guys were young.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
It was what we shot I would say three quarters
of it in front of a live audience. But you
know we would always have like recorded sketches and recorded
videos like that was like the prestige things like well
I got a music video.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It was like, oh yeah, I get to work on
this for like two days. So yeah. Look, and by
the way, it hasn't stopped, I think because even when
you look at the Mouse Club, by the way, I
came in season four, so they were actors and singers there. Yeah,
and you know, the actors and singers that were on there,
(31:06):
they inspired us, even when you know, they had a
spin off thing called The Party and we were like, yo,
those kids are dope.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
So we see that now though, But think about even
after that, you know, whether it's Nickelodeon or or Disney,
it's kind of our biggest stars. Think about Selena, think
about Ariana Grande, think about Miley Cyrus, like talking about
some of the biggest stars in the world.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So it's not but but.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That being said, yeah, like being on a on a
show like that, it's it's actually really for me, I
would say it was helpful in helping me, helpful in
helping me, really help me, help me. It was helpful
to me because I had never been exposed to anything
(31:57):
like that. You know, it's like, oh, I'm I'm in
a room full of like minded people in terms of
you know, they're willing to try, and they're willing to
put themselves out there.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Which's not normally the case for kids that age.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You're at home and everybody's so busy teasing everybody, and
and if like, you know, it is like you got
maybe you touched on it in the Glea stories, but
it's like, you know, the athletes are so alpha in
a way something not all by all means there's kind
people everywhere right right. There is like a thing where
it's like you're back then, and maybe it's changed because
(32:35):
I haven't been that young in a long time, but
but there was a thing where it was kind of like, oh,
if you do that, you're like a little bit outcast.
You know, it's like that's that's not the thing. And
so yeah, So to be around others that were supportive
(32:57):
of what I was doing, and I was excited to
support them and what they were doing, it really helped
us discover more about ourselves. What did you enjoy? Did
you enjoy singing? Did you enjoy dancing? Did you ever
even think about, you know, being in like a sketcher?
I never, in my wildest dreams thought about being you know,
(33:17):
an actor before that, you know what I mean. And
it was like, oh, you know, I'm not I'm not
an actor by any stretch of the imagination, but I
can have fun with it in spurts and stuff like that.
So that's what that allowed me to do. And again,
being with other people that are like minded in that fashion,
(33:39):
I think the support of each other is was really beautiful,
you know, like we encouraged each other. I'd never when
I was on that show, I never felt an ounce
of jealousy for anyone else, and I never felt an
ounce of jealousy from anyone else.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
It was really the positive experience that somebody.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Were like get it, yeah, you know, and that was
really really fun.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So that's so nice to hear, because like this industry
as it's evolved over time, or just remembering that when
we were all young and in it, it was it
was it could be so cutthroat and so the riddled
with jealousy and you know, not knowing with maturity that
like there's room for everybody. So it's so nice to
(34:29):
hear that. I'm also curious, like jumping from Mickey Mouse
to then in Sync and like your whole your journey there,
like what did you want going from him mouse to
then like on the journey to creating the band, like
you seem so craft and artistry forward and like that
(34:51):
always comes first. I'm curious if that was always the
way it was for you or if that flipped and
evolved over time.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Well when I started, look, when I got the Mouse Club,
I was more comfortable dancing than anything else. I uh,
I started like in dance competitions like doing you know,
dancing like to Pop numbers.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I danced someone on the block.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I did like you know, so yeah, come on and
bring it. Yeah. So that's so there's an influence right there.
But when I when the Mouse Club was over, after
kind of going, I was on it for four three
four seasons and and what I learned about myself is
(35:39):
that I wanted to make music, and so that's what
I sought out to do first. And so I look,
I reached out to all the contacts that I had
from the Mouse Club and my Gajitsy was working on
the music and things like that, and Robin Wiley was
the vocal coach club And that's crazy, you know how
you know, basically just kind of once we you know,
(36:01):
down the road, decided that we were making a band,
asking her to help us, you know, rehearse and really craft,
and she's the one who really developed our harmony and
our sound and it was our first influence in terms
of how we wanted our court structures and arrangements to be.
You know. But I knew leaving that show that I
(36:26):
wanted to be a music artist. Some people that are like,
I want to be an actor, I want to be
of this, I want to be at that, and it's
like I knew I wanted to be in the music space.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So also, I feel like the through line between all
of these different sort of adventures in your life, yeah,
and then getting to the current day of playing with Fire,
it also feels like it's all culminating in sort of
this like using all of the things you've learned over
(36:58):
the years, it might into this.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, And I think, look, I could be wrong about it.
I could be totally naive about it, but I feel
like I have something to offer the theater. I think
through my years of experience, I feel like my point
of view brings value. You know, I'm not, by any
(37:22):
stretch of the measure imagination saying oh, I can do
this better than this, and I can do this better
than that. That's not at all what I'm saying. But
what I'm saying is I have something to offer and
and and I think it's because of all of those
years is in front of audiences live, you know, and
(37:42):
and when you're putting together a concert, like the way
we would put together concerts, they're very choreographed, and they're
very and they were seamless. You know, there wasn't dead air.
That was a focused thing. And you see it now
with huge artists. You know, it's like, what show that
a pop musician is doing isn't really like thought through?
Speaker 2 (38:09):
I will growing up going to your guys' concerts. You
really ruined it for a lot of other people though,
because you set the bar, so there is what is this?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Like how good the shows are now though there's some
spectacular incredible, Yes, like I'm a I'm a fan as
much as anybody else. Like again, when you see something cool,
you're like, oh, I'm about that. That's end ye. So
you know, again, to touch on what you said, I
(38:40):
think that all of these years, like you said, doing
music here, doing a sketch, even if it's just sketch
comedy in the in the kids show, but then later
in life, you know, you know, pulling off a piece
of an independent movie and just going into a care
and like, Okay, I have to I have to know
(39:03):
this moment and I have to be in this moment
with this other person. Yeah, if you're a pop star
and you're singing, you're singing for the masses, and you know,
but you're not necessarily focused in on one person and
having to share energy and so stepping off and doing
like a film or something like that put you in
the situation where you're interfacing like that in a unique way.
(39:24):
And I think that that hopefully will be helpful.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, you understand all the roles.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Yeah, so that that that's a that's a great observation.
I have to say I feel that way a bit.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Well, that's what when you first mentioned it to me,
I was like, this makes sense. Yeah, I was like
I see it all like I, you know, like being
able to have seen you perform on stage, dancing your
ass off, seeing your ass off at like a certain level,
a very high level, and then like you are such
a fan as well, which I also think is plays
(39:58):
into that. Yeah, because as you like, we've had long
discussions about being fans of different TV shows and movies
and all of that. And to see how excited that
makes you, I think someone who wants, like you said earlier,
you're making something you want to see, and you're bringing
all this expertise and this voice and taste to it.
You have to have also some level of taste, and
(40:20):
you have to have all of those things operating at
a certain level. And it does. All of this just
makes sense.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Yeah. I think that the thing that I'm most excited
about next, because you know, the music is out there.
I think the next thing that I'm excited about is
working with other actors and other singers and with the
director and really exploding this thing visually. Next. You know,
it's like we have a whole you know, arsenal of
(40:50):
ideas leading to come out and and so it's going
to be a really fun process again working with the
right director where we can kind of make something fun
and unique and you know, look, it's a heavy story,
but I think I think it can be absolutely fun
(41:12):
in spots.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah. I also been thinking about that too, of how
many people have had the live experience with You've played
with all different sorts of budgets doing live shows and so,
but you also learn how to construct a show and
what works and maybe what doesn't work. And being able
to bring that also to live theater I think is
a really rhythm special thing.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
You Look, rhythm is a thing like you can't have
people like this for too long or they just run
out of gas, you know what I mean. You need
to hit a dopamine switch every now and then and
be like, all right, let me give you this, let
me give you It's like and we've learned that from
from movies as well, right like, and you're seeing it
like all right, if I'm going to see this kind
(41:56):
of movie, but they all it's so well crafted these
films and in these shows. It's like they know Okay,
we can't have them like if it's the funniest thing
in the world, you can't have them laughing the whole
time because like it just wears off. Right, Yeah, you know,
but you need to crush people. But if you crush
them the whole time, it just starts.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
To yeah you know, so it's rhythm check out.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
I wish we had you as a guest star on Glee.
That would have been so much when you've acted, wanted
to act on it.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Yeah, sure, nobody asked me.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Man, no power.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
On the twenty first I'm doing I'm like hosting a
sing along with and Juliet. So it's just like it
so that will be a very meta moment.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
I get to step in and uh, look, by the way,
seeing the show is amazing, you know, because it's that's
all part of a part of my life and things
like that. But they're gonna they're gonna let me kind
of come on and sing sing with them.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Oh how fun, how cool?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
That's really cool sing along.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
But then and Joey's doing it crazy.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
When he was just like should I do this? I
was like, are you kidding? Your life? A perfect human
for this it's so cool because he has that charisma. Look,
when we were a band, we would play on each
other's strengths in the live shows, and there's no doubt
about it. Like Joey on stage, it's charisma all day.
You know. He has such a great ability to connect
(43:42):
with the crowd. Yeah, and he like when we first
you know, got together, he was doing plays in Orlando,
and he was doing in Orlando and the next thing
you know, he's doing like little Shop and he's doing like, Yeah,
he was in this way before I was because I
was you know, look, I always was so focused on
writing the next song, right yeah, right man, and stuff
(44:04):
like that, and he was always thinking about the stage.
So lives to him for for getting up there. And
I think he's got a lot to bring to that part.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
I think that sure is.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Going to be injected into those moments that he is
going to be able to do in that way.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, Wow, Well, we're so grateful for your time that
you came on to chat with us.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Oh my god?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Here where.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Over the moon?
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Next time I'll get to go, I'm just gonna sit
between y'all and then we'll just lease everybody else.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Any any time that there's no there's the amount of
times I've gotten to embarrass people by forcing them to
talk to JC. Like if you we talked to Amber
about Amber literally earlier this year, ran away from him
and she's already met him that and she's like, I
can't do it. But JC, you were like you were
(45:03):
the kindest, nicest, most humble person you are round it.
It doesn't matter when I catch you, you are it's
just consistently nice. You are just a good, good person.
And it's nice that when good things happen to good
people and you deserve it all. And I can't wait
to see playing with fire.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Yes, yeah, go list't are playing with fire? We want
to make a musical. Come make a musical with us.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, it's so good and you see, you feel the
story through it all. You could hear some great singing
and production and writing. Just go enjoy it. And it's
before you go see it on stage eventually, you know,
exactly get ahead of.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
The because here's the funnest idea ever, like the reason
the other reason we wanted to put the music out first,
the funnest idea in our minds. We were like we
want people to be able to kind of sing along
with the song they want. We want them in their
body a little bit so when they're you know what
I mean, you want them kind of rocking in the
seats knowing it a little bit. So you so again,
(46:00):
so right, It's like I want some of that concert energy,
you know. Yeah, Yeah, I like I want people to
be surprised in moments by what they see and things
like that. But there's something fun about seeing your favorite
band and knowing a bit of it so you can
share in it.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yes, be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
That's so that's what I would That's like a dream scenario.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Is that very smart?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
How many shows can you go to? And like every
song is catchy? Yeah? Ok, every song that was? That
was a concert that these songs stuck in my head
for months.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, that was Look, that's on purpose. You know. The
way we approached writing some of these songs might not
be the most traditional approach to a musical. We wanted
to use our pop sensibilities and because so much of
what you know, Angeliet is a pop musical right by
pre existing works, and it's what's fun about it is
(46:55):
how they've crafted it and manipulated the songs and found
a new way to bring life to them through a
new story. And what we've done is we've just taken
the pop approach to writing the songs for the musical
in the first place. Yeah, and so that's again, it
(47:15):
was on purpose.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Purpose, intentional.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
And by the way, when are we going to hear
some new music from Austin?
Speaker 2 (47:23):
By the way, he's putting things out all the time.
I don't he can't stop.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, just so good.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, he's always He's like, I have three albums worth
the material in my head.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
Does he can't? Is he still baking as well?
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah? He does it all. Yeah, you know, he just
one of those whatever the moon strikes. Yeah, it's really annoying.
I'm all right, I'm just trying to do one thing.
Speaker 3 (47:51):
You have the rest of us all now.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
Insanity, get YouTube in the studio.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
I would bore him.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Oh I doubt it.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
I hear his stuff and I'm like, you know, he's like,
he's all the way in right now. And I like
my approach has been so analytical lately because of writing
the musicals that I take my time. I'm like a
piece of a time now because I want to that
it's in the right space. Yeah, and now Oaks write
so fast you get into a pop session now, it's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
I would like him to experience that though, because he's
never seen that before. So I think it would be
oh interesting, throw him in the deep end in like
a writing camp the way they do pop sessions now,
not always, but like sometimes they do. You know these
writing camps where they'll just have like twenty people show
(48:49):
up and they'll just have like five rooms set up
and three going here, you three, you four rotate.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
And then all of a sudden, like the next day
you're in with with the another iteration of those people.
And you know, I know that I've done one or
two of those, and it's been totally fun, by the way,
because you can listen to what people worked on all day.
At the end of the day, you're like, oh, yeah,
oh that's that's a funny time. I don't know how
he would view that, is that.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
And see him because you know, or he's like, I
think he might adapt. I don't know, I think, but
it's such like a wonderful skill to like see people
who are I'm not like that, And anytime I've been
in sessions like that, I'm just overwhelmed, like how are
you coming up with these things so quickly? But it's
a muscle. They're doing it every day, and so you
(49:34):
these like incredible melodies to look.
Speaker 3 (49:36):
There's two approaches like yeah, you're either very like introverted
and you're very like in your world and and but
then there's other times where you really just have to
like rip it open and just go yeah, you know.
And I think there's a bit of that going on
because the pressure is almost off in those situations because
(50:00):
it's not all on you, right, you can expose a
piece of yourself. And the good part is even if
it's not right, someone else can support it correct, you know.
And and so that's the genius part about those.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Everyone's like searching for the best ideas, like best idea
whins and they each other your idea.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
It might it might be the exact way you came
up with it. Somebody, I love that, what if we
did this, you know, and it's not exactly your idea,
it's your idea together and that you know.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeahborrage, let's get the show made. Jenna make some calls.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
I'll go do it.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
There's something Jenna can't do it. She'll get it so nice.
Sometimes good producer.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Can't be nice all the time.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Come on, thank you so so much, Jac. Good to
see you through.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
Yes, worry about it on Bambo number two.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Thank you, thank you. What a nice human being, Jenna.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
We're friends with Jac from and Sync.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
I mean, you really are. You're much closer with him
than I am. But I what a what a doll
of a human for somebody that we idolize, that literally
raised us. He's so nice in our teens.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I never feel prouder than being able to be like
you know Jc that we all are obsessed with. He's
actually the nicest.
Speaker 6 (51:40):
Human I know, I know, he's so kind, so talented,
and like within our friend group, he and I are
sort of.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Like our closer friend group, like the only singers. And
we've been places where like trying to force us to
sing and are you out of your mind?
Speaker 6 (51:58):
I'm not singing you singing with or after dream that
is not I know, I get it, I get it,
I get it.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
His voice is so good and it's just gotten better.
Like yeah, we didn't even get we didn't talk about
the new and Sync songs too, where he just sounds incredible,
and he sounds it's good that we didn't because then
we haven't excused to bring him back, you know, and
it sounds like he would come great.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
Well, thank you jac for spending some time with us.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Please go listen to the album. It's called Playing with
Fire and go stream it. That's what you're really miss
Thanks for listening, and follow us on Instagram at and
that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
See you next time.
And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin An iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's what you really miss Podcasts is
a monumental, baby monumental we have. If you would have
told me at fourteen fifteen years old, with like Ryder
(00:32):
Strong and j C on my wall that I was
going to have Jac on my podcast one day, I
would have punched you in the face and said, you're crazy.
But here we are, the one and only Jac Chef.
(00:53):
Are you kidding? I don't know how like I been
like so nice and like referst to he live by Jenna.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's really the thing, the amount of time and effort
I've spent on being like cool around him. But the
longer I've known him, the more that the fan just
jumps out because I have no filter anymore. And He's
He's very nice about it. He's probably so used to it,
but just one of the most talented people on the planet.
(01:24):
Obviously grew up watching him. Honestly, I don't say this
just like as hyperbole mm hmm, Like formed how I
sing and dance, like watching him on stage, the amount
of hours I would talk to like my sister or
mom about like how good he is as a kid,
and like trying to mimic that.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Totally, totally. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
First of all, thank you for being here, JC, Yes,
having me? Are you kidding me? We needed to as
soon as like you were putting this album out, We're like,
we have to get Jason, bring him on. We have
to talk about this.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You might know a little bit more than most about this.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Actually, I sure do.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
He was just filling us in.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Kevin's an experimental human. We know this, so he doesn't
mind going along for a bit of fun. I think
that's probably the best way to say it.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
He's always down.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
He's always up for a bit of fun. That's right,
He always up for a bit of fun.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Who down or up whatever it is. And if jac
says jump, I jump, that's what happens.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Jenna. I don't think I've even gotten to see you
since you've had a.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Bambino, yes, and the second bambino coming soon.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, congratulations, thank you, thank you too long.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Anyway, Well, we're so grateful to have you. And I'm curious,
so I need to know about the connection of Kevin JC.
And then also Kevin's experimental life with Playing with Fire
on the album, Yeah, tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So, I mean I would say like our connection is
through mutual friends. Starting with uh, I guess he was
working on Glee and things like that, and uh, we
had some mutual acquaintances and mutual friends and met through there,
and uh, it's just look, you know, as well as anybody,
he's very easy to get along with.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And we don't need to talk about me.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And so.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
You know, look, the way Playing with Fire came about is, look,
we basically, you know, Jimmy and I are working on
a musical and uh we had put together uh and
the music for it, but we're also writing the book
and so uh, you know, we were just kind of
like of the mind that wouldn't it be great to
(04:02):
hear this thing out loud? And uh, so we basically
just called people that we trusted and people that we
thought would be able to, you know, give us honest
feedback about it. And and look, you know, uh he's
saying it all. He's you know, been on television, he's
(04:23):
been an actor for years and and obviously, by the way,
congratulations on the spelling bee. So just another way for
you to show off but it was like, uh, just
chatting with my my manager, Eric, who is somebody we
have in common as well and we're all friendly with.
And uh, he was just you know, he actually brought
(04:45):
up Kevin. I. You know, I wouldn't presume he's a professional.
He doesn't need to be bothered with, like just you know,
basically practicing and experimenting with things. And he's like, dude,
are you kidding me? Like he's a phone call away.
I'm sure you know he would love, you know, to
do it if you you know, if you asked him.
And I was like, I'm I was thinking about reaching
out to people who are like not professional and on
(05:07):
I don't even know what that means. But like I
was like, I wouldn't want to bother him because he's
a freaking you know, he's a television star and you know,
whatever star. So so he was kind enough to answer
the call. And and uh and we sat around in
the in the studio for a couple of days and
and uh and read the book along with playing the music,
(05:29):
just so Jimmy and I could start to feel the
transitions and to see what the book was doing. Because
it was our first draft, it was our first attempt
at it, and it was immensely helpful. Like I didn't
even tell you how much we walked away with because
of of the actors just kind of breathing life into
(05:52):
the characters for the for the for the first time
with the completed uh music from Playing with Fire, at
least the first edition of the complete Sure you know
it's going to change over time, but as a first draft,
who's our first draft? And uh and so he was
kind enough to share his talents and again, thank you
(06:12):
so much for doing Are.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You kidding me? I think I can speak for probably
most of the ge audience, all of us and our friends.
You are a vital part of like us growing up
and like your artistry trained all of us. So the
fact that you would ever consider me to participate in
(06:36):
any form of anything you ever wanted more of your artistry,
like absolutely, are you kidding me? I was like, yeah,
let me just let me get into that studio and
just here and again.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
The same I mean, look, you're you guys, auld were
We're all the same animal right Like again we're we're
we're we're a little threat group here. You know, everybody
has basically had dabbled and singing, dancing and acting, you know,
and doing it all on television. And look, this is
(07:07):
a big transition. The stage is very different than getting
two and three takes, and it's on camera. You can
correct the mistakes.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
And.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Even in television you can constantly change it. You know,
if it's not working, you might work in the rehearsal
space and all of a sudden you get it in
front of the camera and something's not right. You get
another take to try a different.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And there's always an edit. You always have it editing.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yes, yes, So the thing with this, and this is
why it was so helpful to have Kevin and the
other actors step in. It's like you have to kind
of work through you have to debug the thing before
it gets in front of a group of people. And
so that was our first time getting to kind of
hear it and go what what did me right?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I remember when you originally told me that you were
starting to work on this, and how I know from
just hanging out with you, how deeply you think about
movies or how you think about story in general, and
so knowing your also musical style with how seriously you
take story, it seemed like it made so much sense
(08:12):
to me, and also hearing it, I think it probably
makes sense to everybody. But was doing something in the
theater world something you always wanted to do or is
that something that just sort of happened You're like, oh,
this may be a fun chob.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I've actually had the itch for a long time, and
that sounds disgusting, but that I've always had the urge
for a very long time. I was working on potentially
doing Jesus Christ Superstar and it just it never came
to fruition. But when I was exposed to that for
(08:48):
the first time, it got me excited about the theater
because I just felt like, oh, this is different as
a child, you're actually people. I don't even think kids
realize how much they're exposed to when they're young, when
it comes to even musical theater, like the first things
that you're watching. Not every kid, I won't say every kid,
(09:09):
but I'll say the majority of the I would say
the majority of the people that I know in my generation,
they grew up on the Disney musical cartoon experience. Yes,
you know, it's like between The Little Mermaid and The
Lion King, and these are musicals like they might be animated,
but their music, you know, I even updated Today's the
(09:32):
Moanas and the Frozens, and yeah, it's always there. It's
like it's always kind of in the foundation. And then
when I was exposed to The Jesus Christ Superstar, I
was like, oh, this is like a rock concert. You know,
this is a concert. That's a cool way to do it.
(09:53):
It feels, you know, even though it was done in
the seventies, in my mind, that's a bit of an
update even to now. And so that's what we started
thinking about when we started messing around with the idea
of writing musicals. Jimmy and I am I writing part
of Jimmy Harry who heaven knows whenever we're writing a
(10:16):
song or even writing the book, and how we want
these characters to be portrayed. It's almost like every character
isn't just a character. We're almost thinking about every character
being a rock star. It's like in the Frankenstein story,
there's five main characters and that's kind of it. Everything's
laid bare, and you know, it's like the creature, you know,
(10:41):
who is Frankenstein's creation? Like I just look at the creature.
It's like the creature is a rock star. It's like
Frankenstein is a nerdy rock star, so it's and Elizabeth
is like she sings all the powerhouse numbers, so it's like,
of course she's a you know, a rockstar or a
(11:03):
pop star however you want to frame. But it's just
that's how we approach each character. We're like, you know,
what would what would be hard? Like what would be
dope if you were like a pop star rock star,
Like you know, what's that vibe that you want to
be putting out there? And that's how we're kind of
approaching each character.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I feel like you've done such a good job too,
with the other voices you brought in the singers who
are so stupidly good. Yeah, it is so dumb, Like
all of you singing together is just and that's sort
of the thing. Like I in that studio when you
played some of these songs for me the first time,
obviously a fan of your voice, and then on top
(11:44):
of it, I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Them I'm the worst singer of the three.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
It's like everybody is as good as one another, which
I think is crazy. And you all sound so good together.
And also you can write, you two write songs for
like singers.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, maybe look again, these are this is all it's
just all instinct. This is all instant, and it's like
we're we're writing something that we think we would enjoy. Yeah,
that's just the approach that we're taking, you know that,
and so you know, but we're also learning a lot
along the way. And what's been fun is is seeing
(12:24):
shows now and seeing how people are updating productions now
and thinking about all of the possibilities. You know, the
world has really opened up recently, you know in terms
of like people's approach to what they're seeing on stage
now in terms of theater, it's it's really they're they're
(12:44):
kind of they're moving the conversation forward and that's exciting.
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So the world is your oyster.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Really, yes, we just gotta get somebody to make this thing,
you know Rightctly that's the next step, which is like whoa.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You're on your way.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Look, we're controlling what we can control, Like Buddy knows
Jimmy and I from music. So it's like our best
foot forward is to start.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
With the music totally get people are.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Open to the idea, you know, and then and then
uh and work on the rest with really hopefully really
smart talented people. You know.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Well, it's a great The book is great. All of
it is really wonderful. The take on the you know
story that we all know is also just so nice
to have like fresh eyes and perspective on something like that,
so it feels new. The music is obviously.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Wonderful and very exciting.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It needs to get made a sap.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, man, use your influence from the Spelling b people.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
All right. I get a couple of emails.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
By the way, wasn't one of your co stars in
the Spelling Bee from a Juliette Yes, and saying it's
going to be me Yes, Yes, I thought that was
the best thing ever.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And has such a good voice, by the way, so
we can cast to leap.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, I met him briefly. Again. You know, those those
cats work. You know, they're doing seven eight shows a week,
So I don't like to see people too long after
a show when they say they all want to say
hi and and meet everybody after the show, but you
know they tired.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, Jaz shows, you got it. You want to say,
hid from the show. Yeah, exactly, but you know I
get it again.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Jenna's won a couple of Tonys from producing on Broadway. So, Jenna,
this is actually the purpose of HICH is just to
talk about this.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
No, we're so excited for to see the life it
takes on. We really really are, and we're so happy
for you and it's so cool. And it seems like
the departure, but obviously it's not. It makes total sense
and it's all instinctual.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It is a departure and because it doesn't sound like
obviously an instinct record or a JC record, because it's
not in that context, but it is still you know,
my point of view, a shared point of view with
me on something, and we're passionate about it.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Yeah, so we have to talk about the Glee obviously,
the Glee version of Bye Bye Bye.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I'm curious if you remember this happening, if you remember
the kind of being asked if we could do this,
and then also like being mashed up with Bakshi boys, Like,
I'm just curious about your experts with this.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
You know what, For us, it's usually we get asked
stuff every day, Right, it just comes to me and
we're like, oh cool, and it's like my first reaction
for Glee was as an automatic yes, because you know,
I actually you know, have friends that you know, we're
part of it, and that it's like there's not going
to be there is no resistance here. So I was actually,
(16:25):
you know, really excited. It's like, again, any anytime that
you know, somebody asks you to do something that you
were a part of, it's it means that you know,
it's a bit it's flattering, right, It's like that was
years later, you know what I mean. It's not like
asking while the singles out, they're asking years later, Hey
are you into this? And it's like, yeah, go, you know,
(16:47):
especially on a show like that with a with a
cast that talented, and you know, it's like you know
that it's going to stand up and and it's gonna
also you hope introduce uh an audience into a different
way of seeing it, you know, and this is still
this is accessible in this way, in this way. And
(17:08):
so and again I was friends with one of the
music producers of the show, Adam Anders. And you know,
you guys work with a time and and uh and
and I would come in and and you know, he
was working on he's working on Rock of Ages. Do
you remember that? So I came in and I laced
a couple of vocals on some things for that and
(17:30):
and I can't remember if I did a Glee thing
or not, but he was just like, do you mind
laying this down real fast? So I just have I
was like, yeah, cool, I might I don't know for sure,
but I might be.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
We have to ask him. So fun if there's some
rogue JC vocal in the background of.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Might be, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
If if my demo, if my track was you, I
would have been like, no, I'm not doing this today, No, no, just.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
As a background vocus. He's like, I just need to
lace this real quick.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It's like, that's funny because.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
We actually met in New York before Lee, and we
knew each other before Glee and stuff like that, and
we wrote a couple of songs together actually because yeah,
well blown songwriter mode. Yeah, it's just funny how these
worlds converge, right.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Yeah, small small world that was doing Bye Bye Bye
was one of those moments on Glee. There's a handful
of them where I was so upset that I wasn't
personally more involved in the number.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
This seems like a running theme for you, Kevin, where
there's a lot of numbers and yeah, I mean you're
a music guy, so I get it, but your.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Specifically like doing and sync, like, oh, we're finally doing
and they have the strings and all that, and it's
just like I want to be doing this. And then
I also was like, I feel like this is disrespectful
to be matching up these songs. They need the moments.
I wanted a full boy band episode, I think, is
what I really that is.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
What we wanted. We wanted more of it.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
We all did. We all talked about it.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
To mash those two groups together at the time does
make a ton of sense, right, co existed they were
and look, even the fandom always kind of rallied around
and created a competition around one another, and and so
that was like that was a fun thing to be
a part of it, and it was kind of it
(19:24):
was crazy how they kind of fed into each other.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It's likely I think.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Either band would have been as big if the fans
didn't really create something themselves and take it to the
level that it went to. It's like without that kind
of emotional conversation in terms of like, you know, this
(19:49):
is my team and this is my team. Well, yeah,
but that was actually pretty good creating that drama, raise
the stakes, you know, and raise the awareness.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And r Yeah, you're right. It's kind of like the
Beatles and Beach Boys at the same time. They keep
they always said like they always kept each other on
their toes. They always made each other better as artists,
which is like what you want, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It also that you could coexist because I feel like,
like within similar spaces, but we're very different, yes, and
I feel like that doesn't happen a lot now. Everyone
has to be very I feel like separate or like
for two groups, especially in a group situation, to be
like within the same world and still be successful, successful
(20:41):
independently of one another is like a really unique thing.
And also for you guys too car about your own
lanes within that, Yeah, it feels like a really maybe.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I mean, who knows. It's like anything you can't predict it, right, Yeah,
it is. There is something to be said for Yes,
all the effort, all of the work, but at the
end of the day, organically, whatever is going to happen
is going to happen. There's so much out of your control.
(21:10):
So you know, it's like you might think you wrote
the greatest song on Earth, and that's the song that
nobody's into. You might have written a song and you're
like it's cute and they're like smash.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, are you speaking about anything specifically? Was there like
this is it? And then it just didn't? They all hit.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
They did though, Yeah, Jenna, did you ever see syncro Oh? Yeah,
multiple times? I saw you guys at NASA Coliseum where
we toured as well, so that was like my home,
my home arena, and it was like, I think I
saw you guys multiple times on all of your tours.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I yeah, it was you guys in Brittany that like
my parents, Those were the tickets I was getting at
the time.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But did you see the show where Brittany opened for us,
like the Stuff of Legend, because it was like, right,
that is our first like big tour in America and
she was just starting out and it was crazy because
you know, look we were mouse Club, you know together.
(22:30):
She wanted her to win so bad. Yeah, it was
like the very first show we went out there and
they were not excited to see her because it was
a girl who was around all the guys that they liked,
strange stage together, but they just associated it that way
that the fans and the audience. So for like the
first couple numbers, they'd be like quiet or to be
(22:52):
some like hissing and a little bit of like a
little booing. Man, this girl, all of a sudden the
song drop and it was like, no, dog, you can't
deny that. It was like right before the song dropped
and then begin to playing shows, it was like it
was like a total flip, and that was like, oh,
(23:15):
so we're the we're the main act, and yet oh
they really like this song. Yea like her. Okay, she's
not going to stay as the opening act much longer
to find somebody else to help us out.
Speaker 5 (23:29):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I didn't see I didn't see that one. Sadly, I
will never forget though her album dropping and Autumn good
Bye and Hit Me One More Time on that CD,
and I was like, oh, that single, it's so good.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I remember the news reports covering I don't know why
I remember this, probably because I was obsessed with all
of you, but like actual like local news covering your guys'
tour and her opening up Oh interesting, yeah, Like I
remember specific like the show of the news camera at
whatever venue you were at in Dallas or something and
(24:06):
talking about how her single was like, you know, like
blowing up, and there she was on tour already with
an already successful group and crazy times.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
The first few shows we were like, oh, we felt
so bad, like like our heart. Yeah, the show she's great.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Yes, as soon as she gets on stage, like it's
like forget about it, you know what I mean. And
she she was going out there like giving it. And
it's just like the audience were they were just kind
of mad at her just for being there at first.
And look, we felt that because when we first came
state Side, we were opening for Janet, right, and it's
(24:44):
like when you say the beam opened for Janet Janet,
that was our crazy Yeah, it was like and we
were all we thought it was the coolest thing. We
were dressed like the Beatles we we to met like,
so we were kind of in our little Sergeant Pepper
Satiny you know, outfits and stuff that we're all.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Like, that's right, and we have to win the audience over.
You know, they're there to see us. They're there for
an R and B show, and here we are, like
a pop show and it's just not what they were
like they were expecting or I don't know, what it was.
But Janet was kind enough, she saw something and she
(25:24):
was like, yeah, come on, let's go, like wow, you know,
and and uh and so for the first kind of song,
a couple of songs. You know, we didn't play a
whole show right where the opening app I'm like, I
can't remember how much time we had, but you get
X amount of songs to win the crowd over.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah, the first sprint it's like.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Quiet and they're just kind of like what and then
like maybe the second song you might hear a couple
of booze and stuff like that, and then by the
fourth song, they're like Okay, they work hard, you know,
it's like okay, I got it. And then we kind
of they didn't go crazy by any means, but they
were certainly way like they were receptive and we were
getting cheers by the end of our set. And that
(26:04):
is something that I'll forever be thankful for because that's
that's like work, you know what I mean, it's better
that makes you sharpened. Trying to winning a crowd when
they're not there for you is one of the best
things you can do. Uh, It's one of the best
skills you can learn as a performer, you know what
(26:26):
I mean, Like, this isn't my room, but you got
to get it. Yeah, really got to go and flex
those muscles like and you know, sing as well as
because again, when it's your crowd, there's a bit of forgiveness,
right if you're not taking your best.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That night, you know, you like, you know, they're just
happy to be.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I love it, I love it. And you know they're
like a little flat today, heavy in my phone when
they're your people, a little bit when they're not your people,
Oh they don't let you know.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, that's where you're making it.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
We saw this on such a smaller scale than you
guys of like the blow up, you know, when there's
lightning in a bottle and it's just the phenomenon. I'm
just so cue, come on, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
You're being humble and you're being shy now, Like it
was a cultural movement.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
It happened, sureft it, Sure, sure, But there's a difference,
I think, I mean, no, there is, there is. We
were a glorified cover band like you guys, you know,
as original artists, like we all got to cover these
songs that were already tried and true. We you know,
people love these songs, right, and it's like, sure, we
may be introducing them to a new generation, but these
(27:54):
songs worked once or twice already, it's gonna work again. Yeah,
and so we get to benefit like we're not having
to write them. We're showing up and do Adam Anders
has already figured out who's singing what you know. It's
it's a really sort of a glamorous way to enjoy
the fruits of your labor. And so like that's why,
like we are like, yes, the show was a phenomenon
(28:18):
and we absolutely got to experience a lot of that,
but we were all very aware of like what the
deal really was. Like we're going on tour and the
the show represents something we didn't create, the show, and
we're singing these songs that mean so many to people.
We didn't write these songs. We're sort of the conduit
to everybody be together.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
True, you just have to deliver.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, that's true, but it was you know, we got
to do perform Britney songs on tour, and we got
to do Janet and then Sink and Backstreet on the show,
and so being able to actually don't pay.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Minimize We're gonna fight. Look Every movie star you see
didn't write that script. Every movie star you see didn't
direct that film. Every movie star you see didn't you
know what I mean. It's like that doesn't make them
less balcable to the entertainment that you're experiencing, you know
(29:14):
what I mean, Like.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Don't minimize, right, you're right here, don't minimize.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Look, I appreciate one hundred percent all of the talent
that was on that show and what it takes to
make something, by the way, because you're also cranking it out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah, that's for real.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
You're not like rehearsing one song, you know, for months
and months and months at a time. You're like, got
this song done? What's next? You know what I mean?
And so there I appreciate that, Like.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Don't minimize, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Speaking of that, you mentioned the Mickey Mouse Club earlier. Yeah,
which time and time again. It comes up every couple
of years, like no, no, no, no, everyone, do you realize
how many incredibly talented and wonderful people came from Like
your guys a single, I don't know how long you're
(30:08):
on it, but like your crew, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And like actors, musicians, artists, I mean all artists.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Speaking of like turning it out, Like did you guys
cranking it out? What was that process? Do you even
remember like the process of doing a because I mean
that was fill in front of a live audience.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
The guys were young.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
It was what we shot I would say three quarters
of it in front of a live audience. But you
know we would always have like recorded sketches and recorded
videos like that was like the prestige things like well
I got a music video.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
It was like, oh yeah, I get to work on
this for like two days. So yeah. Look, and by
the way, it hasn't stopped, I think because even when
you look at the Mouse Club, by the way, I
came in season four, so they were actors and singers there. Yeah,
and you know, the actors and singers that were on there,
(31:06):
they inspired us, even when you know, they had a
spin off thing called The Party and we were like, yo,
those kids are dope.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
So we see that now though, But think about even
after that, you know, whether it's Nickelodeon or or Disney,
it's kind of our biggest stars. Think about Selena, think
about Ariana Grande, think about Miley Cyrus, like talking about
some of the biggest stars in the world.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
So it's not but but.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That being said, yeah, like being on a on a
show like that, it's it's actually really for me, I
would say it was helpful in helping me, helpful in
helping me, really help me, help me. It was helpful
to me because I had never been exposed to anything
(31:57):
like that. You know, it's like, oh, I'm I'm in
a room full of like minded people in terms of
you know, they're willing to try, and they're willing to
put themselves out there.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Which's not normally the case for kids that age.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
You're at home and everybody's so busy teasing everybody, and
and if like, you know, it is like you got
maybe you touched on it in the Glea stories, but
it's like, you know, the athletes are so alpha in
a way something not all by all means there's kind
people everywhere right right. There is like a thing where
it's like you're back then, and maybe it's changed because
(32:35):
I haven't been that young in a long time, but
but there was a thing where it was kind of like, oh,
if you do that, you're like a little bit outcast.
You know, it's like that's that's not the thing. And
so yeah, So to be around others that were supportive
(32:57):
of what I was doing, and I was excited to
support them and what they were doing, it really helped
us discover more about ourselves. What did you enjoy? Did
you enjoy singing? Did you enjoy dancing? Did you ever
even think about, you know, being in like a sketcher?
I never, in my wildest dreams thought about being you know,
(33:17):
an actor before that, you know what I mean. And
it was like, oh, you know, I'm not I'm not
an actor by any stretch of the imagination, but I
can have fun with it in spurts and stuff like that.
So that's what that allowed me to do. And again,
being with other people that are like minded in that fashion,
(33:39):
I think the support of each other is was really beautiful,
you know, like we encouraged each other. I'd never when
I was on that show, I never felt an ounce
of jealousy for anyone else, and I never felt an
ounce of jealousy from anyone else.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
It was really the positive experience that somebody.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Were like get it, yeah, you know, and that was
really really fun.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So that's so nice to hear, because like this industry
as it's evolved over time, or just remembering that when
we were all young and in it, it was it
was it could be so cutthroat and so the riddled
with jealousy and you know, not knowing with maturity that
like there's room for everybody. So it's so nice to
(34:29):
hear that. I'm also curious, like jumping from Mickey Mouse
to then in Sync and like your whole your journey there,
like what did you want going from him mouse to
then like on the journey to creating the band, like
you seem so craft and artistry forward and like that
(34:51):
always comes first. I'm curious if that was always the
way it was for you or if that flipped and
evolved over time.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Well when I started, look, when I got the Mouse Club,
I was more comfortable dancing than anything else. I uh,
I started like in dance competitions like doing you know,
dancing like to Pop numbers.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I danced someone on the block.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
I did like you know, so yeah, come on and
bring it. Yeah. So that's so there's an influence right there.
But when I when the Mouse Club was over, after
kind of going, I was on it for four three
four seasons and and what I learned about myself is
(35:39):
that I wanted to make music, and so that's what
I sought out to do first. And so I look,
I reached out to all the contacts that I had
from the Mouse Club and my Gajitsy was working on
the music and things like that, and Robin Wiley was
the vocal coach club And that's crazy, you know how
you know, basically just kind of once we you know,
(36:01):
down the road, decided that we were making a band,
asking her to help us, you know, rehearse and really craft,
and she's the one who really developed our harmony and
our sound and it was our first influence in terms
of how we wanted our court structures and arrangements to be.
You know. But I knew leaving that show that I
(36:26):
wanted to be a music artist. Some people that are like,
I want to be an actor, I want to be
of this, I want to be at that, and it's
like I knew I wanted to be in the music space.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So also, I feel like the through line between all
of these different sort of adventures in your life, yeah,
and then getting to the current day of playing with Fire,
it also feels like it's all culminating in sort of
this like using all of the things you've learned over
(36:58):
the years, it might into this.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, And I think, look, I could be wrong about it.
I could be totally naive about it, but I feel
like I have something to offer the theater. I think
through my years of experience, I feel like my point
of view brings value. You know, I'm not, by any
(37:22):
stretch of the measure imagination saying oh, I can do
this better than this, and I can do this better
than that. That's not at all what I'm saying. But
what I'm saying is I have something to offer and
and and I think it's because of all of those
years is in front of audiences live, you know, and
(37:42):
and when you're putting together a concert, like the way
we would put together concerts, they're very choreographed, and they're
very and they were seamless. You know, there wasn't dead air.
That was a focused thing. And you see it now
with huge artists. You know, it's like, what show that
a pop musician is doing isn't really like thought through?
Speaker 2 (38:09):
I will growing up going to your guys' concerts. You
really ruined it for a lot of other people though,
because you set the bar, so there is what is this?
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Like how good the shows are now though there's some
spectacular incredible, Yes, like I'm a I'm a fan as
much as anybody else. Like again, when you see something cool,
you're like, oh, I'm about that. That's end ye. So
you know, again, to touch on what you said, I
(38:40):
think that all of these years, like you said, doing
music here, doing a sketch, even if it's just sketch
comedy in the in the kids show, but then later
in life, you know, you know, pulling off a piece
of an independent movie and just going into a care
and like, Okay, I have to I have to know
(39:03):
this moment and I have to be in this moment
with this other person. Yeah, if you're a pop star
and you're singing, you're singing for the masses, and you know,
but you're not necessarily focused in on one person and
having to share energy and so stepping off and doing
like a film or something like that put you in
the situation where you're interfacing like that in a unique way.
(39:24):
And I think that that hopefully will be helpful.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, you understand all the roles.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Yeah, so that that that's a that's a great observation.
I have to say I feel that way a bit.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
Well, that's what when you first mentioned it to me,
I was like, this makes sense. Yeah, I was like
I see it all like I, you know, like being
able to have seen you perform on stage, dancing your
ass off, seeing your ass off at like a certain level,
a very high level, and then like you are such
a fan as well, which I also think is plays
(39:58):
into that. Yeah, because as you like, we've had long
discussions about being fans of different TV shows and movies
and all of that. And to see how excited that
makes you, I think someone who wants, like you said earlier,
you're making something you want to see, and you're bringing
all this expertise and this voice and taste to it.
You have to have also some level of taste, and
(40:20):
you have to have all of those things operating at
a certain level. And it does. All of this just
makes sense.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
Yeah. I think that the thing that I'm most excited
about next, because you know, the music is out there.
I think the next thing that I'm excited about is
working with other actors and other singers and with the
director and really exploding this thing visually. Next. You know,
it's like we have a whole you know, arsenal of
(40:50):
ideas leading to come out and and so it's going
to be a really fun process again working with the
right director where we can kind of make something fun
and unique and you know, look, it's a heavy story,
but I think I think it can be absolutely fun
(41:12):
in spots.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah. I also been thinking about that too, of how
many people have had the live experience with You've played
with all different sorts of budgets doing live shows and so,
but you also learn how to construct a show and
what works and maybe what doesn't work. And being able
to bring that also to live theater I think is
a really rhythm special thing.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
You Look, rhythm is a thing like you can't have
people like this for too long or they just run
out of gas, you know what I mean. You need
to hit a dopamine switch every now and then and
be like, all right, let me give you this, let
me give you It's like and we've learned that from
from movies as well, right like, and you're seeing it
like all right, if I'm going to see this kind
(41:56):
of movie, but they all it's so well crafted these
films and in these shows. It's like they know Okay,
we can't have them like if it's the funniest thing
in the world, you can't have them laughing the whole
time because like it just wears off. Right, Yeah, you know,
but you need to crush people. But if you crush
them the whole time, it just starts.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
To yeah you know, so it's rhythm check out.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
I wish we had you as a guest star on Glee.
That would have been so much when you've acted, wanted
to act on it.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Yeah, sure, nobody asked me.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Man, no power.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
On the twenty first I'm doing I'm like hosting a
sing along with and Juliet. So it's just like it
so that will be a very meta moment.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
I get to step in and uh, look, by the way,
seeing the show is amazing, you know, because it's that's
all part of a part of my life and things
like that. But they're gonna they're gonna let me kind
of come on and sing sing with them.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Oh how fun, how cool?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
That's really cool sing along.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
But then and Joey's doing it crazy.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
When he was just like should I do this? I
was like, are you kidding? Your life? A perfect human
for this it's so cool because he has that charisma. Look,
when we were a band, we would play on each
other's strengths in the live shows, and there's no doubt
about it. Like Joey on stage, it's charisma all day.
You know. He has such a great ability to connect
(43:42):
with the crowd. Yeah, and he like when we first
you know, got together, he was doing plays in Orlando,
and he was doing in Orlando and the next thing
you know, he's doing like little Shop and he's doing like, Yeah,
he was in this way before I was because I
was you know, look, I always was so focused on
writing the next song, right yeah, right man, and stuff
(44:04):
like that, and he was always thinking about the stage.
So lives to him for for getting up there. And
I think he's got a lot to bring to that part.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
I think that sure is.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Going to be injected into those moments that he is
going to be able to do in that way.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yeah, Wow, Well, we're so grateful for your time that
you came on to chat with us.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Oh my god?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Here where.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Over the moon?
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Next time I'll get to go, I'm just gonna sit
between y'all and then we'll just lease everybody else.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Any any time that there's no there's the amount of
times I've gotten to embarrass people by forcing them to
talk to JC. Like if you we talked to Amber
about Amber literally earlier this year, ran away from him
and she's already met him that and she's like, I
can't do it. But JC, you were like you were
(45:03):
the kindest, nicest, most humble person you are round it.
It doesn't matter when I catch you, you are it's
just consistently nice. You are just a good, good person.
And it's nice that when good things happen to good
people and you deserve it all. And I can't wait
to see playing with fire.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
Yes, yeah, go list't are playing with fire? We want
to make a musical. Come make a musical with us.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, it's so good and you see, you feel the
story through it all. You could hear some great singing
and production and writing. Just go enjoy it. And it's
before you go see it on stage eventually, you know,
exactly get ahead of.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
The because here's the funnest idea ever, like the reason
the other reason we wanted to put the music out first,
the funnest idea in our minds. We were like we
want people to be able to kind of sing along
with the song they want. We want them in their
body a little bit so when they're you know what
I mean, you want them kind of rocking in the
seats knowing it a little bit. So you so again,
(46:00):
so right, It's like I want some of that concert energy,
you know. Yeah, Yeah, I like I want people to
be surprised in moments by what they see and things
like that. But there's something fun about seeing your favorite
band and knowing a bit of it so you can
share in it.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Yes, be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
That's so that's what I would That's like a dream scenario.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Is that very smart?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
How many shows can you go to? And like every
song is catchy? Yeah? Ok, every song that was? That
was a concert that these songs stuck in my head
for months.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, that was Look, that's on purpose. You know. The
way we approached writing some of these songs might not
be the most traditional approach to a musical. We wanted
to use our pop sensibilities and because so much of
what you know, Angeliet is a pop musical right by
pre existing works, and it's what's fun about it is
(46:55):
how they've crafted it and manipulated the songs and found
a new way to bring life to them through a
new story. And what we've done is we've just taken
the pop approach to writing the songs for the musical
in the first place. Yeah, and so that's again, it
(47:15):
was on purpose.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
Purpose, intentional.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
And by the way, when are we going to hear
some new music from Austin?
Speaker 2 (47:23):
By the way, he's putting things out all the time.
I don't he can't stop.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, just so good.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, he's always He's like, I have three albums worth
the material in my head.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
Does he can't? Is he still baking as well?
Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah? He does it all. Yeah, you know, he just
one of those whatever the moon strikes. Yeah, it's really annoying.
I'm all right, I'm just trying to do one thing.
Speaker 3 (47:51):
You have the rest of us all now.
Speaker 2 (47:56):
Insanity, get YouTube in the studio.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
I would bore him.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Oh I doubt it.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
I hear his stuff and I'm like, you know, he's like,
he's all the way in right now. And I like
my approach has been so analytical lately because of writing
the musicals that I take my time. I'm like a
piece of a time now because I want to that
it's in the right space. Yeah, and now Oaks write
so fast you get into a pop session now, it's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
I would like him to experience that though, because he's
never seen that before. So I think it would be
oh interesting, throw him in the deep end in like
a writing camp the way they do pop sessions now,
not always, but like sometimes they do. You know these
writing camps where they'll just have like twenty people show
(48:49):
up and they'll just have like five rooms set up
and three going here, you three, you four rotate.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
And then all of a sudden, like the next day
you're in with with the another iteration of those people.
And you know, I know that I've done one or
two of those, and it's been totally fun, by the way,
because you can listen to what people worked on all day.
At the end of the day, you're like, oh, yeah,
oh that's that's a funny time. I don't know how
he would view that, is that.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
And see him because you know, or he's like, I
think he might adapt. I don't know, I think, but
it's such like a wonderful skill to like see people
who are I'm not like that, And anytime I've been
in sessions like that, I'm just overwhelmed, like how are
you coming up with these things so quickly? But it's
a muscle. They're doing it every day, and so you
(49:34):
these like incredible melodies to look.
Speaker 3 (49:36):
There's two approaches like yeah, you're either very like introverted
and you're very like in your world and and but
then there's other times where you really just have to
like rip it open and just go yeah, you know.
And I think there's a bit of that going on
because the pressure is almost off in those situations because
(50:00):
it's not all on you, right, you can expose a
piece of yourself. And the good part is even if
it's not right, someone else can support it correct, you know.
And and so that's the genius part about those.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Everyone's like searching for the best ideas, like best idea
whins and they each other your idea.
Speaker 3 (50:25):
It might it might be the exact way you came
up with it. Somebody, I love that, what if we
did this, you know, and it's not exactly your idea,
it's your idea together and that you know.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeahborrage, let's get the show made. Jenna make some calls.
Speaker 1 (50:48):
I'll go do it.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
There's something Jenna can't do it. She'll get it so nice.
Sometimes good producer.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Can't be nice all the time.
Speaker 2 (50:59):
Come on, thank you so so much, Jac. Good to
see you through.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
Yes, worry about it on Bambo number two.
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Thank you, thank you. What a nice human being, Jenna.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
We're friends with Jac from and Sync.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
I mean, you really are. You're much closer with him
than I am. But I what a what a doll
of a human for somebody that we idolize, that literally
raised us. He's so nice in our teens.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
I never feel prouder than being able to be like
you know Jc that we all are obsessed with. He's
actually the nicest.
Speaker 6 (51:40):
Human I know, I know, he's so kind, so talented,
and like within our friend group, he and I are
sort of.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Like our closer friend group, like the only singers. And
we've been places where like trying to force us to
sing and are you out of your mind?
Speaker 6 (51:58):
I'm not singing you singing with or after dream that
is not I know, I get it, I get it,
I get it.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
His voice is so good and it's just gotten better.
Like yeah, we didn't even get we didn't talk about
the new and Sync songs too, where he just sounds incredible,
and he sounds it's good that we didn't because then
we haven't excused to bring him back, you know, and
it sounds like he would come great.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
Well, thank you jac for spending some time with us.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
Please go listen to the album. It's called Playing with
Fire and go stream it. That's what you're really miss
Thanks for listening, and follow us on Instagram at and
that's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
See you next time.
Host
Jenna Ushkowitz
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