March 24, 2020 • 51 mins
Almost everyone on Earth has heard of *NSync, but how much of the story do you REALLY know??
Wells is with Lance Bass this week (from a safe distance) to hear the stories of how the group became a worldwide phenomenon. But we go even further back and hear about what drew Lance to a career in music and what his life was like before taking over the world of pop.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Wells Cast with Wells, Adams and I
heart radio podcast. That is right, you're listening to the
Wells Cast. The Corona virus shut down, quarantine, not sure
if the world is going to end pretty soon edition
(00:21):
of the Wells Cast. At this point, I don't even
know what to say. I just hope that everyone is
safe out there, everyone is healthy, and everyone just stays
the funk away from everybody else. Don't be that guy
that gets like sixty five people sick because you wanted
to go to the beach and hang out with your friends.
(00:43):
All right, Don't be the guy that gets Nana sick
and puts her in the hospital and then puts a
bunch of pressure on the hospital and all the respirators
and stuff because you wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese.
I don't know if Chucky Cheese is open, but if
it is, that's gotta be ground zero for the Corona. Alright,
Just stay at home and listen to podcasts, specifically this one.
(01:05):
If you're like Wells, I've already listened to this one,
then go back to older episodes and learn you a
thing or two, because we got some good episodes. Today's
episode is bonkers, by the way, very excited to have
on the podcast. The man, the myth, the legend, a
founding member of little band you might might have heard
(01:27):
of called sinc that sounds pronounced or N S Y
and C. I don't know. That's right from Laurel Mississippi,
coming in at a hundred and seventy five pounds, dripping wet.
He's beautiful. You know him. Lance Bass is gonna be
on the show. Dude, Lance the guy that I've actually
known for a couple of years now. One of the
nicest dudes in all the entertainment industry. Super sweet. Obviously,
(01:52):
you know him from all the hits that he and
j T and j C and Chris and Joey doubt
back in the late nineties two thousand's. Then, of course
you know him as a guy came up third in
Dancing with the Stars Season Seven's been in movies like
Long Shot, Zoo Lander, I Now pronounce You, Chuck and
(02:13):
Larry and so many more. He's got a new project
out called street Light Harmonies that I'm very excited to
talk to him about. And of course he has his
daily podcast, The Daily Podcast with Dance Bass, to show
that I have been on also in Sync celebrating their
twentieth anniversary of No Strings Attached, which is crazy. He
also has I don't know, like a prosecco trailer company,
and he's got drink mixers. Like literally, this guy is
(02:35):
doing everything all right. I don't even know if there's
enough time in the quarantine to get through his whole story.
But coming up in just a couple of minutes. Yes,
boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, Lance Bass, we'll be
on who Ells Cast kind of rhymes, love it stick
around well Land, how are you, my man? How are you?
(03:11):
There's that beautiful face? Well, thanks for coming on my show. Well,
of course it's been uh and it's great to have
a podcast during this time because I think this is
what we've been like preparing for our whole lives right now. Yeah,
everyone has nothing to do but listen to like all
our all of our back catalogs of podcasts exactly, and
(03:33):
now everyone has a podcast. Well now now everyone. Now
everyone's doing like daily Instagram, um like lives with people,
which is my Miley Cyrus is doing it and Chris
Harris are you doing one yet? No? I have not
what I'm trying to figure out is a way to
do Instagram lives that you can do game nights because
(03:56):
I want to be able to play on my Apple
to you know, the jack Box TV games of course. Okay,
quip lash all that. I would love to figure out
how to play that with my fans on Instagram. Yeah,
so I have to figure that out. I know you'd
have to film the screen so they could see it,
but then how would they play with you and then
also be able to see the screen. It's very difficult. Okay,
(04:18):
So here's what I would suggest doing, because I thought
about this a lot. I would go live on your
phone and have that phone be pointed at the screen,
and then if you could have your husband join you
in the the app, so then that screen could be
looking at both of you guys. You know what I'm saying. Yeah,
(04:41):
so that everyone could see what the question was for
because I love quip Flash two. Everyone could see what
the question is. They could see you guys like joking
around about it. And then you have that code and
everyone goes on their phone. They if they're using their phone,
and they able to watch. I don't know that everyone
would have to have two phones in order to do that,
you know, which some people would, but I think it
would be so much fun because yeah, only eight people
(05:04):
could get in the room and play with you, but
everyone else can play in the audience, and I think
that would be so much fun. Surely this app exists
and if not, right, if if it doesn't, you're a
savvy businessman. I think that this is your calling. It
might be. I think I'm gonna have plenty of time
to figure this out. So I'm gonna call jack Box
TV and yeah, this happen. Speaking of being a savvy businessman,
(05:27):
I was doing the intro before I called you up,
and I was looking at like, what don't you do?
Because you've got you've got your cocktail thing going on,
right because I remember us talking about that when I
was on your show. And it's like a mixer that
you buy. Yeah, it's called just add X. It's a
non alcoholic mixer. Yeah, it's a perfect thing to own
right now during the quarantine which you cannot leave your house.
(05:51):
It is insane the timing on this, because we're we're
launching May fourth, yea, and of course that's going to
be probably the peak of everything going on right now.
It's so funny because all the whole reason we came
up with just add ex is because we started seeing
the trend of people not really wanting to go out
as much, and when they drink, they like to drink
less alcohol and then would rather fix drinks at home
(06:12):
for their friends. So that's why we created this. And
now here we are where we're stuck at home wanting
to make you drink for our friends. So yeah, we're
we're kind of excited. We're we're there at the right time.
I know, we were joking about it when I was
on your show that I was going to bring a
bunch of this stuff to Paradise, and I mean, fingers
crossed paradise happens. I don't, I don't. I don't know
(06:35):
when do you? When would y'all start if it did? June? Yeah,
June is when it films. But but the thing about
it is is that every show is contingent upon the
last right. So like you need to have the Bachelor
because you need to have all the reject women to
find the one woman who's going to be the Batch Sirette,
and then you need to have the Batch Sorrette to
have all the reject guys to then fill the pool
(06:57):
of girls and reject guys in Mexico, So you can't
like just not do one to then do the other.
So it's so facts. So this podcast needs to make
me a lot of money. You know. I think we're
all gonna be relying on podcasts for a little while
because I don't know. I don't see Bachman Paradise happening
this summer. I don't think Big Brother happening this summer.
(07:18):
There's I think everything's gonna be shut down for a
long time. Yeah, speaking of podcasts, you have your daily
podcast with Lance Pass. Are you still doing that daily
during this shutdown? Oh? Yes, and it's it's it's ramped
up a lot. You know. We try to do five
a week. Um now we're we're about six right now
because of what is going on in you know, this
(07:39):
last week, I did a whole in sync week, which
was so crazy and fun. But I got to interview
the guys for all of them over ninety minutes, which
was it was really nice to hear interviews that aren't
cut out, you know, and you get like the three
minutes to tell what you want to say. But uh,
this you got to sit in for ninety minutes and
(08:00):
and here exactly what these guys went through. Yeah, so
I saw it was the twenty anniversary of No Strings Attaches?
That why you did the in sync week? Yeah? You know,
I wanted to do something special for the anniversary. Um.
You know, we had big, grand ideas, but of course
because of this virus, we we weren't able to do anything. Um,
so I was like, well, the safest thing to do
(08:20):
is use my podcast where you can't catch anything and
uh and get the stories out. So it was it was,
you know, good timing. I guess for that too. Hey,
what didn't No Strings Attached win? What didn't? Yeah? What
did you guys win? Grammy? Really? Yes? Are you kidding me?
That's I'm still very salty with the Grammy board because
(08:43):
you know, back then, the Grammys did not really care
for the kids, the young uns in there. You know,
they were still an old like. Yeah, so you know,
we got nominated I think for like six Grammys this
year that No Strings Attached came out and we're like, well,
maybe this is our year, Like they gotta give us one, right,
It's it broke the record for biggest album you know ever,
(09:04):
most popular album, and our album was up for you know,
most Popular record, and uh sort of like, well, you know,
this makes sense they might give it to us on
this one, and they gave it to Steely Dan. The
most popular album. The most popular album of two thousand
was Steely Dan. Yeah. You know. The sad thing about
this is that everyone that listens to my podcast, and
(09:26):
probably everyone listens to your podcast, thinks that Steely Dan
is a guy. You know, so true, so true, so true,
And I love Steely Dan. But the Grammys really hostess
on that one. So yes, I did not get my
Grammy because of Steely Dan. Thank you. Oh man, I'm
sorry about that. That That sucks. I wanted to know about
this new show that you're that you're a part of,
(09:48):
which one. Oh god, you're that guy. You've got so
many freaking irons in the fire. Tell me about steel harmonies, oh,
spreel harmonies. Yeah, it's so strange because we filmed us
over two years ago. It's it's a documentary and you
know I love docs, like I'm a doc filmmaker. It's
it's my life. Uh, but this one was very special.
(10:10):
It came to me, you know, from some friends of
mine that were producing this that worked with us within
Sync UM and it's called Freelight Harmonies, and it takes
a look at the whole do wop era of music history,
and that's what really influenced all the music you hear today,
especially groups like in Sync and Backstreet uh and Boys
the Men. I mean, it was those those groups from
(10:32):
that era that really inspired hip hop and pop. I
mean it's every genre, um and especially navigating through the
civil rights movement also, you know, which you know this
music really helped. Yeah. I was watching the you guys
sent over the trailer for it, and there's this there's
this scene where this woman is talking about all these
(10:54):
different kind of like um, like street light bands like
s and she she was like, every corner you'd go on,
there would be like four or five dudes in harmony singing.
And I just thought to myself, how dope would that
have been to be able to walk around back then
and be like, Wow, this band is pretty great. They're
just hanging out here on the street corner, you know,
(11:18):
And that's how boy bands were created. Yeah, I just
I love the idea of like walking around like sunny
England town and being like, is that one direction hanging
around that burning trash can. Yeah, but I love I
mean those I you know, that's what inspired me, you
know so much. I mean I love the Drifters of
(11:41):
you know, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Platters, uh
you know, Little Anthony and Imperials. I mean all those
incredible you know vocal harmony groups. Uh you know, back
then it's it's what makes me love music. I just
love harmonies. So that's not out yet, though it comes
March thirty one. Look perfect for when everyone is stuck
(12:03):
on their couch. You know, this is a documentary world
right now, we're all just you know, loving Like have
you seen uh uh Tiger King yet? No? Okay, so
that's all like we're doing that later today it is.
I'm on the last episode now, but I started it
yesterday to watch almost seven episodes in twenty four hours.
It is insane. I love documentaries like that. I love
(12:27):
any documentary that starts one way and then just goes
into it just some crazy area. Okay, going back to
your podcast, I mean you're doing the you know, the
week of in Sync, you had every member on the show,
Is that right? Yes? Who was your favorite interview of
the week. It was weird because they were all so different. Um.
(12:47):
And you know, when I had planned this, we didn't
know that we would be on lockdown, so it was
all going to be in person. You know, some of
the guys were flying to California to sit down in
front of me. Uh and that gives you know, in
person is just it's just a better interview. Um. And
then of course things went down. Everyone had to you know,
separate and we couldn't be around each other, so things
(13:08):
were changing so much about the week. I didn't even
know if some of the interviews were gonna be made.
I didn't do justin until about sixteen hours before it aired,
on the last day that we could have done this.
So it was it was pretty stressful last week for sure,
but we got them all done. But each interview because
of that and they're all spaced out, they all sounded
so different. But I would say my favorite was Chris
(13:31):
Kirkpatrick because it was the first interview I've ever seen
of him that uh, he spent ninety minutes being you know,
he's always kind of crazy and you know, he's just
a comedy you know guy, Uh never takes anything too seriously,
but he had a real serious conversation, and you really
got to see a side of Chris that people have
not seen in the past. And it was nice to hear,
(13:54):
you know, justin talk for two hours about in Sync,
which is a subject he really doesn't talk about hardly
at all. So and you know, there was a lot
of things that you know, he had never said before
speaking of h Sync. I want to kind of get
the meat of the show, which is I don't know
if anyone told you, but this show is is an
origin story show, and I like to find out how
(14:15):
people became famous and then effectively used as the blueprint
for other people out there that want to, I don't know,
just be successful in whatever they're gonna do. So I
want to take a quick break and we come back.
I want to find out where you came from and
then how you got to where you are now. Okay,
all right, all right, stick around. You are listening to
(14:36):
the Wells Ass, All right, back in the Wells Gass.
I have Lance Bass on the show, who's literally got
so much stuff going on. New documentary coming out very
(14:58):
very soon called street Light Harmonies. Of course, he is
the host of the Daily podcast, which is a show
everyone should listen to every single day. He was also,
I don't know, in a band you might have heard
of before called uh in Sync and you were third
on Dancing with the Stars. I was not gonna bring
that up because that's just yeah. I usually say people
(15:18):
I made it to the final. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
third is my number. Hey, don't worry. I was the
eighth of a bachelorette, so that could yeah. But who's
laughing now, that's exactly right. We have like a kind
of a weird connection. I grew up in California, but
I went to school in Mississippi, and you were born
in Laurel, Mississippi, a place where I have a lot
(15:40):
of like friends and like old fraternity brothers that were
from Laurel. I want to hear about where you came
from and how the hell you got to where you
are right now, Lance Bass, So tell us about growing
up in Laurel, Mississippi. Yeah, so, yeah, I was born
in Laurel, Mississippi, UM, but actually grew up about five
minutes next door because we didn't have a hospital in
our town. So born in Laud but raised in Ellisville,
(16:03):
which is like five minutes next door. And you know,
it was a very small town. You know, we had
about two thousand people in our town. We lived in
the country, very simple, simple life. But it wasn't until
I moved to Clinton, Mississippi, which was about two hours
north in central Mississippi, where that that town was all
about football and show choir who near the high school
(16:28):
had the number one show choir in the world. And
so this town was just all about sports and music.
I mean, that's just what it all was. So either
I was gonna be a football player or I was
gonna get into music. And I definitely into music because
I was about five five my whole life until my
senior year, I started singing with my best friends. That
got me into it. Oddly enough, I didn't think I
(16:49):
would do it professionally, and I was just you know,
I liked singing in chorus and doing the show choir
and having fune my friends on the weekend, creating groups
and that type of stuff, but I never thought that
it would ever be a profession of mine until the
day justin timber Lake called and we shared a vocal coach,
and so the vote coach recommended me to go down
to Orlando to meet the guys and be their bass singer.
(17:11):
And it was all over after that first time singing
with them. Okay, rewind though, I mean cool, justin you're
in Mississippi, you're doing the show choir. You just finished
work in the documentary called street Light Harmonies. Were you
like in acapella groups like back then, Like we're like
a bunch of you guys hanging around singing do op songs. Yes. Uh.
(17:32):
When I was probably thirteen, thirteen or fourteen, I put
my first group together. Um, if we were an acapella
group that would only do do walk type songs and
do these medalies in the fifties and sixties. Uh yeah, oh,
I'll show you tape. I'll show your tape. We would
wear these checkered black and white checkered vests, you know,
(17:54):
and you know we would we would do our acapella
and we do our little dance moves. Um. And there
were seven of us, so it was like way before
K pop came around. There were seven of us. Uh yeah,
and our name yeah was seven Cards stud Oh yeah yeah.
Who came up with that? I feel like that was
(18:14):
like someone's drunk dad who was like this would be
a great name. Now, it would be me that I
definitely came up with that name, and I rely was drunk. Yeah, okay,
so you're you're forming these these acapella bands. Um, are
you an only child? Like? Where are you? What's your
(18:35):
the family dynamic? Like, yeah, I have one sister, she's
three years older than me. My family is very tight,
you know, even even my you know, grandparents. Everyone, we
all lived in Laurel and Elliswell, no one really kind
of escaped that little ten mile radius. Um, and all
my family still lives there in Laurel and Elliswell, Um,
except my parents. They moved up to Central Mississippi, UM
(18:56):
where we ended up, and they still live there now
because it's closer to the airport. Um. But yeah, we
you know, it was just a nice, simple, simple life.
We didn't really the only music we really did was,
you know, go to church and singing in church choirs.
So that was my My adolescence was really just kind
of growing up singing in church. What did your parents
(19:17):
think of the path you chose, which was not football
but to performing arts and singing? Him done? Oh they
loved that I went into performing arts instead of sports.
Oh yeah, yeah, because my mom. She she just loves music.
She's a great singer herself, her brother, my uncle great
guitarist and musicians. So, you know, our family, as much
(19:40):
as we love watching sports, I mean we're huge, huge
SEC fans, none of us really play it. You know.
My my dad was you know, he he liked to
run track and he was a pole altered all that.
But no one else in my family really cared about sports,
playing sports. But we were way more into entertainment. Yeah,
(20:01):
was your sister also singing with you and doing all
this stuff? My sister did not know. I mean, the
whole reason I started singing in the first place was
because of my sister. I remember when we were it
was in Laurel, Mississippi, and she was in that summer
there was some kind of summer program at the church
where they would put on these musicals or whatever, and
(20:23):
I was so upset that my parents didn't let me
do it. I'm like, I want to be in this,
like now you're not doing it, like okay, um And
so watching her perform on stage at such a young
age and like, well I want to do that, I
feel like this is I would love this. Um. So
then after telling my parents. They saw how upset I
was that at that show. I was like, I there
(20:43):
was people in my age and this, I could have
done this. Uh. Then they saw that my interest was,
you know, in music, and so that's when there it
was the first inkling that Okay, well we need to
we need to really focus on this for you. Okay,
So they help you focus on it by I guess,
get you a vocal coach. No, it was weird. I
(21:04):
I never I never really had a vocal coach, which
was weird. So the vocal coach that introduced me to
Justin when I had that group Seven Cards Stud. By
the way, is there music like on iTunes or Spotify
that I can find Seven Cards Stud? You know what,
I'm sure it's out there somewhere. I have to ask
my friend Darren. He has all the tapes. So I'll
(21:26):
get you something. Trust you're gonna see this and yeah,
we're gonna want to see this. Uh so Yeah. So
when I moved up to Central Mississippi, it was there
was a thing at the Agricultural Museum. So I worked
at the Agriculture Museum UM because they had this group
called the Mississippi show Stoppers and it was basically all
these kids from age six to eighteen, UM, and they
(21:49):
all audition and they'd come up with this troop that
goes around the country singing Mississippi songs to promote the state. Okay,
it's as bad as you tape, uh. But through that
it was how I created Seven Cards Stud. Because all
of the seven members were in the Mississippi show Stoppers
and our vocal coach for Mississippi show Stoppers was Bob
Westbrook from Memphis, Tennessee. And that's who was Justin's vocal coach.
(22:13):
So that's how I got to know Justin through him
helping us with Seven Cards Stud. Okay, so how old
are you in the height the fever pitch that is
Seven Cards Stud? Oh? I was fourteen? Okay, yeah, I
think fourteen fifteen? Okay. So at some point you get
a call from Justin Timberlake. How old are you at
that moment? I was sixteen? Okay. So a couple of
(22:35):
years day into Seven Cards said, you get this call,
do you know are you familiar with his work in
like the Mickey mouse Club? Um? I wasn't. I was.
I was familiar with the Mickey Mouse Club because I
watched it when I was young, um, you know, like
fifth and sixth grade. I love Mickey mouse Club and
it was like the original, you know, the first season
of it, and then I stopped watching it when I
(22:58):
got in you know, junior high or whatever. Uh. And
that's when j C. Hies joined right back. So I remember,
I remember watching j C's first season, so I knew
who he was. And so when Justin was explaining, you know, oh,
me and j C, you know, on the Mickey Mouse Club,
I knew it was something special because I knew MMC
was such a huge show, and I knew that their
(23:18):
fan base must be insane. Okay, so he calls you
and says, hey, my vocal coach suggested to hit you up.
What do you say in that moment? Well, I didn't
get to say anything. My mom was the one talking
on the so they called. It was lou Perlman and
(23:38):
Justin and his mom. Uh, they called. And you know,
I was getting ready for the homecoming parade, which I
was in charge of. Um, so I was you know,
I was in charge of our float. That's all I
really cared about, you know. And then the dance was
the next day, and you know, in high school. That's
that's your life, you know, high school dances and in
the homecoming parades. Uh. So I remember coming back from
(24:01):
you know, uh, from some meeting we had about the
the dance, and my mom was talking to someone and
how I was like, who's that. She's like, oh no,
no one really, she didn't even tell me. They called
Then the next day they called back and they're like
no, no no, no, like this is like a serious thing,
like you need to like at least think about this.
And I happened to be there and I was talking
(24:22):
to my sister like who she talking to. She's like,
I don't know, some some woman's her her son is
justin timber Lay. He's only me get mosk. I'm like what,
like okay, like that sounds legit. And so she told
me about it, and I was like, well, we have
to try this out. So she was like okay. So
we all, you know, got on a flight the next
day and flew down to Orlando, and uh, you know,
(24:44):
she didn't think that I would ever make the band
at all. So but yeah, she knew. Once to see
her to sing, it was all over. So it was
a tryout look an audition thing for for the band. Yeah,
I guess it was here. I mean there was no
other people auditioning at this point, but I know they
had gone through a lot of members. You know, at
(25:05):
any group at the beginning, they go through so many
iterations of it before they figure out what it is.
There was a guy named Jason that was the bass singer,
UM and they were already you know, put the band
together and it was Joey's one of Joey's best friends, UM.
And then Jason last minute decided he didn't want to
do this because he didn't like the market they were
going for that he didn't want teens, you know, for
(25:27):
his his fans, so he left the group. And then
that's when they, you know, they wanted to find a
bass singer. So that's when Justin called. Everyone was like, okay,
I need a bass singer. And that's when they suggested
I come down and yeah, I just met with the
guys were saying the star single banner and yeah, I
would never looked back. Jesus Christ, what's Jason doing now
(25:48):
delivering pizzas? Is he really? Yeah? Well, I mean he was, Yeah,
I don't know now, but yeah, that was the thing.
But I guess. I mean, Joey still talks to him,
and I think he's like, you know, it is what
it was. Yeah, I know, but can in sync? Dude?
That's all this is crazy. You fly down the next
day to Orlando, you meet all these guys, Are you starstruck?
(26:10):
Are you nervous or you like, dude, I gotta deal
with the float and prom in a week, so like,
let's get this thing going. Yeah. No, I was definitely
still more into what I was happening in high school
because you know, I we didn't know how big this
was gonna get. I mean, I really thought that we
were just going to be a local acapella group that
(26:30):
got hired by Disney World and we would just be
able to sing a Disney World because Chris I was
doing that at Universal Studios, he was in the High Tones.
There was this acapella group that would kind of walk
around the park singing, you know, doo wops, kind of
like streetlight harmonies, um, and so I was like, Wow,
maybe maybe we can be that group for Disney will
(26:51):
be like that, that acapella group. But then it just
kind of, I don't know, it just got bigger and
bigger and bigger didn't stop. What was the first moment
that you realized that in sync was more than like
the second iteration of seven cards study. Yeah, it was
so strange because a lot of people don't know, you know,
(27:11):
our record. We we spent a year trying to get
a record deal our first year, and no one would
sign us, really, oh no one. It was It was
hard and and in good reason because if you saw
our demo, it wasn't it wasn't that incredible. Especially it
was like, I don't think America is ready for this
right now, So no one would sign us. And then
(27:33):
finally a German label BMG Ariola and Munich Germany UH
wanted to sign us. And so we flew over to
Germany and lived there for a couple of years and
you know, and launched all of our stuff there first, um,
and it blew up overnight. It was just I mean,
we went from one week no one knew who we
were and the next week we were on the cover
(27:54):
of every magazine you know in Europe. UM. So that
was a that was a strange situation because yeah, you
felt like it was like the Beatles, like you, I mean,
you have thousands of fans chasing you down the street
like you It was the most insane thing I've ever experienced.
And then you go back home to Mississippi and your
(28:15):
friends are like, yeah, sure, sure that happens, Like they
don't believe you're just like I swear we're popular. Open Sure.
So you come back home and get you know, crazy
realities left into you be like, yeah, you're nothing. So
it's weird, you know, your first two years of your
career to feel I feel like it's it's popular, but
yet you can't feel that you're you're successful because you
(28:37):
don't recognize any of the TV shows. You don't you don't,
you know, it's not it's not your culture. Um. So
it wasn't until we came to America a couple of
years later, and you know, we were we were fighting hard,
you know, to stand out. You know, we were right
after the Backstreet Boys, so we were always getting compared
to them. We were always the uh, you know, redheaded
step child. Um that was always kind of getting pooped
(29:00):
on by you know, the record label, by you know,
radio stations. Like we were always just always pushed the side.
And it wasn't until we did a Disney special that's
where it all changed. And that's when I I I
realized for the first time, holy crap, people are listening
to our music right now, and you know, we you know,
(29:20):
couldn't get much traction. Then Disney offered just this hour
Disney special that they were just doing, and we we
did it, and they aired that thing every hour for
about a month and uh and it just you saw
from the from day one that it aired. Two a
month later, we went from like number eighty nine in
the chart to top ten, like immediately. It was crazy.
(29:43):
So was it like Christmas at Disneyland? That's what it
was like that. Oh yeah, it's uh, it's like that,
except back then they did they would do these real concerts,
you know, it had nothing to do with you know,
kind of whatever special. But they did like a Leanne
Rhymes one, and they did us um like three other ones.
So they did these concert series that I wish they
(30:04):
would still do to this day because they were they
were really great. But yeah, it was great because you know,
it was an hour special just on us, so you
got to see our personalities and you would kind of
go behind the scenes and and and I think that's
why the fans really you know we're drawn to us
because after watching that special, not only did you get
to see what we did on stage, but you really
(30:24):
got to know us individually through all of our interviews
throughout the concert. Real quick, guys, want to go back.
What was the name of the record label in Germany
that signed you? BMG Ariola so like like a boob Ariola. Yes,
I was wondering if you were gonna bring like wow,
I said Ariolas. Didn't even man the name for that
(30:45):
record labels the Tits Okay, So okay, I don't worry.
I had that. I was like, we hold on, I
gotta go back to the booth thing. Um. It's so
interesting too, because you guys came along at a very
iconic point eight in musical history. I mean, yes, the
Backstreet Boys were a thing. But when I look back
(31:06):
at that time, because you and I are actually pretty
close to nage, so I was kind of like I
was a couple of years behind you guys, but I
was like living through it, and it was a very
iconic moment in time with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera. You guys,
I feel like even like no doubt was like thrown
in there the surge of like post grunge pot there
(31:30):
was this grunge movement that was like dirty thin dirty
is the right word to use in just in terms
of music and also like in aesthetic and then you
guys come out very clean, very polished. When you look
back at that time, what do you remember of the
musical landscape and the imprint you guys put on it. Yeah,
well it was strange because you know, in the nineties,
(31:50):
I grew up with the grunge. You know that Seattle
sound um, and that's what I love, Like Offspring was
my favorite, and so that's what I was into um.
And then you know pop, you know, we didn't really
have much pop at that time, and then Robin and
Spice Girls and Hansen kind of came in and just
(32:12):
through this crazy you know, dance pop at us that
we weren't used to because we were all just being
feeling grungy at the time. So it was so different
that it really stood out. And then you you couple
it with groups like the Spice Girls where it's just
fun to watch them. You get to know their personalities
and you know, not just their music that's great, but
like we actually like these individual people it kind of
(32:35):
just changed the landscape of what we wanted, and we
wanted to see more live shows. We wanted to go
to more concerts, and when you want to go to concerts,
you want to get entertained, and these pop acts were
really entertaining us um and so I think that's what
everyone was just kind of feeding on, was just have
just fun dance music that you can go and just
(32:55):
have fun and see a great show. After this Disney special,
it's a shot of adrenaline into the band's a orda
all of a sudden, like everyone knows who you guys are.
What was your feeling inside the band, because I guess
from the outside looking in it was everyone is equal,
(33:15):
But also like the centerpiece was JT. At least that's
how I viewed it. Is that how you guys viewed
it inside the bubble um. I mean not at not
at the beginning. You know, when you when you put
a group together, you know it's you. You have no
idea what people are going to gravitate to our and
in which individuals um. So when we were, you know,
(33:36):
the first couple of years of our existence, it was
very equal, Like we wanted to make sure that all
five of us were equally showcase and you know, and
it was just our things, so we all kind of
stood out. But then as you know, time progressed and
the record label wanted to, you know, make sure you
sold albums, and they had to start really kind of
focusing on you know, uh uh that lead singer. And
(34:00):
so you saw that that eventual, you know, change to like, Okay,
Justin is now the official front man when the record
label is you know, every every photo shoot you do,
they're like, okay, that's great, guys, but let's probably one
with Justin in the middle of the side, you know,
just like we know what you're doing, like just and
so we would you brought up, no doubt. But it
was so funny at the beginning of my career. You know,
(34:21):
we saw that the label wanted, you know, just to
be that front man because the the you know, the
young girls were just really you know going after them. Uh.
But that song uh don't Speak, you know in the
video where Glenn Stefani and the others you know are
getting pushed out of the photo shoot. Just we used
to sing that all the time. Ever're like dost be
(34:41):
I mean, it was it was great so we would
always make fun of it because we knew what was
going on, but but the record label would never just
come out and say that to us, so we would
always just make fun of them for it. Yeah. It
reminds me of in almost famous when Jason Lee's like,
how can you tell I'm just one of the out
of focus guys in the background. Exactly. Yeah, Listen, Like
(35:05):
I have a lot of friends who are musicians, who
are actors or entertainers, and there's a bit of ego
that comes with that. Was that met with any like
ill will or jealousy? Yeah, no, not not at all.
The great thing about our group is we're very aware
of what's going on um, and we were just so tight.
(35:27):
I mean we were brothers. We lived together for so long.
You could tell each other anything. You could fight with
each other, but you knew you were going to make
up like an hour later. There was really no jealousy
in the group because all of us would keep each
other our heads like, you know, so they wouldn't inflate.
I mean, if you said anything off the wall, you
would just get slapped down immediately by the guys. So
(35:48):
they kept you humble, you know, very very easily. What
are your parents saying during the height of this, Yeah,
I mean they enjoyed it for sure. I think it
brought my family closer together, especially during those touring you
know days. Uh. My mom is always a worried a
worried word word. So she you know, she was always
(36:11):
just so afraid for us. Uh, you know, anything I do.
She's just always scared for my my safety. And you know,
and being being in a group like that, you know,
you get you get some stupid things that happened to
you know, a lot of death threats and that type
of stuff. So those are the things that you know,
her a parent for sure, to know that your kid is,
you know, being threatened, you know. Uh, so that that
(36:33):
was hard for her. But overall, my family was just
so supportive and they loved being on the road with
us when they could, and I think it was just
enjoyable for them to watch this whole thing go down.
Knowing what you know, now, do you think you would
have been able to do it, or if you were
able to do it would have been as enjoyable living
(36:55):
in the landscape that we have now with social media.
You proceeded that, thank god. Yeah, look it could have
who knows, it's like me coming out of the closet,
like me coming out in the height of in Saint
could have been good or it could have destroyed our band.
Like we don't know what would have happened back then.
If we had social media back in you know, two thousand,
(37:15):
I have a feeling we would have gotten a lot
of trouble um and it could have hurt us because
you know, everyone was way innocent back then, and I
mean you you couldn't even be seen with a beer
in your hand without you know, parents out there being
like you can't listen in sink anymore, there's the devil um.
So yeah, it's a yeah, you know, it's I think
(37:35):
it would have runed our career because I think people
like Joey Fatone would have really got your trouble. Not
the name names, but Joey would have fucked us up
and that and that goes along with camera phones too,
if there were there were camera phones and the clubs
we used to go to, you know back here in
l A, I mean you would do stupid things as
(37:55):
as young teenagers. Yeah, yeah, it would have been bad.
You mentioned coming out you did that in a in
a pretty public way. It was. It was it like
a like a People special. It was the cover of people. Yeah,
it's a very brave thing to do in such a
public forum. I'm just like in awe of people that
have the courage to kind of do that. It's twenty
and it's still weird out there. What was it like
(38:17):
doing that back then? You know it was it was
scary for sure. This was two thousand and six. So
in two thousand six, being gay was definitely, um, you know,
a career ender, which was so sad. And trust me,
many people kept reminding me that, Um, you know, they
didn't they didn't know I was officially gay, but you know,
(38:38):
they would definitely allude, you know to they like, no
one can be you know, one can come out. You know,
no one can say they have a girlfriend. You know.
Then they would kind of blame it on other things
like that. But yeah, it was. It was definitely a
weird time because you didn't know what people's attitudes were
about the gay community. No one really spoke about it
too much. Um So when I decided to tell of
(39:00):
my story, I I was in a place where I
couldn't hide it anymore. I was already on my third boyfriend.
My friends knew, my family knew. So, like, you know,
I was out in my in my personal life. But
I felt like I needed to make sure that the
public knew it too, um, just for the greater good. Uh.
(39:21):
And so I decided I need to tell my story, um,
because I was tired of, you know, hiding so much.
One of the reasons that I knew I could do
it was because I knew at that point we weren't
going to make another in Sync album. Um, That's what
I was waiting on. I didn't want that my personal
life to have to interfere at all with whatever we
were gonna do with in Sync after the hiatus. So
that was just off the table. We're just not going
(39:42):
to talk about my personal life. But then once I realized, okay,
we're probably not gonna do another album, there was nothing
holding me back. I'm like, all right, I just want
to live my life. I you know, I'm in love
right now. I want to share it with the world.
And so yeah, I did it with people, and I
was scared of the reaction. I tho the majority of
people were gonna hate me. I was gonna lose a
(40:02):
lot of friends. I disappeared. I went to Catalina for
a week and just didn't watch TV or anything because
I didn't I didn't want to know what the fallout was. Um.
But when I got back, I saw all the reactions
from you know, the David Letterman's and Jay Lenos of
the world, and instead of making fun of me, they
made it so positive and being like like who cares anymore?
(40:26):
You know, It's like, why why are we at a
point where we care that, you know, to out someone
on the cover of a magazine. So it was it
was definitely eye opening for me, and I saw things
changing at that moment and cult in our culture that
we were just getting more accepted, and it was it
was a beautiful thing. I mean, listen, I went to
school in Mississippi for five years. Things are viewed a
(40:47):
little bit differently in the Deep South. Was it even
more difficult doing that knowing that there we probably maybe
a little more fallout from kind of where you grew up. Oddly,
it was easier in Mississippi feet And I think it's
because of this, because you know, I was still young,
you know, when I came out and I would go
home to Mississippi, you know. And I'm still best friends
(41:08):
with all my friends from high school. My family still
lives there, so I'm in Mississippi a good bit. I
still on property there. Um But I remember going there
during the incinct days, and you know, you'd go out
your friends to bars and all that, and the amount
of rednecks that would come up do you want to fight?
You right, and being like, you know, calling me faggot
(41:29):
and that, you know, just you know, and I'm straight,
right and I'm with my girlfriend, and I got such
you know, homophobia thrown at me from being a straight
guy in a boy band, um that, and they just
they hated me like it was hard. I mean it was.
There were a lot of fights that were happening anytime
I would go out. It was crazy. Then I came
out of the closet and it completely changed. Now going
(41:50):
to these bars, these rednecks, I would be like, hey, man,
how's it like? They weren't threatened anymore. I guess that
I wasn't getting their girl. But it was weird how
much more I was accepted after I came out then before.
So strange, very interesting. So the band dissolves effectively, How
did you guys feel about that. Well, it's such a
slow thing. You know. We we took six months off,
(42:13):
so you know, it was our last tour that we did,
and you know, Justin decided, he was like, I really
on our because we had decided we wanted a six
month hiight is just to be able to rest. We
have not had a break in years, so we needed
this time to kind of reset, and just was like,
on our break, I want to try a solo album.
And we're like, yeah, that's awesome, because anything you do
(42:35):
is only gonna make us look even better, right. Um,
So you know, he went off and did a solo album.
I did the whole space thing like everyone was doing
the whole you know everything else. Um, and then I
came back from Russia to start the new albums. You know,
I had to be there six months later. So six
months later I come back to America to start this
(42:56):
album and we, you know, our managers like, oh, need
three more months because Justin's single was actually blowing up
right now. We're like, okay, great, I'd love another three
month off this this is great. And then another three months,
and another six months, then another six months and you're
like all right, maybe this isn't happening. So we didn't
realize the group was dissolved until, you know, years after
(43:19):
it was actually dissolved. Yeah. You know, you watch the
Bohemian Rhapsody film and when Freddie Mercury goes off and
does his thing, there's kind of a screw you attitude
Freddy from everyone in the band. Was there that with
Justin or were you guys like, dude, do you man awesome?
Go for it? Now? We've always been supportive. Yeah, I mean,
I we love everything that you know, he does solo wise. Yeah,
(43:42):
I mean it sucks for us that we can't tour
and make new in sync stuff because of that. But
you know, you can't blame the guy either. I mean,
he's you know, he he had this you know, creativity
that he needed to release as a goal of artist,
and it just it hasn't stopped, you know, at all.
Do you have a favorite in sync song? Yeah? Well,
I mean there's there's two. Actually, Uh, the most meaningful
(44:05):
song to me is this song called I Thought She Knew,
which is all no strings attached, um. But it was
our first acapella that we ever learned together, and our
our vocal coach Robin Wiley Um, and she was our producer.
She lived with us. She was the Mickey Mouse Club
vocal coach, so that you know, she was really tight
with Justin and j C. She's the one who gave
us our sound. She's just this brilliant, brilliant arranger um
(44:28):
with harmonies, and so she would do all our acapellas
and she wrote the song I Thought She Knew and
it was our first acapella and it just it is
one of my favorite acapellas that we ever have done,
that No Holy Night. So that finally made the No
Strings Attached album that many years later, So that was
very meaningful for us, especially now because unfortunately she's passed
away from cancer. So it's just I'm just so glad
(44:51):
that we got to honor her with that song on
that album. And then my ultimate which I wished was
a single, was a song called It Makes Me ill
Um and it was. It was also a No Strings Attached,
but it was my favorite song because that was the
direction I thought in Sync was going and the sound
of that, it was the direction that we were heading towards,
(45:13):
UH and that was bringing people like Candy Burris's Housewife
of Atlanta. UM. She wrote that song, and she also
wrote TLC scrubs and so I really wanted that kind
of scrubs fill because that's what we kind of grew
up on, is that. You know, we're very heavily influenced
on R and B and so that I wanted to
bring that forward and I love it. A lot of
(45:35):
fans love it, but we never released it as a
single unfortunately. Do you have a group chat? We do, Yes,
We've had a group chat for years. Yeah, what's pretty crazy.
It's funny. We're we basically revert to being ten years
old every time we talked context. What is the name
of said group chat? I think it changes because changes
(45:55):
throughout the years, um, depending on what we're doing. You know.
I think someone had Like when we did Cotel last year,
there was some kind of funny name. I think Chris
came up with. I forget, but I don't even know
what it is at this point. It's probably some coronavirus. Yet,
who are you closest with today? From the band? All
my relationships are so unique, h one. I love it.
(46:19):
You know, j C and I are are really close
because we live in l A. You know, and so
I get to see him more and he comes over
to my bar roccos all the time, and I mean,
he's basically like the norm of rockos. Um, so I
get to I get to see him, you know, a
lot more than the other guys, and that's really bonded us.
I feel like I bonded more with j C after
the band than in the band, which I love. It's
(46:41):
always always been my best friend. So I mean, we're
we're just an odd couple for sure, because we could
not be more different, but somehow it works. And he's
always been the one that I would probably confide in
most too. And then yeah, I mean and Justin and
Chris mean, we're just all it's you know, we're brothers.
You know. It's it's weird because you can go three
(47:03):
months without talking to each other and then just pick
right back up and you're like, oh yeah, like nothing
has passed. I have to ask. I worry that maybe
Corona might have ruined this. But would you guys ever
do a reunion tour? Were you going to do one
with theversary thing? No, there was no reunion tour planned, um,
but it was very eye opening for me doing these interviews,
(47:24):
you know, on the Daily podcast, because a lot of
the people, you know, everyone always just assumed Justin was
the hole now right, like he's too busy, like when
he's not gonna have time to do this, doesn't want
to do this, And in hearing his interview, he's very
open to it. You know, you're like, oh wait, and
so I think it's the first time the fans stopped
(47:45):
putting the blame on Justice because they're all like Justin
as the hold out. But after listening to this, you're like,
oh wait, he's he's kind of into talking about something. Um.
And it was actually j C that is the one
that's been so hard to figure out if he wants
to do this or not, because he's, you know, he's
a worry ward He gets in his head he wants
everything to be so perfectly planned out before you do anything. Um.
(48:08):
So he's the one that's been really kind of contemplating
this whole thing more than anyone. All Right, I want
to be respectful of your time because I know you
have a very busy day of going back and watching
Netflix and oh yeah, but I wanted to end now.
I get I get Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy next.
It's great. Alright, that's very cool. Actually I want to
I want to end the show with rapid fire questions. Okay, okay, alright,
(48:32):
rapid fire questions with Lance Bass favorite book, Killing mocking Bird?
Who who's your first kiss? Bethany oh Man, I love
when remember there? You always remember the full name of
my first love? Oh yeah, yeah, shout onto Maggie Finnigan
out there. Um, who's your What was your first concert
you went to? I never really remember, but it's either
(48:57):
Clint Black, which I think Faith Hill opened up for him.
She was brand new. It was either Clem Black or
it was um Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynett. So yeah,
it was all the same year. I just forget which
one was first. I guess that makes sense. You were
in Mississippi. Yeah, I love the country. Yeah, celebrity that
(49:18):
you're mistaken for? Who is the uh the singer from
Lady Annabellum? Oh, I know who's talking about. I don't
know his name. He gets mistaken for you. Let's be fair,
Well we do. We talk about this all the time. Yes,
every time we run into so they're like, oh, there's
our coppelganger. Except he's seven foot tall and five it's
(49:38):
a little different. What's your biggest pet? Peeve bad drivers?
I mean, you know, living in l A, it's it's
not good for me. My stress levels go away too
much because there's just I want to be the person
that gets to take people's licenses away because some of
these people just should not be driving. Who would you
call to get you out of jail? My assistant giggles, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(50:02):
she she's She's the only one I know that would
actually pick up the phone if I called. And last one,
because I imagine a lot of people had your face
in their room. Did you have a poster hanging on
your bedroom wall? And if so, who was it or
what band was it? I've had two posters on my wall. Um.
The first one was White Snake, Okay that I love
(50:25):
d White Snake and uh and then Lawanda from Uh
Jim you know whatever most Jim Carrey Show. And yes,
he had a big poster of her on my wall,
the fire Marshall Bill bit he did on that Lance Bass.
Thank you so much for being on the Welles cast.
(50:46):
You are an absolute American treasure and I love you
so much. I love you Wells. Thank you so much.
It's good catching up with you. You as well stick
on the phone because Sarah wants to say hi to
you off air. Alright, but I do want to close.
I do want to close the show out with um
some steely dan. Are you to play music? I can
(51:15):
do twenty seconds, bro? How do you get twenty seconds?
I can't do two seconds? Oh my gosh. Fair alright man,
love you so much, Thank you so much. All subscribe
to Wells cast on I Heart Radio, Apple podcasts or
anywhere you get your podcasts. It's the internet line.
This is the Wells Cast with Wells, Adams and I
heart radio podcast. That is right, you're listening to the
Wells Cast. The Corona virus shut down, quarantine, not sure
if the world is going to end pretty soon edition
(00:21):
of the Wells Cast. At this point, I don't even
know what to say. I just hope that everyone is
safe out there, everyone is healthy, and everyone just stays
the funk away from everybody else. Don't be that guy
that gets like sixty five people sick because you wanted
to go to the beach and hang out with your friends.
(00:43):
All right, Don't be the guy that gets Nana sick
and puts her in the hospital and then puts a
bunch of pressure on the hospital and all the respirators
and stuff because you wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese.
I don't know if Chucky Cheese is open, but if
it is, that's gotta be ground zero for the Corona. Alright,
Just stay at home and listen to podcasts, specifically this one.
(01:05):
If you're like Wells, I've already listened to this one,
then go back to older episodes and learn you a
thing or two, because we got some good episodes. Today's
episode is bonkers, by the way, very excited to have
on the podcast. The man, the myth, the legend, a
founding member of little band you might might have heard
(01:27):
of called sinc that sounds pronounced or N S Y
and C. I don't know. That's right from Laurel Mississippi,
coming in at a hundred and seventy five pounds, dripping wet.
He's beautiful. You know him. Lance Bass is gonna be
on the show. Dude, Lance the guy that I've actually
known for a couple of years now. One of the
nicest dudes in all the entertainment industry. Super sweet. Obviously,
(01:52):
you know him from all the hits that he and
j T and j C and Chris and Joey doubt
back in the late nineties two thousand's. Then, of course
you know him as a guy came up third in
Dancing with the Stars Season Seven's been in movies like
Long Shot, Zoo Lander, I Now pronounce You, Chuck and
(02:13):
Larry and so many more. He's got a new project
out called street Light Harmonies that I'm very excited to
talk to him about. And of course he has his
daily podcast, The Daily Podcast with Dance Bass, to show
that I have been on also in Sync celebrating their
twentieth anniversary of No Strings Attached, which is crazy. He
also has I don't know, like a prosecco trailer company,
and he's got drink mixers. Like literally, this guy is
(02:35):
doing everything all right. I don't even know if there's
enough time in the quarantine to get through his whole story.
But coming up in just a couple of minutes. Yes,
boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, Lance Bass, we'll be
on who Ells Cast kind of rhymes, love it stick
around well Land, how are you, my man? How are you?
(03:11):
There's that beautiful face? Well, thanks for coming on my show. Well,
of course it's been uh and it's great to have
a podcast during this time because I think this is
what we've been like preparing for our whole lives right now. Yeah,
everyone has nothing to do but listen to like all
our all of our back catalogs of podcasts exactly, and
(03:33):
now everyone has a podcast. Well now now everyone. Now
everyone's doing like daily Instagram, um like lives with people,
which is my Miley Cyrus is doing it and Chris
Harris are you doing one yet? No? I have not
what I'm trying to figure out is a way to
do Instagram lives that you can do game nights because
(03:56):
I want to be able to play on my Apple
to you know, the jack Box TV games of course. Okay,
quip lash all that. I would love to figure out
how to play that with my fans on Instagram. Yeah,
so I have to figure that out. I know you'd
have to film the screen so they could see it,
but then how would they play with you and then
also be able to see the screen. It's very difficult. Okay,
(04:18):
So here's what I would suggest doing, because I thought
about this a lot. I would go live on your
phone and have that phone be pointed at the screen,
and then if you could have your husband join you
in the the app, so then that screen could be
looking at both of you guys. You know what I'm saying. Yeah,
(04:41):
so that everyone could see what the question was for
because I love quip Flash two. Everyone could see what
the question is. They could see you guys like joking
around about it. And then you have that code and
everyone goes on their phone. They if they're using their phone,
and they able to watch. I don't know that everyone
would have to have two phones in order to do that,
you know, which some people would, but I think it
would be so much fun because yeah, only eight people
(05:04):
could get in the room and play with you, but
everyone else can play in the audience, and I think
that would be so much fun. Surely this app exists
and if not, right, if if it doesn't, you're a
savvy businessman. I think that this is your calling. It
might be. I think I'm gonna have plenty of time
to figure this out. So I'm gonna call jack Box
TV and yeah, this happen. Speaking of being a savvy businessman,
(05:27):
I was doing the intro before I called you up,
and I was looking at like, what don't you do?
Because you've got you've got your cocktail thing going on,
right because I remember us talking about that when I
was on your show. And it's like a mixer that
you buy. Yeah, it's called just add X. It's a
non alcoholic mixer. Yeah, it's a perfect thing to own
right now during the quarantine which you cannot leave your house.
(05:51):
It is insane the timing on this, because we're we're
launching May fourth, yea, and of course that's going to
be probably the peak of everything going on right now.
It's so funny because all the whole reason we came
up with just add ex is because we started seeing
the trend of people not really wanting to go out
as much, and when they drink, they like to drink
less alcohol and then would rather fix drinks at home
(06:12):
for their friends. So that's why we created this. And
now here we are where we're stuck at home wanting
to make you drink for our friends. So yeah, we're
we're kind of excited. We're we're there at the right time.
I know, we were joking about it when I was
on your show that I was going to bring a
bunch of this stuff to Paradise, and I mean, fingers
crossed paradise happens. I don't, I don't. I don't know
(06:35):
when do you? When would y'all start if it did? June? Yeah,
June is when it films. But but the thing about
it is is that every show is contingent upon the
last right. So like you need to have the Bachelor
because you need to have all the reject women to
find the one woman who's going to be the Batch Sirette,
and then you need to have the Batch Sorrette to
have all the reject guys to then fill the pool
(06:57):
of girls and reject guys in Mexico, So you can't
like just not do one to then do the other.
So it's so facts. So this podcast needs to make
me a lot of money. You know. I think we're
all gonna be relying on podcasts for a little while
because I don't know. I don't see Bachman Paradise happening
this summer. I don't think Big Brother happening this summer.
(07:18):
There's I think everything's gonna be shut down for a
long time. Yeah, speaking of podcasts, you have your daily
podcast with Lance Pass. Are you still doing that daily
during this shutdown? Oh? Yes, and it's it's it's ramped
up a lot. You know. We try to do five
a week. Um now we're we're about six right now
because of what is going on in you know, this
(07:39):
last week, I did a whole in sync week, which
was so crazy and fun. But I got to interview
the guys for all of them over ninety minutes, which
was it was really nice to hear interviews that aren't
cut out, you know, and you get like the three
minutes to tell what you want to say. But uh,
this you got to sit in for ninety minutes and
(08:00):
and here exactly what these guys went through. Yeah, so
I saw it was the twenty anniversary of No Strings Attaches?
That why you did the in sync week? Yeah? You know,
I wanted to do something special for the anniversary. Um.
You know, we had big, grand ideas, but of course
because of this virus, we we weren't able to do anything. Um,
so I was like, well, the safest thing to do
(08:20):
is use my podcast where you can't catch anything and
uh and get the stories out. So it was it was,
you know, good timing. I guess for that too. Hey,
what didn't No Strings Attached win? What didn't? Yeah? What
did you guys win? Grammy? Really? Yes? Are you kidding me?
That's I'm still very salty with the Grammy board because
(08:43):
you know, back then, the Grammys did not really care
for the kids, the young uns in there. You know,
they were still an old like. Yeah, so you know,
we got nominated I think for like six Grammys this
year that No Strings Attached came out and we're like, well,
maybe this is our year, Like they gotta give us one, right,
It's it broke the record for biggest album you know ever,
(09:04):
most popular album, and our album was up for you know,
most Popular record, and uh sort of like, well, you know,
this makes sense they might give it to us on
this one, and they gave it to Steely Dan. The
most popular album. The most popular album of two thousand
was Steely Dan. Yeah. You know. The sad thing about
this is that everyone that listens to my podcast, and
(09:26):
probably everyone listens to your podcast, thinks that Steely Dan
is a guy. You know, so true, so true, so true,
And I love Steely Dan. But the Grammys really hostess
on that one. So yes, I did not get my
Grammy because of Steely Dan. Thank you. Oh man, I'm
sorry about that. That That sucks. I wanted to know about
this new show that you're that you're a part of,
(09:48):
which one. Oh god, you're that guy. You've got so
many freaking irons in the fire. Tell me about steel harmonies, oh,
spreel harmonies. Yeah, it's so strange because we filmed us
over two years ago. It's it's a documentary and you
know I love docs, like I'm a doc filmmaker. It's
it's my life. Uh, but this one was very special.
(10:10):
It came to me, you know, from some friends of
mine that were producing this that worked with us within
Sync UM and it's called Freelight Harmonies, and it takes
a look at the whole do wop era of music history,
and that's what really influenced all the music you hear today,
especially groups like in Sync and Backstreet uh and Boys
the Men. I mean, it was those those groups from
(10:32):
that era that really inspired hip hop and pop. I
mean it's every genre, um and especially navigating through the
civil rights movement also, you know, which you know this
music really helped. Yeah. I was watching the you guys
sent over the trailer for it, and there's this there's
this scene where this woman is talking about all these
(10:54):
different kind of like um, like street light bands like
s and she she was like, every corner you'd go on,
there would be like four or five dudes in harmony singing.
And I just thought to myself, how dope would that
have been to be able to walk around back then
and be like, Wow, this band is pretty great. They're
just hanging out here on the street corner, you know,
(11:18):
And that's how boy bands were created. Yeah, I just
I love the idea of like walking around like sunny
England town and being like, is that one direction hanging
around that burning trash can. Yeah, but I love I
mean those I you know, that's what inspired me, you
know so much. I mean I love the Drifters of
(11:41):
you know, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Platters, uh
you know, Little Anthony and Imperials. I mean all those
incredible you know vocal harmony groups. Uh you know, back
then it's it's what makes me love music. I just
love harmonies. So that's not out yet, though it comes
March thirty one. Look perfect for when everyone is stuck
(12:03):
on their couch. You know, this is a documentary world
right now, we're all just you know, loving Like have
you seen uh uh Tiger King yet? No? Okay, so
that's all like we're doing that later today it is.
I'm on the last episode now, but I started it
yesterday to watch almost seven episodes in twenty four hours.
It is insane. I love documentaries like that. I love
(12:27):
any documentary that starts one way and then just goes
into it just some crazy area. Okay, going back to
your podcast, I mean you're doing the you know, the
week of in Sync, you had every member on the show,
Is that right? Yes? Who was your favorite interview of
the week. It was weird because they were all so different. Um.
(12:47):
And you know, when I had planned this, we didn't
know that we would be on lockdown, so it was
all going to be in person. You know, some of
the guys were flying to California to sit down in
front of me. Uh and that gives you know, in
person is just it's just a better interview. Um. And
then of course things went down. Everyone had to you know,
separate and we couldn't be around each other, so things
(13:08):
were changing so much about the week. I didn't even
know if some of the interviews were gonna be made.
I didn't do justin until about sixteen hours before it aired,
on the last day that we could have done this.
So it was it was pretty stressful last week for sure,
but we got them all done. But each interview because
of that and they're all spaced out, they all sounded
so different. But I would say my favorite was Chris
(13:31):
Kirkpatrick because it was the first interview I've ever seen
of him that uh, he spent ninety minutes being you know,
he's always kind of crazy and you know, he's just
a comedy you know guy, Uh never takes anything too seriously,
but he had a real serious conversation, and you really
got to see a side of Chris that people have
not seen in the past. And it was nice to hear,
(13:54):
you know, justin talk for two hours about in Sync,
which is a subject he really doesn't talk about hardly
at all. So and you know, there was a lot
of things that you know, he had never said before
speaking of h Sync. I want to kind of get
the meat of the show, which is I don't know
if anyone told you, but this show is is an
origin story show, and I like to find out how
(14:15):
people became famous and then effectively used as the blueprint
for other people out there that want to, I don't know,
just be successful in whatever they're gonna do. So I
want to take a quick break and we come back.
I want to find out where you came from and
then how you got to where you are now. Okay,
all right, all right, stick around. You are listening to
(14:36):
the Wells Ass, All right, back in the Wells Gass.
I have Lance Bass on the show, who's literally got
so much stuff going on. New documentary coming out very
(14:58):
very soon called street Light Harmonies. Of course, he is
the host of the Daily podcast, which is a show
everyone should listen to every single day. He was also,
I don't know, in a band you might have heard
of before called uh in Sync and you were third
on Dancing with the Stars. I was not gonna bring
that up because that's just yeah. I usually say people
(15:18):
I made it to the final. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
third is my number. Hey, don't worry. I was the
eighth of a bachelorette, so that could yeah. But who's
laughing now, that's exactly right. We have like a kind
of a weird connection. I grew up in California, but
I went to school in Mississippi, and you were born
in Laurel, Mississippi, a place where I have a lot
(15:40):
of like friends and like old fraternity brothers that were
from Laurel. I want to hear about where you came
from and how the hell you got to where you
are right now, Lance Bass, So tell us about growing
up in Laurel, Mississippi. Yeah, so, yeah, I was born
in Laurel, Mississippi, UM, but actually grew up about five
minutes next door because we didn't have a hospital in
our town. So born in Laud but raised in Ellisville,
(16:03):
which is like five minutes next door. And you know,
it was a very small town. You know, we had
about two thousand people in our town. We lived in
the country, very simple, simple life. But it wasn't until
I moved to Clinton, Mississippi, which was about two hours
north in central Mississippi, where that that town was all
about football and show choir who near the high school
(16:28):
had the number one show choir in the world. And
so this town was just all about sports and music.
I mean, that's just what it all was. So either
I was gonna be a football player or I was
gonna get into music. And I definitely into music because
I was about five five my whole life until my
senior year, I started singing with my best friends. That
got me into it. Oddly enough, I didn't think I
(16:49):
would do it professionally, and I was just you know,
I liked singing in chorus and doing the show choir
and having fune my friends on the weekend, creating groups
and that type of stuff, but I never thought that
it would ever be a profession of mine until the
day justin timber Lake called and we shared a vocal coach,
and so the vote coach recommended me to go down
to Orlando to meet the guys and be their bass singer.
(17:11):
And it was all over after that first time singing
with them. Okay, rewind though, I mean cool, justin you're
in Mississippi, you're doing the show choir. You just finished
work in the documentary called street Light Harmonies. Were you
like in acapella groups like back then, Like we're like
a bunch of you guys hanging around singing do op songs. Yes. Uh.
(17:32):
When I was probably thirteen, thirteen or fourteen, I put
my first group together. Um, if we were an acapella
group that would only do do walk type songs and
do these medalies in the fifties and sixties. Uh yeah, oh,
I'll show you tape. I'll show your tape. We would
wear these checkered black and white checkered vests, you know,
(17:54):
and you know we would we would do our acapella
and we do our little dance moves. Um. And there
were seven of us, so it was like way before
K pop came around. There were seven of us. Uh yeah,
and our name yeah was seven Cards stud Oh yeah yeah.
Who came up with that? I feel like that was
(18:14):
like someone's drunk dad who was like this would be
a great name. Now, it would be me that I
definitely came up with that name, and I rely was drunk. Yeah, okay,
so you're you're forming these these acapella bands. Um, are
you an only child? Like? Where are you? What's your
(18:35):
the family dynamic? Like, yeah, I have one sister, she's
three years older than me. My family is very tight,
you know, even even my you know, grandparents. Everyone, we
all lived in Laurel and Elliswell, no one really kind
of escaped that little ten mile radius. Um, and all
my family still lives there in Laurel and Elliswell, Um,
except my parents. They moved up to Central Mississippi, UM
(18:56):
where we ended up, and they still live there now
because it's closer to the airport. Um. But yeah, we
you know, it was just a nice, simple, simple life.
We didn't really the only music we really did was,
you know, go to church and singing in church choirs.
So that was my My adolescence was really just kind
of growing up singing in church. What did your parents
(19:17):
think of the path you chose, which was not football
but to performing arts and singing? Him done? Oh they
loved that I went into performing arts instead of sports.
Oh yeah, yeah, because my mom. She she just loves music.
She's a great singer herself, her brother, my uncle great
guitarist and musicians. So, you know, our family, as much
(19:40):
as we love watching sports, I mean we're huge, huge
SEC fans, none of us really play it. You know.
My my dad was you know, he he liked to
run track and he was a pole altered all that.
But no one else in my family really cared about sports,
playing sports. But we were way more into entertainment. Yeah,
(20:01):
was your sister also singing with you and doing all
this stuff? My sister did not know. I mean, the
whole reason I started singing in the first place was
because of my sister. I remember when we were it
was in Laurel, Mississippi, and she was in that summer
there was some kind of summer program at the church
where they would put on these musicals or whatever, and
(20:23):
I was so upset that my parents didn't let me
do it. I'm like, I want to be in this,
like now you're not doing it, like okay, um And
so watching her perform on stage at such a young
age and like, well I want to do that, I
feel like this is I would love this. Um. So
then after telling my parents. They saw how upset I
was that at that show. I was like, I there
(20:43):
was people in my age and this, I could have
done this. Uh. Then they saw that my interest was,
you know, in music, and so that's when there it
was the first inkling that Okay, well we need to
we need to really focus on this for you. Okay,
So they help you focus on it by I guess,
get you a vocal coach. No, it was weird. I
(21:04):
I never I never really had a vocal coach, which
was weird. So the vocal coach that introduced me to
Justin when I had that group Seven Cards Stud. By
the way, is there music like on iTunes or Spotify
that I can find Seven Cards Stud? You know what,
I'm sure it's out there somewhere. I have to ask
my friend Darren. He has all the tapes. So I'll
(21:26):
get you something. Trust you're gonna see this and yeah,
we're gonna want to see this. Uh so Yeah. So
when I moved up to Central Mississippi, it was there
was a thing at the Agricultural Museum. So I worked
at the Agriculture Museum UM because they had this group
called the Mississippi show Stoppers and it was basically all
these kids from age six to eighteen, UM, and they
(21:49):
all audition and they'd come up with this troop that
goes around the country singing Mississippi songs to promote the state. Okay,
it's as bad as you tape, uh. But through that
it was how I created Seven Cards Stud. Because all
of the seven members were in the Mississippi show Stoppers
and our vocal coach for Mississippi show Stoppers was Bob
Westbrook from Memphis, Tennessee. And that's who was Justin's vocal coach.
(22:13):
So that's how I got to know Justin through him
helping us with Seven Cards Stud. Okay, so how old
are you in the height the fever pitch that is
Seven Cards Stud? Oh? I was fourteen? Okay, yeah, I
think fourteen fifteen? Okay. So at some point you get
a call from Justin Timberlake. How old are you at
that moment? I was sixteen? Okay. So a couple of
(22:35):
years day into Seven Cards said, you get this call,
do you know are you familiar with his work in
like the Mickey mouse Club? Um? I wasn't. I was.
I was familiar with the Mickey Mouse Club because I
watched it when I was young, um, you know, like
fifth and sixth grade. I love Mickey mouse Club and
it was like the original, you know, the first season
of it, and then I stopped watching it when I
(22:58):
got in you know, junior high or whatever. Uh. And
that's when j C. Hies joined right back. So I remember,
I remember watching j C's first season, so I knew
who he was. And so when Justin was explaining, you know, oh,
me and j C, you know, on the Mickey Mouse Club,
I knew it was something special because I knew MMC
was such a huge show, and I knew that their
(23:18):
fan base must be insane. Okay, so he calls you
and says, hey, my vocal coach suggested to hit you up.
What do you say in that moment? Well, I didn't
get to say anything. My mom was the one talking
on the so they called. It was lou Perlman and
(23:38):
Justin and his mom. Uh, they called. And you know,
I was getting ready for the homecoming parade, which I
was in charge of. Um, so I was you know,
I was in charge of our float. That's all I
really cared about, you know. And then the dance was
the next day, and you know, in high school. That's
that's your life, you know, high school dances and in
the homecoming parades. Uh. So I remember coming back from
(24:01):
you know, uh, from some meeting we had about the
the dance, and my mom was talking to someone and
how I was like, who's that. She's like, oh no,
no one really, she didn't even tell me. They called
Then the next day they called back and they're like
no, no no, no, like this is like a serious thing,
like you need to like at least think about this.
And I happened to be there and I was talking
(24:22):
to my sister like who she talking to. She's like,
I don't know, some some woman's her her son is
justin timber Lay. He's only me get mosk. I'm like what,
like okay, like that sounds legit. And so she told
me about it, and I was like, well, we have
to try this out. So she was like okay. So
we all, you know, got on a flight the next
day and flew down to Orlando, and uh, you know,
(24:44):
she didn't think that I would ever make the band
at all. So but yeah, she knew. Once to see
her to sing, it was all over. So it was
a tryout look an audition thing for for the band. Yeah,
I guess it was here. I mean there was no
other people auditioning at this point, but I know they
had gone through a lot of members. You know, at
(25:05):
any group at the beginning, they go through so many
iterations of it before they figure out what it is.
There was a guy named Jason that was the bass singer,
UM and they were already you know, put the band
together and it was Joey's one of Joey's best friends, UM.
And then Jason last minute decided he didn't want to
do this because he didn't like the market they were
going for that he didn't want teens, you know, for
(25:27):
his his fans, so he left the group. And then
that's when they, you know, they wanted to find a
bass singer. So that's when Justin called. Everyone was like, okay,
I need a bass singer. And that's when they suggested
I come down and yeah, I just met with the
guys were saying the star single banner and yeah, I
would never looked back. Jesus Christ, what's Jason doing now
(25:48):
delivering pizzas? Is he really? Yeah? Well, I mean he was, Yeah,
I don't know now, but yeah, that was the thing.
But I guess. I mean, Joey still talks to him,
and I think he's like, you know, it is what
it was. Yeah, I know, but can in sync? Dude?
That's all this is crazy. You fly down the next
day to Orlando, you meet all these guys, Are you starstruck?
(26:10):
Are you nervous or you like, dude, I gotta deal
with the float and prom in a week, so like,
let's get this thing going. Yeah. No, I was definitely
still more into what I was happening in high school
because you know, I we didn't know how big this
was gonna get. I mean, I really thought that we
were just going to be a local acapella group that
(26:30):
got hired by Disney World and we would just be
able to sing a Disney World because Chris I was
doing that at Universal Studios, he was in the High Tones.
There was this acapella group that would kind of walk
around the park singing, you know, doo wops, kind of
like streetlight harmonies, um, and so I was like, Wow,
maybe maybe we can be that group for Disney will
(26:51):
be like that, that acapella group. But then it just
kind of, I don't know, it just got bigger and
bigger and bigger didn't stop. What was the first moment
that you realized that in sync was more than like
the second iteration of seven cards study. Yeah, it was
so strange because a lot of people don't know, you know,
(27:11):
our record. We we spent a year trying to get
a record deal our first year, and no one would
sign us, really, oh no one. It was It was
hard and and in good reason because if you saw
our demo, it wasn't it wasn't that incredible. Especially it
was like, I don't think America is ready for this
right now, So no one would sign us. And then
(27:33):
finally a German label BMG Ariola and Munich Germany UH
wanted to sign us. And so we flew over to
Germany and lived there for a couple of years and
you know, and launched all of our stuff there first, um,
and it blew up overnight. It was just I mean,
we went from one week no one knew who we
were and the next week we were on the cover
(27:54):
of every magazine you know in Europe. UM. So that
was a that was a strange situation because yeah, you
felt like it was like the Beatles, like you, I mean,
you have thousands of fans chasing you down the street
like you It was the most insane thing I've ever experienced.
And then you go back home to Mississippi and your
(28:15):
friends are like, yeah, sure, sure that happens, Like they
don't believe you're just like I swear we're popular. Open Sure.
So you come back home and get you know, crazy
realities left into you be like, yeah, you're nothing. So
it's weird, you know, your first two years of your
career to feel I feel like it's it's popular, but
yet you can't feel that you're you're successful because you
(28:37):
don't recognize any of the TV shows. You don't you don't,
you know, it's not it's not your culture. Um. So
it wasn't until we came to America a couple of
years later, and you know, we were we were fighting hard,
you know, to stand out. You know, we were right
after the Backstreet Boys, so we were always getting compared
to them. We were always the uh, you know, redheaded
step child. Um that was always kind of getting pooped
(29:00):
on by you know, the record label, by you know,
radio stations. Like we were always just always pushed the side.
And it wasn't until we did a Disney special that's
where it all changed. And that's when I I I
realized for the first time, holy crap, people are listening
to our music right now, and you know, we you know,
(29:20):
couldn't get much traction. Then Disney offered just this hour
Disney special that they were just doing, and we we
did it, and they aired that thing every hour for
about a month and uh and it just you saw
from the from day one that it aired. Two a
month later, we went from like number eighty nine in
the chart to top ten, like immediately. It was crazy.
(29:43):
So was it like Christmas at Disneyland? That's what it
was like that. Oh yeah, it's uh, it's like that,
except back then they did they would do these real concerts,
you know, it had nothing to do with you know,
kind of whatever special. But they did like a Leanne
Rhymes one, and they did us um like three other ones.
So they did these concert series that I wish they
(30:04):
would still do to this day because they were they
were really great. But yeah, it was great because you know,
it was an hour special just on us, so you
got to see our personalities and you would kind of
go behind the scenes and and and I think that's
why the fans really you know we're drawn to us
because after watching that special, not only did you get
to see what we did on stage, but you really
(30:24):
got to know us individually through all of our interviews
throughout the concert. Real quick, guys, want to go back.
What was the name of the record label in Germany
that signed you? BMG Ariola so like like a boob Ariola. Yes,
I was wondering if you were gonna bring like wow,
I said Ariolas. Didn't even man the name for that
(30:45):
record labels the Tits Okay, So okay, I don't worry.
I had that. I was like, we hold on, I
gotta go back to the booth thing. Um. It's so
interesting too, because you guys came along at a very
iconic point eight in musical history. I mean, yes, the
Backstreet Boys were a thing. But when I look back
(31:06):
at that time, because you and I are actually pretty
close to nage, so I was kind of like I
was a couple of years behind you guys, but I
was like living through it, and it was a very
iconic moment in time with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera. You guys,
I feel like even like no doubt was like thrown
in there the surge of like post grunge pot there
(31:30):
was this grunge movement that was like dirty thin dirty
is the right word to use in just in terms
of music and also like in aesthetic and then you
guys come out very clean, very polished. When you look
back at that time, what do you remember of the
musical landscape and the imprint you guys put on it. Yeah,
well it was strange because you know, in the nineties,
(31:50):
I grew up with the grunge. You know that Seattle
sound um, and that's what I love, Like Offspring was
my favorite, and so that's what I was into um.
And then you know pop, you know, we didn't really
have much pop at that time, and then Robin and
Spice Girls and Hansen kind of came in and just
(32:12):
through this crazy you know, dance pop at us that
we weren't used to because we were all just being
feeling grungy at the time. So it was so different
that it really stood out. And then you you couple
it with groups like the Spice Girls where it's just
fun to watch them. You get to know their personalities
and you know, not just their music that's great, but
like we actually like these individual people it kind of
(32:35):
just changed the landscape of what we wanted, and we
wanted to see more live shows. We wanted to go
to more concerts, and when you want to go to concerts,
you want to get entertained, and these pop acts were
really entertaining us um and so I think that's what
everyone was just kind of feeding on, was just have
just fun dance music that you can go and just
(32:55):
have fun and see a great show. After this Disney special,
it's a shot of adrenaline into the band's a orda
all of a sudden, like everyone knows who you guys are.
What was your feeling inside the band, because I guess
from the outside looking in it was everyone is equal,
(33:15):
But also like the centerpiece was JT. At least that's
how I viewed it. Is that how you guys viewed
it inside the bubble um. I mean not at not
at the beginning. You know, when you when you put
a group together, you know it's you. You have no
idea what people are going to gravitate to our and
in which individuals um. So when we were, you know,
(33:36):
the first couple of years of our existence, it was
very equal, Like we wanted to make sure that all
five of us were equally showcase and you know, and
it was just our things, so we all kind of
stood out. But then as you know, time progressed and
the record label wanted to, you know, make sure you
sold albums, and they had to start really kind of
focusing on you know, uh uh that lead singer. And
(34:00):
so you saw that that eventual, you know, change to like, Okay,
Justin is now the official front man when the record
label is you know, every every photo shoot you do,
they're like, okay, that's great, guys, but let's probably one
with Justin in the middle of the side, you know,
just like we know what you're doing, like just and
so we would you brought up, no doubt. But it
was so funny at the beginning of my career. You know,
(34:21):
we saw that the label wanted, you know, just to
be that front man because the the you know, the
young girls were just really you know going after them. Uh.
But that song uh don't Speak, you know in the
video where Glenn Stefani and the others you know are
getting pushed out of the photo shoot. Just we used
to sing that all the time. Ever're like dost be
(34:41):
I mean, it was it was great so we would
always make fun of it because we knew what was
going on, but but the record label would never just
come out and say that to us, so we would
always just make fun of them for it. Yeah. It
reminds me of in almost famous when Jason Lee's like,
how can you tell I'm just one of the out
of focus guys in the background. Exactly. Yeah, Listen, Like
(35:05):
I have a lot of friends who are musicians, who
are actors or entertainers, and there's a bit of ego
that comes with that. Was that met with any like
ill will or jealousy? Yeah, no, not not at all.
The great thing about our group is we're very aware
of what's going on um, and we were just so tight.
(35:27):
I mean we were brothers. We lived together for so long.
You could tell each other anything. You could fight with
each other, but you knew you were going to make
up like an hour later. There was really no jealousy
in the group because all of us would keep each
other our heads like, you know, so they wouldn't inflate.
I mean, if you said anything off the wall, you
would just get slapped down immediately by the guys. So
(35:48):
they kept you humble, you know, very very easily. What
are your parents saying during the height of this, Yeah,
I mean they enjoyed it for sure. I think it
brought my family closer together, especially during those touring you
know days. Uh. My mom is always a worried a
worried word word. So she you know, she was always
(36:11):
just so afraid for us. Uh, you know, anything I do.
She's just always scared for my my safety. And you know,
and being being in a group like that, you know,
you get you get some stupid things that happened to
you know, a lot of death threats and that type
of stuff. So those are the things that you know,
her a parent for sure, to know that your kid is,
you know, being threatened, you know. Uh, so that that
(36:33):
was hard for her. But overall, my family was just
so supportive and they loved being on the road with
us when they could, and I think it was just
enjoyable for them to watch this whole thing go down.
Knowing what you know, now, do you think you would
have been able to do it, or if you were
able to do it would have been as enjoyable living
(36:55):
in the landscape that we have now with social media.
You proceeded that, thank god. Yeah, look it could have
who knows, it's like me coming out of the closet,
like me coming out in the height of in Saint
could have been good or it could have destroyed our band.
Like we don't know what would have happened back then.
If we had social media back in you know, two thousand,
(37:15):
I have a feeling we would have gotten a lot
of trouble um and it could have hurt us because
you know, everyone was way innocent back then, and I
mean you you couldn't even be seen with a beer
in your hand without you know, parents out there being
like you can't listen in sink anymore, there's the devil um.
So yeah, it's a yeah, you know, it's I think
(37:35):
it would have runed our career because I think people
like Joey Fatone would have really got your trouble. Not
the name names, but Joey would have fucked us up
and that and that goes along with camera phones too,
if there were there were camera phones and the clubs
we used to go to, you know back here in
l A, I mean you would do stupid things as
(37:55):
as young teenagers. Yeah, yeah, it would have been bad.
You mentioned coming out you did that in a in
a pretty public way. It was. It was it like
a like a People special. It was the cover of people. Yeah,
it's a very brave thing to do in such a
public forum. I'm just like in awe of people that
have the courage to kind of do that. It's twenty
and it's still weird out there. What was it like
(38:17):
doing that back then? You know it was it was
scary for sure. This was two thousand and six. So
in two thousand six, being gay was definitely, um, you know,
a career ender, which was so sad. And trust me,
many people kept reminding me that, Um, you know, they
didn't they didn't know I was officially gay, but you know,
(38:38):
they would definitely allude, you know to they like, no
one can be you know, one can come out. You know,
no one can say they have a girlfriend. You know.
Then they would kind of blame it on other things
like that. But yeah, it was. It was definitely a
weird time because you didn't know what people's attitudes were
about the gay community. No one really spoke about it
too much. Um So when I decided to tell of
(39:00):
my story, I I was in a place where I
couldn't hide it anymore. I was already on my third boyfriend.
My friends knew, my family knew. So, like, you know,
I was out in my in my personal life. But
I felt like I needed to make sure that the
public knew it too, um, just for the greater good. Uh.
(39:21):
And so I decided I need to tell my story, um,
because I was tired of, you know, hiding so much.
One of the reasons that I knew I could do
it was because I knew at that point we weren't
going to make another in Sync album. Um, That's what
I was waiting on. I didn't want that my personal
life to have to interfere at all with whatever we
were gonna do with in Sync after the hiatus. So
that was just off the table. We're just not going
(39:42):
to talk about my personal life. But then once I realized, okay,
we're probably not gonna do another album, there was nothing
holding me back. I'm like, all right, I just want
to live my life. I you know, I'm in love
right now. I want to share it with the world.
And so yeah, I did it with people, and I
was scared of the reaction. I tho the majority of
people were gonna hate me. I was gonna lose a
(40:02):
lot of friends. I disappeared. I went to Catalina for
a week and just didn't watch TV or anything because
I didn't I didn't want to know what the fallout was. Um.
But when I got back, I saw all the reactions
from you know, the David Letterman's and Jay Lenos of
the world, and instead of making fun of me, they
made it so positive and being like like who cares anymore?
(40:26):
You know, It's like, why why are we at a
point where we care that, you know, to out someone
on the cover of a magazine. So it was it
was definitely eye opening for me, and I saw things
changing at that moment and cult in our culture that
we were just getting more accepted, and it was it
was a beautiful thing. I mean, listen, I went to
school in Mississippi for five years. Things are viewed a
(40:47):
little bit differently in the Deep South. Was it even
more difficult doing that knowing that there we probably maybe
a little more fallout from kind of where you grew up. Oddly,
it was easier in Mississippi feet And I think it's
because of this, because you know, I was still young,
you know, when I came out and I would go
home to Mississippi, you know. And I'm still best friends
(41:08):
with all my friends from high school. My family still
lives there, so I'm in Mississippi a good bit. I
still on property there. Um But I remember going there
during the incinct days, and you know, you'd go out
your friends to bars and all that, and the amount
of rednecks that would come up do you want to fight?
You right, and being like, you know, calling me faggot
(41:29):
and that, you know, just you know, and I'm straight,
right and I'm with my girlfriend, and I got such
you know, homophobia thrown at me from being a straight
guy in a boy band, um that, and they just
they hated me like it was hard. I mean it was.
There were a lot of fights that were happening anytime
I would go out. It was crazy. Then I came
out of the closet and it completely changed. Now going
(41:50):
to these bars, these rednecks, I would be like, hey, man,
how's it like? They weren't threatened anymore. I guess that
I wasn't getting their girl. But it was weird how
much more I was accepted after I came out then before.
So strange, very interesting. So the band dissolves effectively, How
did you guys feel about that. Well, it's such a
slow thing. You know. We we took six months off,
(42:13):
so you know, it was our last tour that we did,
and you know, Justin decided, he was like, I really
on our because we had decided we wanted a six
month hiight is just to be able to rest. We
have not had a break in years, so we needed
this time to kind of reset, and just was like,
on our break, I want to try a solo album.
And we're like, yeah, that's awesome, because anything you do
(42:35):
is only gonna make us look even better, right. Um,
So you know, he went off and did a solo album.
I did the whole space thing like everyone was doing
the whole you know everything else. Um, and then I
came back from Russia to start the new albums. You know,
I had to be there six months later. So six
months later I come back to America to start this
(42:56):
album and we, you know, our managers like, oh, need
three more months because Justin's single was actually blowing up
right now. We're like, okay, great, I'd love another three
month off this this is great. And then another three months,
and another six months, then another six months and you're
like all right, maybe this isn't happening. So we didn't
realize the group was dissolved until, you know, years after
(43:19):
it was actually dissolved. Yeah. You know, you watch the
Bohemian Rhapsody film and when Freddie Mercury goes off and
does his thing, there's kind of a screw you attitude
Freddy from everyone in the band. Was there that with
Justin or were you guys like, dude, do you man awesome?
Go for it? Now? We've always been supportive. Yeah, I mean,
I we love everything that you know, he does solo wise. Yeah,
(43:42):
I mean it sucks for us that we can't tour
and make new in sync stuff because of that. But
you know, you can't blame the guy either. I mean,
he's you know, he he had this you know, creativity
that he needed to release as a goal of artist,
and it just it hasn't stopped, you know, at all.
Do you have a favorite in sync song? Yeah? Well,
I mean there's there's two. Actually, Uh, the most meaningful
(44:05):
song to me is this song called I Thought She Knew,
which is all no strings attached, um. But it was
our first acapella that we ever learned together, and our
our vocal coach Robin Wiley Um, and she was our producer.
She lived with us. She was the Mickey Mouse Club
vocal coach, so that you know, she was really tight
with Justin and j C. She's the one who gave
us our sound. She's just this brilliant, brilliant arranger um
(44:28):
with harmonies, and so she would do all our acapellas
and she wrote the song I Thought She Knew and
it was our first acapella and it just it is
one of my favorite acapellas that we ever have done,
that No Holy Night. So that finally made the No
Strings Attached album that many years later, So that was
very meaningful for us, especially now because unfortunately she's passed
away from cancer. So it's just I'm just so glad
(44:51):
that we got to honor her with that song on
that album. And then my ultimate which I wished was
a single, was a song called It Makes Me ill
Um and it was. It was also a No Strings Attached,
but it was my favorite song because that was the
direction I thought in Sync was going and the sound
of that, it was the direction that we were heading towards,
(45:13):
UH and that was bringing people like Candy Burris's Housewife
of Atlanta. UM. She wrote that song, and she also
wrote TLC scrubs and so I really wanted that kind
of scrubs fill because that's what we kind of grew
up on, is that. You know, we're very heavily influenced
on R and B and so that I wanted to
bring that forward and I love it. A lot of
(45:35):
fans love it, but we never released it as a
single unfortunately. Do you have a group chat? We do, Yes,
We've had a group chat for years. Yeah, what's pretty crazy.
It's funny. We're we basically revert to being ten years
old every time we talked context. What is the name
of said group chat? I think it changes because changes
(45:55):
throughout the years, um, depending on what we're doing. You know.
I think someone had Like when we did Cotel last year,
there was some kind of funny name. I think Chris
came up with. I forget, but I don't even know
what it is at this point. It's probably some coronavirus. Yet,
who are you closest with today? From the band? All
my relationships are so unique, h one. I love it.
(46:19):
You know, j C and I are are really close
because we live in l A. You know, and so
I get to see him more and he comes over
to my bar roccos all the time, and I mean,
he's basically like the norm of rockos. Um, so I
get to I get to see him, you know, a
lot more than the other guys, and that's really bonded us.
I feel like I bonded more with j C after
the band than in the band, which I love. It's
(46:41):
always always been my best friend. So I mean, we're
we're just an odd couple for sure, because we could
not be more different, but somehow it works. And he's
always been the one that I would probably confide in
most too. And then yeah, I mean and Justin and
Chris mean, we're just all it's you know, we're brothers.
You know. It's it's weird because you can go three
(47:03):
months without talking to each other and then just pick
right back up and you're like, oh yeah, like nothing
has passed. I have to ask. I worry that maybe
Corona might have ruined this. But would you guys ever
do a reunion tour? Were you going to do one
with theversary thing? No, there was no reunion tour planned, um,
but it was very eye opening for me doing these interviews,
(47:24):
you know, on the Daily podcast, because a lot of
the people, you know, everyone always just assumed Justin was
the hole now right, like he's too busy, like when
he's not gonna have time to do this, doesn't want
to do this, And in hearing his interview, he's very
open to it. You know, you're like, oh wait, and
so I think it's the first time the fans stopped
(47:45):
putting the blame on Justice because they're all like Justin
as the hold out. But after listening to this, you're like,
oh wait, he's he's kind of into talking about something. Um.
And it was actually j C that is the one
that's been so hard to figure out if he wants
to do this or not, because he's, you know, he's
a worry ward He gets in his head he wants
everything to be so perfectly planned out before you do anything. Um.
(48:08):
So he's the one that's been really kind of contemplating
this whole thing more than anyone. All Right, I want
to be respectful of your time because I know you
have a very busy day of going back and watching
Netflix and oh yeah, but I wanted to end now.
I get I get Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy next.
It's great. Alright, that's very cool. Actually I want to
I want to end the show with rapid fire questions. Okay, okay, alright,
(48:32):
rapid fire questions with Lance Bass favorite book, Killing mocking Bird?
Who who's your first kiss? Bethany oh Man, I love
when remember there? You always remember the full name of
my first love? Oh yeah, yeah, shout onto Maggie Finnigan
out there. Um, who's your What was your first concert
you went to? I never really remember, but it's either
(48:57):
Clint Black, which I think Faith Hill opened up for him.
She was brand new. It was either Clem Black or
it was um Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynett. So yeah,
it was all the same year. I just forget which
one was first. I guess that makes sense. You were
in Mississippi. Yeah, I love the country. Yeah, celebrity that
(49:18):
you're mistaken for? Who is the uh the singer from
Lady Annabellum? Oh, I know who's talking about. I don't
know his name. He gets mistaken for you. Let's be fair,
Well we do. We talk about this all the time. Yes,
every time we run into so they're like, oh, there's
our coppelganger. Except he's seven foot tall and five it's
(49:38):
a little different. What's your biggest pet? Peeve bad drivers?
I mean, you know, living in l A, it's it's
not good for me. My stress levels go away too
much because there's just I want to be the person
that gets to take people's licenses away because some of
these people just should not be driving. Who would you
call to get you out of jail? My assistant giggles, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
(50:02):
she she's She's the only one I know that would
actually pick up the phone if I called. And last one,
because I imagine a lot of people had your face
in their room. Did you have a poster hanging on
your bedroom wall? And if so, who was it or
what band was it? I've had two posters on my wall. Um.
The first one was White Snake, Okay that I love
(50:25):
d White Snake and uh and then Lawanda from Uh
Jim you know whatever most Jim Carrey Show. And yes,
he had a big poster of her on my wall,
the fire Marshall Bill bit he did on that Lance Bass.
Thank you so much for being on the Welles cast.
(50:46):
You are an absolute American treasure and I love you
so much. I love you Wells. Thank you so much.
It's good catching up with you. You as well stick
on the phone because Sarah wants to say hi to
you off air. Alright, but I do want to close.
I do want to close the show out with um
some steely dan. Are you to play music? I can
(51:15):
do twenty seconds, bro? How do you get twenty seconds?
I can't do two seconds? Oh my gosh. Fair alright man,
love you so much, Thank you so much. All subscribe
to Wells cast on I Heart Radio, Apple podcasts or
anywhere you get your podcasts. It's the internet line.
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