You know their voices, their faces, and their matching
outfits. You probably know that they met at a school for
performing arts in Philadelphia. We tracked them down on
tour in Nashville to find out what else there was to know.
Like that they're big sponser of Big Brothers & Big
Sisters, or that their favorite Sega game is Virtual
Fighter. What else did we find out? Read on...
TK: You've been on tour for a while now. What's it
like?
Wanya: Touring is great. It depends on how everything
goes. It's an experience to be on the road with four
brothers that you love hanging around with, having fun
making music.
TK: What kind of munchies do you take with you on the
bus?
Nate: Pringles!
Michael: Pudding, poptarts, fruit, bananas-we don't eat all
junk food!
TK: Do you miss your home town, Philadelphia?
Shawn: It's cool that we are able to experience a lot of
places because it makes us really appreciate home.
Philadelphia has a very distinct vibe; it's not like no
other. That's why it is home and that's why we like going
there all the time.
TK: You guys just opened your own recording studio,
right?
Nate: Yes. Stonecreek. Stonecreek Studios is a dream of
ours that we have had for a long time. We go now; we call
it our clubhouse, our hideaway where we can go and be
creative. We hang out, we can do whatever we want to do.
It's not just for us, it's for the public. So they can
rent som time they can. It is just that place where we can
write music, we can sleep, we can record, and whenever the
public wants to go in and look.
TK: Rumor has it you guys are taking a full year off from
performing. Is that true?
Michael: Yes, that's no rumor. We've been traveling and
working since 1991, when we released our first single,
"Motownphilly." We have to take a step aside and go back
and be a part of our families again and enjoy what we had
before we started. Family is just as important as the job,
so we will take the time for that.
TK: A question we get from a lot of kids when they write in
to the radio show is, how do Boyz II Men get their ideas
for music?
Shawn: Inspiration is very spontaneous at times and a lot
of times is very unexpected. Inspiration could hit us from
watching a movie, a love story, or something like that. We
look around and whatever hits us, we try to make it a
song.
TK: As songwriters, you're also poets. Do you have a
favorite poet?
Nate: Yeah, Robert Frost.
Shawn: Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes.
TK: What kind of advice do you give to the kids you're
influencing?
Shawn: I think the thing that matters the mosrt is
patience. You have to have patience in the business
because a lot of times things don't happen as quickly as
you may want them to. It is important to keep your dreams
and hold them as long as you can. Just be true to them and
be patient and eventually it will happen for you.
TK: Is it true that you guys are talking about doing a
children's album?
Shawn: We hope to do that in the future. We don't know
exactly when because we have other obligations to take care
of, like touring and taking care of our studio, but we
definetly are interested and we hope to record a children's
album very soon-so look out for it.
TK: Will it a be all original songs?
Nate: A little bit of both, original and some standard
children's songs that we may sing and put into the Boyz II
Men type vibe.