"The last two and a half to three years have been a
continuous joy ride," says Michael McCary in his booming
bass voice. "We've been welcomed all over the world.
We've been honored by our peers and fans. We've been
successful. We've straightened out our business. The next
for us to do was our second album."
But how do you follow up an album that produced seven
million sales worldwide, two Grammys, three American Music
Awards, and the list goes on and on? Well,
the safe route would be to copy exactly what they did the
first time.
"It's not very creative to duplicate yourself," says Mike.
But the group went home to Philly and, of course, they were
greeted with open arms. They had left home more than two
years before with a dream, and returned with platnium
everywhere. From friends, family, neighbors, the
outpouring of love was phenomenal. And distracting.
Too Much Love & Attention
"As much as we love our family and frinds, Philadelphia
turned out to be the worst place for us to get any work
done," reported Mike. So, after a couple of months of
trying to get started, the guys decided to go to the other
side of the country and at art all over.
They went to Granny's House.
"That's the name of this remote studio secluded in the
desert," relates Shawn. "You do everything there; you
record there. You write there; you record there. Eat.
Sleep. Live. You can even cook your own food, if you want
to. It was a great place for us to get started, and get
focused."
As Wanya points it: "Last time, when we went into the
studio, we didn't know anything about fans, radio, video
shows, charts. We just sang songs we loved. This time, we
tried to go into the studio with the same attitude. Just
sing songs."
Hoiling up together at Granny's House helped the group
recapture their family feeling. Soon they were on a roll,
laying down ideas on tape, recording rifts, writing,
collaborating. Instead of dwelling on how big they had
gotten or how tierd they were, they thought about songs and
music. They thought about how they recorded thei first
album. They went back to "Yesterday."
"Yesterday" will, no doubt, surprise some people. To
record a classic is risky, but Boyz II Men pulled it off with
style and elegance that did justice to this Beatles
tune.
Return To Yesterday
"We sang 'Yesterday' in high school," recalls Mike. "We
sang all different kinds of songs: classical, operatic, and
a lot of jazz. Everything-Brahms, Beethoven, and the
Beatles."
Returning to "Yesterday" also reminded the guys of how they
learned music at the Creative & Performing Arts High School
in Philadelphia. It's a small school (500 enrollment), so
everyone knows each other, inspires each other and is like
a family. The family roots, whether extended or blood, are
real and important to them-always has been, always will
be.
Living Up to Their Name
The memories of Boyz II Men have had only ten days away from work in the past three years. The rest of the time has been a
whirlwind of promotion and production. Yet, their goal in
recording the current album was to forget all that.
The result makes you feel that this group is perfectly named. They have definetly gone from boys to men...or rather Boyz II Men!