NLT
Geffen recording artist

The members of NLT don't run from the "boy band" label, but they want YOU to know they're  Not Like Them!

You might have heard their hot 'break-up anthem' single, "She Said, I Said" burning up the radio, but we guarantee you'll be hearing a lot more from the talented group this year with the release of their debut album coming very soon.

We here at Fanvasion caught up with the group on Valentine's Day to get the dish on their album, performing, girls and V-day memories.

[L-R: JJ Thorne, Travis Garland, Kevin McHale & V Sevani]


NLT: Hi!!!!
FM: Hi! How are you guys?
NLT: Good.

Kevin: Happy Valentine’s Day!
FM: Happy Valentine’s Day to you too.

Travis: Do you have a Valentine, Courtney?
FM: No, I don’t.
Kevin: Will you be our collective Valentine?
FM: I sure will.
NLT: Yeah! Now we have a Valentine.

FM: So, What would you say makes "NLT" different from the previous and current male vocal groups?
V: Oh, Court comes with the serious questions already. [Laughs]
JJ: I would say what’s different is another cliché line, we’re not like them. You know we learned a lot from the past boy bands, and we’re still learning from the boy bands today. But, you know I think we took it and went our own way. We have our own vibe and our own feeling to all our music and everything we do.

FM: How would you describe the sound of your music? Would it say it's more Pop or R&B driven?
Kevin: It’s really a combination of everything because, just by ourselves we listen to such different types of music and then we kind of infuse that into our own music. So, it really just reflects that … it’s R&B, it’s definitely Pop, there’s some Rock, some Old Soul, just everything in it.
JJ: It’s very eclectic.

FM: You guys attended the Grammy’s this past Sunday, what can you tell us about that experience?
Kevin: We actually just went to a Grammy after party that the record label threw. That was just kind of crazy; we met Adam Levine from Maroon 5, Samantha Ronson …we were just kind of in awe seeing all those amazing artist who won Grammy’s that night.

FM: We know you've been working on your debut album, what can you tell us about who you've been working with and the experience so far?
JJ: We worked with The Underdogs, who produced the whole Dreamgirls soundtrack. Timbaland who did our first single “She Said, I Said”, we worked with Pharrell, Ne-Yo wrote a song for us. Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic wrote our new single that we’re about to come out with. It was amazing working with all of them; you don’t realize how talented you have to be you know, to be successful in this industry. They all work SO hard, and they’re all SO talented, it’s amazing for us to just be working with them.
Kevin: They all definitely deserve the success they’ve had.

FM: Well, that’s an amazing line up of artist. I’m expecting to hear some hot tracks.
NLT: [Laugh]
Kevin: No pressure.

FM: Your first single, "She Said, I Said", which was produced by Timbaland, has been doing really well on radio. We hear you also teamed up with him on some other songs for your album. Can you tell us how that collaboration came about?
Travis: It actually came about through Omarion, the singer, he’s kind of like our big brother, and he’s a mentor to us. He got the opportunity to work with Timbaland on the song “Icebox”, and so you know we were blessed to work with him around that same time through Omari.

FM: There has been much talk about why your album was pushed to a later date. With a lot of fans being upset, would you mind clearing up the rumors?
Kevin: Well, we put up a blog on our MySpace…
JJ: First things first…we’re upset too, really upset. [Laughs] But, Kevin’s right we put up a blog on our MySpace and you know a lot of people leaked our songs to YouTube and to Lime Wire and stuff. So, instead of giving the fans…
Kevin: They weren’t the actual versions. They were like un-mixed, un-finished versions of the songs.
Travis: So, just to clear all the rumors and set the record straight, we pushed back the album because the majority of the album was leaked to the internet, where people could download illegally. We wanted to give them something fresh, something new they haven’t heard before, so that’s why it got pushed back.

FM: Oh wow, that’s so messed up!
Travis: That is messed up. [Laughs]
JJ: We went in and recorded four more new songs.
Kevin: We’re really happy we did, because they’ve turned out to be some of our favorite and best songs we’ve ever done.

FM: Do you feel like your sound has matured even in the short time since the first set of songs were recorded?
NLT: Definitely.
Kevin: Because we’ve been making this album for about two years now. Our voices have grown, we’ve grown as people and so has the music. It kind of made a full circle moment, the first song we ever did as a group Ryan Tedder [OneRepublic] wrote, and then the last song we did, he also wrote two years later. It’s really a full circle thing and you can see … like if you heard the demos, which you will never hear [Laughs], our sound has just really matured and we’re really happy it has. So, that the perfect sound we want will come out on the album.

FM: This past winter you did some radio shows which drew in some very large crowds. Out of your live set list, what song would you say gets the crowd most amped up?
V: I would say “She Said, I Said”, because people know that song, it’s been on the radio for awhile. When they hear it … we like when they sing along…

FM: Yea, I love the song!
NLT: Thank you.

FM: Now, as for your onstage attire -- you guys have a very fresh sense of style. How would you describe your personal fashion style, or that of your band-mates?
Kevin: Oooh…
JJ: I would kind of just say - you know, we kind of wanted it to be just like four real cool kids. We don’t have a huge stage show yet where we can put like flashing lights, like Kayne West [Laughs], ya know on our jackets and stuff. So, we just kind of wanted a fresh, cool, everyday kinda kid look that everyone can relate to. I think that comes across, I’m not sure … but I hope it does.
Kevin: We really just dress what we like and what we can dance in comfortably.
Travis: I would describe my style as Spanish Vogue meets … [Laughs-all]

FM: Who takes the longest to get ready?
NLT: Justin…JJ
Kevin: JJ takes .. I don’t know if he actually takes longest.
V: He’s the last one at the door if you know what I’m saying. [Laughs]
Travis: I would say Justin has the most hair adjustments to make.
Kevin: Yeah! That’s why…
JJ: Actually, that’s a lie! Kevin adjusts his hair WAY more than I do. I do it in five minutes and I’m done. All day long Kevin, he’s just looking in the mirror “Is my swoop okay?” [Laughs]
Kevin: I have never said that in my life. I don’t know what he’s talking about.

FM: What do you guys do to prepare before you go onstage? Do you have any rituals?
V: We actually sing this song called “Do That To Me One More Time”, by Captain and Tennille.

FM: Are you serious? [Laughs-all]
Kevin: We start on separate sides of the stage and V and I always start together. So, V like one day started singing [sings] “do that to me one more time”, and I’m like “what is that?” [Laughs]. Ever since then V and I, we like re-mix it before the show to get our energy up. He does it and we beat-box, free-style rap … yeah.

FM: In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we’ve got a few questions for you on relationships and dating …what would you say is the most romantic date or Valentine surprise?
Travis: I would say something involving a chicken…
NLT: Some geese and a stork [Laughs-all]
Travis: For me it would probably just be something simple. I could spend time with that special person and you know spend quality time having fun, something romantic, sexy, candle light dinner.
JJ: I have an idea, might be a little too extravagant … then again it might not be that extravagant. Well, you take a girl and you blindfold her… [Laughs]
Kevin: Whoa!
JJ: .. you take her out of your car, bring her into your apartment or wherever it is, your house, that way she knows where she is. [Laughs] They’re all laughing at me. Then you cook her like a really beautiful meal, like pasta and garlic bread. [Laughs]
Kevin: Who doesn’t want to be blindfolded?
JJ: Then after you’re done eating, she doesn’t know where you are. So, you walk out and you’re on the roof.
Kevin: Hold on, she’s blindfolded while you’re eating? [Laughs-all]
JJ: No! Then when you guys are done, then you walk outside she’ll know where she is and you’ll end up being on a really tall top of a skyscraper, [Laughs-all] and then there’s a helicopter waiting for you. So, you take the helicopter over to your private jet, then you take your private jet and you fly over to Italy, and then you spend the rest of your time in Venice.

FM: What do you do if she’s afraid of heights?
JJ: Umm, push her off…just kidding, just kidding.
Kevin: Not the girl for you.
JJ: You hold her in your arms and make her feel safe.
FM: Aww!

FM: Have you ever had a really bad or embarrassing Valentine's Day experiences?
Kevin: I know nothing but that. [Laughs] Nothing too bad, just really awkward things … like elementary and middle school stuff where you try to give the girl chocolate and she doesn’t want it. [Laughs-all]
JJ: I was in second grade, and there was a rose bush in front of my house; so, I went and got a rose and put it in foil. By the time I gave it to her it was just petals. I gave it to her and she was like “umm thank you”, and so I just waited there for her to give me my present … you know when you give a girl a present they should give you one back. [Laughs] So, I stand there waiting for ten minutes and she’s like “okay I gotta go”, gets on her bus and leaves. That’s my embarrassing story.

FM: In your opinion, what's the most important thing to have in a relationship?
V: Trust.
JJ: Honesty.
Kevin: Communication.
Travis: Umm, compatibility.

FM: What qualities do you look for in your ideal girl?
Travis: Sense of humor.
Kevin: Yes, big sense of humor and a girl that just kind of knows who she is. Knows that she’s comfortable in her own skin and has like unique style.
JJ: Someone that’s kind of strong and doesn’t give up easily if you’re in a fight. She doesn’t just like kind of submit and let you win. A girl that stands up for what she believes in.

FM: Okay, so you do know I’m gonna get flack if I don’t ask you this question. Do you have girlfriends, and if not are you looking?
V: We don’t and yes in fact, we are.
JJ: Umm, yes we are looking.

FM: I’m sure the fans will be thrilled to hear that!
NLT: Yeah, baby [Laughs]
V: We actually work so much that we don’t have time for girlfriends. But, it’s always fun to look for that special someone.
JJ: Like you meet girls and then you talk to them for a week…
Kevin: You want to be with them, but then you realize it just wouldn’t be fair to them, you know because we’re gone so much. You want to be able to spend time with them, especially at the beginning of a relationship when you’re just getting to know each other. You really want to build a basis, and you can’t really do that when you’re gone so much you know?

FM: Will you guys be doing any shows on the east coast anytime soon?
V: You know there’s a contest going on at WetSeal.com where fans can actually go and enter to win a date with us.
Travis: But, to answer your question…we’re actually planning a tour, no details just yet. We don’t want to give away anything too soon, but we are planning a tour to go around the country. Keep checking our MySpace for that www.myspace.com/nlttug.
JJ: NLTmusic.com and keep a look out for that. To all our fans they can call us, we have a number where fans can call us at it’s #818-287-8982.

FM: Thank you guys so much for taking the time to talk with me. I can’t wait to see you when the album comes out and catch up with you again.
NLT: Yeah! Can’t wait.
Kevin: Great meeting you.


FOR MORE ON NLT CHECK OUT:
· NLTMusic [official site]
· MySpace - NLT
· YouTube - NLT

"SHE SAID, I SAID"

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photos: TUG Entertainment

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