‘TGK is not just another new pop group. Their beats are contemporary, their moves are hip-hop, their sound is tight and their songs are HOTT!’ Check out what they had to say when FANVASION caught up with ’em.
My first question is, how did you get together and come up with the name TGK?
Gina: They actually held a national audition, and kids from all over the country came down .. it just so happened that all of us picked were from central Florida, which worked out great. TGK actually holds a personal meaning for the record label. So that’s how TGK was thought of.
Who would you consider to be your biggest musical influences, either individually or as a group?
JoJo: I think personally for me there are just so many individuals out there .. I really couldn’t pick them all because we’d be here all day. It goes so far back to early 70s, doo whoop music, I love all types of music. I mean basically anyone who’s out there doing what they love and has a passion for music is someone I can learn and take something from.
Ivette: We all basically have different influences, we grew up around a lot of different music. I grew up on a bunch of soul .. like Aretha Franklin. That’s what’s so cool is that we all have different influences and can put them all together.
Gina: I just love music! All kinds of artist, genres of music. I love Sting, just something about his stuff, the way it makes me feel. But, really I just love music in general .. all of the artist out right now are great. Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder – they’re all just so wonderful.
Justin: I basically grew up listening to a lot of rock. So some of influences are probably Brandon Boyd from Incubus, Aaron Lewis from Staind, Led Zeppelin .. all that old rock.
Hey guys, why don’t you tell what’s in your CD player right? (TGK’s manager)
JoJo: Um, I probably have Usher in my CD player right now.
Ivette: I actually have the 50 First Dates soundtrack in my CD player right now,
just because I love the 311 song.
Oh yea, I definitely love that song.
Gina: I actually have Britney Spears “Toxic” in right now, [laughs] because I dunno I just love the song.
Justin: I actually have Chingy in right now. (Note: Girls Laugh: “From rock to Chingy!”)
Do you ever get nervous before a performance?
JoJo: I don’t know if it’s always so much as “nervous”, I mean there’s always ya know a little bit of butterflies. Just I feel that as a performer if you don’t get butterflies, or your not anxious to do the show .. then that’s probably the time to call it quits. So, basically there’s always some sort of feeling, whether it be anxiousness, nervous, hyped up, amp .. whatever you want to call it.
What about pre-show rituals?
Ivette: We don’t really have any specific pre-show rituals, but we definitely try to get each other pumped up and really get crazy. We’ll probably sing a song, just get hyped up and ready. We definitely will pray before we go on though.
What’s it like being in a co-ed group? Do you all hang out together is it kind of a girls on one side, boys on the other?
JoJo: I think it’s really cool, because when you have an all girl or boy group the topics pretty much always stay the same and you only have one viewpoint on things. But, if we have girl problems or they have guy problems, we can try and help each other out from both sides and get a different opinion or take on things. We definitely do hang out outside of the group too, because we feel that’s an important part in being with the group. It helps us to get along better, especially on stage because people can tell whether you get together just to work or there really is good chemistry there.
Gina: It works out great because we’re like brothers and sisters to each other. [laughs] They’re big bullies!
You’ve been very involved with the SpeakOut hotline, can you tell us more about that and how it helps teens?
JoJo: Yea, well the Speak Out hotline is a 24 hour/anonymous line that helps kids who want to report on gangs, weapons, or drugs. We’re also involved with teencentral.net, a new partnership .. we’re going to be doing a lot of stuff with them. We actually just took the place of ‘N Sync on that, which is a really cool thing. So, we’re going to be doing stuff on the site, and everything that ‘N Sync did for them. But ya know, they’re ‘N Sync and we’re TGK .. hopefully we have the same success.
We hope you do too. That’s really awesome that you guys are doing that and helping out.
All: Thank you!
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?
JoJo: One person we’ve worked with is Allegro .. he’s done stuff with Sony and so many people from Usher, Jennifer Lopez, B2K. He’s just worked on the music of so many artist you listen to on the radio right now, we were just ecstatic to meet him and start working. To be able to do songs with him, and get a different take of professionalism .. stuff like that.
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Ivette: Our album is really different, I mean not only did we work with Allegro, but also Tori Sanders. And all the music is different, nothing is strictly one type. So if you like a lot of music you’ll definitely enjoy it.
Have you had any help in the writing or producing of the album?
JoJo: Actually on the album we really didn’t do much writing, but all four of us are songwriters. I mean we’ve already done stuff for different groups. We’re actually recording some songs we wrote right now, which we think would be cool for later albums and stuff.
Gina: On our next album, we’re going to have a lot of original songs. But, on this one we actually wrote a rap.
JoJo: Oh yea, I wrote a rap on our song called “Shake It”. We put a lot of our ad-libs and ideas in on this album. Some of the stuck and some of them didn’t, but that’s just how the music industry is.
We were actually listening to some of your song clips the other day, and really loved what we heard of “Some Guys”. What can you tell us about that song in particular?
Gina: Oh, it’s so much fun .. that’s one of our favorite songs. It’s actually a great song to see live because we do almost a skit to it. You get to see how we interact with each other, and the guys trying to pick up the girls. It’s fun!
Justin: It’s actually a Rod Stewart song originally.
JoJo: Yea, we changed some of the verses and basically just used the chorus. So, it’s kind of like a remix version. A lot of people are really liking that one, just because it’s familiar.
How do you decide which songs will make the album cut, and what happens to the ones that don’t?
JoJo: Well we had what’s called a listening party, where we sit down with management and the head of the record label. Then we each pick which songs we like and narrow it down. But, you also have songs you like that just didn’t fit the album and will probably be saved for the second album, or done in the live show.
What message do you hope for others to take away from your music?
Ivette: TGK is all about bringing a positive message, so in our songs we don’t say anything explicit or provocative. We just want to try and be wholesome, but at the same time make great music with a message.
Justin: Yea, all of our songs have a positive, good meaning like Ivette said.
You all are amazing with your fans .. how important do you think it is for an artist career to have a close connection with their fan bases?
Gina: I think it’s extremely important, that’s what we’re here for. Just to spread the love everywhere! [laughs] That’s what being a performer is all about, to be able to make people feel good. Me personal I just love people! I love to talk and interact with everyone it’s great.
JoJo: We just did a video that goes through the high schools, where we’re introducing ourselves to them. But, the fans support .. that’s really the reason and artist performs. To touch people with the music, and be good role models for the ones that look up to you. Besides giving them the best show we can, we try to go out and talk to everyone. So that way they know we’re genuine and see ‘Wow, TGK really cares about us’, because we do. It’s not just about album sales.
Have you had any crazy/weird encounters with fans yet?
Ivette: No, they’re all really cool actually. Our fans are so great! If you go to our website there are links to all these different sites about us, and I didn’t even know about them. I went on there one day and was just like “Wow, our fans are awesome!”
Any exciting future plans you can share with us? Maybe a tour, video?
Justin: Oh, definitely! Right now we’re actually looking at all the different tours going on, and some stuff overseas .. so it’s all good. We’re also getting ready to shoot the video for “HOTT”, so we’ve just been getting some different treatments from production companies to see where we want to go with it. We want it to be different from what you think it’s going to be about, and not ‘Oh, I knew that’s what the video was gonna be like’.
Last question I have is .. the album. When can we expect to see that in stores?
Ivette: Actually we’re still working on it right now. We haven’t set a specific date, but we’re looking at somewhere around July.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.
Justin: No, thank you!
All: Thank you!