'2gether' album and TV movie spoof popular boy-band genre
2gether -- the next boy band sensation, a goofy spoof of the bubble pop
genre or both?
Try both. The infectiously tuneful quintet's debut album was released
last week (Grade: B\P) and its very own MTV original TV movie airs at 7
tonight. (Grade: A-).
Despite its clearly kidding nature, the first video from the "2gether"
package called "U \P Me Us (Calculus)" is proving a fave with MTV
viewers.
And several Web sites based in Vancouver, British Columbia -- where
the film was made -- already have sprung up in support of the group,
notes the film's dreadlocked British director Nigel Dick.
Truth is, if you don't listen too closely to the tongue-in-cheek lyrics,
that "U \P Me" ode to the guys' favorite school subject could be
mistaken for the latest bomb dropped by Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync.
It's a perfectly constructed package of angelic harmonies,
heart-throbbing synthesizers and slap-kick percussion working over a
tune that sticks to your brain like Double Bubble. And check out that
killa rap in the middle. "Algebra, trigonometry, can never equal what you
do to me!" bellows Mikey Park (Alex Solowitz), the self-styled gangsta
of this lily-white band.
Dick knows the territory, having directed videos for 'N Sync, the
Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears
"The difference is that we could have a lot of fun here," he related by
cell phone, while scouting a location for a Stridex commercial at
Hollywood High. "When you're shooting serious bands they want to look
cool. So all the funny stuff they do has to be cut out. Here, the band
was willing to put on all the goofy costumes I threw at them."
The show maintains the band was put together in a week by Bob Buss
(Alan Blumenfeld). Starting out in a Boston parking lot, he rounds up the
bad boy (Solowitz), the shy type (Noah Bastian), your dewy-eyed
youngster (Michael Cuccione, who on screen and in real life is waging a
battle against Hodgkin's lymphoma), the reassuring older brother type
(Kevin Farley, Chris' younger brother) and the heartthrob, your teen
idol (Evan Farmer).
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a high school (this) week," Nigel Dick
says. "I'm sure there's going to be a lot of new vernacular coming out of
this show."
And maybe even a TV series.
By JONATHAN TAKIFF
All content © 2001 The Kansas City Star
