In case you always wanted to know what the word *NSYNC means, is here the solution: Insynchronicity which means doing things at the same time. And if you have seen the cute guys opening up for DJ Bobo, then you know what they mean with that: A perfect dance-show!
'We have trained six to eight hours everyday!', says Joey (Joseph Fatone Jr.), he falls onto a couch and reaches for a waterbottle. 'And we had voice-lessons everyday for two to four hours.' No surprise that they are absolutely worn out. 'But when we're on stage and we see how all the girls react to our show, it makes it all worth it!' says Lance with an absolute cute smile.
In the beginning of their careers the guys had to get used to working with vocal-coaches and Choreographers. Since a year the guys are working on their harmonies and dance-routines. For the four songs that the guys perform on stage now (together with their hit 'I want you back') they only had to practice six or seven days. JC, Justin, Joey and Chris already had done some dancing before they joined *NSYNC. They worked for Disney and Universal Studios, where they performed many shows. 'The most important thing is that we really sing live' says JC (Joshua Chasez). 'You can't imagine how hard it is to sing and dance at the same time. We had to learn breathe techniques. In a song there are "breathing points" and we had to find those first. As one of our special exercises we had to blow a piece of paper against a wall for as long as we could.' JC shows his skills. The guys could hold it up between 1 and 2 minutes. (JC was always the best) Another thing that was hard in the beginning was to keep up the microphone on stage. Joey laughs; 'The sound is too soft when we're too far away from the microphone. But when we're too close, everyone has to put their hands on their ears! It's really hard to find the right way to hold it.'
Their big break: A woman, who has helped *NSYNC to get their big break, is their vocal-coach Robin. She even wrote an a capella song for the guys. JC has know Robin for a long time. He still likes her a lot; 'She's the one who got us to sing in perfect harmony.' Robin already had a lot of experience in the music-business, she used to sing for Ray Charles. The original choreographer of *NSYNC is a guy called Robert and he used to work with Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson and Prince. 'What is so special with our moves is that we have a lot of combinations. Nothing gets repeated in another song.' tells Joey. Robert listens to what the guys tell him. If anyone has a good idea he builds it in. That's how the songs get those typical *NSYNC-moves.
Staying in shape for the show: each guy has his own thing to keep in shape for all the shows. Joey is real honest; 'I've never been a sports-freak. I was more into plays and musicals. At highschool I did play a little baseball, basketball and football but I liked dancing a lot more! You can believe it or not but I even did some ballet!' JC is a bit more of a sports guy: 'I love basketball, swimming, skating and football. I've played defense, linebacker and quarterback.' Justin was a real sports-freak: "I played everything from Hockey to Basketball!' The blond Lance: 'I'm the least sportive one of the group...' - 'Hey' Joey interrupts him. 'The least sportive one has to be me!' All the guys are laughing. Lance: 'I rather did gymnastics and athletics. I wanted to become a actor!' Chris is the most sportive one in the group. Chris is really athletic. 'Short and fast' is what JC says about him. 'Hey listen up, I'm not short!' replies Chris.
Just before the show the guys begin to warm up their bodies. They stretch, do some pushups and sit-ups and some fast dance moves. Besides that they do voice-exercises. And after that they play "Hacky-Sack". Justin, who came up with the ritual, explains: 'It's a little ball filled with beans. You can touch it with every part of your body, except not with your hands. Each one of us has to play it once and it can't hit the floor. If that happens it means bad luck. Of course that never happened to us!' Then Joey gets serious again: 'Before each show we pray together.' This moment is important for the guys. 'It helps us to concentrate. We want to give our best on stage!' explains Joey proudly. 'Exactly!' say the others at the same time. Really sychronised!

Written by Dirk Ruschenpaul and Florian Schleicher for HIT! magazine [� Germany, 1996]
Typed by Linda for ++LinSync Productions++ [�2000]