Talks about his "Making the Band" experience

June 22, 2000

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AngelKisses: How did you get started singing? At what age?

Bryan Chan: I've been singing since I was about 5 years old. I had done plays when I was younger. And I did musical theater in high school, but it wasn't until college that I joined an actual gospel choir, which really helped me develop my voice and encouraged me to sing more and more under professional training. I've never had formal lessons. I don't know how to read music and in gospel music you are taught to sing by someone actually giving you your pitch and your verse and you repeat that back. It is a very traditional way of learning music. When we came into this project everyone had different backgrounds. Ashley and Jacob can both play the guitar. Eric and Ikaika were good at harmonizing. Mike can find a bass note to any song. And so that's what made the process really unique, because everyone had something different to offer, not only the style of music that they came from but in their training and education as well.

CO-Curious: How did you come up with your routine so quickly on audition day?

Bryan Chan: When I walked into that audition, I didn't have any idea what they were going to ask me to do. And so I sat in this line and when they called me up, they said, "I'd like you to sing a song from this list," and the list had "Silent Night," "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Amazing Grace," and a number of traditional songs. So, without a warm-up, I just picked "Silent Night" and I sang it. And then they asked me to sing a song off a second list which had a number of songs from Backstreet Boys and ''N Sync. So I picked "Tearing Up My Heart," and even though I didn't know all of the words I managed to get through singing most of that song. And then they asked me if I could dance. And I said, "Sure, I can dance," and then the next thing I know music starts blaring in the background and I am given this impromptu little jig. So it was all made up on the spot.

Spicey11: What's it like to be fulfilling your dreams?

Bryan Chan: I really just am so thankful to have come this far and to be working with people that are so dedicated to the same thing that I am. And I don't take for granted the fact that so many people would want to be in the shoes that we are in right now and how lucky we are to have this opportunity. I feel really blessed.

CO-Shelby: You had to leave your friends and your family to join the band. Do they seem supportive of your decision?

Bryan Chan: My entire family and all of my friends and even the people that I had to leave behind at work couldn't have been more supportive of my decision to go and pursue this dream. And as hard as the decision was to leave all that behind, it was a really comforting feeling knowing that I had that support group behind me. I talked a lot with Ashley, who came from kind of a different situation with his stepfather, and I don't know how I would have been able to handle it if the people that were most important to me weren't supporting my decision to be there.

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