WHAT ABOUT TONIGHT
They were Australia’s #1 independent artists last year but, what Marc Andrews wants to know is, which one of What About Tonight is gay?
DNA: How did the band came together? Brock Jays: We formed in 2012 after meeting on YouTube. We were just going to post some videos but decided to give X Factor a shot and applied. After the show finished, two of the younger members went on to join another band and we took on a new member from The Voice, Wade Smith. What’s been your biggest accomplishment to date? X Factor was a pretty amazing experience. We released our first single, Time Of Our Lives, which debuted at #7 and peaked at #2, which was unbelievable. To top it off we became the #1 Australian independent artist of the year. Is it true that none of you had met any gay people before you got into the band? There were guys in school that I knew and some horrible people who bullied those guys for being gay. That’s what first drew my attention to the fact they could be gay. Some of them were my friends and they brushed it off and maybe without knowing it taught me to not care what other people think. Towards grade 12 the only notion of an older gay person I had was what I saw in Mardi Gras and I assumed that once you left school this is what it was like. How has your impression or attitude towards gay people changed now? Our manager is gay and we love him, as are a lot of his friends who have become some of our favorite people. Most of the people we’ve met that are gay we couldn’t tell, nor would we even care. It’s shown us that they are hardly different to straight people and what we saw at Mardi Gras is probably a small percentage of the population. There used to be a rule of thumb that one person in every boy band is gay. Discuss. If you spent enough time with us you’d think we were all gay at one time or another [laughs]. Who is your straight mate crush? I have a lot of good-looking mates which can be really annoying if we are out. I would love to have a bromance with Channing Tatum, I would just stare at him. What’s 2014 looking like at the moment? We’ve just got back from shooting our video in Los Angeles and are heading back to record more tracks. Hopefully lots of travel this year! Everyone is looking for the next One Direction. Is that you? Who wouldn’t want to have their music played all around the world? Sure, we are a boy band but we’ve done things a little differently. We’re not too polished and still very much Australian. Do you guys fit the boy band mould or have broken it? We are a boy band and have no problem with that… we own it [laughs]. With most boy bands it’s a lot of dance moves when they perform. We tried that but it just doesn’t work for us – it didn’t feel right. Our songs aren’t all about love and finding a girl. It’s more about having fun. How devoted are your fans? Our fans are absolutely incredible, without the hard work they do promoting us around the schools and world on Twitter and Instagram we wouldn’t
be in the same situation. We love our fans to bits. It’s crazy to fly around Australia and have fans track down what flight we’re on and wait hours at the airport just to come up and say ‘“Hey, hug us!” and get photos. Do you have any male fans/groupies yet? We’ve got a good male fan base. The music is so much about having fun that it relates to everyone. Sometimes there will be a guy at the back of a crowd of people and will look a little sheepish, wait for everyone to go and then say he’s a fan. Who has the best body in the band? I totally have to say Tyrone! He puts in a lot of effort into fitness and eating healthy. He grew up as an MMA fighter so he’s one of those people that always has a good body, which is pretty
I would love to have a bromance with Channing Tatum. I would just stare at him.
frustrating when I’m in the gym for a month just to see a baby bicep. What’s your workout regime? It consists of cardio probably three times a week and weights five times a week, when I’m being good and there’s nothing good on TV [laughs]. Who’s the best looking in the band? I guess it’s more who our fans are into. Everyone has a certain look they like, but for the sake of the question I think Luke gets a bit more attention for his looks than some of us, which I hate to admit [laughs]. Looking at Justin Bieber – what advice would you give him for his career? Just to not get caught up in the industry, stay real, humble and true to who you are! No one can stand someone who is fake or has a big ego, but I totally understand that he is young and has been doing it for a long time and perhaps he’s hanging around the wrong crowd? What band or artist inspires you most? Justin Timberlake. He truly is amazing; he can sing, dance, act and entertain people. I totally admire what he’s doing and would love to put his style into our music and performances. Where does the band fit into the landscape musically? We are still growing into our own style. We would like to fit in between One Direction with the fun pop catchy songs, with The Wanted’s older vibe mixed in, with the sweet beats of Justin Bieber. We would love to get some awesome club tracks out there and start touring nightclubs! How did you come up with the name? It came up in a discussion before our first X Factor audition. One boy said, “What about tonight we go get some clothes and haircuts for the audition?” And I said, as a joke, “We should so call the band What About Tonight!” We kinda agreed and laughed about it, then our fans called themselves tonighters and we called ourselves WAT for short. When will we see WAT with your shirts off dancing at Mardi Gras? I need to start working out more before I take my shirt off in public [laughs]. Speedos or boardshorts? I’m not a fan of the budgie smugglers, so definitely boardshorts but what ever floats your boat! What’s your message to the readers of DNA? Love is love and that’s all that matters.