June 02, 2008

Day 26: Making History From Henceforth

By Cheryl Leong

As far as auspicious numbers go, 26 definitely works for them. Day 26 is who we're talking about. By now, you must surely have heard of this Famous Five, whose self-titled debut album has been heating up the charts quicker than you can say "Got Me Going".

On August 26, 2007, Day 26 was born from P. Diddy's Making The Band 4. Brian Andrews, Mike McCluney, Qwanell Mosley (aka "Q"), Robert Curry, Willie Taylor are now set to blow the R& B industry away, judging from the way their hot new moniker seems to be on everybody's lips these days.

Promising to bring back the good old days of soulful harmonies and straight-up R&B, this vocally gifted quintet, hailing from different backgrounds but sharing a common passion for music, takes a break from their hectic schedules and chats with MTV Asia on living the dream.


MTV Asia: How does it feel to have it made? Do you still wake up some mornings and go, WOW…?
Day 26: Well, yeah we can definitely say, it's kind of surreal what's going on at this point, as far as everything's going on, you know? But reality just kicks in when it's time to rehearse. [Laughs] We have 12 to 15 hours of rehearsals and those are kind of straining. But it's truly a blessing to be living out our dreams. We've been blessed with a great album, great fans.

MTV Asia: So is it everything that you thought it would be?
Day 26: It's everything and more! We know it sounds kind of cheesy, but yeah.

MTV Asia: Do you guys look back on the Making The Band tapes and wonder, why did I do that? Or I shouldn't have done that?
Day 26: Well you know, sometimes we look back at some parts and go like, "Yo why'd they show that!" Or, "I wish I could have performed better." But you know, it's shown to the rest of the world, so of course we do have, "Damn why'd I say/do that!" moments.

MTV Asia: After getting into Day 26, are the regiments you boys go through daily similar as to when you still Making The Band, or does Diddy cut you more slack?
Day 26: We cut a lot of slack though, seriously. [Laughs] But we do our vocal trainings, working on tours and all. We actually try to work really hard 24 hours a day, to make sure that nobody can touch our spot.

MTV Asia: Can we expect a collaboration between Day 26 and Danity Kane?
Day 26: We actually already have a collaboration with them on this album. It's called "Ain't Going Nowhere".

MTV Asia: It's been a long time since we've seen a boy band surface, most successful one so far has been Boyz II Men. Is it safe to say that you guys are the Boyz II Men of the new millennium?
Day 26: [Laughs] You can call us that, if that's what you like to call us. But we would like for you to call us Day 26!

MTV Asia: What kind of sounds can we expect from your debut album, "Day 26"?
Day 26: You can expect real real real R&B coming back to you. And if you say we're like Boys II Men, then yeah, you can expect that kind of real music that we're trying to bring back into the industry.

MTV Asia: Danity Kane did outstandingly well with their debut, is there any pressure put onto you by Diddy and the rest to match up?
Day 26: Danity Kane did do very well but we really don't feel much pressure because we're in a whole other genre and situation that they were in, and we believe that just like they had the best for the genre and time that they were in, we feel like we have the best for this genre and this time. So there's really no pressure.

MTV Asia: What is the one thing you love and hate that fame has brought you?
Day 26: We love the love from our fans. We have the best fans in the world, and we wouldn't trade that for anything. But we do hate that sometimes we can't do normal things, like just go shopping in the mall.

Since we are a reality TV show, and people have been following us all the way on the road to success, they feel like they know us. Normal stars like Jay-Z or Usher, you can't touch them but people come up and go, 'COME HERE!' They actually grab us and all because they feel like they know who we are. But you know what, we love our fans no matter what.

MTV Asia: What is your game plan for the next couple of months?
Day 26: We just want to keep everything flowing and all, keep giving you guys a very exciting season, and just making the tour the bomb.