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Kriselen.com Interveiw
Hey guys can we start with everyone introducing themselves?
Greg: Hi I'm Greg
Frankie: I'm Frankie
Chris: I'm Chris
Matt: I'm Matt
Jesse: I'm Jesse
Chris: And we are DREAMSTREET
Can you guys tell us how Dreamstreet began?
Greg: Two guys put us together, Brain Lukow and Louis Baldonieri. They are producers. Then had an audition and they put it in the paper. Over 200 kids showed up, from there they cut it down to 16. Then from there they cut it down to 8. Then they took the 8, with those 8 kids they made them work together for 2 months to see who harmonized well together. After that they cut it down to 5, and that is us Dreamstreet.
Who came up with the name Dreamstreet?
Frankie: Actually we all came up with the name. We all come from Broadway backgrounds. Manhattan's Broadway is actually called the Street of Dreams. So we figured Dreamstreet would be a perfect name for us.
What was your reaction when you first heard your song on the radio?
Chris: Flipping out, just going crazy. Everything you can imagine, we were going nuts.
Who are your role models when it comes to music?
Matt: Well we all have different role models when it comes to music. For me it would be like Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bad Religion. I know the guys look up to the pop bands like N Sync.
If you could perform with anyone out there, who would it be?
All: Britney Spears
Jesse: I think we would all want to perform with Britney. But as far as boy bands it would be an honor to perform with N Sync or Backstreet Boys.
Greg: How about Dream and Dreamstreet.
In this business, you are away from home a lot. What is the one thing you can't leave home without?
Greg: I can't leave home without my hair stuff; you know my comb and stuff like that.
Frankie: I probably couldn't leave home without my C.D. player.
Chris: I can't leave home without my hair stuff and my sunglasses. Gotta have some type of glasses to go with my stuff and shoes and my clothes, those are important to me.
Matt: I can't leave home without my visor.
How many sunglasses do you have Chris?
Chris: I think about hundred or so. But these ones are my favorite because they are not $5 off the street. Believe me the $5 ones off the streets of New York are the best, but these ones are the real McCoy. So I like wearing these ones the most.
If we were do go to your C.D. player right now, what would C.D. would we find in it.
Greg: Right now my C.D. player would be empty. I usually just grab one of the other guys' C.Ds because they always bring like the big bins full of C.Ds. We like to listen to all kinds of music. I know Matt likes more of punk and rock music. Frank and Jesse listen to more of like BBmak and N Sync. Chris likes to listen to rap. So I just borrow one of their C.Ds.
Frankie: Well right now I have N Sync's new C.D. in it. Which Chris kinda wrote all over today.
Chris: I think I have the N Sync C.D. in my laptop. I am really digging their new C.D. it's different.
Frankie: Chris wants to be like me.
Chris: Oh Yeah
Matt: I have Sublime, their self titled album Sublime Sublime.
Jesse: I have BBMak in my C.D. player. I have been listening to them for the last few weeks and I think they are really good.
What do you guys like better, recording in the studio or performing live?
All: Performing live
Frankie: Yeah performing live definitely. Its exciting.
Greg: The adrenaline rush, you can't beat that.
Chris: Plus you have the fans screaming it helps. The energy helps our performance.
Speaking of fans. We mentioned to some people that we were going to interview you guys. We got like 20 e-mails with questions for you guys. The one question that kept coming up is. Are you guys singled.. married or what?
Frankie: Well I have 3 children at home.
Chris: I'm their Godfather.
Jesse: I am actually engaged.
Greg: Nah we are all single.
Matt: We are single and loving it.
All: Yeah
Chris: Its good to be single, nah its just that we are really busy.
What is that one food you could eat 24/7?
Greg: Pizza
Frankie: Ravioli
Chris: Steak, Crab or Loster..that expensive food
Matt: Ice Cream
Jesse: Beef Jerky
Please describe the person to your right.
Greg: Jesse is the youngest of the group. Considering he is the youngest he is pretty cool. I usually don't have out with 14-year olds, but hes cool for 14 years old.
Jesse: Thanks Greg, you're the man.
Frankie: Greg got his hair highlighted so it looks cool. We are the two Italians. Greg is cool and a good friend. He loves pizza and pez. He's a very nice kid.
Chris: Frankie is the oldest of the group. He can be serious at times, but he can be crazy and fun to hang out. He also got the spiky hair too, so we share that little thingso yea hes cool.
Matt: Chris is not into dancinghe is most likely to be in punk rock band just kidding. Completely the opposite. He has really cool hair. He likes sun glasses. He is the flirt of the groups, gets a lot of the girls.
Jesse: Matt is the most random kid you'll meet in your entire life. Hes a ballet dancer..haha..just kidding. Matt is a really fun kid to be around and he always makes you laugh. He likes to play lacrosse and hes really good. He drive a Ford Exploreryeayea overall hes a great kid.
Do you guys have any embarrassing moments on stage you would like to share?
Chris: My shoe fell off on stage. Oh and one time I had to much energyand I did this move and my finger grabbed the chain and I yanked it off and just threw it in the audience. Butthen I kicked and my shoe flew and it went straight up.
Frankie: And he stopped and just said Ooopps!
Chris: Yea, I wanted the fans to get a laugh out of it, instead of them saying..Are you alright?
Jesse: It felt like his shoe was up in the air for like an hour!
Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Matt: On the beach in St. Thomas. Playing golf.
Frankie: Hopefully the group will still be around. On the level of like Nsync orBackstreet boys or higher. That would be cool
What message do you want to give all your fans out there?
All: We love you!
Frankie: If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here. We got the best fans in the world.
Greg: Thanks for supporting us, writing us, and requesting our songs
Chris: You guys Rock!
All: Thank you!
(The guys sang a part of Sugar Rush for us. We want to thank the people at Launch.com, Leona at Edel, John, Dream Street, and their parents. We hope to see you guys again soon!)
*To hear clips from this inteverveiw go to Sounds Frankie's Interveiw From Student Radio 1440 Interveiw Part One Interview From The DS Hyper CD DREAM STREET INTERVIEW
Interview by Glen Sansone
You've all done so many different things in your careers -- soaps, plays, commercials. How did you come to be a singing group?
Greg: [We were] cast by two guys. We all have agents, and that's how you do commercials -- you go on auditions. Dream Street was like any other audition. We came in, sang our songs, did some dance stuff. They auditioned about 300 people, and they cut it down to 16, and then to eight, and finally to us five.
Did you guys all get along well after you were chosen to be Dream Street?
Jesse: I am the youngest member of the group and I was more intimidated I guess because they're all two years older than me. When we first got together the first couple of months were awkward because I was hanging out with guys older than me. But after awhile, they became my best friends -- my brothers actually. We've had a lot of fun together. We can be very open with each other now that we've been together for about three years.
Do you guys ever get on each others nerves when you're out on the road?
Frankie: I actually like being on the road. Just touring all over the place in front of all the people who haven't seen us before. I think we get a kick out of being on the road. We have a lot of fun on the road, we mess around -- maybe a little too much!
Greg: We like to play sports in the parking lots.
Who are some of your musical influences?
Jesse: My musical influences are mostly James Taylor and Sting. I used to listen to them a lot when I was five or six because my dad played them a lot in the car on long trips. Also N'sync and the Backstreet Boys. They do exactly what we do and they've been totally successful, so we hope to be just like them. As a group, they're an inspiration.
What were some of the most embarrassing moments you've had while performing?
Chris: Our choreography is kinda intricate, so we sometimes mess up in terms of spacing. But we're the best at covering it up.
Greg: One of my most embarrassing moments happened before I was in Dream Street. It was during a Kids For Kids show I was doing, and at the end of the show this girl comes up to grab my leg or whatever, and when she did that my pants fell down! I was wearing, like, flowered boxer shorts!
Matt: I remember Seattle performing at the Boys & Girls club. We were doing "Gotta Get The Girl" and I completely zoned out for half the song. I was doing my own choreography -- I didn't even know what I was doing! When I woke up, the choreographer just looked at me and she was almost in tears.
How are you able to stay grounded with so many screaming fans always trying to get near you?
Greg: I think we all love the fact that we've got all the girls screaming for us.
Chris: It's hard because sometimes when you're up there, these girls are screaming for your autograph. We're still in the beginning stages of this whole thing, so we're not used to it completely yet. Some of us want to go over and give hugs and get into the whole "fan" thing, but we can't because they're gonna rip our clothes.
Jesse: When we're on stage doing what we love to do, and the fans are doing what they love to do, which is just watch and enjoy the show, it helps us more when they're screaming and clapping and having a good time -- it helps us be even more energetic on stage.
Greg: It kinda reminds us why we're out there in the first place.
Jesse: We gotta keep the fans happy.
What do you want to be doing in 20 years?
Chris: I want to be in the entertainment business in some way -- whether it be radio, in front of the camera, behind the camera, whatever. I like acting a lot. It's a passion I've always had. I always used to like to tease people and see how good I can trick them.
Frankie: I want to stay in the business, but maybe go behind the scenes. When I worked on a TV show (Hudson Street) I liked the whole directing thing.
Jesse: In 20 years, I want to be directing, or writing or producing.
Greg: There's a lot of aspects to the music and show business world. I enjoy being in front of the camera rather than behind. I've been doing Dream Street for three years now, and I understand the work you have to put into it. As far as movies compared to performing, I like performing better because you get to see the people.
Matt: I want to be an investment banker.
Any last words for your fans?
Group: Thanks for buying our record!!
Vid Interveiw Transcript
All: Hey we're Dream Street and we are coming you're way!
Chris: That was not good. That was so bad. Can we do another way?
Frankie: *laughing*Hey
Greg: Hey I'm Greg and I'm 42 (fades out then back in) 15 (fades out and in) So I guess I'm 15 and a half or something like that.
Jesse: Hey what's up my name is Jesse , I'm 13 years old and I'm single.*raises eyes* brows)
Frankie: I'm Frank Galasso (fades out and in) *laughs*
Matt: I'm Matt Ballinger. I'm 15 years old. My birthday is in April. (fades out and in) I wanna make a lot of money (cha-ching noise)
Chris: Hi my name's Chris and I'm 15 years old *nods head while raising eyebrows*(twinkle noise)
Part one: What's you favorite color?
Greg: Ah orange
Jesse: It's bright...bright...i like orange
Frankie:Green (fades out and in) I always liked the fact that when you stopped at a stop light and it turns green you just go (car noise)
Matt: My favorite color is blue.
Chris: Well I like blue. I grew up by the ocean. I grew up by Florida. and i dunno i just like blue. And I uh also think I like orange. Orange is pretty cool. And red. No Red and black i love wearing red and black.
Part 2:What is your favorite food?
Greg: Pizza
Jesse: Candy
Frankie: uh raviolies
Matt: tacos or chinse food
Chris: lobster, steak, crab. I like crab a lot.
Part 3: What's the perfect girl?
Greg: uh the perfect girl would be uh nice, fun, interesting, you know likes to have a good time
Jesse: *pauses looking down smiling* Nah I'm not gonna even go there *pause still smiling* no
Frankie:*smiling* uhhh, um perfect girl, she definalty has to have a good personality she's gotta be funny, outgoing, she can't, I don't like when they're shy
Matt: Very good looking
Chris: *looking straight into the cmaera*uhp..*bits lip* yeah
Part 4: What's up with Chris's Hair?
Chris: Don't like my hair, Well here's a lil story about my hair. See it all started off when everyone would just rack on me when i was about 8. I used to have really puffy air, really curly puffy hair. And um the front would always spike up. Fro some reason I could never you know that make it be fluffy. and you everyone would just rack on me and I'd be like god one day you know i'm just gonna spike my whole head. I'm just gonna be a spike head.
Jesse:Yeah he's really obbsessed with his hair (some voice in backround: obbsessed?) yeah but it looks good, looks good, gotta hand it to the kid.
Chris: So I got my hair ya know spiked up like this and it looks okay and I'm still getting teased
Matt: Alls he cares about is his hair and if you touch it he gets really like offenecive.
Jesse: He puts wax in his hair.
Chris: Now I use this Bomb (bomb blowing up noise) I actually have it. No i don't have it with me. I usually carry my you know stuff around with me. You never know when a hot bab could you know walk by. *smiles looks side to side many times while raising eyebrows*
Part 5: How was it making the video?
Chris: *referring to the boat scene*That I say was the hardest place to dance *wobbiling around* I was liek woobing like crap you know it happens everytime, you know falleing over *now stopped wobbiling* and we were all having the time of our life. We were just like flipping out trippin' all over each other ha it's was cool
Matt: Actually I thik the coolest part was ya know the camera car like driving around fith avenue and like all these people are just wondering what the heck is going on the music's blasting i thought it was pretty cool ya know everyone is like you know watching
Frankie: The fireworks..I have to say the fireworks had to be one of the best parts of the video it was so cool. You're like dancing really big and you got all these firworks going off behind you it was really, like i said i love it when i get my adrinilen going and my hearts pumping and it really got it going for me so i liked that a lot it was so much fun
Jesse: We had to speed up the music and do the dance double time and the director the leader um i think he like slowed it down so it made the look less, it made us look like we were doing the moves in slow motion
Greg: central park with all the girls chasing us and stuff our fan club or whatever they all had a whole bunch of my friends there
All: (some voice:1..2..3) New York City *Chris bits his lip*
Part 6: What's it like on performing on stage?
Greg: Uh on stage is the greastest thing. The people all screaming at you people all looking at you. You have total confidence in what you're doing. So you're not really nervous or anything. You know you're there to have a good time, tons of girls you know just screaming your name and i dunno you just have tons of fun (fades out and in) My name is Greg and I'm 15 and 3 quarters
Frankie:I have to say that's the best part of being in the group . uh i love the fact like i get really nervous like 5 minuets before we go on but as soon as the music starts goign you start dancing i go fine im fine but the whole thing with the all the girls screaming and everybody's going crazy It really gets you going you're adinialin gets pumpin' and i really enjoy it a lot it's the best part of the show to me.
Dream Street's Interveiw W/ Utopia Music UM: Dream Street was dubbed as just "another" boy band when it first exploded onto the music scene. Since the single's release, the band has transformed many anti-DS fans into fans. With the album out now, what major differences have you guys felt within the months between the two releases?
Greg: Yeah, we've at least doubled, or tripled, the amount of fans that we have. We used to do autograph signings, and you know, it'd take us an hour or two. Then just this last week we did one and it went out of the store, out of the mall, and out to the parking lot. So I mean, just the amount of fans that we had just pretty much, what...doubled? Tripled? I mean just from our single playing on the radio, Radio Disney.
Chris: Plus a lot more people have seen us now, and they're not just dubbing us as "another" boy band. First of all we are a boy band, so we're not like thirty-years-old.
Frankie: Yeah. I guess they kinda respect us for what we do, and they come see us perform.
Chris: We're younger, and our live performances, I think, are a lot different from *NSYNC and the rest of the bands. We just really show them what it's about. We don't lip-sync or any of that stuff.
UM: The album debuted a lot higher than some people thought. It's first week debut even beat Willa Ford's first week. Were you guys surprised at its position? Where did you think it would debut at?
Jesse: Yeah, we didn't expect to be as high as we were in the first week.
Greg: And our record company only expected us to sell about 10,000 records, and yeah...
Chris: Not within the first week, but 10,000 total.
Greg: And we totally just...
Matt: 30,000, 33,000 out or something the first week. And now it's like what, 100,000, over 100,000?
UM: Your album was originally scheduled to be released last Halloween. How well do you guys think the album would have done should it have been released back then?
Jesse: I think we all would have liked it then to have come out cause we were so anticipating. But since it came out now, we look back and we see that we probably definitely would have done a lot better if we released it now than back in October because we've had a lot more time to promote ourselves and to get out there to all the fans.
UM:Have you guys already begun thinking about a second album? If so, what type of sound are you going for?
Chris: Umm, since I think we've grown up - we're growing up just a little bit more. I mean of course...
Greg: Our producers really pick our music so...
Frankie: We're really just promoting our first album and getting it out there. I guess we'll worry about that once this one is kinda in the bag.
UM:If you guys were to do a song with another artist, who would it be?
Frankie: I know we're gonna have a few harmony songs and...
Greg: I think he means like with another artist.
All: That'll be cool and we're open to everyone.
Greg: Britney Spears!
UM:Your single has been doing real well on Radio Disney and Nickelodeon. How did you guys feel when you heard or saw that 'IHET' beat the A*Teens' 'Sugar Rush' on NVP?
Chris: It was actually nice. I dunno if we were all jumping for joy but we were happy about it cause that's our song. We felt really happy about that winning.
UM: Dhani from the A*Teens seems to still respect Dream Street, yet many of their fans don't. Is there anything you guys would like to try to help bring them over to your side also?
Greg: Nah, there's no competition between us and other bands. We think that any band that's out there - *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys - we look up to them, we respect them. We think it's great that they've succeeded in the ways they have. And so there's really no competition between us.
UM:Do you guys have any ideas for what to have as your next single, or any ideas for the video?
Matt: Uh, we're not too sure about that but um...We don't really know about that yet.
Greg: Nothing has been confirmed.
UM:Since Nick seems to be covered quite well, and your Street Team is really making a difference. Are there any other plans for promotion?
Greg: Right now we're in the middle of the West Coast tour.
Chris: Yea, we're going all over the West Coast. We're actually going to go for an audition with some radio.
Jesse: We're doing a tour for Health South. It's a charity for kids with eating disabilities and drug habits. We teach them what to eat and when, and like not to do drugs and stuff. Schools commute to big stadiums in that town and we perform there.
UM:There are fans from all over the world, such as Japan and Europe. Will you guys ever pay those fans a visit and treat them to a signing or performance anytime soon?
All: Yeah, definitely. Hopefully soon.
Greg: Our record company is actually really big in Europe and other places.
Matt: They're based out in Germany.
Greg: edel Records. We'll definitely be going out of the country.
UM:Many fans were disappointed when they heard your O-Town show act was canceled. Who else would you guys love to tour with?
Greg and Chris: Britney Spears!
Chris: And another big band like *NSYNC.
UM:Rumors were that the O-Town show was canceled due to the fact that Dream Street was "getting big." Is all the fame beginning to really roll into effect? Would you ever think about just reverting to having a normal life?
All: (Laughs)
Matt: Yeah, that's what we heard. I dunno how true that is.
All: Yeah...
Frankie: Nah, definitely not. I think we're loving...We're finally breaking out and coming out into the real pop life. We've been doing it for three years together and waiting. So now that we're finally here we just hope that it'll keep getting bigger and bigger.
UM:Let's talk a little bit about your fans. Are there any specific moments that you've shared with a fan that have made a deep impact?
Greg: We remember a lot of our fans actually, cause they tell us to try to remember their names, especially those fans who come to a lot of our shows and follow us around a lot. We do pretty good with them.
Chris: Yeah, we remember most of them. We know our fans pretty well.
UM:Issues about personal contact information have gotten to become quite a problem. How do you guys feel about all the screen names being passed around and the fans that try to get them?
Chris: I mean if a famous person was sitting right next to me I'd probably ask for their Screen Name, and you know...So I know what they're going through and I know what it's like.
Frankie: Sometimes they get a little upset when we tell them like "No, we're not allowed. We're sorry!" They're like "Awww man!" They get all upset.
UM:This one is for Chris. I know you talk about it on the ECD portion of the album, but would you like to give some other pointers on how you do your hair. Perhaps the name of hair products?
Chris: Yeah. Okay um...I start off by putting gel. It's called Crew Gel - C-R-E-W - and I start that by putting it in the back of my hair. Then I brush it forward to...like down towards my face. And then I use wax. It's called Tigi Bedhead and um, I put a lot of that. I just keep on...what do you call it?...rubbing it onto my hair. Then I take a comb. Ya, I go through like two, three bottles of it. And so I take a comb and I take each...I do like layers actually. I just take the comb and then spike it up with the comb, starting from the back to the front. That's how I work it.
Matt: (Laughs) It costs him more money to do his hair than to dress himself.
Chris: Yeah.
UM:How long does it take for the entire process?
Chris: For the entire? Well, it depends. When I first get my hair cut, it could take a while because I'm not used to it. But then towards the middle when it's growing out, but still cut, it's easy. It takes like fifteen minutes.
Greg: Like me. Yeah, I know what he's talking about. I just got my hair cut. It took me forever to do my hair.
UM:Lastly, is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like me to ask?
Greg: Oh yeah. We're single.
All: (Laughs)
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