(May 18, 2008) Ashley spoke to the members of V Factory - Asher Book, Nathaniel Flatt, Jared Murillo, Nick "Nicky T" Teti and Wesley Quinn - prior to their Philly show at the TLA. The guys are hoping to release their debut album late this summer, but they've already accumulated a loyal fan base - some of which has followed them around on their current Bandemonium Tour with NLT and Menudo.

Ashley: Can you guys talk a little bit about how the group was formed? I think I read on MySpace that Jared, you sort of started it - is that right?

Jared: Yeah, it originally started in February of last year. Tommy Page had come to one of the rehearsals for High School Musical, and he approached me after the rehearsal saying, "Hey, we're starting a group called V-Factory. I want to know if you're interested?" I said yes and after that they held auditions and they came up with Nathaniel and Nick. And then Wesley was found through a choreographer that Tommy Page had e-mailed, and Asher was found through his vocal coach.

AD: Okay, so were you guys familiar with each other's work at all, or was it brand new?

Wesley: I knew of these two (Jared and Asher), because, you know, the entertainment world is so small, and I ran across [Asher's] name and ran across [Jared's]name. But everyone else, we didn't really know each other... but we're all BFFs now.

AD: So you guys are awesome dancers, too.

V Factory guys: Thanks.

AD: Did you pretty much know from the start you wanted to both sing and dance?

WQ: For me, yes, because I grew up at a dance studio and I had a 13-months-younger sister. I saw her dance and I was like, "You know, I want to do that." I was six-years-old and then I started theater and singing and it just went from there.

Nicky T: I had been in musical theater and the choir and all that stuff first, and then I went to college and that's where I started dancing, because I figured that if I wanted to be an artist I'd have to dance. So I started on Broadway and that's kind of how I got my start - I was singing and dancing, so it was definitely in the same field.

Asher: That's me, too.

JM: I started out dancing and then my mom threw me into production companies - that way I had singing and dancing involved. I did like 70s and 80s and 90s dance and music.

AD: So I guess because you are five guys together, the immediate assumption is that you're another Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync, but your style is definitely different from that. How would you describe it?

WQ: Um, it's pop music, but we have urban influences in it. For example we have E-40, and he's a well-respected rapper in the entertainment industry, on one of our tracks. And, you know, we're just trying to go a little bit more urban.

AD: Mmhm. So are there any artists you guys compare yourselves to?

WQ: Not at this time. I mean, Chris Brown, because, you know, he sings and he dances. But he's just one person and there's five of us.

AD: Do you guys have any favorite artists on the radio right now?

WQ: Uh, right now? Usher.

NT: Justin.

JM: Mine's more of a group, but OneRepublic - I like their music a lot.

WQ: Michael Jackson… of course.

AD: You guys have yet to release an album, but already you have a ton of fans and you're getting a lot of press. Was it just word of mouth or was it MySpace?

AB: I think it was the Internet, since the Internet's so huge right now and everything - word just spreads across the Internet and - no, seriously, I think the Internet's the biggest way people are picking up on us.

Nathaniel: It's actually the only way.

AB: Yeah, really, it's the only way because we don't have a song on the radio yet.

AD: Do you guys write your own songs?

NT: We do write music but, as for the album, most of the stuff on the album was not written by us. But we had our insight in it and we were able to change some stuff around and have the final say on it.

AD: How do you guys choreograph your songs?

WQ; We have a dance choreographer, his name is Jaffar Smith, and he does all of our stuff. We work with other people, too, but he's our main one.

AD: So do you guys - Jared, I know you were a choreographer on High School Musical 2, so do you really work with Jaffar, getting the moves down, reflecting you guys?

JM: No, I'd have to generally say no. My expertise, my training, is mainly ballroom dancing, and the stuff that we do is more urban hip-hop underground. I would say that this time around we're just sitting back and having Jaffar teach us because he knows what's best.

WQ: Yeah, we all do, because we have 5 months - if everyone wants to put their input in, it's going to be a mess.

AD: Yeah, true.

WQ: So we just have one person, and then we just learn.

AD: Are we going to be seeing you (Jared) on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon?

JM: Um, not really.

AD: (laughs)

JM: I don't think that's the route that I want to go, but a lot of people that I know on that show, I've known through my dance studio or through the ballroom that I've done, like Julianne and Derek [Hough]… and Ashley DelGrosso.

AD: So how would you each describe yourselves and your roles in the group? Do you have a niche, like the athletic one or the pretty one - that sort of thing?

VF: (laughs)

WQ: We all have our strong points. We're all great performers; we all can sing, we all can dance.

NT: [Nathaniel's] the best looking; he's the male model. Wesley's kind of the young one. He's the young, crazy one.

WQ: I would say I'm one of the stronger dancers.

NT: Jared is very chill and relaxed. He's the tech boy - we call him "Tech Boy Headquarters" - he knows all the stuff about the Internet.

AD: Great, you can come work for us!

NT: I have a lot of random roles.

WQ: He's the quirkiness.

JM: How about the fun, quirky guy?

NT: But very attractive.

VF: (laughs)

JM: Hard-working, very diligent.

NT: Yeah, and Asher's kind of a playboy.

VF: (laughs)

AB: What up, ladies?

VF: (laughs)

AD: I know that Nick, Nathaniel, you guys are older (Nathaniel is 26, Nick 24, Jared and Asher are 19 and Wesley's 18). Are you sort of the dad figures?

WQ: (Points) Dad (Nathaniel), granddad (Nick). [Nathaniel's] older, but he's dad.

AB: Nicky looks after us like a father, like a manager. We make fun of him.

WQ: "What are you guys doing? "Don't do that!"

AB: [Nathaniel's] like the cool dad.

WQ: Like, "Whatever kids, do what you want. Just show up on time."

AD: How do you feel about being labeled a boy band? With New Kids [on the Block] returning, it seems like there's been a resurgence in boy bands lately.

AB: We definitely agree that boy bands are coming back, just with the amount of groups that are coming back and-

WQ: Well, it's not a bad thing, because look at the amount of success that boy bands have had - and I'm okay with that.

JM: Especially New Kids.

WQ: New Kids are huge. They're still big, I mean, there were zillions of people lining New York for [their appearance on the] Today Show.

AD: You've been on the Bandemonium Tour for awhile. What's it been like touring with these other groups?

JM: I'd say these groups - NLT and Menudo - they've been amazing; we've learned so much from them and they've learned a lot from us. They've just been really good friends with us and we get along and we share jokes. It's been so much fun. We thought there might be some tension between groups, but there actually isn't any.

AB: Sometimes before shows you might see some Menudo guys on our bus or NLT guys on our bus or vice versa. We all hang out - it's good times.

AD: So you'll be going on stage in a little while. How do you guys prepare for that?

WQ: We just focus... and we pray before each performance. You know, we just focus as a group and get mentally ready.

AD: Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?

NT: I've been in the habit of kind of running through the show on my iPod before the show. I've been doing that kind of consistently, so that's kind of become a ritual.

WQ: I think the only we all do is we all pray before the show.

NF: I always brush my teeth.

AD: Well that's a good idea.

WQ: I just pray.

AD: Do you guys get nervous before you go on-stage, or are you used to it by now?

AB: I think it's good to have a little bit of nerves before you go out there because it makes your performances a little more alive.

WQ: We all get butterflies - I know I do. Right before every show, no matter how big the show is or the audience.

AD: Is this your first time in Philly?

WQ: Yes.

JM: I've been here once.

NF: This is our first time performing here.

JM: Yeah, it's our first time as a group, but Nicky's from here.

NT: I'm from here, so it's like a homecoming for me.

AD: Do you guys have a favorite place of all the places you've been so far on the tour?

WQ: New York would have been fun if it hadn't been raining. But L.A. was pretty awesome, too.

AB: Chicago was pretty cool, too. We just loved the actual stage we were performing on and how big it was, and the whole place was just pretty cool.

AD: Do you have any favorite our crazy tour moments you could share with our readers?

NF: They're some girls that have followed us to different cities for like 3 or 4 shows. They've come from Arkansas. They came to San Francisco and San Diego and L.A.

AB: It happened again, like in New York.

NT: I would think they'd go to Texas because it's closer [to Arkansas].

AD: Yeah.

WQ: But then they were in San Fran.

NF: And the other day, in Dallas, these girls showed up at our hotel. They found our hotel room and knocked on our bus-

AB: Oh yeah, they said they'd been looking at all the hotels to find a bus or something.

WQ: Yeah, we were in the middle of nowhere, so they had to drive at least 20 minutes out to even find us.

AD: So did you guys go talk to them or did you hide?

WQ: Oh no, we love talking to fans - especially Nicky.

NT: I think it's really cool when people go out of their way just to kind of make it known that they support you.

WQ: Yeah, it kind of validates what you do.

NT: Yeah, totally.

AD: I was checking out your MySpace page this morning and I saw this one girl, she was like really excited, had sent you a message saying one of you autographed her arm. What's the weirdest place that someone's asked you to sign?

WQ: Their face.

JM: Their forehead, yeah.

WQ: Right across her face. I was like, uh, ok. It was awkward.

AD: Maybe she'll get that tattooed on there.

WQ: I was like, "You sure?" and she was like, "Do it!" so I said okay.

AB: We'll get purses, and one night we got a roll of toilet paper. We get really random stuff.

NT: It's fun to just see what they bring.

AD: So when's your album going to drop? Is that going to be soon?

NT: We're hoping late summer. That's the hope, so...

WQ: We have to get a single out first.

NT: Yeah.

WQ: Hopefully the single will be beginning of summer, like Junish, July, and then the album will come after that.

AD: Do you guys have all the songs for it already?

JM: We're actually still recording. We recorded something today.

AD: Oh, cool.

WQ: We have most of the album done, but we are recording stuff.

NF: Big things.

WQ: Big things, yeah.

NF: Watch out! You're gonna need sunglasses, our future's so bright.

VF: (laughs)

AD: You're going to have to register in hotels with fake names.

WQ: We have fake names already.

(The guys joke around, telling their fake names and laughing about them).

NT: That's what happens when you're bored on the bus for awhile.

AB: Yeah, we come up with names.

WQ: All sorts of stuff.

JM: Yeah, getting bored and just staying up long hours. You just get delirious and end up saying random things.

AD: What do you guys do on your tour bus?

AB: We play Xbox a lot and, actually, we shoot each other with Airsoft Guns. NLT got them, we all got them; they're like little guns we shoot each other with.

WQ: But kids, we have safety glasses - safety first.

AB: Oh, yes, safety first. They're plastic BBs and there's not much force. It's not too bad.

AD: Oh, okay, just so readers know that.

WQ: I have a skateboard and I skateboard around.

JM: We go on the Internet.

WQ: We're definitely on the Internet a lot.

NF: We stay active.

WQ: We all jog 15 miles a day as a group so we can get our bodies in shape.

AD: Are you serious?

VF: (laughs) Nah!

AD: You had me there; I almost believed you.

NT: We used to actually run up this two and a half mile mountain and sing before the tour, but on the tour - there's not really any chance to run up any mountains.

AD: I guess not! Is there anything else you'd like the readers to know?

WQ: Readers, check us out on iTunes, MySpace - check out for V-Factory.

JM: Yeah, our website, which is vfactoryonline.net.

NT: They changed it. They're changing it to vfactorymusic.com.

WQ: So check both of those.

AD: You guys have a meet and greet in a few minutes. What do you do then?

NF: We meet and we greet. We say, "Word up, homies!"

JM: The first one is just pictures and hugs, but after the show we do signings.

WQ: But sometimes if the crowds really big, we cut the pictures, which sucks.

AD: That's your favorite part?

WQ: Mmhm. I like getting on the Internet and seeing, "You're being tagged in this photo."

AD: Oh, so you guys are on Facebook, too?

WQ: Yeah, Facebook and MySpace.

JM: I think we mostly use MySpace.

AD: So I have one last question for Jared.

VF: Aw, man, uh-oh!

AD: I think you know which one this is. What's going on with you and Ashley Tisdale? Are you still together?

(Note to Jared: Thanks for being such a great sport about this question!)

JM: Uh, I like to just - we're still dating and everything, but I like to just keep it personal and keep it private.

AD: So does she ever come out on tour with you? Oops, that was a personal question - sorry!

JM: No, she's busy working on her projects, and I'm busy working on mine.

AD: Are the rest of you guys dating, in a relationship?

VF: Nope, we're single.

AD: Okay, I'll make sure the readers know that you're single, except for Jared.

WQ: Yeah, let them know we're all single.

AD: Good to know. Okay, thanks guys, good luck tonight.

VF: Thanks, thank you very much.