In Real Life is an American boy band composed of Brady Tutton, Chance Perez, Drew Ramos, Sergio Calderon and Michael Conor. They all auditioned and then went on to compete on the ABC show called Boy Band. The five finalists would go onto create a boy band, who are now known as In Real Life. Since winning the show, the band has released songs such as their hit “Tattoo (How ‘Bout You),” “Tonight Belongs To You” and their latest single “Got Me Good.” They recently finished their tour as opening acts on the American Idol Tour and they just kicked off their first ever headlining tour, the Tonight Belongs to You Tour. CelebMix had the chance to chat with the guys before their show in Boston, MA.
How has the tour been so far?
Drew: It has been incredible. NYC was so lit.
Brady: When you can’t hear the music in your in ears because the crowd is so loud, that’s when you know that it’s an insane show.
Chance: We had the encore afterward and we came out and we sang a song and half the crowd had left and then as soon as we started singing you saw them all rush back.
Drew: Someone almost got crushed, luckily security was there.
What are you excited for most about the rest of the tour?
Michael: I think the thing that makes me and a lot of us most excited is when we meet fans that we haven’t met before. We have a meet and greet before the show and put on a little acoustic performance for the fans that purchased VIP and I think it’s really cool when people haven’t met us yet and they’re so excited just to be there and just to be in your presence and it really makes you take a step back and realize who we do it for, we love our fans.
Do you guys have a favorite song to perform individually?
Drew: My favorite song to perform is “Got Me Good.”
Sergio: “Eyes Closed” is just so fun to perform.
Chance: I like to do “Drag Me Down.”
Brady: I think “Got Me Good” just because everyone screams it, it makes you feel great.
Michael: I like doing “Viva La Vida,” which is an acoustic part of our show, I like that a lot.
What does “Got Me Good” mean to you guys?
Brady: I feel like that song is more about the melody and the way that it’s produced is really catchy and we know that’s one of our favorite songs. I think that one is a little less about the content and more about the fact that it’s just enjoyable to listen to. I don’t know if there’s a powerful message attached to it. We talked about doing a music video, I don’t know if we have plans for it.
Chance: Right now we’re on tour so I don’t think we have time to do a music video but afterwards possibly.
You guys just celebrated your one year anniversary as a band, what has been your favorite moment as a band together?
Michael: Honestly, the NYC show or the DC, either one of those shows. Starting this tour was such a perfect end to our year and to just lead us into 2019 and what’s to come next.
Drew: Seeing our faces on a tour bus is pretty crazy too. That was the highlight.
Michael: We’re glad that no one drew mustaches on our faces.
Brady: I was expecting that to happen too.
Has this journey felt like “real life” yet?
Brady: I was not expecting that.
Sergio: I feel like for me, it doesn’t feel real watching back videos. I just keep watching back videos and from the first two shows, I’m so use to playing for crowds that aren’t ours, so looking at the whole crowd is pretty crazy because they’re there for us. For me it doesn’t feel real watching videos and looking at pictures. It looks like videos I would use to watch, even before Boy Band, that I used to fantasize about.
Drew: I get that too because we’ve done so much this past year and when you go back in your memories and look at photos, you’re like “oh man! I wouldn’t have remembered this day if I didn’t look at this.” We have so many memories together.
Brady: It’s weird because we’ve spent so much time together, I can’t really imagine what it was like before not being a band, I can’t even imagine that.
Do you guys have any advice to upcoming boy bands?
Brady: Watch out!
Chance: I would say just rehearse a lot and make sure that you really know that what you’re about to present is something that you’re proud of and is something that other people relate to as well. Some people are just a fan of one thing, you know what I’m trying to say?
Brady: I know what you’re trying to say. What you’re trying to say is, make sure you have all your bases covered. There’s going to be a lot of different demographics that you’re trying to play to as a band and as a group, so the more demographics that you can cover as a group, the more fans you’re going to have. Just try to incorporate as many things in your performance as you can, which is what we’ve been trying to do, we try to include all of our skills.
Drew: Working together is key, communication, you definitely need to communicate with your other bandmates and tell them how you feel about something. Holding something in, not being able to talk to someone is never something you want. It’s like your brother, if you had a problem with your brother, you wouldn’t want to hold it in and hate him for it, you would just tell him and that would be the end of it, tomorrow you would be best friends and that’s kind of what it’s like right now. You just have to be mindful and realize that everybody has an opinion, you have your own but if there’s four on one or three on one, you know what I mean? You have to realize yourself and be mature about it.
With so many other boy bands in the industry right now, how do you guys stay original?
Chance: We’re not trying to copy anyone else. We’re not trying to do the One Direction thing or *NSYNC thing, we’re just trying to be ourselves and create the music that we want to create and be the people that we are, not try to imitate anyone else. I think that’s all you can do to be original and be yourself.
Drew: We also all bring a different element and different aspect to the show.
Sergio: We’re not going to try to be somebody else, kind of like what Chance said but its more personality as well, we’re not going to try to act like Harry Styles or Liam, we’re all going to be ourselves.
Who are some of your idols?
Drew: Bruno Mars and Jon Bellion.
Sergio: Charlie Puth and Shawn Mendes.
Chance: Michael Jackson and Maroon5
Brady: Frank Ocean
Michael: J Cole, Jay-Z and Logic.
Being a boy band, there comes a stigma of having a lot of fans, what is one crazy fan experience that you have had?
Brady: I feel like there’s a lot of similar crazy things that happened. The main thing for us is a lot of the time the fans will know anything before we do. We won’t know what city we’re in and the fan will go “you’re in this place and you’re staying at this hotel and we’re going to be here tomorrow, we’re seeing you there.”
Drew: I don’t know if this is really a crazy fan experience. In LA, we were in LA not so long ago and I was walking through City walk with my friends and I think I got recognized three or four times. It was so weird when they come up to and they’re like “Hi Drew” and they introduce themselves and then you take a picture and then I sat down and I was just watching someone sing and this girl was like “Hi DREW!!!” and I was like “hey!”
You can purchase tickets to the Tonight Belongs to You Tour by purchasing tickets here.
If you end up attending one of the shows, let us know by sharing your photos with us on social media @CelebMix!