Q&A: Chris Kirkpatrick of 'NSync

by Colin Devenish
SoundSpike News
Apr 10, 2002, 8 25 am EDT

Five years after the boy band phenomenon first caught on, 'NSync has managed to keep selling records and avoid going the way of New Kids on the Block.

Chris Kirkpatrick of 'NSync took time out to chat about the group's current tour, future expectations, what he's listening to and his recent turn doing the voice of pop star Chip Skylark for the TV cartoon "The Fairly OddParents."

SoundSpike: How's the tour going?

Chris Kirkpatrick: It's almost like we're doing our very first theater tour. We actually have a really good time with the acts, too. Ginuwine has been a good friend of ours for a while, and it was nice having him out. Last week, we picked up Smash Mouth, and we're already starting to go back and forth with little tricks we're playing on each other. They came up to us and we were just talking to them and they were like, "It's great to see another band that's like a bunch of idiots, just like us, making music."

How do you think 'NSync will evolve over the next few years?

That's exactly what it is--it's an evolution. We grow with what we do. I can't predict what we're going to grow into next or we'd probably already be there. We work really hard on staying on the cutting edge and staying on top of things. What's cutting edge to us right now won't be cutting edge in five years. Hopefully, we'll still be pushing music further and further. I think the best compliment that we could get is that maybe we weren't the best band ever, maybe we didn't have the best songs ever, but we did push the envelope of music. We kept pushing it, and maybe inspired somebody that wrote the best song ever, or a group that is the best band ever. That's one of our goals. We just love having fun. If we can inspire somebody with 'NSync music, that's what we'd love to do.

What music is inspiring you right now?

I just got the NERD CD, the Neptunes. I like that one. I've always been a Busta Rhymes fan. What else do I have in my CD player that I love? I actually have a big CD case that I keep filling up. I'll go back and find old music that I never listen to and try to get into it. I listen to what the qualities in each piece of music are. I've got everything from Mystikal to Lynyrd Skynyrd. I just like the diversity of music and finding something good. Every group that's got a CD has to have something good for that CD to be out, and I just like to listen to music and find what that is, and find what I like in the music.

You recently taped the voice for a character named Chip Skylark for the cartoon "The Fairly OddParents." How did that come about?

I'd watched the show couple times--I'm a huge cartoon fan, I watch cartoons constantly--and "Fairly OddParents" were looking for somebody to do a voice for their show, and they asked me if I was interested, and I said, "Heck, yeah." I'm not sure if they had it written, or if that was something they did for me, but I just finished recording it again. It's so much fun. Any time they ever ask me to do it, I'm up for it. Whether or not [my character] starts coming back and back and back, it would be cool with me. I'd be happy to do it. I guess that's up to them and the writers, to see what they come up with.

What's it like doing voiceovers?

It really put things in a perspective, and I get an appreciation for the people that do voices. It's not like acting at all, because you have absolutely nothing--you're in a vocal booth just like a musician with a microphone and you have to create a scene. I have to talk and act like I'm really there. It's just fun because it's like playing make-believe. You don't have to hit a mark. You don't have a lot of people standing there making sure you move your hand right or you look at the right direction when you say the right line. It's all about the inflection in your voice and the vocality of the art of acting.

I was really nervous when I first did it, because I thought it would turn out corny, but then when friends of mine saw it, and they said it was good--of course your friends are going to say it's good--but I was like, "I don't care if it's good. Was it believable? Did you get into the show and did you get into Chip Skylark's character, or were you going, ‘Oh, that's funny. Chris is doing this voice?'" That's what's important about doing that.

Are you watching the cartoon as you say the lines?

You just do it, and then they animate afterwards. They would tell me the total scenario. They had the script there, and then I would say the lines according to how I thought that character would react.

How close is your real voice to the Chip Skylark character?

It's almost exactly the same. It's really just me being an obnoxious, rock-and-roll pop guy rather than being myself--I play this guy who has other ideas than me--but it's almost my exact voice.

The first episode you taped, "The Boys in the Band," makes fun of the boy band phenomenon. Is it funny to you?

Honestly, that's what we've been doing from the beginning. We don't take ourselves seriously at all, and that's why we do all sorts of crazy stuff like this-- because we want everybody to know we think it's a joke, too, the way everything gets built up and some things get blown out of proportion. We're living it, so we see it every day. We know how funny it is.

I think every day is ridiculous. There's so many fan encounters that you just kind of laugh off. I can't believe somebody's that excited. You want to say, "It's just me. It really isn't a big deal." There's a lot of craziness with famous people, or running into famous people. Or you hear about stuff on the news that happened and you're like, "Oh, I was right there with them on that night." Being a part of newsworthy events is kind of crazy.