Life's kinda crazy for Canuck boy band

OTTAWA -- There's a gleam in the young eyes of Vancouver pop trio soulDecision, as they settle in the Sun atrium for a chat.

"Have you reviewed our record yet? Can I get you anything?" asks singer/songwriter Trevor Guthrie, as his co-chanteurs Ken Lewko and David Bowman break out into chuckles.

The Vancouver trio are looking for acceptance in the crazy hullabaloo of boy-band mania, dominated heavily by their Stateside counterparts Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.

CRAZY RIDE

So far, Canadian sales of soulDecision's debut album, No One Does It Better are pushing over 80,000, its lead single Faded already topping the charts and a follow-up Oooh It's Kinda Crazy fast on the rise.

Most recently, MCA Records in the U.S. has climbed aboard the soulDecision bandwagon, giving Faded an opportunity to crack the Top 25 (No One Does It Better will be out Stateside in August).

Completing a cross-Canada extravaganza with Prozzak and Winnipeg duo McMaster & James, soulDecision are prepping for the forthcoming Psykoblast Tour headlined by teen sensation Christina Aguilera.

"The first tour we ever went on was with Prozzak/McMaster & James," Bowman says. "I think we were spoiled -- the vibe was really cool, everybody was there having a good time trying to put on the best show possible and the working atmosphere was great.

"I don't know how this one's going to go," he adds about Aguilera's teen popfest with The Moffatts, soulDecision, mytown and McMaster & James, which stops at the Corel Centre tonight (a 5:30 p.m. start).

FULL HOUSES

"We've played larger venues before. But chances are most of these venues will be full. I'll let you know after the show."

Still, swollen heads aren't prevailing at this stage in their career. "I've been reading some articles written about us in Billboard, penning these Canadian boy bands hopes on us. It's weird," Bowman says. "We try not to think about it.

"The bottom line is once a song is on the radio, it's out of your bloody hands and in the hands of the people who are listening. So all you can do is believe that you hope you did your best, cross your fingers and pray to the radio gods."

For a bunch of guys who started out in 1994 under the moniker Indecision (because of their mix of rock, soul, hip hop, and electronica, they couldn't decide what style they were), the praying must be working.

After the name-change to soulDecision, things began to come together: Their very first single Tonight was nominated for the Best Dance/Hip Hop release at the 1997 Pacific Music Industry Awards.

Signing to Universal Music Canada in '99, the band honed their songwriting skills in Los Angeles, refining and exploring differing styles and sounds before committing No One Does It Better to tape. A lunch meeting with producer Charles Fisher (Savage Garden) brought the group to Australia with co-producer/engineer Femi Jiya (Prince, Tevin Campbell, Ben Harper) acting as engineer.

"We'd done much of the record in Vancouver, but we wanted to upgrade much of the production and make it as world-class as possible," Guthrie says.

"We wanted to make this album like we would want to hear it, if we were listening the radio playing tracks back to back to back and not getting the urge to switch the station."