The band’s a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day.
Up and coming boy band On The Outside is the perfect blend of country and pop. Their latest release “Why Me” is a sweet spin on a classic phrase. Each member of the band brings such a fun energy to the table! Plus, their TikToks are pure fun. What’s not to love? The boys, Devin, Dawson, Sam, Jon, and Andrew took a moment to speak with Tonight Mag about their new music, TikTok fame, and more! Get to know the boys below!
How have you kept busy during quarantine?
Devin: “A lot of different things! Making a lot of TikToks, new videos, new covers, rehearsing and trying to talk to labels! We have a bunch of stuff going on work wise. Other than that, we like to hang out with each other, play cards and work out a lot! We’re playing poker and uno!”
Dawson: “I just learned how to play poker!”
Devin: “We’re betting our egos!”
Congrats on your new song ‘Why Me,’ the acoustic version, and the music video! What was it like filming the music video in a COVID-19 state?
Sam: “It was a really legit shoot, but it was also really weird because everyone had masks on. The director had a mask on the whole time and it was interesting.”
Devin: “We were just happy that we were able to do it during quarantine! Shoutout to [director] Eli for doing that for us during such a scary time.”
Dawson: “This has been our most crucial single, so to be able to not have to skip or postpone it at all was really a good thing for us.”
Devin: “It was definitely the biggest music video we’ve done. They brought a whole truck full of equipment and a whole team. It was kinda like a superstar moment for us! Our other videos have been directed on our own.”
Jon: “We noticed that there were just people really spread out. The people who quarantined together stayed together. We had groups of people who have already been together.”
Dawson: [jokingly] “It was like a cliquey music video!”
Devin: “We’d be hanging out in the dressing room getting our makeup done and the makeup artist is full extending her arm with her mask on to stay away and do our makeup. It was definitely unique!”
Did you film the original plan for the music video?
Jon: “It was pretty much our original plan We let Eli take the reins on the concept and he was able to fully visualize the concept.”
Dawson: “We had this plane even before COVID!”
Sam: “We let Eli take the reins on the concept. So he was able to fully conceptualize what the video was going to look like. We were able to sit back as the artists.”
How have you seen your fans connect with your music when you can’t see them in person? How has Whats Up Wednesday enhanced this?
Jon: “What’s Up Wednesday has helped a ton! It helps us because we see how much it helps the fans. Almost every time we do our What’s up Wednesday and we ask them how they found out about us and most of them have found us through TikTok. Our fans are from all over the world! It’s so exciting for us to meet people from across the country every single day.”
Dawson: “I think it keeps us more motivated.”
Sam: “It’s cool because we can actually see our fans react to our music in real time. A lot of them will do reaction videos to our music! We put our music onto TikTok and our fans will do their videos to it and we’ll do our videos to it and it’s really awesome to actually see them react.”
Devin: “That validation really carries us a long way.”
Whose experiences do you draw the most from when writing songs?
Devin: “I think when it comes to writing we definitely do take our own inspiration and realities into the song. It’s more the generalization of how that can be written for everyone and for everyone to be able to work with it too. It’s not so much someone’s direct thought or direct feeling feeling, we like to make it a little more broad in the process.”
Dawson: “What’s really cool when we work together is that if we all agree that a line works really well that’s a good sign that it’s a good line because we all have different experiences.”
You’ve received a lot of success through TikTok. How do you find and create inspiration for the next post?
Devin: “We like to keep the same themes going with what works with our audience and what works on TikTok as an app. We look at TikTok as a business where we see more fans coming from TikTok and we are trying to think about new ways about how we can keep generating those fans. So far what we are doing with the different types of trends like “Song Word” “Finish That Line” and different music ideas that aren’t necessarily like “hey stream our song.” But it’s more like listen to our vocals and you might love us! Doing more of that and seeing the fans react in a way that they do and come over to Instagram and come over to youtube and facilitate that into our actual real music.”
Sam: “We decided the best way to do it is using social media as more than just an ad. It’s about creating a culture. For us that’s the biggest part of the band is creating a culture so we like to post things that will advance that culture and connect that culture. I think TikTok is the place we can be ourselves on. TikTok is like our diary.”
Devin: “I want to credit Jon because he was the one who got us going on TikTok and now we know what works.”
Do you guys have a favorite type of TikTok to do?
Dawson: “Mine is finish the line or song lyric challenge.”
Jon: “We have done so many of the trends but whenever we go something outside of our comfort zone that is really creative and completely different we have a lot of fun! We just did one called and that’s on facts! Those kinds of things are really fun.”
Anything you would like to add?
Devin: “Steam ‘Why Me” and stay tuned for our next single coming soon.”
Jon: “We relate to the song in saying why me for us particularly in this band we feel so blessed to be part of such a cool opportunity. Out of everyone, why am I part of such a cool band? We just feel really blessed by it.”
Devin: “When you think about the term “why me” people start thinking negatively like, “ohm, why me!” But with the song we wanted to turn it into something positive.”
Stay up to date with all things On The Outside by following them on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and checking out their website!
Tonight Mag 