Brian Andrews sees more TV in his future

Brian “Angel” Andrews is just wrapping the third season of Making the Band 4, a musical soap opera of sorts that chronicles the rise (and possible demise) of Diddy-helmed groups Day26 and Danity Kane. The long-running MTV saga’s season finale airs at 8 tonight.

But the Houston native is already making plans for his reality-TV future.

“There might be another season. We don’t know yet,” says Andrews, 28. He was home recently for a flurry of Day26 promotional duties and spent some time with his mother, sister, wife and two children (ages 3 and 4).

The R&B band’s sophomore album, Forever in a Day, was released Tuesday and showcases more personality and individual style than last year’s self-titled debut effort. First single Imma Put It on Her is slowly scaling the R&B charts.

“I love the fact that our fans get to see a side of us other artists don’t get to show. I would do a million more seasons of Making the Band. I would have no problem at all with that.”

MTB is, for the uninitiated, a down-and-dirty spin on American Idol. MTV and Diddy put potential contestants through a grueling set of auditions that resulted in the formation of Day26 on Aug. 26, 2007 (hence the moniker). Everything — tours, recording, rehearsals, arguments — has been chronicled in weekly doses.

Andrews says he’s grown more comfortable with 24/7 cameras capturing his every move — even the less flattering ones — once he understood the dynamics behind editing decisions. He’s been dubbed “the one with the temper” alongside members Robert Curry (“the rebel”), Willie Taylor (“the oldest”), Michael McCluney (“the mediator”) and Qwanell “Que” Mosley (“the baby”).

“I was kind of upset about the way I was being portrayed. I’m always to myself, very quiet, always working,” Andrews says. “MTV was like, ‘That’s not good TV.’ They chose to show my blowups. I became the anger guy. But this season I’m glad they’re really showing more of my personality and a lighter side of me.”

The show has also been a showcase for the domineering side of Diddy, who rules both Day26 and Danity Kane with a stern, business-minded sensibility. He booted two of Danity Kane’s members during an intense 2008 episode. It plays squarely into Diddy’s image as a cocky, bigger-than-the-world mogul. But Andrews says his time on the show has afforded him a different perspective.

“Everybody thinks Diddy is this mean guy. I felt the same, somewhat. But getting to work with him, and getting a better understanding of who Diddy really is, it’s not that he’s a mean guy; he’s a perfectionist,” Andrews says.

“He’s like a big brother to us. We all hang out. We all party together. He opens his house to us as if we’re family. Sometimes it kind of trips me out. Wow — this is Diddy.”

Before his days of hanging with hip-hop elite, Andrews grew up in the Acres Homes/Greenspoint area and attended Westfield and Aldine high schools. He landed his first solo record deal at 15 years old, but it went nowhere. He met a similar fate with R&B group Mason Road, which was signed to Mathew Knowles’ Music World Entertainment briefly.

Andrews was working on a solo project when the MTB auditions hit Houston in January 2007 at the Meridian. It proved to be the break he had narrowly missed so many times before. (He still runs a local label, Ambassador Way Entertainment, out of Houston.)

“I was playing football in high school, varsity for three years. I was a football head. But I was always singing on the sideline or in practice,” Andrews says. “There was no way I was going to college and play football, as little as I am.

“I just feel blessed to actually be able to do something that I really love. Honestly, I feel like this is the one thing that I know how to do. We’re already thinking about the third album. Day26 will be together for a very, very, very long time — if not forever.”


Source: www.chron.com