Trevor Guthrie: After soulDecision

America has always been the sole dignitary of boy band production, from New Edition to N*SYNC, and even as recently as the Jonas Brothers. But while these chart-topping heartthrobs were vying for worldwide supremacy, Canada aspired to make the a similar impression with our own roster of blonde-haired, synchronized-dancing poster boys. The Moffatts, B4-4 and soulDecision were all great bids for the pop throne, and indeed left their mark on Canadian culture (ask any Canadian about B4-4’s “Get Down” and they will reveal that track on their guilty pleasures playlist) but ultimately failed to grab any attention south of the border.

Of that short list, though, soulDecision always stood out from the pack for one simple reason. They weren’t actually a boy band. A trio of 20-somethings who wrote, produced and performed their own music (tell me one Backstreet Boy who ever penned a lyric), soulDecision fell victim to a marketing plan that misplaced them in the world of boy bands and adolescent fandom. In spite of feeling misrepresented, the Vancouver act went along with the boy band movement, which earned them a number one spot on the Canadian charts for their 2000 single, “Faded”. But after an earnest attempt to carve out their own audience and sound, even clinching opening slots for Christina Aguilera and N*SYNC on tour, soulDecision quietly disbanded in 2005 with little to no news about its members, lead singer Trevor Guthrie, singer David Bowman and keyboardist Ken Lewko, other than a random MySpace track that surfaced from Guthrie in 2008.

So of course it came as a surprise when Guthrie suddenly reappeared last year on the Armin Van Buuren dance track “This Is What It Feels Like” (written by Guthrie), sporting a new sound and shaggier look. No longer churning out bubblegum pop melodies and showing off a pristine blonde haircut, Guthrie has opted for EDM collaborators and an almost unrecognizably long ‘do.

Noisey: People remember you from your “boy band” soulDecision and now your hit single with Armin Van Buuren, “This Is What It Feels Like” — so, I guess the biggest question everyone’s wondering is: where were you between the years of 2005 and 2013?
Trevor: Where was everybody else, that’s my question! I was always there, writing, but Armin gave me a shot. He didn’t give a shit that I was in a boy band, he loved the song, he put it out and I am very thankful. I just couldn’t get my e-mails or phone calls returned and I sent out many songs. I was always trying, but Armin was the guy who put a brand on my name.

When did soulDecision officially break up?
We did our last tour across Canada in 2005, it was pretty much the last thing we did.

Did all three of you sit down and have a discussion about breaking up?
No. Some of the guys we were touring with at the time were like, ‘Man, you’ve got to keep going, what you’re doing is amazing,’ and promoters were like, ‘Man, we had no idea you guys were like this, if we had known we could’ve packed this place. We’ve got to have you guys back.’ I think we did our run where we were showing people that we were a real band, but we got to a point where we were exhausted and there was no money coming in. The fight was over and we didn’t want to keep doing it. It sucked, but I kept writing and playing my guitar and piano. Things just took a lot longer than I thought.

Did you continue writing soulDecision songs or Trevor Guthrie songs?
I just kept writing songs. I started getting into meeting World War II veterans and traveling for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, so I started putting my energy into that. I started writing songs that didn’t pertain to pop culture anymore.

Do you feel like being labeled a “boy band” hurt your chances of succeeding post-soulDecision? I mean, you guys weren’t really a boy band.
That’s 100% accurate. From day one, we always wanted to be marketed as a band that writes and plays and produces our own music, but nobody was doing that. Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, 98 Degrees – that’s where the market was, so I think the labels were like, ‘Oh, we’ll do that too.’ A few years later, Maroon 5 comes out and it’s like, it’s a band performing pop music, that’s what we were doing! Why weren’t we marketed like that and why didn’t we have a legitimate career? But looking back, we had a good run, we had a good experience. I think being labeled like that allowed me to just sit back and absorb the industry and analyze what happened and where we went wrong so if I ever did get a chance to do it again, I can sidestep a land mine. And now that I’m in it again, I’ve sidestepped many a land mine in the past year that I probably wouldn’t have 20 years ago when soulDecision came out.

What kind of land mines?
Just people trying to pull you in different directions or market you a certain way. It’s about creating good art and being honest with your songwriting. Who gives a shit about what I’m wearing.

Do you think you just suffered from bad timing then? Like you said, Maroon 5 is a pretty big deal now.
Yeah, I think people were looking for something other than boy bands by then and they came out. We kind of got the tail end of that. We opened for N*SYNC and I think it was Joey Fatone’s brother who came out to introduce us and he was like, ‘This is the only band to ever open for N*SYNC,’ and that was kind of cool. They actually acknowledged us as a band. But it was too late, we were already being shown in teen mags and that was the crowd we were being pushed towards and when you’re making a lot of money and people are recognizing you and praising you, you just kind of go with it. I guess I wasn’t old enough to see behind the curtain back then.

How old were you actually back then?
Well, we were supposed to be 18, but I think I was 27. I mean they weren’t saying what my age was but I had moms coming up to me asking me if I was in high school and I was thinking, how old does she think I am? What the hell! And the crowd they were marketing us to was not the crowds that were coming to our shows; we were playing 19, 20, 21-year old crowds. The dots weren’t being connected properly.

Is part of your current look a way of rebelling against your clean, boy band look?
I was clean-shaven and had blond, spiky hair back then and it just seemed like they used that look against me. But no, I was just growing my hair out before Armin came along and people were telling me that my hair looked good so every time I went to cut my hair, my guy was like, ‘We’re not cutting your hair, we’re going to grow it out.’ I fucking hated my hair.

You have a really successful single under your belt now. What is your goal this time around?
I’m trying to let people know that I’m a songwriter. I’ve been asked many times about being just a singer on “This Is What It Feels Like,” and it’s tough because when a DJ puts a song out, people assume that the DJ wrote the song, produced it and just got a singer to sing it. That’s how it’s been working for the past 15 years, but now there are more collaborations between artists and DJs so it’s a new concept that I think is going to take some time to get used to. All I’m doing right now is writing and touring with Armin but I think my guys are going to pull me off the road soon so I can write more. I want to get some more songs going. “This Is What It Feels Like” has had a huge run and we didn’t want to put anything out until that song was completely gone and now that the Grammys are done, I think there will be a chance to put something else out after the Junos. We’ll see what happens.

So is your next collaboration going to be with Armin again or do you have other people in mind already?
I have a song that needs a home right now and Armin’s definitely one of the guys I’m going to talk to. There’s a guy named Glenn Morrison who’s Canadian and I like the fact that he’s Canadian, so there are options but it just has to be the right fit. I don’t want to just hand over a song to a DJ and have them make it their own, I have to be there for the whole thing.

Can we expect an album in 2014?
Well I don’t know, who buys albums anymore? I mean, I can just keep concentrating on putting out a really good song every six to eight months or I can go hide for a couple of years and write an album that would have a couple of really good songs on it. I don’t think there’s any harm in putting out one or two songs out for the next few years, collaborating with DJs and in a couple of years, maybe I’ll have enough songs for an album. Who knows?

Melody is a writer living in Toronto and she still owns a copy of SoulDecision's No One Does It Better. She's on Twitter.