Raevengeance
11-01-04, 11:50 AM
 by Corey Moss
It sure must suck to be Nick Lachey.
Since the start of "Newlyweds," he's watched the reality show turn his wife into a superstar  with a multiplatinum album, endorsement deals and the coveted role of Daisy Duke in the upcoming "Dukes of Hazzard" movie  while doing little for his own career.
Lachey, who one could argue is the true star of the show, scored a guest stint on "Charmed," a couple of sitcom development deals and a role in a low-budget movie, but his solo album, SoulO, has struggled, selling just under 160,000 copies.
So yeah, it must be horrible to have your wife busy all the time and be stuck at home ... in your mini-mansion ... with an endless supply of beer ... enough time and money to play golf, go deep-sea fishing or embark on whatever other adventure sounds entertaining that day ... and still be able to come home to Jessica Simpson in your bed.
Wait a second. That doesn't suck at all. Perhaps Nick Lachey has the perfect life.
Let's ask him.
MTV: So, do you have the perfect life?
Nick Lachey: Well, it's funny 'cause the first season of the show, I was setting up the album, but a lot of the show was, "Hey, I'm hanging out," "We'll move some furniture," "We'll kill some bees," "We'll go camping" and "We'll drink the whole time." Which, you know, it's nice to have that, but we work outside of the show. It's not like "Newlyweds" is our job. I saw something on ESPN.com about how "We have to find Nick Lachey a job. Moving furniture out of a house is not a job." I have a job, guys! I'm working. So it's all good. But I'm not complaining about my life. I do have the best life in the world. I believe that. But you always have to stay motivated. You always have to challenge yourself to do new things and stay busy or you'll go crazy.
MTV: As much fun as you have on the show, I do remember feeling sorry for you during the first season when Jessica got so much more money to make her video.
Lachey: You know, the music business is funny like that. One week my label would support me more than hers [would support her], and the next week all of a sudden her single blows up and they act like they were there all along. That's just the way the record business is. Everyone always knows what they're doing unless it goes wrong  and then they had nothing to do with it. You learn those lessons early on and you give your all and hope that everyone around you is doing the same and come what may. I learned a long time ago that you can't beat a dead horse. You can't control what happens. You just go in and do your best work and hope for the best.
MTV: Jessica has been a solo act since the beginning, but you're breaking off from a group, which is not easy. What lessons did you learn from SoulO?
Lachey: I learned a lot more in hindsight, obviously, than I did at the time. Most importantly, this is the kind of mentality I always try to have, but if I fail, I want to fail on my terms. I want to lose doing what I wanted to do. I don't want to lose doing what other people wanted me to do, or compromising the situation. So what I'm trying to do now is find an opportunity to work with a label and work with a group of people who are gonna support me for doing what I want to do and are gonna see the project through from start to finish. And there's a couple good opportunities out there, so it'll be exciting to get in there and be artistic, not to put pressure on myself. Not to go in there and be like, "You've gotta create this." Just go in there and have fun and the rest will take care of itself.
MTV: 98 Degrees are interested in reuniting. Are you watching the Backstreet Boys with an observational eye?
Lachey: Ha, ha. My observational eye hasn't been, uh, fixed on them as of yet, but they're a talented bunch of guys and it'll be interesting to see how the music world receives them. Talent's not an issue with them. It's about having good songs. And it's about whether or not the time is right for that kind of thing to happen. Music is cyclical. Everyone says it, but it's true. You go through a period where a sound gets old and then you move on to another sound and pretty soon you miss the old sound and it comes back around. That'll happen and you'll have another opportunity to become successful.
MTV: Joe Simpson, your golfing buddy, has done a fine job managing Jessica. Why not hire him?
Lachey: We've had those conversations before. I've had two or three different managers over the years with the group and on my own. I would never cross that bridge because nothing to me is more important than my personal life. It never will be. My relationship with my wife and my family and now my extended family with in-laws, that to me is more important than potentially risking it for business.
MTV: You just finished shooting "The Hard Easy," an action drama, and you're reading scripts. What kinds of roles interest you?
Lachey: I would love to be as versatile as I can. I would love to be the kind of actor that can go from a "Die Hard" kind of movie into a romantic comedy and really play all those things.
MTV: You did comedy really well on "Saturday Night Live."
Lachey: It's funny to me that people think I can do comedy, because I don't think of myself as a funny person, so it's really bizarre to me. I just want to continue to get better and have a long career.
MTV: With her perfume line and everything, Jessica is becoming quite the mogul. Is there anything else that you're interested in doing?
Lachey: I have a line of tools that are coming, actually. Yeah, I just signed a big deal with JC Penney. No, I don't. [He laughs.] Uh, what do I have? I don't have anything, actually, but I am very fond of  let's see, what does she endorse?  Ice Breakers, use those, they're great. The Dessert line is wonderful, very happy to have sampled that. Pizza Hut, by far my favorite pizza joint. And I think I got it covered. Nah, you know what? Those things, if they happen, they happen.
MTV: You and Jessica have done duets before and have another on her new Christmas album. Have you discussed doing anything else together aside from the TV variety shows?
Lachey: We just kind of take it day by day. We don't ever wanna do one of those things that's a project we do together just for the sake of doing it together and it ends up being terrible. We try to look at the project for the merit of the project, not as just an opportunity to work together. It's one of those fine lines you try to walk. You wanna do stuff together 'cause you enjoy it, and I think we work well together, but you always wanna create that separation to do your own thing.
http://www.mtv.com/bands/l/lachey_nick/news_feature/041101/
**my personal comments**
Joe Simpson already basically runs his career (because anything Jess wants she gets - and daddy gets her to get Nick to do things) may as well hire the idiot and officially become slave #4 or 5 to him - what's the difference.
Otherwise - Nick seriously needs to get a manager who will do right by him (hopefully this dude he's got now will be the right guy - but we shall see) - and I would definitely say this proves the point that was discussed earlier that Nick has NOT signed a deal with Jive as of yet (since he's LOOKING FOR A DEAL that will give him the control to do it on his terms - Hey Nick - do what Timmons did - put it out yourself!)
It sure must suck to be Nick Lachey.
Since the start of "Newlyweds," he's watched the reality show turn his wife into a superstar  with a multiplatinum album, endorsement deals and the coveted role of Daisy Duke in the upcoming "Dukes of Hazzard" movie  while doing little for his own career.
Lachey, who one could argue is the true star of the show, scored a guest stint on "Charmed," a couple of sitcom development deals and a role in a low-budget movie, but his solo album, SoulO, has struggled, selling just under 160,000 copies.
So yeah, it must be horrible to have your wife busy all the time and be stuck at home ... in your mini-mansion ... with an endless supply of beer ... enough time and money to play golf, go deep-sea fishing or embark on whatever other adventure sounds entertaining that day ... and still be able to come home to Jessica Simpson in your bed.
Wait a second. That doesn't suck at all. Perhaps Nick Lachey has the perfect life.
Let's ask him.
MTV: So, do you have the perfect life?
Nick Lachey: Well, it's funny 'cause the first season of the show, I was setting up the album, but a lot of the show was, "Hey, I'm hanging out," "We'll move some furniture," "We'll kill some bees," "We'll go camping" and "We'll drink the whole time." Which, you know, it's nice to have that, but we work outside of the show. It's not like "Newlyweds" is our job. I saw something on ESPN.com about how "We have to find Nick Lachey a job. Moving furniture out of a house is not a job." I have a job, guys! I'm working. So it's all good. But I'm not complaining about my life. I do have the best life in the world. I believe that. But you always have to stay motivated. You always have to challenge yourself to do new things and stay busy or you'll go crazy.
MTV: As much fun as you have on the show, I do remember feeling sorry for you during the first season when Jessica got so much more money to make her video.
Lachey: You know, the music business is funny like that. One week my label would support me more than hers [would support her], and the next week all of a sudden her single blows up and they act like they were there all along. That's just the way the record business is. Everyone always knows what they're doing unless it goes wrong  and then they had nothing to do with it. You learn those lessons early on and you give your all and hope that everyone around you is doing the same and come what may. I learned a long time ago that you can't beat a dead horse. You can't control what happens. You just go in and do your best work and hope for the best.
MTV: Jessica has been a solo act since the beginning, but you're breaking off from a group, which is not easy. What lessons did you learn from SoulO?
Lachey: I learned a lot more in hindsight, obviously, than I did at the time. Most importantly, this is the kind of mentality I always try to have, but if I fail, I want to fail on my terms. I want to lose doing what I wanted to do. I don't want to lose doing what other people wanted me to do, or compromising the situation. So what I'm trying to do now is find an opportunity to work with a label and work with a group of people who are gonna support me for doing what I want to do and are gonna see the project through from start to finish. And there's a couple good opportunities out there, so it'll be exciting to get in there and be artistic, not to put pressure on myself. Not to go in there and be like, "You've gotta create this." Just go in there and have fun and the rest will take care of itself.
MTV: 98 Degrees are interested in reuniting. Are you watching the Backstreet Boys with an observational eye?
Lachey: Ha, ha. My observational eye hasn't been, uh, fixed on them as of yet, but they're a talented bunch of guys and it'll be interesting to see how the music world receives them. Talent's not an issue with them. It's about having good songs. And it's about whether or not the time is right for that kind of thing to happen. Music is cyclical. Everyone says it, but it's true. You go through a period where a sound gets old and then you move on to another sound and pretty soon you miss the old sound and it comes back around. That'll happen and you'll have another opportunity to become successful.
MTV: Joe Simpson, your golfing buddy, has done a fine job managing Jessica. Why not hire him?
Lachey: We've had those conversations before. I've had two or three different managers over the years with the group and on my own. I would never cross that bridge because nothing to me is more important than my personal life. It never will be. My relationship with my wife and my family and now my extended family with in-laws, that to me is more important than potentially risking it for business.
MTV: You just finished shooting "The Hard Easy," an action drama, and you're reading scripts. What kinds of roles interest you?
Lachey: I would love to be as versatile as I can. I would love to be the kind of actor that can go from a "Die Hard" kind of movie into a romantic comedy and really play all those things.
MTV: You did comedy really well on "Saturday Night Live."
Lachey: It's funny to me that people think I can do comedy, because I don't think of myself as a funny person, so it's really bizarre to me. I just want to continue to get better and have a long career.
MTV: With her perfume line and everything, Jessica is becoming quite the mogul. Is there anything else that you're interested in doing?
Lachey: I have a line of tools that are coming, actually. Yeah, I just signed a big deal with JC Penney. No, I don't. [He laughs.] Uh, what do I have? I don't have anything, actually, but I am very fond of  let's see, what does she endorse?  Ice Breakers, use those, they're great. The Dessert line is wonderful, very happy to have sampled that. Pizza Hut, by far my favorite pizza joint. And I think I got it covered. Nah, you know what? Those things, if they happen, they happen.
MTV: You and Jessica have done duets before and have another on her new Christmas album. Have you discussed doing anything else together aside from the TV variety shows?
Lachey: We just kind of take it day by day. We don't ever wanna do one of those things that's a project we do together just for the sake of doing it together and it ends up being terrible. We try to look at the project for the merit of the project, not as just an opportunity to work together. It's one of those fine lines you try to walk. You wanna do stuff together 'cause you enjoy it, and I think we work well together, but you always wanna create that separation to do your own thing.
http://www.mtv.com/bands/l/lachey_nick/news_feature/041101/
**my personal comments**
Joe Simpson already basically runs his career (because anything Jess wants she gets - and daddy gets her to get Nick to do things) may as well hire the idiot and officially become slave #4 or 5 to him - what's the difference.
Otherwise - Nick seriously needs to get a manager who will do right by him (hopefully this dude he's got now will be the right guy - but we shall see) - and I would definitely say this proves the point that was discussed earlier that Nick has NOT signed a deal with Jive as of yet (since he's LOOKING FOR A DEAL that will give him the control to do it on his terms - Hey Nick - do what Timmons did - put it out yourself!)