Another 'N Syncher Goes Solo

JC Chasez understands why certain people might reflexively recoil at the thought of listening to a solo record from an 'N Sync member.

"They have attached a stigma to what a boy band is," says Chasez, who with his new album, "Schizophrenic," ranks second to Justin Timberlake as the 'N Sync member with the highest profile.

"But I'm confident that if you give the record an honest listen, there will be something on it you will enjoy, because my record came from an honest place. A lot of hard work went into it, and people will hear that and appreciate that. Just give me a fair shake."

Truth be told, if you give Chasez the "fair shake" he is asking for, you'll be rewarded. It may not be cool in some quarters to say so, but "Schizophrenic" is a pretty groovy mix of electronica, synth- pop, funk, and reggae and far superior to Timberlake's overwrought solo outing, "Justified."

In the coming week, Chasez (pronounced sha-ZAY) will be performing club dates on the East Coast - tonight in Atlantic City, Wednesday at Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. But at the moment he is in Glasgow, Scotland, "gigging with Britney," as in Britney Spears, who long ago got her start opening for 'N Sync.

And how are things?

"Life is good," says the 27-year-old Chasez, noting the warm response of British crowds on the tour's first two dates. "Even in London, where we ['N Sync] haven't been quite able to crack the market, people have been totally receptive. One of the papers said that at Wembley, it was the first time that an opening act got a standing ovation. That made me feel like a star."

Asked how his live show compares to, say, the outsize exhibition put on by Timberlake and Christina Aguilera last summer, Chasez says, "Mine is very different. With Justin and even 'N Sync, you know what you're going to get - everything and the kitchen sink thrown at you. My show is a lot looser. I'm working with a band of five. I do choreography and I have dancers, but not for the whole show. I do it in spurts."

So what are the advantages of working solo?

"In a group it's always about compromise," says Chasez. "You have to see if they're on the same page as you. But as a solo artist, there's no compromise in the record-making process."

"Schizophrenic's" songs are more mature than anything 'N Sync has recorded. "It's just a part of growing up," says Chasez, "a natural evolution. I'm not trying to force anything. I had to do what I thought was right."

Among the record's several surprises: the credible dance-rock track "100 Ways" - "I use it to get in the crowd's face," says Chasez - and the convincing, at-the-end-of-his-rope pleader "Mercy."

"I spent some time thinking about that song," he said. "A woman is like a drug, and with that song I compared being in love with a female to being on heroin."

Chasez admits to a fondness for the music of the 1980s.

"It's what I grew up on," he says. "In the 1980s, things weren't so categorized. It wasn't, 'If you listened to this, you couldn't listen to that.' It was a creative period. MIDI [the process that allowed one electronic keyboard to be played from another] was a whole new thing. It changed the face of music. People in the dance industry were pushing music as far as it could go. There would be no hip-hop today if it wasn't for them."

As a solo performer, Timberlake seems to use Michael Jackson as a role model. Chasez's guiding light seems to be Prince.

"I think what people [realize] is that Prince is an open-minded artist, unafraid to combine rock-and-roll and R&B, and the fact that I am willing to try and do the same. But in no way, shape, or form am I Prince."