IN SYNC

NSYNC’s Lance Bass Reveals How He Really Feels About Joey Fatone

Bass tells “Obsessed: The Podcast” how the pair have maintained their lifelong connection.

Lance Bass and Joey Fatone are far from on the rocks, even as their new show, Cocktail Wars, forces them to mix it up on screen.

The former NSYNC members are old bandmates, best friends, and now the co-hosts of a mixology competition show. They became close as teenagers, Bass told Obsessed: The Podcast. Their journey into cocktail-dom began long before the TV show, when they were just kid musicians on a meteoric rise.

Watch the full interview with Lance Bass on YouTube:

“We would never drink before a show or anything like that,” Bass said. “I mean, almost a three-hour show, dancing like that, it’s impossible. But the last show, we just want to have fun. So we would put a little Jack and Coke in our water bottles. We had a blast.”

People called NSYNC “one of the most iconic boy bands of all time.” Their third studio album, No Strings Attached, sold 2.4 million copies in its first week and still remains one of the top-selling albums of all time in the U.S. The boy band, led by pop sensation Justin Timberlake, released four studio albums between 1997 and 2001 before dissolving into solo careers and personal projects.

Bass and Fatone were always close, from the band’s first shaky steps to their TV show’s shaken martinis. They bonded over their love of theater, but their passions generally differed.

Their friendship “was pretty immediate,” Bass said. “Joey and I had a lot of similar interests. We love Broadway, that type of stuff. Although we are very opposite in many ways. Like, I love sports. He doesn’t care about it.“

“His family is completely out there and curses every second. My family’s very conservative,” Bass continued. “Have never said a curse word ever. Kind of like the ‘opposites attract’ situation with our families. We just really hit it off.”

At the same time, Bass has a theory that circumstance sparked their friendship. During the band’s early years, all of the members lived together—except for Fatone. That separation contributed to their friendship, Bass said.

“He was the only one that didn’t live in the house with us,” Bass explained. “I think that probably helped too, because I was always on top of these guys in the house, and it was a little refreshing to be able to go out with Joey because we didn’t have to spend 24/7 with each other.”

Now, Bass is close with Fatone’s family, especially his daughter. The friends “don’t hide anything” from each other, and still feel the strength of their connection after all these years. One might even say their friendship has aged like a fine wine.

“We complete each other, in a way,” Bass said. “It’s one of those friends that we could not see each other for four months, and then you get right back into the last day that you saw each other, like no time had passed.”

Cocktail Wars is out on the USA TV Network and available for streaming on Hulu.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch new episodes of ‘Obsessed: The Podcast’ every Wednesday and Friday. And follow our feed to listen to the show the next morning on your favorite podcast platform.

Dana Herrnstadt Editorial Intern, Obsessed

Obsessed: The PodcastPodcast

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.