Rich and Mike Cronin- Celeb Closeup

Rich Cronin: LFO's "Summer Girls" singer. His buddy: Mike Cronin. Friends since: Mike was born (Rich is Mike's older bro by two years); they live together in Orlando.

The Interview

• What makes you brothers and best friends? Mke: Pretty much the same sense of humor, just very immature. We'll laugh at anything... Rich: I'm always gonna be there for him and he's always gonna be there for me, regardless of any disagreement. There's just that blood bond. But besides that, he's cool, he's funny, and even if I weren't his brother, I'd want to be his best friend.
• Did you hang even when you were in high school? Rich: He was a freshman when I was a senior, so he had his set of friends and I had mine. We'd go out sometimes, but not as much as we do now... Mike: He was, like, big man on campus, so it make things easy for me in the social department.
• Being the older brother, did you protect Mike when you were kids? Rich: I've fought for him millions of times. Mike was always a wise guy, pulling people's chains. He got himself into trouble with this kid once, and he came home all beat up. I got so mad I had a big fight with the guy. Now he sticks up for me. Some guy recently was like,
• Now that you're on the road so much with LFO, Rich, how often do you talk when you're apart? Rich: All the time. I check in to see how he's doing. He came down to Orlando to move in with me, so I want to make sure everything's going smoothly.
• When you two go out, is it more fun being with just the guys than girls, too? Mike: Oh, I have a lot more fun going out with him than a girl. At a party or a club, we'll sit there and joke around, whereas a girl you have to entertain:
• Why not? Rich: Guys just understand each other better. We're not thinking,
• How do guys' friendships differ from girls'? Rich: Guys have more of a bond, and girls can be less loyal to each other. Every single girl I've ever met has told me she likes to be friends with guys because she can't trust girls. Guys are just more laid back and not as vindictive... Mike: Hanging out with Rich, it's more joking, kidding around, acting immature, which some girls are disgusted by.
• What do you do that ticks girls off? Mike: You really can't joke too much around girls. They don't get it because they haven't been around for the references, you're talking about, and then you have to explain it, and by that point it's no longer funny. They start getting paranoid that you're making fun of them.
• Are you ever? Mike: No, not at all! But that's what they think.
• When you're out at night, are you usually scoping girls? Rich: I always have my eye out. I've been like that forever- looking at who's around, what's going on. But Mike's always been much more focused on work or school or sports... Mike: Unless there's someone outstanding, usually I just kind of keep to myself and have fun.
• Are there any certain things you'd never talk about in front of a girl? Rich: Definitely. We would never talk about girls we wanted to go our with or experiences we've had with girls. And that's usually what guys talk about. When girls are around, guys put on a different face; then when they leave, the conversation turns to how much they love that girl or want to go out with her.
• How much do you tell each other about your love life? Mike: Not much. Guys' conversations aren't about what you might think, like a girl's butt or anything. Rich would be very upset if I ever talked about one of his girlfriends like that, so I wouldn't even think about it... Rich: I've heard that when girls are by themselves, they're worse than guys. I've talked about stuff with my friends when girls were around, and I've said,
• Do you guys get into emotional discussions? Rich: Around my brother I go into a lot of detail because I can trust him with anything.
• How do you two help each other out in the girl department? Mike: He's always trying to hook me up. Like the other day in rehearsal he was being real funny about it with his dancers, standing right behind them and going,
• What would happen if you liked the same girl? Rich: I would step off so he could have her. But if I had been there first, no way, cause that would mean Mike was moving in on my girl, and that's stupid. he wouldn't do that... Mike: Yeah, it wouldn't happen. It's just something I would never do. As soon as he was dating her, she'd be off limits.
• Do you give each other advice? Mike: He'll say, "Analyze this for me: I went out last night, and she said XYZ. What do you think she meant?" Stuff like that... Rich: I always ask Mike for advice about girls, and he's usually right. He asks me the same things, but I don't think I'm as good as he is.
• Do you like getting advice about girls from other guys? Mike: It depends on which guy you're talking to. But a guy will tell you straight out how it is, whereas girls have some weird ideas, different approaches that in theory should work but just don't. A girl will tell you to walk up to another girl and tell her exactly what you think, which, unfortunately, does not work all the time... Rich: I kind of disagree. Unless I'm talking to an older guy who's been through all this stuff, I'd rather talk to a girl because she'd probably be more in tune with what was going on with another girl. But I don't really know that many girls, so that's my problem.
• So will big-time fame ever get between you guys? Mike: People ask me all the time if I'm jealous, but I'm not at all. I'm so happy for him, and I really want to go out of my way to help out... Rich: I love what I do, but I would never let it come between us. Mike means more to me than my music. He knows me better than anybody else. I can't remember life without him. He's just a part of me.