When you were a kid, did you ever think you'd be where you are today? No! I mean, you can't think up something like that. We're just kind of blown away at the position we're in. We laugh at it sometimes and enjoy ourselves.
So many kids would give *everything* to have what you have. What do *you* daydream about? I daydream about playing in the NBA. I'm maybe 6'1". I can't dunk, though. I'm a white boy- I can't dunk. [Laughs] I'd have to work on my vertical. I could probably gain about four inches to my vertical if I worked on it. I guess I'll stick to what I'm doing now.
You have a long history with Britney Spears. Yeah, she's great.
She told Popstar! that you were her first kiss. Really? Mmm...she forget to tell me that! [Laughs] No, I'm just kidding! Yeah, I saw that she'd said that. I was totally unaware of that.
So she wasn't your first kiss? No, I'm a playboy. I started much earlier...I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding! [Laughs]
Do you still wear your "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelet? Yes. Actually, I got a cool, neon-yellow one from a fan the other day that I have sitting up in my bunk right now. I don't want to wear it at shows too much because I don't want to get it all sweaty. But I'm going to wear it as soon as we get off tour. That's going to be my new one. I usually wear the baby blue one. That's my favorite color.
You guys are so well-guarded! How did this bracelet-giving fan *get* to you? She came to a meet-and-greet. We do one before every show. She was a bit overwhelmed, but it wasn't a case where she was in tears. Sometimes we get that, and sometimes they just want to meet us and tell us that they like our music. Sometimes they know everything about us. Man, people know stuff about me more than I know about me [Laughs] It's crazy!
Do you see a time when you'll be singing songs the five of you wrote as opposed to singing songs written by other people for you? We're always writing. We always think up the concepts for our videos, concepts for our tours, concepts for songs. We write and I'm hoping that we get into a position where we can use our songs for us and even give them away to other people ane become our own Diane Warrens, all five of us-you know what I mean? We'd also like to produce other people if they want us to and do different stuff like that. We want to venture into every aspect of teh business. That would defintely include acting. We want to do it all. I think everything else that comes to us is kind of fun, but I think music is what we really take to heart and what we're serious about.
How do negative reviews affect you? Like, if I was the star of a movie and somebody gave me a review that said, "He's not that good," I'd probably laugh at it. But if somebody said that they thought that my music wasn't the caliber that I said it was, then I'd probably be more upset about it. Because music is life for me.
Was there ever a time when you couldn't carry a tune? I popped out singing! [Laughs] I grew up singing in church. If you come to our shows, I think you'll notice that we mix a lot of R&B and gospel in with all the other stuff we do. You can tell that I grew up singing in church because of that influence.
With five of you, are the creative battles pretty intense? It's not a battle. It's more of like a melting of creativity. In no situation will we battle against each other. We're friends and there's no reason for all that. I think it makes the process twice as fast. Everybody's open to everybody else's ideas because we respect each other and we want it to always be that we're all included. That has a lot to do with it.
What kind of music would you like to tackle next? I think the different influences that we have make us very versatile in our style. We defintely have a pop/R&B-type sound and it's a nice mixture, but we mix everything in with it. You know what would be fun? Doing a country song someday. We want to collaborate with everybody and we want to venture into every different type of thing and see where it takes us. [The guys have since recorded a country version of "(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time On You" with C&W icons Alabama!]
Name your top three fave musicians. Stevie Wonder, Brian McKnight, and...[thinks it over]...I don't know. There's a million. Stevie Wonder is just...he's the master-the master blaster.
How do you keep from getting bored on the road? We have each other. We have a good time together. Even when we're not on tour, we hang out together. We also have video games set up in every dressing room.
I think girls have shopping and boys have video games. I beg to differ because I love a good shopping trip. My mom was always like, "Sometimes I think you're a girl." And I'm like, "Hello?! Don't you be saying stuff like that to me!" I get all mad when she says that.
What did you buy during your last shopping spree? The last big thing I bought-well, actually my mom and dad got it for me for my birthday-was a new watch. They got me my first Rolex. It's all iced up and everything. I got all the diamonds and everything. I think the last thing I bought for myself was my necklace with my charm on it. And it's got my initials in diamonds on platinum. It's cool. I'll show it to you.
Do you have like a Rolex bodyguard with you to guard it? [Laughs] No, our bodyguard guards us. I take care if the necklace.
