Please note these are not in order! You could find one about Millenium and then one about how they won the 1997 Teen Music Awards! (Did they? I don't know)
Teen Beat: Tell us about the album.
Nick Carter: It's called Millenium and we got a lot of flack from record company reps for naming it Millenium because they were like 'Oh, that's so corny.' We like it the name. It's kind of funny because we got a lot of flack for it just because it's the millenium. I was actually afraid someone else would use the name...
Teen Beat: Do you have a solo on it?
Nick: Yes.
Teen Beat: What's it called?
Nick: "I Need You Tonight."
Teen Beat: What sorts of things will we hear on the album?
Kevin Richardson: When you hear the album, you're going to say, 'that's the Backstreet Boys.' The sound is our sound. We're very proud of it-lyrically, it's more of a growth. Some of the songs are more challenging and they sound bigger, production wise. It's a growth period. br>
A.J. McLean: We took it as far as we could go without the whole sound changing. We still have the same "Backstreet's Back" type of sound.
Teen Beat: How important is it to you to know that the stuff on the album is stuff you've written?
Brian Littrell: It's very important. I experienced that for the first time with "That's What She Said," on the last international CD. It's a feeling that is beyond anything you can imagine. Even people in the States, when we toured last summer, knew the song because they'd gotten the import CD and they'd listened to it. I came out with that guitar and played it, and they sang every word. It means a lot to me that they take the time to listen to the album, period, and then they read through the credits, they see that Brian wrote that song and they listen to every word. That song is about an experience in my life-it's an example-girlfriend, it's a sad love song. So, it's an amazing feeling to know people like it. And you know you spent the extra time in the studio, the extra production, the extra mental-drain of putting it together, and then it came to life.
Teen Beat: How long did it take you to record the album?
Kevin: We've been recording, in spurts here and there, but when we were in Stockholm, we were there for a week and a half and we got 7 songs done. We recorded two songs in NY and two or three in Orlando. We've been recording, in spurts, for a year. But in all, the actual recording time was only a month.
Teen Beat: Would you say your personal tastes are reflected more in this album?
Kevin: Our personal taste is so varied. We listen to everything.
AJ: If we each had a song, written by each of us with our individual tastes, it would the most outrageous album. Everything from rock, to gospel ballads, to hip-hop-it would be insane.
Kevin: I like everything from TLC to Maxwell-it depends on what kind of mood I'm in.
AJ: I really like Swing. There's a club down here I've been hanging out in.
Teen Beat: Do you Swing dance?
AJ: NO! I can't-I would love to take lessons. I watch those guys flipping those girls around and I love it. Every Thursday night, from 10-1, they teach you the basics. I went there one night and learned the basics, but like I said, I wasn't flipping girls over my head, but I would love to. It looks like so much fun. I could wear suspenders...
Kevin: We're going to do a video where we have partner dancing-whether salsa or swing or something. We're going to have dancers on our tour-maybe some salsa-because we have some songs on the album that have the Latin guitar. Some really cool romantic stuff.
AJ: We have a lot of guitar this album. A lot of guitar and a lot of piano. I listen to the album at least once or twice every day while I'm driving around in my truck, and from beginning to end there's hip-hop dance tracks, and there's big ballads, but it's all got this big guitar sound.
Teen Beat: We hear that you're planning the tour to be performed in the round.
Kevin: Yes. It's going to be really challenging. Very challenging-because you can't use backdrops, this is going to be all lighting, and what you can do with 1 stage. How many ways can you make the stage look different? We've got Mark Ravitz, who did David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust tour, which won all kinds of awards and stuff back in the day.
Teen Beat: Any costume ideas?
Kevin: Millenium makes me think futuristic, so there's going to be a lot of futuristic type things going on. As soon as you walk into the arena, you should feel like you're in another place. If someone's never seen a concert before, we want to make sure they never, ever forget this one. And if they have, we want this one to be the best they've ever seen.
AJ: We want it to be the best show. We saw U2 from the first row in Rotterdam [Holland]. The set, everything-it was the best show. They had the biggest screen ever used in concert.
Teen Beat: Who's going to be opening for you on tour?
Howie Dorough: There's been talk about EYC and I've heard maybe Tatyana Ali possibly opening. But we still have to get our own tour together before we can start thinking of other people.
Teen Beat: Brian, during your concert, when you come out and play your guitar and sing to the audience, is that a weird feeling-being by yourself out there?
Brian: It's a very personal experience and that's what I wanted it to be. Singing down-if they didn't want to scream they didn't have to, they could just sit and listen and watch. That was my whole idea, because the show is so Bing, bang, boom, and then we have the five solos, and even some of the solos are Bing, bang, boom, and I'm not really like that. But when it can be really personal, I just walk out, show people who I am. I just sit in my chair, with my guitar. It's me playing, me singing-it's what I love. It's me. I don't think I could have done that with any other song-it had to come from me.
Teen Beat: When you first met the guys, what was your very first impression and how has that changed over time?
Nick: When I first met this guy [put his arm around Brian] I thought, COUNTRY BUMPKIN! It was crazy! [In thick southern accent] "Heyyy, howww y'allll dooooooin'? My name's Briaaaan Littrell."
Brian: [Laughs and interjects] It's not that bad anymore!
Nick: He's not that bad anymore. All our accents have changed and then we play around with British, Australian and German accents.
Teen Beat: So, Brian had a thick accent?
Nick: He had a strong accent, but he's lost that since.
Teen Beat: How about Kevin?
Nick: Kevin is still Kevin. He's still the same guy; he really hasn't changed that much. And AJ, he's changed!
Teen Beat: How so?
Nick: Well, last I checked, his skin didn't have that colour.
Teen Beat: You mean his hair?
Nick: No, his skin, all the colours...you know, all those tattoos. But that's him, that's AJ. That's what he likes to do. Really it's all about growing up and personally doing what I want to do.
Teen Beat: How about Howie?
Nick: Howie [who is on his cell phone at the moment] is just always on the cell phone all the time! No, I'm just joking. He's a serious businessman right now.
Teen Beat: What do you think about all these Orlando bands that are out right now?
Howie: I think it's great to see that we were able to open a lot of the doors for a lot of these groups to be able to come on in and have more of an accelerated success. I feel very flattered that a lot OF them are using us as an example. There were a lot of people who opened the doors for us before in the past. It's always just a lot of helping each other and stuff. Like I said, I don't look at it as a competition thing-if anything it's a friendly competition.
Please note this was in late 1998.
Now that you have made it big in the U.S., what are your responses to your American audience?
Kevin: We are incredibly happy because this past tour finally gave us a chance to show all our friends and family what we've been doing for the past 4 or 5 years we've been together. So it's really kind of a personal thing for us.
A.J.: When we didn't hit big in America right away I think in a way we were somewhat disappointed. It was very humbling. It made us want to work much harder than we were working which finally paid off during the last tour.
Howie: We're young and we've already proved ourselves during this past tour. People that questioned our singing abilities were convinced once they saw us perform in front of a live audience. You've always looked upon us as the last group's success or their downfall. Unfortunately, there have been some similar groups before us that have left, shall we say, not such a great taste in everybody's mouth...
Nick: We are very happy that this year did work out as well as it did. Now we don't have to view America as the last great frontier anymore.
Brian: Like my friends said, we feel very fortunate. The people we really have to thank are our fans, both here and all around the world. We want our music to be respected by everyone...not just teenagers but adults...you know, families, other musicians, people in the music industry.
What else can you tell us about the new record?
Nick: I think it's a little more mature. Not too mature, but it's a step. Of course we still have the same feeling as the last album-with the up-tempo songs and the ballads. Personally my voice isn't as high.
Kevin: There are more solos on this record, which was fun.
Brian: I wrote the lyrics and music for 1 of the songs on the new record, which is called "That's What She Said." It was also co-produced by the rest of the band.
Howie: We don't want to give away too much just yet! We're not even sure OF the exact release date right now.
What stands out from all else as a moment to cherish this year?
Nick: What stands out for me most is when Brian made a complete recovery from his elective heart surgery. We were all very happy about that.
Brian: Yeah, I'm glad to have it behind me. The amount of fan support was overwhelming and I can't thank our fans enough. I think it helped me recuperate even faster, just knowing all those people were thinking of me and wanted me to join the group again.
Kevin: I cherish all the great moments that we had on the American leg of our tour. All the fans were excited and enthusiastic which stands out as an important accomplishment in my eyes.
AJ: Winning the award for best group video on MTV was a great moment for me! I still can't believe that we won. It was an unbelievable night and one that I will always remember.
Howie: This year was wonderful for so many reasons. It's hard to pin it down to one single event, so instead I'll say that, for me, the fan support in America is a big deal. It's got me through some pretty rough times.
What are your plans for 1999?
Kevin: Right now we're taking a short break for the holidays, but the new year will bring the release of our new album which is already finished. We're really excited about it because it shows another side to the group and showcases some of the solo performances that fans have become familiar with on the tour like Nick's rendition of "Heaven in Your Eyes"
Howie: Since we're finishing up the current tour in Germany, we'll probably want to rush home to our families. I know that the next tour dates are already being mapped out which will bring us to Asia and Australia this spring.
AJ: We're expecting to do a great deal of press for the new album, both in the U.S. and Europe as well as the new tour so we'll be even busier during the new year than we were last year. Don't worry, they'll be plenty of Backstreet Boys to go around!
Nick: We're gonna party just like the Prince song! Just joking! Seriously, though, we're hoping for another great year like '98. But I think after this album we're gonna take a little bit of a break. Not any time soon, but sometime in the future. Maybe before the end of the century [he laughs].
Brian: The beginning of the year will center, of course, on the new record, which we hope, will get a great response. After that, who knows? I now believe anything is possible.
Did you ask Santa for anything special this year?
Nick: I asked Santa if I could get a tattoo but he hasn't decided yet.
AJ: I didn't ask for anything this year except for health and happiness for myself, my friends, and our families and fans.
Brian: I asked Santa for a date with Pamela Lee Anderson, but he said she's booked solid through the year...
Kevin: I asked Santa to introduce me to a special young lady that I could shower with affection, and one that wouldn't mind my insane schedule!
Howie: My holiday wish is a simple one. I want to spend time with my immediate family without interruption for a few weeks. We have suffered a tremendous amount this year and I need to be with them.
Tiger Beat: Backstreet Boys are currently on a break. How are you all spending your time?
A.J.: Kevin's up in Kentucky right now visiting his mom for her birthday. I think he wants to get his mom a car like mine[A.J. has a new purple Corvette!]. His mom has done everything for him since he was a kid, so it's time to pay mom back in some way with a nice birthday present. Howie's in New York recording, which is where i'll be next week.
We're each getting our induvidual writing trips--where each of us can go write with different people, get kind of a different span of music, stuff like that. That's what he's doing. Nick's in Tampa, and he's just veggin' out, riding his boat, playing with his brother and sisters and just cruisin' around, going to the mall, playing basketball. Just bein' a kid.
Tiger Beat: Does Nick feel any competition from his baby brother Aaron?
A.J.: No, i don't think so. He's been more or less like a father figure to Aaron. Like when he feels Aaron's overworked, even when Aaron might want to keep going--he's a little kid, he's got so much energy--Nick will say, "I don't want Aaron working anymore. I want aaron to just come back and be a kid." Nick just bought him a little four-wheel ATV to just run around on, so Aaron's having a blast doing that.
Tiger Beat: What else is new?
A.J.: Well, Nick's dog almost killed me the other day! I went to visit him just out of the blue, I decided to drive over to Tampa. And I had heard about his dog; I knew it was a goolden retreiver, but it's trained to kill!! [laughs] So it about killed me! I had to jump back in my car. his dog is like Cujo.
Tiger Beat: Maybe Nick has the dog trained to keep all you Backstreet Boys away!
A.J.: [laughs] Right! And he's saying, "Now, when this one comes...kill!" So that's his way of getting us back for all those times we used to pick on him when he was a kid.
Tiger Beat: You changed your hair to blond again.
A.J.: Oh, my hair changes like i change my underwear. Daily, basically. I had polka dots last week, and I had a zebra print the week before. Now I'm back to blond. I'm really bored. Really, truly I can honestly say that I'm bored on my vacation. But it's good. I mean, I actually went and saw 'N Sync's show last night. It was an excellent show. Innosense did incredible. Those girls are incredible. Those girls did a really good job. Average Joe did a really good job. He's one of our close personal friends, all of them are.
Tiger Beat: How did Brian's heart surgery affect the Backstreet Boys?
A.J.: After Brian's surgery, we all kind of took a little to really grow up. I think we all...Brian especially made a comment to me the other day that he's really grown up in the past time that he's had the surgery up to now--and that I think all of us have taken the oppurtunity to really look at this and see that it can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter how old you are. And it's not a bad thing, or a good thing. I think everything happens for a reason. And it was bound to happen one day or another.
Tiger Beat: Has this knowledge affected the songs you're writing for Backstreet Boys' next album?
A.J.: I think it has affected the way we write, but we're writing more on an adult level now. It's still songs for everyonem of every race and colour and age, but it's just I think we're thinking more now than we ever used to. [To] not just write a song about "let's go have a party and have a good time," and all this stuff you hear nowadays. We're all a little bit more emotional now, and a little more grown up. Even Nick looks like he's 30 now! Nick's getting facial hair for crying out loud! Before you know it, Kevin's going to be 30, and that's going to be scary. Because once Nick turns 21, Kevin's going to be 30, and there'll be a 30-year-old Backstreet Boy! That's really weird, man!
Tiger Beat: Have you got a message for your fans?
A.J.: Yeah. I want to say thanks to all of them. Backstreet Boys would not be where we were today without them and we remember that every single day.
--Interview by Dennis Walkling
HAIR!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: Which hair products do you like?
NICK TELLS!: I don't know. I'm the type of person who doesn't
care. I just go into the store and buy whatever. I do like White
Rain coconut shampoo--that's my favourite stuff right there.
EYES!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: Are you reading any books or comics?
NICK TELLS!: I'm just really into Aliens and Predator
[those are two differemt series of comic books, in case you
didn't know].
EARES!TEEN BEAT ASKS: What was the last CD you
bought?
NICK TELLS!: It was Eminem, but I really like Korn [good choices
Nick!]
MOUTH!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: What's your favourite cereal?
NICK TELLS!: Count Chocula.
HANDS!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: Do you prefer Nintendo or PlayStation?
NICK TELLS!: Both, it doesn't matter. Nintendo, PlayStation,
Sega, they're all the same to me. I was looking for 8-bit
Nintendo games. They are the first ever Nintendo games they ever
made. I went to a bunch of pawn shops and everything and they
said, 'We don't carry them anymore.' So i got hold of some kid
who had a couple of them. He was selling them for $2 a game and I
was just having a blast, playing the old Nintendo.
STOMACH!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: What's your least favourite part of your body?
NICK TELLS!: I'll admit it. I hate my stomach. Funniest thing
is, someone gets a trait, like a chin or something, but in my
family I got a stomach, and I got it from my dad. I can work out,
I can work hard, but I still got a little stomach. I went on the
Internet one day and people were talking about me being fat and
me being overweight. I mean, I know I do kind of flucate with my
weight and stuff. I guess, I'm really not that overweight for my
height and size, but it really does hurt my feelings a lot when
people say that. I still get picked on because of it.
BODY!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: What kind of clothing are you into?
NICK TELLS!: I just wear anything, I'll wear K-Mart clothes. I
will, I don't care! As long as there's clothes on my back and
shoes on my feet, I'm happy. If it looks good, I just throw it
on.
FEET!
TEEN BEAT ASKS: What is your shoe size?
NICK TELLS!: 12
Teen Beat: Do you feel now that you are the Backstreet Men, with the experiences that you've had over the last couple of years? How has it affected you all personally? How has it affected the album?
Howie Dorough: We've been through a lot since last year, problems with family, business things like management changes. It's been a trying year for us. Even though we've had a lot of success this year, it's still been trying, but I believe it's helped us grow stronger as a group. We all have each other's backs. Sometimes you all have to take a few steps back to be able to take steps forward. That's one of the reasons we titled this album Millennium. It's a rebirth of another century and we feel that this new album is also a rebirth of us. Hopefully everyone will see the change.
Teen Beat: Do you think you'll change the name of the group to Backstreet Men?
AJ McLean: We'll be the Backstreet Boys, for the duration. Like the Beach Boys and others, it's just a term that has no reflection on our ages. The Beach Boys are in their 60's and are still called the Beach Boys, so until we're in our 60's we'll be the Backstreet Boys--just not dancing as much. [Laughs]
Teen Beat: You have been travelling all around the world. Is there any place or city that you haven't been yet that you'd like to visit?
Nick Carter: There are lots of places we haven't been to yet, Russia, Iceland, South Africa, the Middle East. Our priorities are to hit as many of those places as we can on our world tour, because we realize that we have many fans all over the world. We want everybody to have a piece of us.
Teen Beat: When will you feel like you've really made it? Are you looking for something akin to Beatlemania, or world domination?
Howie: We still have a lot of goals set for ourselves. We work very hard trying to make our music better and better. We are very fortunate to have had the success we do have. Selling 28 million CDs worldwide, it's hard to top that. So we'd ve very happy if we could even match that again. We would maybe like to see American Music Awards, World Music Awards and stuff like that again. We always strive for bigger and better, not necessarily a specific goal. We try to show our fans our appreciation for their love and support for us, and our music. As long as we're content with ourselves we'll keep going.
Brian Littrell: It's easy to get caught up in the way our lives are run spometimes. Our schedules are constantly changing. We try to please everybody all of the time. It sometimes comes down to how people in a certain country treat you compared to another. It's easy to get caught up into pleasing other people until it hits home, like a death in your family or facing surgery. To me aall of this is nothing, unless you are healthy and happy. When you go through things like that it's not fun anymore. That's why we're the BSB, because we love to do this and when people try to take that love away, you get lost in it and it becomes a bit emotionally distressing, But, we're looking forward to the millennium. We're very proud of our new product and we've put a lot of our emotions and time into this project. We want others to appreciate the effort as well.
Teen Beat: What are the BSB going to offer that's different from all of the other summer concerts?
Nick Carter: We don't like to give out all of our secrets, especially about concerts cause we want our audience to be surprised. We're doing 18 songs so it'll be a 2-hour show. We wanted to step it up to another level, so we hope to please everybody and you alll have fun.
Teen Beat: Since your new album is callled Millennium, how do you plan to bring in the millennium? Or, if you don't have plans, what's your ideal way to bring in the millennium?
Kevin: We've been asked that a lot. For the past six years we've worked every New Years Eve. We'd like to try not to plan things too far in advance, but this one, I think we'd like to spend it with our families' maybe. We still haven't decided anything. Especially with all the rumours of the millennium bug and stuff, we might not want to be playing.
Teen Beat: Are you going to be doing a film?
Brian: We've had a few offers, but we're concentrating on our music right now, that will take us through next year. There isn't much time for projects like that.
Teen Beat: Do you know what the second dsingle will be? What are your favourite songs to perform?
AJ: It's a really tough call to make, but probably one that is uptempo. I can't pinpoint one that we'd enjoy performing the most cause we haven't performed any of them yet, only the first single, but for me personally, in rehearsal "Don't Want You Back" is my favourite because the choreography is phat! The whole vibe of the stage is going to be different. It's the complete opposite of what you've heard from the BSB. Everything has been about love and relationships and this one is the opposite, saying leave, I don't want you anymore, etc. It's my favourite.
Brian: We had a chance to do a Disney show recently and got to perform "The Perfect Fan" live for the first time. We had the oppurtunity to do it with the voices of the Harlem Boys Choir for the show. That was the icing on the cake for me, to see something you've worked so hard on in the studio come to life. But I do have to agree with AJ on "Don't Want You Back" for a live show performance. It's two different worlds performing a ballad and an uptempo song.
Kevin: I think we all have our own feelings about the second single. To me the song "Larger than Life" was kind of an anthem to our fans, telling them that they are larger than life. I like the groove on "Don't Want You Back", it's a very edgy, funky groove.
Nick: It would be too politically correct to say I liked the whole album, but I think "Don't Want You Back" and "Larger than Life" are great. I like "Larger" because it's the closest thing to rock music we've done and I love rock music. I also like "Spanish Eyes" because it's a neat sound.
Howie: I'd say my favourite is "Spanish Eyes" and "Show Me The Meaning..." Both have a Spanish acoustic guitare sound. Those two mean the most to me being of Spanish descent. I'm going back to my roots. It's a good song.
Teen Beat: What are you trying to say with the song "Larger than Life"?
Brian: Actually, at first we thought people would think we had a big head, using the phrase "Larger than Life", but it's actually a thank-you song to all of the fans. Everything they've done for us, through our ups and downs. They are larger than life to us.
