Just over an hour ago, about 8000 screaming fans were cheering their idols in a sea of sweat and tears. Behind the scenes of the Brussels stadium Vorst Nationaal, the other Kids are fooling around with their crew while the last fainted girls are being carried away. Donnie Wahlberg invites me to sit down in a quiet corner. We sit down on a couch. Donnie looks tired, but is not so easy in admitting it. 'I'm cool', he says. Sounds like he means it.
You're touring in Europe for about six weeks now. Is it what you had expected from it?
We had been warned. We knew that we were popular around here,but it is beyond our expectations. The people around here are a lot more enthusiastic than in the States for example. They show more appreciation for what you do, and that gives us a wonderful feeling.
What do you miss most when you're away from home during all that time?
The food.
Why?
Yeah, that's really the only thing I really miss. The food in Europe is pretty disappointing. I like 'fried chicken' and every kind of fish (but cooked the American way) and that's what I miss really. The food here is just not like home. Beef and pork will never be recommended by me, and those are specialties around here. So you see, on the cooking I have to miss a lot. But other than that Europe is great.
In which ways?
People actually come see an artist. There is a true popculture here. Americans are mostly interested in what we do besides performing. Everything we do is front-page news. My head is more important than the head of president Bush! Would there be an earthquake tomorrow somewhere and at that same time we would live something rather stupid, still the New Kids on the Block would make all the headlines. That's how bad it is over there. I remember last year when I fell off a stage and hurt my chest. That same day Nelson Mandela was visiting the White House. Yet I made all the front pages. You can't understand that. For such a lousy scratch on my chest.
Then aren't you flattered by all the attention?
No, absolutely not. Or maybe just a little. But I think it`s absolutely ridiculous. Look, we are a rock group, a pretty popular rock group. We do entertainment and that's 'fun'. But you should see all those things in perspective. People tend to blow up everything into ridiculous proportions. And than the fun is gone real soon. What happened here tonight, that's cool. Being the most important issue in the news, that's just wrong. We're entertainers, while people want us to be gods.
Don't you think that people need positive news every once in a while instead of all the misery that they have to face every day? A lot of people look up to you.
That's another thing. A lot of kids do look up to us. But on the other side there are just as many elder people to put us down. While that has nothing to do with what we are actually doing. Everybody builds little aureols around our heads. We are no angels! We never asked to be angels or to be on a pedestal. The crowd has made us that way. But when you suddenly do something that is not so angelic, they put you in front of a peloton to execute you.
Ain't it a problem to keep that image 'clean'?
No. Yes and no. No, it's not hard to keep up the image that we chose for ourselves. And that's just who we want to be. Ourselves. It's not hard to stay yourselves. Look at the way that we were on that stage tonight; that's us! Jon a little bit in the background, because he is a little shy. He never loses it like I do. I go wild on a stage, that's me. And Joe is a little bit the Frank Sinatra-type, but younger. Each and every one of us is himself and that's an easy image to realise. On the other hand some folks have measured us an image. They pretend us to be saints. And that image is much tougher to keep up with. Because that's not who we are.
Ain't it so that you have put some extra accents to those five different personalities that you are from the beginning?
I don't think so. Maybe these lines have been shown a little bit more during the past time, but we just are who we are. I mean, I didn't get myself arrested to show off my wild character. I'd be nuts if I had done that. But each of us has his good and bad characteristics. People sometimes say that it's a gimmick for all five of us to be different. But that's ridiculous, we're a unit with five characters who, at themselves are really different. Besides, everything we do is being looked at as a gimmick right away. It would be a gimmick - so they say - that I wear an earring and that I hardly ever shave. Why can't I be just a guy who wears an earring and never shaves? Without it being looked at as a gimmick. I like having some hairs on my face, so what!
Everybody has their own typical things. However, when you're in the spotlight, it shows more.
Right, but that's exactly where the line should be drawn. People have to ask themselves a question: how important are the New Kids on the Block? Are we important at all? If we thought us to be as important as people think we are, we'd be the biggest egotrippers in the world. There's always been the intention to just have 'fun'. I don't understand why some people are taking everything so damn serious. At the American Music Awards there was a huge commotion around us. Then I think: 'Calm down!' So what if your girl thinks that Jordan Knight is a handsome guy? Put those things in perspective, man! It's no big deal.
Ain't it the prize you have to pay for the fame?
That I don't mind. I'm willing to pay the prize. I don't mind if fans are in front of my door for an autograph. They can also sing and scream the entire time. I don't object to that in any way.
Would you want your fans to get to know you better than they have untill now?
For starters; I dont blame the fans for getting to know us the way they have untill now. From my stage-act they know that I'm the fun guy of the group, wild and loose. But on the other hand sensitive. It's hard to say how well the fans know me. It could be that you have the same characteristics as me. That'd be cool for you! (laughs) But I can't say for you how you are. The same goes for the fans and me. They can think they know me, but in the end I'm the only one who knows me. There might have been a hundred people in the audience tonight that look like me from the inside. But I can't estimate that from this distance.
How long do you think that the group can function on this level?
A level is just a level. I mean, if you are succesfull for twenty years, you can't expect to stay on the same level all through that period. A career has its ups and downs and in-betweens. But as long as we can stay ourselves, I'll give the group a long future. We're having lots of fun in working together and working on new songs. So we don't worry that much. It's less important whether the entire time will be accompanied by sell-out concerts and millions of records. Of course the appreciation is important, but not in the first place. What's more important, is self-appreciation. Believing in that what you are doing and giving everything you can to become a better musician.
Joe once said: "We don't think in terms of selling a lot of records, we think in terms of feelings." What's true in this statement?
A lot. 'Games' is a perfect example of a sensitive song. That song was loaded with feelings. Joe means that Maurice Starr thinks a lot more in terms of having succes and that's how it's supposed to be, that's his job. For example, Jordan can put a lot of feelings in a song. Just listen to 'I'll Be Lovin' You Forever'. That song was written by Maurice Starr, but the way that Jordan sings that song..... that gives me the chills, man. It's also the way a song is being performed that plays a role in whether the audience likes it or not. Everybody can hear whether you are serious or not. And Jordan is serious. People should find something they can relate to in a song. 'Games' was written by us and the success of the song didn't come in first place. We wanted to state a message, and if you do that right you'll have more of a chance of scoring a hit than by thinking about what the market wants to hear.
You've also written a few songs for Tommy Page together with Jordan. Can you put your feelings in those songs?
One song (Turn on the Radio) was meant to be purely rhythmical, that didn't have any further message. But the ballad that Jordan wrote (I'll Be your Everything) came straight out of the heart. Jordan was still having a relationship during that time and that contributes a lot to the sensitive meaning of a song. Tommy Page went wild about the song immediately and wanted it on his album, whatever it took.
Those numbers had a lot of NKOTB-style in them.
Partially yes. Somehow that seems normal. I myself am now busy producing my brother's album and there too you will find a certain NKOTB-style. Unconsciencely you're being influenced by the people you work with. You try to keep your own style, but before you know it, you're using other influences.
Can you picture the group without Jon, Jordan, Danny, Joe or yourself?
.......(long silence) ......Yes and no. Yes, because the departure of one of us would be hard on the rest. But we all feel strong enough to fill that gap. So artistically it should work. Whoever leaves, there will still be enough talent left to continue. And maybe the group as well as the one who's leaving would discover new dimensions and maybe even growing more in artistic ways than he has untill now. But I know that it's no use speculating on that, because for the way things are going, I see us together for quite some time. It's an experience for life to hang out with these four guys and I think that the other four are feeling the same way.
Dutch article written by Bruno de Vos
English translation by Barbara van Feggelen