[article] 'Backstreet Boys: Forever young'

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[article] 'Backstreet Boys: Forever young'

by Gianna S. Thu 27 May 2010, 10:36 pm

Backstreet Boys: Forever young

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Joanie Cox

[article] 'Backstreet Boys: Forever young' Citylinkmix

The numbers speak for themselves: The Backstreet Boys
have sold more than 130 million albums, released 24 singles and are now
in the middle of their ninth tour. The pop act’s 2007 album, Unbreakable,
is aptly named, especially when it comes to Brian Littrell.
The 35-year-old singer was born with a heart defect, which has required
him to undergo several surgeries over the years. In 2008, his son
Baylee was diagnosed with atypical Kawasaki disease, which causes an
inflammation of the arteries. And this past October, Littrell had to
cancel several shows and appearances after being diagnosed with swine
flu. Littrell called City Link from his Atlanta home May 14
while recovering from another minor surgery. The resilient crooner with
the slight Southern accent was in good spirits, even breaking into a
pitch-perfect verse of “I Want It That Way.”

What has it been like being on the road again?
[This Is Us, Backstreet's latest album] came
out in October of last year. So the This Is Us tour started in November
of last year over in Europe. We did all of Europe last fall and winter.
Then, we did Southeast Asia, Australia, Japan and now, we’re kicking off
the U.S. leg of the tour. In August, we’ll be in Canada and in
November, we’re talking about South America. It only takes us 12 or 14
months to get around the whole world, but we’re excited to be touring
back home. It’s definitely a nice, rewarding thing to be able to tour in
your home country.

You guys had taken a little hiatus. Was there ever a time you
thought the Backstreet Boys would never tour again?
To be honest with you, there was a time after the Black and Blue tour
had ended where we did take a break. We were all kind of searching for
who we wanted to become — not only as individuals but as a group, as
well. We had been touring for nine or 10 years straight at that time and
really busting our butts and making a name for ourselves. But then,
when you make a name for yourself, you kind of sit back and say, “OK,
now what do we do?” There was a time when we were in a growing-pain type
of environment, where we were going in separate directions as
individuals. But now, I think our differences bring us together instead
of tear us apart. We’re a lot older now. We’ve been together for 17
years and we’re also good friends. We’re loyal to one another and we
care for one another in the fact that we’re all helping each other
continue to be successful. And the fans are attributed to that.

What has been the wildest thing a fan has done to get
backstage?
We were somewhere in Europe, and I was backstage with my security guard
getting ready to go have dinner. And I knew on the schedule we have a
daily outline of the things we have to do for work that day. Press is
typically on it, but I knew that day we didn’t have anything on the
schedule for press. I was headed to dinner with my security guard and
along come these two girls that are walking down the ramp to the back of
the arena. They had these huge press passes on. They were these crazy,
big laminated press passes and another pass with their picture IDs on
it, which were laminated, as well. And they walked right by me and they
kind of stopped. They weren’t speaking English, so I was wondering if
they were gonna stop and talk to me or not. But they walked really
slowly by me and I saw their press badge said “makeup” on it.

Were you expecting a makeup artist?
Sometimes, when we do TV, we try to look as pretty as we possibly can.
We get our dark circles taken out. We are a bunch of guys but we tell
all the secrets. It’s no big deal. So we get a little powder or
something to look presentable on TV. They said they were doing makeup
for press. So I had my security guard start to question them. Well, they
made these passes, got backstage, walked all the way to the dressing
room and nobody stopped them or asked them anything. I ended up signing
autographs for them and taking pictures. It was pretty funny. That’s
kind of going all out.

↓
Your fans have been known to form flash mobs in the streets of
Italy and Peru. What’s the farthest a fan has gone to get your
attention?
There have been people who have broken in and then, they’re sitting in
our dressing room waiting for us. That happened in Germany. There were
these girls wearing really ripped-up jeans sitting on our sofa in the
dressing room. We walked in and they kind of gasped for air screaming,
“Oh, my God, it’s the Backstreet Boys.” Their legs were literally
bleeding. We asked them how they got in there and why they were bleeding
and they said, “Oh, we jumped the fence and broke in.”

You had a No. 1 song on the Christian charts after releasing
your first solo CD, Welcome Home, in 2006. Will you do another
Christian album?
I grew up singing in church as a little boy and I always wanted to do
contemporary Christian music. That’s really what I thought I’d do with
my life. I am in the process of working on my sophomore CD. It’s been
one of the most rewarding things in my life other than being a parent,
because it’s close to my heart. A lot of people don’t know that I had a
vocal scholarship presented to me in the early ’90s to a Bible college
in Cincinnati and I passed up on that to be a Backstreet Boy in 1993.
Little did I know, we’d still be here 17 years later and actually have
made a career out of being a boy band. But I knew when I got the chance,
I’d step out on my own two feet and do some contemporary Christian
music because that was always where I thought my path was to go.

So are you psyched about embarking on your first Backstreet
Boys Cruise?
Yes, that’s in December of this year. We’ve been trying to put together a
cruise probably for five years. It was one of our original ideas that
many managers in the past have taken other groups to do before us. I’ve
never even been on a cruise before. I was joking with fans on Twitter that I’ll probably
be wearing a life jacket the whole time. My wife has never gone on one
either. I’m going to take my wife and my son and some family members and
close friends. We’ll kind of be trapped on the boat. I’m a little
worried about that. I can’t go anywhere. I may have to call a chopper.
Just kidding. It’s going to be fun.

The Kids on the Block Cruise left Miami May 14. Is your band
friends with any of the other boy bands, such as NKOTB or ‘NSYNC?
We’re acquaintances. The only ones I can say we’re really more than
acquaintances with is Joey Fatone from ‘NSYNC. He and I
have hung out several times over the years. He’s just a lovable guy and
there’s not one bad thing you could say about him. He makes everybody
feel like they’re special. Justin [Timberlake] is
pretty much the same way. We’ve hung out. He invited me to his solo show
here in Atlanta before, and I hung out backstage with him. I call him a
kid because he’s younger than I am. He’s extremely talented. I’d love
to still play some golf with him. We haven’t been able to get that on
the schedule. From the New Kids standpoint, I can’t really say that I
know any of those guys. I have exchanged some e-mails with Donnie
[Wahlberg] several times in the past.

Was your band ever in competition with the other boy bands?
There’s enough room for everybody. There was always a big competition
between ‘NSYNC and us that was really kind of created by the press years
ago. Who was bigger? Who was better? Who was gonna sell more? When you
look back to all the groups in the history in the pop world, there’s
always somebody that’s the next best thing and life goes on. Now, it’s Jonas
Brothers and Miley Cyrus and Demi
Lovato. Disney cranks ‘em out left and right.

Are you expecting to see familiar faces in the crowd during
this tour?
To see people’s faces whether you’re 29 or 35 or 40 is still great.
Maybe you’re 18 and your older sister loved us when you were in grade
school, but you didn’t really care then but want to come to a show now.
The longer we stay around, there are more guys that come out to our
shows and say, “Hey, we like the Backstreet Boys now.” When they were 18
and all their girlfriends were jamming to “I Want It That Way,” they
pretended they didn’t like it. What’s great about getting older, and we
all are, is that now it’s cool because they’re married and have kids and
can say, “Yeah, I like that song.”

Backstreet Boys will perform 8 p.m. Saturday, May 29 at
American Airlines Arena Waterfront Theatre, 601 Biscayne Blvd, in Miami.
Tickets cost $32-$82. Call 786-777-1000 or visit Aaarena.com.

Contact Joanie Cox at jcox@citylinkmagazine.com.

MADstreet

[article] 'Backstreet Boys: Forever young'

[article] 'Backstreet Boys: Forever young'

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