The Backstreet Boys aim to last like Madonna
- On October 26 2007, the Backstreet Boys released Unbreakable, their new album.
- The American boy band now only has four members left, since Kevin Richardson left the band in June 2006.
- The four remaining members insist in an interview that they are still happy together. the.point.is. news agency met with Howie Dorough and Nick Carter in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles. Last June, the Backstreet Boys (Photo Ray Kay/Jive Records) postponed the release of their new album to officially give a new direction to it. What happened?
Howie Dorough: We were in New York in May. We were going there to pick our single. We had a song in mind. Our company had a different song in mind. We were going to do two different singles, one for the States, one for the rest of the world. We all kind of sat back and thought it did not make much sense to release two different singles and two different videos. So we decided to give ourselves a little bit more time to try to find a new record for the first single and we luckily found Inconsolable. It is probably the best thing we could have done.
Do you feel the Backstreet Boys are still going to be the same without Kevin Richardson?
Howie: The group definitely has a different dynamic to it. Kevin brought in the “older brother”, more serious kind of aspect to the band. With him not being a part of the group now and with Nick being young and able to act up a little bit, the band might have a little bit more of youthfulness to it. Vocally, I don’t think people are going to notice that much of a difference. Kevin used to do the low harmonies and AJ used some of those with him.
There was a feeling at some point that the Backstreet Boys might split when Kevin Richardson decided to leave.
Howie: There were even more rumors before Never Gone, our previous record. We took 2 1/2 years to release that album. At that time, I might have thought it was the beginning of the end with each of us pursuing solo careers. But two years later, we started working on Never Gone. Now, even with Kevin deciding to take a leave of absence right now, the four of are still very happy and tight together. Maybe more so now than ever. It gives me the vision that we can hopefully be around for many years. The door is always going to be open for Kevin as well if he decides to come back.
You said that Kevin Richardson took a leave of absence. Could he basically come back?
Howie: We are not sure. When Kevin told us he would leave, he said that his heart was not into it right now. He wanted to do different things in his life. One is to start a family with his wife and he is now a proud father. He wanted to do some acting on the side and produce songs. He gave us his blessing to keep on going as well as we gave him our blessing to do what he wanted to do.
You mentioned that you want the Backstreet Boys to last for a long time. Where do you picture yourself as a group in 10 years from now?
Howie: I hope we can model ourselves after the Eagles and achieve the same things. Groups like the Rolling Stones are class acts and have been around for years. Hopefully, we can do the same. We are all working on solo records. The goal is that our individual projects do not affect the Backstreet Boys.
But how would you market yourself in 10 years? You are still very much considered as a boy band for teenagers.
Howie: Some of our early fans are much older now. They are in their early thirties and might have kids. Groups like the Beach Boys started one day as a young group and they have been able to grow to where they are right now. Since they gave us the title of boys band, we still have this image as a young group. Beach Boys, Petshop Boys, Beastie Boys all kept their names.
But the Beastie Boys were never a boy band per say whereas you were in teen magazines.
Howie: Nick was 12 when we started and we had this youthful appeal.
(Nick Carter walks in).
The age range within our group explained why we had such a young audience. 10 years from now, Nick will be in his late thirties, I will be in my mid-forties. We will not be attracting the kids any more.
Do you think your early fans will buy the new record?
Nick Carter: I guess we will have to see. It is one of those things we can never predict. From what we have seen, we are still selling out arenas overseas, those fans are still there.
So are we talking of evolution?
Howie: As an artist, you want to have staying power like Madonna or Prince. We are not going to go from extreme to the other. We are not going to stop dancing for example. We will hopefully make good, easy-listening music.
What about writing your own songs?
Nick: One day we will get to that. Individually, we write all our stuff but when it comes to the Backstreet Boys, we have a common idea of how we want to do the songs. We are all lead singers. We make sure we all put songs we can relate to on the album.
Howie: We write our individual stuff so we can all express ourselves. But each of us comes from a different style and a different background. I do more Latin stuff, AJ does more funk, Nick is more pop rock and Brian is more Christian. With one person writing, it does not always portray what the group does stand for. There are songs we have written as a group. But at the end of the day, we were just lucky to have great songs from other producers. The bar has risen so high that we have to compete with our own selves to make it. We are not going to sacrifice our album just to have the publishing rights and make money with the songwriting.
But the risk is that you get the image of artists, who perform what they are told to perform.
Howie: No, we pick our songs.
Nick: Same way Madonna picked her songs back in the day. We have a team of people around us to help us.
You had a countdown on your website announcing a new beginning. Your new album still very much sound like the stuff you have been doing since the band was created. So apart from the fact that you lost one band member, what is the new beginning for the Backstreet Boys?
Nick: There are a lot of songs on the album that are really different from what we used to do. The new beginning refers to Kevin leaving and us having a different mindset. Maybe we stick to what we do best with a new flavor to the music but the world out there is different. We have to reintroduce ourselves in some ways. It is competitive and exciting.
What do you expect with Inconsolable, your new single?
Howie: Each song has to stand on its own. It is a very strong first song out of the box. I don’t know if it is our strongest song of the album but it is definitely a great representation of where we need to start. Nowadays with the Internet, we are not looking for the sales of the album to be crazy like they were back in the says of Millenium and Black and Blue. Now with iTunes, people can buy only one song or download ringtones. We are not expecting glory from Inconsolable but hopefully it will lead right into the album and make people recognize our sound again.
Nick, why did you take part in a reality TV show?
Nick: It was an exciting experience to be given the opportunity to be in a reality television show, especially under my terms. I brought my family together. My family is very dramatic and has lots of issues. The world saw it and that was fine. But then, when I saw myself on TV, I realized I had issues. I learnt a lot about myself and so did my family. They got a chance to really see it. They were happy to do another season of it but I decided not to.
What did you learn about yourself on TV?
Nick: I did not realize I had so many problems with my mother and father getting a divorce and I should seek therapy for it. I also realized I had weight issues and some health problems I had to deal with.
You realized all that from a reality show?
Nick: Yes. You see yourself on TV and you say: “You are a fat ass. Why are you so crazy?” That’s when I went into therapy.
Jean-Cosme Delaloye / Los Angeles
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