Source: MTV.com
Backstreet's back all right, but what does it mean? A lot of people must have thought the group ? and perhaps the whole boy-band era it represented - was gone for good. But return the Boys have, a little older, a little more pop-rock in their sound, five years after the release of their last record. MTV News' John Norris finds out where the Boys have been, what they've been up to and what they have to say about Paris Hilton, Tommy Lee, AJ's relapse and Oprah Winfrey.
John Norris: Did you guys have your doubts about whether this reunion was actually going to happen one day? Or were you always pretty sure
of it?
Kevin Richardson: We were sick of looking at each other, sick of hearing each other. I mean, we were just going nonstop there for about eight
years. We were burned out.
Norris: So what changed that?
Richardson: Having time to reflect on everything that had happened to us since 1995. Some time to focus on ourselves, spend time with our
families, some time for AJ [McLean] to work on his recovery, some time for Nick [Carter] to work on a little solo project. Brian [Littrell's]
a father now. Just time to appreciate everything we went through and reflect, and get grounded again and recharge our batteries.
AJ McLean: When we finished the Black & Blue tour, there was a dark cloud over the whole tour. There was a lot of negative energy, not just
coming from my situation. There was 9/11. A couple of us had lost members of our families. There was just a whole lot of bad juju going
on. We had originally said, "We'll take a year off and then we'll get back in the studio." Then it became two years, then three. But the
whole catalyst for this was when I went on "Oprah." Little did I know all four of them were going to show up. We all lost it, and that was
the moment we all decided, "Let's go do this again."
Norris: A lot of people were surprised to hear a power ballad as the lead single from Never Gone.
Howie Dorough: We had wanted to get back with [songwriter/producer] Max Martin, but there was a backlash of that Swedish, synth Euro
sound, that came from us, 'NSYNC [and] Britney, so we felt we had to get away from that. Max didn't know how to work with us directly to
change our sound, evolve it into something better, and he stumbled upon it with this song intended for the "Spider-Man 2" soundtrack,
Climbing the Walls. Once we put our voices on it, the album started growing into something more organic, more stripped-down, less
harmonies, more instrumentation. The last song we recorded was Incomplete. It leaked, and we said, "This is a good thing, let's go with it."
McLean: It shows growth, it shows maturity. It's still us. It's not too over the top. It's not over your head. It's not too complex. It's just us growing
up. We can go onstage and not worry about all the added BS that comes with all this stuff. And this is my first time being on tour with the
guys sober. When I got out of rehab, I was newly sober, I wasn't going to meetings then. Sure enough, a year later, I relapsed. I didn't get
married. Everything in my life fell apart...again.
Norris: How bad was it?
McLean: It was bad enough. I dove into a bunch of pills, smoked weed. I told my sponsor, "I smoked weed last night, but I didn't inhale." But as
my fiancee at the time said, "But he was on so many pills, he doesn't remember." You can't BS a BS-er. None of these guys believed a
word I said. And now I've got their respect and their trust; our relationship is better than before I started drinking and doing drugs. My life
is the best it's ever been, and it's only going to get better.
Norris: You guys are no strangers, some of you more than others, to the tabloid world ...
Nick Carter: I'll tell you what, I've had a lot of scrutiny. [Everyone laughs.] Don't believe everything you hear, number one. Number two, if we
let things like that get underneath our skin, we would not be able to do our job properly. I learned the hard way. I guess I've come from a
family that's had some success, so you could look at it like, "It's good they're still talking." At the same time, talk about something that's
more positive. Not everybody's perfect.
Richardson: When all the stuff hit the fan with one of his exes, I was like, "Take the high road. Don't fall into the trap."
Carter: Obviously, you could fight back with fire, but I learn from them, they're my bigger brothers, even as much as I was distraught and a little
bitter from everything that had happened because I was so in love with [Paris Hilton]. I was trying to be the best I could for her, and in
some ways it wasn't good enough. When I look back at it, I'm happy where I am now. I can focus more, and I can contribute more than I
ever did to this group. I used to be so wrapped up in relationships and girls and didn't really give 100 percent to music. Don't get me wrong,
I still like women very much. I just pick and choose a lot better.
Norris: Now these are party credentials: Tommy Lee, who wrote songs with you that'll appear on his next album, told one of our writers that
Nick Carter is one of the biggest party guys he knows.
Carter: I'll tell you, me and Tommy have had some fun together. He's a really cool guy. He takes care of his family, he's very responsible, he's
someone to look up to. He parties hard...
Brian Littrell: Not as hard as you!
Carter: I've partied hard a little bit. I'm toning it down for a while now, just because, you know, whatever. I played Tommy all the music we've
done, he said, "Yo dude, that's great, man." You can't look at it like it's hard rock. It's more like U2 or like Journey - big vocals, big
harmonies. I'm really, really happy with the direction. Are they going to call us "men bands" now?
Richardson: The word "boy band" used to offend me. Now I don't care, I'm over it. Call us a boy band. Call us...just call us!
Source: MTV.com
NEW YORK: Say what you will about the Backstreet Boys, but one thing is undeniable - they know how to work a room full of shrieking girls better than anyone in the business, a talent they tapped into on Tuesday night at the Canal Room.
On the day its first album in five years, Never Gone, hit stores, the group was feted by Teen People magazine at the downtown club, where the guys posed for photos with fans, signed autographs, belted out a few impromptu notes and shared the stories behind some of their favorite tracks on the new LP.
Seated side by side on the stage, the Backstreet Boys, looking very un-BSB in stylistically divergent outfits - Kevin Richardson wore a Beatles Revolver tee and Brian Littrell sported a suit jacket - listened and sang along to their favorite cuts off the new album, like Just Want You to Know, which Nick Carter explained was the last track they recorded for "Never Gone".
The room, full of fans who might have needed parental accompaniment to some of BSB's earlier concerts, already knew every word to each track on the album, and screamed along. Though they were slightly older than the prepubescent swarms the group catered to in its heyday, the crowd was feeling the new sound, even if the girls didn't know the artists who helped Backstreet achieve it.
"We recorded this song with the drummer from Prince's New Power Generation," said Kevin of the track Crawling Back to You, a fact that was initially greeted with confused silence.
"It's a classic 'I screwed up and I want you back' song," Richardson said of the track, as Littrell found the microphone sitting idle in his hand irresistible, and began singing along with the music. Taking that as his cue, AJ McLean hopped off his stool and took a few flying leaps across the stage.
While they only briefly addressed the issues behind their five-year absence, they broached the topic subtly, such as when they discussed Weird World, written by Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik.
"The song is saying, 'Don't let all this negativity wear you down,' " Richardson said.
"That's why we're back - to try to bring back a positive vibe," Carter added.
The Boys showed a more whimsical side on the slightly up-tempo Poster Girl, and catered to fans during Climbing the Walls, a track originally intended for the "Spider-Man 2" soundtrack, by signing autographs for the duration of that song, as well as the current single, Incomplete.
While the event itself was short, McLean promised the crowd that the group was serious about its return to music and its fans, and that he has no plans to return to his old habits that kept him off the Backstreet Boys' last tour and contributed to the group's separation.
"It's because of you we're doing this again," he said. "So we're going to keep doing this. And I promise to see you all out on tour."
Source: CHUM Radio
LIVE Interview With Roger, Rick & Marilyn Monday, June 20th @ 8:00 a.m
TORONTO, June 15 /CNW/ - 104.5 CHUM FM welcomes Backstreet Boys for a live one-hour interview with Roger, Rick & Marilyn on Monday, June 20th from 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Kevin, Howie and Brian will join Roger, Rick and Marilyn in the backstreet of CHUM FM to talk about their new CD, Never Gone, before a live audience. To gain entry to this exclusive event, listeners can come down the morning-of to the lot behind the CHUM FM building at 1331 Yonge Street. Admittance is on a first-come-first-serve basis until the lot is full.
Since releasing their first self-titled album in 1997, the Backstreet Boys have dominated the music charts globally. With over 51 million albums sold worldwide they are recognized as one of the biggest pop groups in music history.
After taking time off for personal growth, the multi-platinum group is at it again. Never Gone, is the band's first album of new material since 2000. The comeback single Incomplete is going strong after 11 weeks on the CHUM FM Top 30, once again proving that the Backstreet Boys are here to stay.
Roger, Rick & Marilyn is heard weekdays from 5:30am - 9:00am on 104.5 CHUM FM.
With over a million weekly listeners, CHUM FM (www.chumfm.com) is Canada's most listened to radio station, reaching a target audience of adults 25-54, with a narrow target audience of females 25-44. The radio station plays a contemporary blend of today's best music from artists as diverse as Madonna, Coldplay, U2, and Janet Jackson. CHUM FM delivers a very unique music format for hip urban adults in 45-minute commercial free sweeps every hour of the workday. CHUM FM is a division of CHUM Limited.
Source: Yahoo! Entertainment
Backstreet Boys Re-Enter Pop Landscape Tue Jun 14, 4:22 PM ET
If nothing else, the Backstreet Boys are realistic. Reunited after four years, they don't have any illusions that they'll be able to dominate the pop scene as they did when boy bands ruled the world and they were the kings.
"We know that we're gonna have to pay our dues again and we know that we're going to have to start from scratch because everything has changed," said A.J. McLean, the heavily tattooed, shades-wearing member of the group. "We're not looking to be the group that we were in '99 and 2000."
Just a few years ago, the Backstreet Boys burst out of Orlando, Fla. to become a pop phenomenon. Their three albums sold a total of more than 35 million copies and ushered in a new teen music craze, buoyed by their soulful harmonies, synchronized dance steps, clean-cut good looks and teen-fanzine charm.
But then, "Behind The Music"-style troubles plagued the quintet McLean's substance abuse problems led him to rehab, and infighting, management changes and other problems beset the group. Meanwhile, hip-hop supplanted teen pop from atop the charts, and boy bands became as uncool as New Kids on the Block.
So in 2001, the disillusioned fivesome went their separate ways.
"We lost perspective pretty much," said Kevin Richardson, the eldest of the "boys" at 33. "If we hadn't walked away from the business and each other, we might have self-destructed because we needed some time away from each other."
Now, fully recharged, the Backstreet Boys have returned this week to release "Never Gone," their first full studio album since the 8 million-selling "Black & Blue" in 2000. While they're not expecting an automatic ride to the top of the charts, they think they still have a shot at reaching the No. 1 spot with a more adult, edgier sound that tilts more toward rock than pop.
"We feel as strongly about this record as we did when `Millennium' came out," Brian Littrell, 30, said of their blockbuster 1999 album that went on to sell more than 13 million copies.
"We know where we're at, and we know where we fit," said Nick Carter, the youngest of the group at 25. "And I love the fact that we're underdogs again."
And acting like underdogs, the Backstreet Boys have left nothing to chance in mounting a comeback. Earlier this year, the group tested the waters for their new material by embarking on a club tour a marked departure for a group that on their last tour played stadium dates.
They've also visited radio stations to push their new record. So far, the formula has worked their first single, Incomplete, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, though it has slipped in recent weeks.
"I think it's very smart. They really put their egos aside," disc jockey Paul "Cubby" Bryant of WHTZ-FM (Z-100) in New York said of the strategy. "They didn't come in here like `Hey, we're back, we're the Backstreet Boys.' It might have been tough for them to do that, but I think it was smart for them to break in small."
"It was just a lot of fun. The energy in the small venues is different than in an arena or a stadium," said Richardson. "It was like the old days, when we were just starting out."
That kind of fun had eluded the group in their heyday when a succession of No. 1 hits and albums made them more of a commodity than a musical group. They say their handlers at the time put too much focus on trying to cash in on their immediate success rather than formulating a long-term career plan. So they churned out albums even when they thought they needed time off.
At the same time, 'N Sync was overtaking them in the sales, and McLean was falling deeper and deeper into drugs and alcohol.
"When it's no fun anymore, that's the big thing. I think across the board, none of us were having fun," Littrell said.
The fun stopped completely when McLean's entry into rehab in 2001 forced the band to postpone their "Black & Blue" tour. Soon after that, the band decided it was time to take a longer break to reassess their future.
"We had been touring for eight years straight, releasing albums," recalled Carter. "We were burned out, really burned."
So the Backstreet Boys scattered, and pursued their individual goals for the first time in years. Carter released a solo album that fared poorly; Littrell and his wife had a baby; Richardson appeared on Broadway in "Chicago"; McLean concentrated on his sobriety, while Howie Dorough focused on producing and writing songs for other acts.
If it wasn't for Oprah Winfrey, the band might not have gotten back together. But on a show focusing on McLean's battles with substance abuse, she coaxed the remaining Backstreet Boys to surprise him on air. After the emotional reunion, the group holed up in a hotel room and started talking about a comeback.
"There was probably even some doubt among us when we first started talking about it," said Dorough. "But I think no matter what we did individually...we all realized our strength was among the five us together."
The group spent more than a year recording their latest album, and reunited with old manager and producer Max Martin, who was responsible for many of their early hits. The result, they say, is their best album in years.
"You had that feeling like you walked out the studio like, `This song is good, and we hadn't had that feeling in a long time," Littrell said.
Far from cocky, the group knows that there is no guarantee of another blockbuster.
"To be honest, of course, we'd love to have the success that we had before. Who wouldn't want to have that?" Dorough, 31, said. "But this time around, we've realized that the music scene has changed. We had to go into it with an open mind, realizing that it's not going to possibly be that way.
"If it does come again, God bless it; but if not, we all had to be in a good place to be able to say that we could continue going forward and accept the way it is."
Source: Reuters/Billboard
By Geoff Mayfield LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - New albums by Backstreet Boys and Foo Fighters are both on track to start above 250,000 copies, with the former having a genuine shot to debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 when sales data are issued Wednesday.
Based on first-day sales Tuesday cited by retail chains, chart pundits figure Backstreet's "Never Gone" (Jive/Zomba Label Group) could hit 300,000 copies in the week ended June 19.
The group's chances of landing its third No. 1 album depend on how large a second-week decline Coldplay's chart-topping "X&Y" (Capitol) suffers from its opening stand of 737,000. Of the last six albums to bow at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, the largest second-week dip was 67% for Nine Inch Nails' "With Teeth" (Nothing/Interscope), while the smallest was 42% for Rob Thomas' "...Something To Be" (Melisma/Atlantic).
Foo Fighters' "In Your Honor" (Roswell/RCA) should open in the neighborhood of 260,000-280,000, says a source close to the album. The band's largest prior week was 121,000 for fourth album "One By One" the week that it opened at No. 3 in 2002.
Source: Jive Records
Backstreet Boys Never Gone in Stores June 14
Buy Two Tickets Get Two Free Exclusively Through AOLCityGuide.com Starting June 10
Jive Records will be releasing Never Gone, the first studio album from the Backstreet Boys in almost 5 years, on June 14, 2005. Never Gone will also be released as a DualDisc. The DualDisc version will contain the "Incomplete" video, 'Making Of' "Incomplete" video, the entire album in 5.1 Surround Sound and enhanced stereo, bonus photos and a discography. A special exclusive digital version of the album including the "Incomplete" video and a digital booklet will be available for download at iTunes beginning on June 14.
Upcoming television appearances include The Today Show concert series (6/10), The View (6/14), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (6/16) and The CBS Early Show (6/17). VH1 will air "Backstreet Boys: Behind the Music" starting June 13. On-line, a "Sneak Peek" full album listening party of "Never Gone" will be available on participating Clear Channel radio station websites from June 10-12 and on AOLMusic.com from June 13-20. Additionally, Clear Channel Music Group is promoting their upcoming national tour. Upcoming print features include People Magazine, Teen People, USA Today and Associated Press.
Backstreet Boys, who are AOL Music's "Artist of the Month" for June, will kick off their summer tour, which is also presented by AOLMusic.com, on Friday, July 22, with a performance in West Palm Beach, FL. Through an exclusive arrangement with AOL, from June 10-24, fans that purchase a pair of top price tickets at AOLCityGuide.com for the upcoming Backstreet Boys summer tour will be given a free pair of lower price tickets to the same performance, at participating venues. Tickets on AOLCityGuide.com will be available one week before anywhere else and, while general tickets for the tour go on sale June 17-19, the buy two get two free offer will continue to be available for an additional week exclusively on AOLCityGuide.com. For more information on this special promotion and to check out Backstreet Boys' exclusive in-studio performance for AOL Music Sessions go to www.AOLMusic.com.
Never Gone is the 4th studio release from the group since their debut in 1997. To date they have garnered 2 Diamond albums (RIAA certification for 10 million sold), as well as numerous multi-platinum certifications for albums, singles and videos. In total they have sold over 73 million albums worldwide.
Source: BackstreetBoys.com
What:
Just days before the launch of their latest album, "Never Gone" the Backstreet Boys are set to make an appearance at the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life of Jefferson County on Friday, June 10.
Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society's signature fund-raiser in support of our mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem through research, education, advocacy and service.
Who:
The Backstreet Boys - Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson - will arrive at the Relay For Life at approximately 11 p.m., where they are expected to walk the track and raise money for the American Cancer Society by soliciting donations from fans who attend the event.
The Backstreet Boys will participate in Relay For Life as members of the Provectus Pharmaceuticals team in support of Victoria Culpepper, an 11-year-old brain cancer survivor. Richardson has become an advocate for the early prevention and treatment of colon cancer after he lost his father to the disease in 1991.
The Backstreet Boy/Jive Records will be releasing "Never Gone" the group’s first studio album in almost five years, on June 14, 2005. "Never Gone" is the fourth studio release from the group since their debut in 1997. To date they have garnered two Diamond albums (RIAA certification for 10 million sold), as well as numerous multi-platinum certifications for albums, singles and videos. In total they have sold over 73 million albums worldwide.
Where:
JeffersonCountyHigh School, 115 West Dumplin Valley Road, Dandridge, Tenn.
-Direction from Knoxville: Take I-40 East to exit 417. Turn left onto TN-92N and go two miles. Turn left onto WestDumplinValleyRd.JeffersonCountyHigh
School is on your left.
When:
11 p.m., Friday, June 10
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service.
Source: Calenderlive.com
With an album coming out after a five-year hiatus, the Backstreet Boys are reinvented
Lon Lindeland, who oversees music for the Best Buy chain, didn't even have to hear any songs from the Backstreet Boys' upcoming album to decide that there's still interest in the group after a nearly five-year hiatus.
"They came by the office," he says, recounting a visit by the vocal group a few weeks ago to the company's Minneapolis headquarters. "And I can't tell you how many twentysomething girls who work here were going crazy to meet them."
John Ivey, vice president of programming for Los Angeles pop radio powerhouse KIIS-FM (102.7), saw something similar at the station's recent Wango Tango concert at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
"The reception they got was phenomenal," he says. "This was their first big show back together, and the crowd reaction was a tear-the-house-down reaction."
That may not seem like a surprise - after all, with their devoted teen audience these guys were at the top of the pop music world in the late '90s. Their three original albums and one hit collection have sold nearly 30 million copies in the U.S.
But historically music fans in their 20s are often embarrassed by their adolescent pop infatuations. That's one big reason teen-pop stars usually don't last long, and a big reason why the Backstreet Boys' return with a new album (due out June 14) isn't a guaranteed success.
It's been five years since Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson released their last album, and four years since their last full tour. How have things changed?
"It's the same five guys singing, so it has the Backstreet sound," Littrell says. "But we're a little older and we've grown."
"Never Gone," the new album, edges away from teen-pop toward a young-adult pop-rock recalling Maroon5 and Rob Thomas. The Boys actually started making a more rhythm-oriented album in mid-2003, a la 'N Sync and Britney Spears, but the style didn't feel right to them.
Reconnecting with writer-producer Max Martin, who helped shape their original sound, they instead fashioned an approach emphasizing melody and harmony, adding more guitar. They also worked with several producers associated with adult fare, including John Shanks (Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch), John Fields (Switchfoot) and Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik. The current hit single, "Incomplete," hints at the new direction while also echoing earlier Backstreet ballads.
The music, Littrell says, reflects real-life changes.
"My wife and I are proud parents of a 2 1/2-year-old boy," says Littrell, at 30 one of three Backstreet Boys now at or past that age. "Nick did a solo project and has led a life in the public eye with young ladies he's dated and whatnot. But he's learned a lot from being a solo artist, growing up even more.
"A.J. was working on his sobriety - two years and seven months now sober, and we're all thankful for that. Kevin played the role of Billy Flynn in 'Chicago' on Broadway. Howie - we call him T.J., for Trump Jr. - because as well as working on a Spanish-English solo record, he's been doing a lot of real estate development."
Beyond the music, the hiatus was important to the members personally, according to Littrell: "Got a chance to breathe, spread our wings as individuals, and the time was needed. We've all become stronger people."
In returning, they wanted to avoid contrivances such as New Kids on the Block's comeback a decade ago with a calculatedly updated sound and a shortened name, NKOTB, to downplay the "Kids" aspect.
"All we care about is making good music, and the whole baggage will still be there," says Carter, the youngest member at 25. "We're not trying to break away from it, not trying to say we're all grown up. People were saying we should change the name to the Backstreet Men or something. The Beach Boys never changed their name. We're not going to change."
That's smart, say music retailers and radio programmers surveyed by The Times.
"It doesn't seem like it's forced," says Fred Fox, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for Ohio-based Trans World Entertainment, which operates the Wherehouse and other music store chains. "It seems like a natural progression of a bunch of talented people."
How does it fit with the natural progression of the fans and pop culture in general?
"This is not a bad place for them to be," says Geoff Mayfield, a senior analyst for Billboard magazine. "The music they did as teen stars was not typical bubblegum. They had those great harmonies, and that's why even then they had the added advantage of appealing to adults. A key point is managed expectations.
That fits the strategy of Jive Records, which is releasing the Boys' recordings.
"There's an underserved pop audience around the world; 'American Idol' shows that," says Barry Weiss, president and chief executive of Jive's parent, the Zomba Label Group. "If we connect with 'Incomplete,' we could have many more singles to go. We could work on a 12-month period, revive the career and entrench them. It's really that simple."
And the Boys' attitude?
"I think our expectations are a whole lot of nothing right now," says Littrell, who is also working on a Christian-oriented solo album. "We made this record for ourselves and for our fans. If by chance it takes the world by storm again and people fall in love with the Backstreet Boys, that's a blessing