Yes, I've been doing like three days of recordign with Full Force [Lisa Lisa, Samantha Fox, Allure] and I was doing some recording yesterday with my sister, Polly Anna... We're working on a demo for her to shop around to different labels...
What kind of music is she doing?
Like a cross between Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan - a little bit of Spanish and English... She's the one who got me in the business. She helped me and inspired me and now I'm getting a chance to help her.
Everyone loves BsB's last tour, Howie - describe the current show you're doing. Is it something you've done overseas?
It's really no comparision to the last show. This is like our big show. This is the one we took all over Europe and Canada during our most recent tour. We pop up from the back of the stage from these lifts. There's like firworks and stuff like that and then we do our hits... We also break it down and feature each of us as soloists. That's where I come out and introduce the audience to the whole show, because it's after our power intro which has like three up-tempos, really strong dancing and everything.
Are these solo songs brand new?
These are going to be brand new solos. Nick's song is "Heaven In Your Eyes," he's still doing that, well, a little piece of it, and then he goes into "Party." I know it was on the European album in the past. This show is actually going to have a combination of some of the European songs which America has never seen yet... I'm doing the song that I just recorded here a few days ago called, "My Heart Stays With You." It was written and produced by Full Force... I did it over there on the European tour... Kevin did a song called "Nobody But You," which they heard all over Europe... all the rest of us are doing solos off the up-and-coming album. Brian does a song called "That's What She Said," which is actually one of the first solos written by one of us - Brian - that made it onto the last European album... AJ's doing a song called "If you Lay Down," which is actually the B-side to "Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)." By the way, we're also going to be playing "Quit Playing Games" on instruments.
What are you goin to be playing?
I play electric guitar, AJ plays the bass guitar; Brian plays the bongos/perfussion, Nick is on the drums and KEvin is on keyboards. It's a little spoof that we do. The band messes up and we say, 'Hey!' and then all of a sudden we take over... it's a good way to introduce the band.
How about the dancing?
There's dancing throughout the whole thing. On "As Long As You Love Me," we do a chair routine which you can see a little bit in the video. And also "All I Have to Give," we do a little bit of the hat routine which you also see in the video.
These solos that you'll be doing - are they foretelling a time when each of you will do a solo album?
Well, right now we're going strong with BsB... nothing like that has been discussed totally yet...
You did a Disney Grad Night and some other gigs without Brian. What was that like?
It was kind of weird actually. The surgery was also on that day, May 8. The four of us also did the World Music Awards before that. We did an a cappella number and accepted an award on behalf of Brian, like a tribute to him.
He sings a lot of the leads...
Yes, he does. We had to divide them amongst ourselves... we'd give me and Kevin a little bit more here and there, since we don't do as many of the leads as the other guys.
Does it feel comfortable doing leads?
At first it was a little awkward, because we're used to doing background and dancing and stuff like that. We all had to work as a team and compromise and decide who was going to take leads, who was going to fill int he space. So the picture looked a little bit different... But we always say 'show must go on' and we've always told everybody that we're five singers here... I did "Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)" and the band was like, 'Wow, Howie! You did a really good job! You sounded really good.' I'm not exactly Brian up there, but at least the BsB were still going on... It's gonna be ood, my first solo is coming out on this next album. I did a little part on "All I Have To Give."
How do you make being on the road more comfortable?
I just got a lap top computer. I've started up my own business back home with my family. I'm dabbling in real estate and helping out my sister. I've gotten all my family to be officers within [my] company... I've been keeping touch... and the stuff with the business is keeping me busy during my free time...
Do you hang out with each other in between shows too?
We do. A lot of times afterwards, when we come back to the hotels, we're just like wired and ready to go. It's hard to just wind down and go to bed. Me and AJ sometimes Kevin, we'll call each other and say, 'Hey, you want to go to a club or something like that?' We like oging out and having normal social lives, like going and dancing.
Can you figure out which people want to know you for you and which want to know you because you're in BsB?
I have a big heart and I talk to anybody and everbody. Sometimes it takes me a while to get to know somebody. Like when I come home, I have a couple of friends who'll call me up and ask, 'Hey, what's going on?' Then they'll ask for tickets to the show. I start to wonder if they just want to see me at the show or...? But then I realize that I'm only home when we do show, so that's about the only time they can see me anyway. So it gets difficult sometimes to weed out who will still be around. I'm lucky though - I have a couple of real true best friends...
Do Backstreet Boys have any rituals before a show?
Actually we do. We try to get warmed up; we change in the same dressing room and kind of like mentally go over the show... We're always together... After wards we all come out, along with all of our crew, our managers, our security, whoever's on tour with us, say a group prayer to just protect us being out there on stage and let us have a good show. Also, we give thanks for all the talent he's been giving us.
What would peole be surprised to know about you as a group?
That we play practical jokes on our band every last night of the tour on stage. They do it to us also. The last show of the tour is called "The Crazy Night." It's like this free-for-all kind of night. Se we always warn the audience that the show is not exactly like the normal show. Like when we come out to sing, instead of microphones, they'll put carrots in there.
What have you guys done to the band?
One tie AJ put Cheerios in the drummers hat and when he went to put it on, all of a sudden they're pouring down his head...
Howie, on the group's new single... when you recorded "I'll Never Break You're Heart" in Spanish, was it down phonetically?
Yes, it was done phonetically... When we get together in November, I'm going to do my solo song in Spanish also. It's so crazy in Spain. One time we went over tehre to do a little performance in the middle of the city in front of a store, we ended up canceling the show. The mayor asked us to cancel it, because so many people showed up!
We hear you're going to South America?
Yeah, I take off for South America really soon to do some promotion [before the tour]... Then after South America, I'm going to do some more writing with Gary Baker... in Huntsville, Alabama I think.
What about the other guys?
They're doing writing trips also. AJ's coming up to New York in a week or so from now. He's going to be working with a group and a couple of producers called Night And Day. Kevin's going to be working with Denniz Pop and Max Martin/b>, who did our first three hit singles. Nicky's going to be doing a little bit of writing and some vacationing back home, because he hasn't really seen his family so much; and at the same time he's helping his brother. Brian is going to be recuperating and probably will be doing some writing towards the end with somebody; I'm not really sure who yet. Of course, he'll probably spend most of his time answering all the phone calls and letters he's getting. Then we're out on tour - and we sure hope all our fans come out to see us!
- Tiger Beat
October 1998