(Teen Machine, Date Unknown)
Backstreet Boys are back after an absence that has seen their chart rivals 'N Sync steal their fire as the hottest selling pop group on the planet. It's a tougher climate too with so many newer young, attractive male bands on the charts. Can Backstreet Boys still compete? Will it matter to fans that two of them--Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell--are married men? In this exclusive interview, Teen Machine talked to the Backstreet Boys' Howie Dorough about the past, present and future of the group.
TEEN MACHINE: Let's start with the most obvious question. Kevin and Kristin Willits were married in June. Just a few months later, Brian married actress Leighanne Wallace. How have their marriages affected the group?
TM: Really? But don't their wives want to travel with them more?
TM: How have the group's fans reacted?
TM: That's so cool, and a little surprising!
TM: Are you still hanging out as much with Brian and Kevin?
TM: Now that there are two guys in the band that are married, have you started thinking about settling down?
HOWIE: It hasn't really changed much other than they have rings on their fingers.
HOWIE: No. Actually, I've seen less of Brian's wife now since she's been married. They were both around in the earlier days, so they were out on the road before and nothing has really changed.
HOWIE: We were wondering about that, but it's actually a good response and a lot of fans are congratulating them. There's been written signs saying, "Congratulations!" I'm glad to see that the fans want to see us happy.
HOWIE: It was really a surprise and we thought it might be a big chance that we're taking here, but we've always been honest. We were never the type of group that said, we can't tell the public this or that. Our lives are open books--They would have found out anyway.
HOWIE: Here and there. It just kind of depends on what's going on--if they have their wives out and they want some quality time or if we're just out by ourselves. Brian was never really a party kind of guy anyway. Kevin's starting to calm down a little bit and going out less. He just had corrective knee surgery, because he hurt his tendon, so he's had to slow down a little bit.
HOWIE: No! Actually, I've gone the opposite [laughs]. I'm single. Actually, I always thought I'd get married around 30. Now I keep thinking, "Well, the clock is ticking and I'm 27 now and 30 is around the corner." But I haven't found the right one yet.GIRL TROUBLE!
TM: Isn't it hard to meet girls when you're so famous and wealthy? You don't know whether the girls really like you for you.
HOWIE: Right. That's why i'm really not looking right now. My love is my music and my career, and I don't have that much time right now to find the most perfect one out there. I'm kind of like in the dating scene right now and, when the right one comes along, it'll probably happen when I'm not planning it.
TM: A lot of celebrities tsay it's much easier to date other celebrities. Do you agree?
HOWIE: I do agree to a point. The fact that they understand what you're going through as opposed to someone who has a 9 to 5 job who's always back at home waiting and your life is going so fast. They're constantly missing you because their lives aren't going as fast as ours. Sometimes artists in the business, they know what's going on. They're cool with it, they're doing it themselves and they have their own careers to worry about. But then again, sometimes I think dating an artist can be just as hard because when you do have some time off, they might not have the same time off so you're back at square one again.
TM: Have you ever gone out with a fan?
HOWIE: I've gone out with different people. I don't know if I'd consider them fans. Now we're at a point--I'm not complaining here--but we are at a point that most people can mention at least one [Backstreet Boys] song that they've heard. So now it's very hard. I hate to call people fans and make judgements and say, "Oh, they must be a fanatic." Just because they know me, doens't mean they have to be a fan.
TM: What's the weirdest thing a fan has done to get your attention?
HOWIE: I think some fans came over to my parents' house and brought my mom flowers for Mother's Day. And my mother was going to invite them into the house for dinner! [Laughs]
TM: Who else is in the movie?
HOWIE: Originally, it was going to be Jeff Goldblum. But now I think they changed the lead character. But you know, with movies, they're always shuffling back and forth, and different projects get pushed sooner than others. Since they had to do a recast, it was pushed to the back burner. And they knew with me that my scheduling might interfere with the film. Depending on how far they pushed it back, I might not have been able to do it. Right now everything is taking off again for Backstreet. I"m not really sure when I'm going to be able to do anything. I'll be doing some little spots here and there like on Roswell and will be going to L.A. to talk about some other primetime one hour specials.
TM: Like what?
HOWIE: I took meetings with everyone from Buff the Vampire Slayer to ER. Who knows what will pan out?
TM: Do you visit your website often?
HOWIE: Yes, and we're getting more involved in it. But I also have a personal site that I do because of the Lupus Foundation that I'm involved in. [Editor's note: Check it out at www.howied.com].
TM: Do you think it's harder to break out and do something different musically because you're in a "boy band?"
HOWIE: Yes, because people always want to stereotype you.
TM: That must be pretty frustrating.
HOWIE: Yeah, it is. But, actually, that whole typecasting and label calling--like us being a "boy band"--implies that we're only attractive to young audiences and it's probably bubble-gum pop corny type music. And they never do that to Boyz II Men or Shai or Jodeci. I'm not saying it's a racial thing. Maybe it's becuase we don't play instruments, but we get a lot more flack. That's the reason why we called the album Black & Blue because we've gone through a lot of those punches--but we're still standing.
TM: I know you don't like the label boy band, but you're responsible for many boy bands out there that are imitating Backstreet Boys. How do you feel about that?
HOWIE: That's very flattering--to a point. I mean, it's good to see that we were able to break down the walls and create new boundaries for pop music. At the same time, it's a little frustrating--but that just happens. Every time something is successful, every record company is going to have their own version of it.
TM: Does the teen idol thing et a bit old?
HOWIE: We say that our music is for everybody. We're fortunate that the teen audience is a big audience of ours, but I definiately think our music crosses over to all ages now. We won an Adult Contemporary Award from Billboard two years ago and there's MTV and having an American Music Award. I think it's definiately crossed the bridge to all ages now. Guys and girls as well. This album is a natural progression for us. We've been writing, we did some producing.
TM: Is there any particular theme to the album?
HOWIE: Actually, it's kind of weird. When you listen to it, it doesn't have one song that sounds like another one. Every song has its own individual character to it. There's a little bit of R&B. There's pop tracks. We've also worked with Max Martin, a Swedish songwriter and producer [who also did Britney Spears and 'N Sync]. And we have some across the board adult contemporary stuff.
TM: Is there any misconception about you or the band that you'd like to clear up?
HOWIE: I think that we're not a boy band, we're a vocal harmony group. We emphasize more on the vocals and not so much about the looks and the prettiness of it all.
TM: What's next for you?
HOWIE: We'll be starting a world tour in January in America!