Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

62 EW.COM FEBRUARY 24/MARCH 3, 2017

to do more. I was 19 years old. I just wanted

to go back home and play basketball

with my friends. So Brian and I formed

an alliance.

KEVIN We’d say, “Guys, we have this

amazing opportunity to perform with

Aretha Franklin!” And they’d be like, “Nah,

we’re not doing it.”

NICK Maybe that was the rebellious teen-

age side of me, but at the same time, we

were tired.

BRIAN The managers would say, “If you

don’t say yes to this, I’m going to get

*NSYNC to do it.”

KEVINWe touredMillennium for a little bit,

not as much as we could; then we went right

back and did another album [2000’sBlack &

Blue]. Emotionally and spiritually we weren’t

into it, which led to AJ going to rehab.

AJ At 22, I fell in love with Jack Daniel’s. One

day, we were in Boston and were supposed

to throw the pitch out at a baseball game. I

was like, “I’m not going to do it.” Kevin

started blowing up my phone. The hotel-

room door was bolted with a little chain,

and he burst right through that. We sat in

Kevin’s room with our management and

decided to cancel the tour. They sent me off

to rehab, and the next day these guys went

toTRL and made the announcement. To

this day, I still can’t watch that video. I’m sure

my daughter at some point will Google it.

The group’s next album, 2005’sNever Gone,

introduced a mature rock-inspired sound.

Yet the band struggled to adapt to a dramati-

cally changed music industry.

AJThe album didn’t come out until 2005,

and that’s what started the “Oh, you guys are

back together?” They thought we broke up!

The first half of that [period] was legitimate

time off. Then Nick does his solo thing.

*NSYNC song you wish you

had recorded:

AJ“(God Must Have Spent)

A Little More Time on You.” That

song’s dope.

NICK“Tearin’ Up My Heart.” We

actually turned it down because we

didn’t have time to record it or

something. We should have taken it.

Last thing you fought about:

[The guys simultaneously burst

into laughter.]

KEVIN Just trying to get steps

together for choreography.

AJWe always go to Google. “Wait,

I’m going to prove it, it’s on You-

Tube! It was right foot first!”

Girl group you’d most like to

join forces with:

IN UNISON The Spice Girls.

NICK We keep telling the girls we

want to tour with them.

What you miss most about

the ’90s:

HOWIE There was no paparazzi.

NICK Not having a cell phone.

Member whose kids are most

likely to follow in their footsteps:

AJBrian’s kid just did Broadway.

BRIANHe’s at an audition right now!

Nonmusical hobby you

all share:

BRIANKevin and I like construction.

KEVIN We love to bond over

design and HGTV.

Weirdest hotel alias:

NICK I was Max E. Pad.

HOWIE On our last tour I ran out

of time to pick names, so our

tour manager picked out Billie

Jean King for me.

Most memorable fan interaction:

NICK Our website was hacked

when we arrived in Chile. They put

the Chilean flag on it and it said,

“Welcome to Chile, Backstreet

Boys!” I don’t know how they did it.

Who takes the longest to get ready?

AJKevin.

HOWIE He always takes a shower.

KEVIN I’ve got to steam out before

every show!

Something that happened in

Vegas that won’t stay in Vegas:

AJI was once mistaken for a

featherweight Mexican boxer at

a blackjack table. The guy was

like, “I saw your fight last night,

you did a great job!” I was like,

“Uh, thanks!”

NICKAt that point we had enough power.

We had the meeting with [Jive president]

Barry Weiss. We were like, “We want to go

back to the original.”

KEVIN WhenMillennium took off, we

went from being recognized occasionally

to not being able to go anywhere.

AJ I’ll never forget the day that it came out.

We didTRL and shut down Times Square.

KEVIN At the same time, some of us

started to retreat inward. We didn’t spend

as much time together.

NICK There was a lot of friction inside

the group. The guys would always want

From their weirdest hotel aliases to their most memorable fan encounters,

the Boys answer EW’s burning questions

WITH THE BACKSTREET BOYS

QU I CK AND

D I RTY

MCLEAN: JEFFREY MAYER/WIREIMAGE; CARTER, RICHARDSON: MICHAEL TRAN/WIREIMAGE; HOWIE D; JEFF

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