Question: Do you guys get competitive with each other?
Brian: We have our little pow-wows and our ins and outs, but we all have the same goals and we have our plan in progress-a new album, the whole thing all over again.
Q: Who has the shortest temper?
Howie: Probably Nick. Just because he's the youngest ojf the group and everybody's always kind of picking on him. Now he's getting bigger...
Q:Nick, did the age difference between you and the guys ever bother you?
Nick: When we first started I was like 13, so there was a big difference between me and the next youngest, AJ, who was 16. But I've learned a lot over the years-how to communicate, how to be respectful and how not to be a pest, which I was when I was younger.
Q:What would you do?
Nick:Anything. I liked to get a laugh when I was younger. I was a big prankster.
Q: How would you describe yourself now?
Nick: I'm a very quiet person. I consider myself a hermit. I don't like to party. I'm happy in my hotel room just chillin'.
Q: Kevin, did you ever act like a big bro to the guys?
Kevin: It just happens, yeah. It's like my big brothers growing up. They were always on me about things, but I knew that they loved me and cared about me. These guys are like family. We've been together for six years, and we've gone through a lot together. It sounds corny, but we fight like brothers and we love each other like brothers. We've never had fist fights, though.
Q: What about girlfriends? Who has one?
Nick: I'm seeing somebody.
AJ: I broke up with my longtime girlfriend a while ago, but I've been with someone else for nine months now.
Kevin: I'm dating someone right now. I've known her for seven years and she really means a lot to me, so we'll see what happens.
Q: What do you look for in a girl?
Nick: You don't really know until you meet someone, then you're like "I like that, that..."
Q: Do you only date gorgeous girls?
Nick: NO! When I was in school I wasn't very attractive to girls. I've dated girls who might not have been that attractive, but they were just as kind and sweet as anybody.
Q: How do you know if a girl is into you because you're a Backstreet Boy?
Brian: You have to be very careful. Being in this business, you get a lot of friends and family memebers that you never knew you had and people trying to get in touch with you. You have to have a thicker guard.
Q: What do you do to beat stress?
Kevin: When I'm stressing out and thinking about something, I pick up a rag and start cleaning. I used to clean toilets for my father. He ran a summer camp, so I mopped and swept floors. I have no problem with getting down and cleaning up. I'm a neat freak. I can't stand clutter being left around.
Q: What do your houses look like?
Nick: I'm a real big fan of the beach and the ocean, so my place has just about everything to do with the ocean. It's on a small canal, so I'm thinking about getting a boat. As for the inside, it's very Miami Vice.
Brian: Well, my office is blue and the bedroom is green. The front room is done in a color called opal-goldy, really glossy, it's pretty. The kitchen is a paprika color-like what you put on deviled eggs. The living room is eggshell-everything ties together. One of the guest bedrooms is a khaki color, and the other is sea green-mint green is one of my favorite colors, because it is so soothing. I had crown moldings put around the house.
AJ: My house is like something out of the Jetsons. I've got a lot of velvets and zebra rugs and chrome. I'm going to dump a lot of money into the house and totally renovate the inside-gut it, totally change it. I have white tile, and I'm going to change it to wood. I had a white and tan kitchen and I want to make it black and brown. I was thinking about moving but I just got here, and I want this to be my house.
Q: Howie, you still live at home. Does your room look the same as it did before you were famous?
Howie: The only thing I changed is the bed. I used to have one of those captain's beds that pulled out from the bottom when you had your friends sleep over. The bed was really high and had this circular mirror and bells like in a captain's room. It kept me down to reality. I finally got a bigger bed, though.
Q: Are you guys good with money?
Brian: I try to be. A lot of people really flip out when they come into a lot of money, and lots of people look at us as being multimillionaires. Let me tell you, it's not like that.
Q: What were you like in school?
Nick: I wasn't a very social person-I wasn't one of the popular people in school. I was very UNPOPULAR. Other kids were more mature than me in a way. More grown-up. Actually, maybe it was the other way around. I always like school, but I had to leave school because I was acting and singing. Since I was around grown-ups a lot of the time, maybe I was a little more focused than the kids at school. So they didn't understand me.
Kevin: I was very involved in school. Acting, singing, sports.
Q: Nick, your mom wrote a book about you, right?
Nick: Yes,I think it's great! She gives advice for kids who want to make it big in show business, and their parents. I know about the sacrifices my parents made for me, and i really appreciate it. Without them, I wouldn't be what I am today. I am very proud of my mother.
Q: What do you do when you're not practicing, recording or performing with the Backstreet Boys?
Brian: Try to remain as normal as possible. I watch a lot of SportsCenter and play a lot of basketball, tennis and golf.
Q: Does being famous ever get uncomfortable?
Howie: It sometimes gets awkward. But I try to keep a normal life. I still go to the grocery store. I go to malls. It's very flattering when people come up and ask me for an autograph.
Q: AJ, have you had any fashion victim moments?
AJ: One time, l had my hair put into braids, and I pulled it back into a ponytail. When I saw it, the first thing I said to myself was "What was I thinking?" I ended up taking them all out. I sat on my butt for eight hours getting those things tied in my head and it didn't even pay off! I looked absolutely stupid.
Q: Has having money changed you or your lives? Have you been able to buy cool stuff?
Howie: I grew up in a middle-class family, and nothing was ever just given to me. I always had to work for it. I always said if I ever made any money, I wanted to take care of my family. So I fixed up my parents' house.
Q: Do you like performing?
Howie: I love performing. That's where I'm most comfortable. I'm usually a little bit nervous right before I go on or especially if I make a mistake at the beginning of the show.
Q: What is your life like right now?
Brian: It's great right now! I think I'm a lot more level-headed than I used to be just from having the experiences that I've had. I feel a lot more grounded than ever before because I've been through heart surgery-things that really keep nailed down to what is important to you. You have to be focused on you, as well as the people you choose to have around you-family, close friends. Everyone loses sight of the bigger picture, and it's such a wonderful thing to be with people who care for you. That's the most important thing in life.
Q: How did you feel at the time of your surgery?
Brian: Very scared.
Q: How did Brian's heart surgery affect the rest of you?
AJ: After Brian's surgery, we all kind of took a little time to really grow up. Brian especially made a comment to me the other day that he's really grown up in the past time since the surgery-and I think all of us have taken the opportunity to really look at this and see that it can happen to anybody. It doesn't matter how old you are.
Q: Will you guys be rocking with the Backstreet Boys for a long time?
Nick: Each of us still wants to pursue solo plans outside the group. But that doesn't mean the BSB will break up! Right now we will concentrate on our world tour. It has total priority right now. That's why I'm postponing my solo album.
Kevin: That seems to be the big thing with the press. Now that we've gotten kinda successful, they're like, "Ah, they'll be gone in a year" or "They won't last." But I feel like as long as we keep making hit records and nobody gets thrown in jail or goes crazy, we can make records as long as we want.
Q: Do you have a message for your fans?
AJ: Yeah. I want to say thanks to all of them. Backstreet Boys would not be where we are today without them and we remember that every single day.
