Thoughts on being a group

You've been together seven years now - that's longer than most marriages. How d'you do it?
Howie: Communication - that and still striving for more. We've still got a lot to accomplish - we wanna do a world tour, hopefully get some Grammy awards, maybe some more MTV awards...Even if we accomplish those goals, there'll always be more we want - we always strive to be better!

"No matter what happens, if any of us go off, we're always going to come
back together. The Backstreet Boys' name will always be there, no matter what." - Nick

 

"So is Kevin the ringleader?" someone asks. "HE wants to be!" Brian shoots back.

Do you vote on everything as a group?

Nick & Howie:  We have a democracy.

Do you share a room when you're staying in a hotel?

Nick:  We used to!  Until we started pulling each other's hair out.

Howie:  Not any more!  We've made a little bit of money, so we can finally afford our own rooms (laughs).  It's good we're with each other 24-7, but we sometimes need just a little bit of time for ourselves

What happens when you get bummed out on the road, who do you go to?

Nick:  We consider ourselves brothers, so anything a family of brothers would do, is what we would do.

"I'm married to these guys!" -Brian

Have you ever felt like quitting the Backstreet Boys?

No way. The guys in the group are my best friends! -Nick

Who do you trust most in the world?

I trust my mum 100%. She knows me very well and is capable of guessing my
thoughts, I love when she's there. In the group, I think it's A.J. who I trust the most.

 

Who has the best body naked?
Oh my gosh, you just stumped me. That's a first-time question, so...

Okay, who's got the worst body?
I'd rather keep my peace.

Well, who's got the most hair on his back?
Probably Howie. -Brian

The arguments

Brian: Sometimes, we fight over the CD player. I'll play a CD and then
someone will take it out and throw it onto the counter. By the end of the
day, there's sappy stuff all over it.

Nick: But there's never any really bad fights.

The grub

Brian: AJ tries to get everyone to make him stuff. He'll ask for a can of drink by going, "Oh since you're closer than me...." and he's like an inch away.

Nick: Me and Brian raid the fridge first. We steal all the potato chips and candy bars.

Brian: But Howie and Kevin are trying to get on the health thing and watch what they eat.

Nick: AJ's really strict about his McDonald's. Nobody's allowed near them.
He's like, "Get off my french fries! Those are mine!"

What is the funniest thing someone's ever done, when you were on tour?

Nick : Hmm ( he's thinking for a while ) That have to be, when me and Brian were goin' to play a little practical joke with Howie. It was, that we had put a big bucket full with water, on the top of the door in our van. We had figured out a way, to make Howie go into the door first! But what we didn't know, was that AJ had already told Howie what was goin' to happen! So when we came in front of the door, Howie suddenly turned around, grabbed Brian, and pushed him, into the van. Brian got all the water over him. And I started to laugh. So did the others. Well it doesn't sounds so funny, but it was!

It sounds as though if you were to fight with anyone it'd be Kevin--is that true?

Actually, I probably argue more with B-rok but that's usually competitive stuff about basketball or computer games. Kevin's more serious than me, so
sometimes if I'm messing about he thinks I'm not interested and he'll get a little uptight. Nothing bad though. -Nick

Do you guys ever fight?
We've has a few scraps here and there over just silly, stupid things.
Who's got the shortest temper?
Probably Nick. Just because he's the youngest of the group and everybody's always kind of picking on him. Now he's getting bigger... - Howie

The mess

Brian: I think me and AJ are considered the messiest. AJ eats stuff and never throws away the wrappers. And he really hates people touching his stuff. If something of his gets moved, he goes nuts accusing everyone. "OK, who's been near my things?!" Everyone gets on Nick's butt too, cos he leaves the Nintendo area in a mess.

Nick: That's not JUST me!"

Considering we are with each other 24-7,                                                                                                  we've grown to love each other. We
have a tight bond. We know which buttons to push,                                                                                      and which not to." -(USA Today) Howie

As the oldest in the group, do you act big brotherish to the rest of the guys?
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 kind of corny, but we fight like brothers and we love each other like brothers. We've never had fist fights, though.- Kevin

Do you think you're the male Spice Girls?
Nick: It's not an image thing. We don't have Scary Boy or Baby Boy! Making music is our sole interest.

"We've been asked if we were going to out Backstreet Boy dolls and we're like, 'Nooooo!' -Nick 

"We were fortunate to have good music and good management and good talent," -Howie

Anybody ever threaten to leave the group?
No, it's never come to that, luckily. -Kevin

Kevin was declared the "Sexiest Pop Star" by People magazine -- to the great amusement of his mates. "They call me Mr. Sexy," he says, rolling his eyes. One European magazine gave the others even more ammunition by dubbing Kevin "Mr. Body beautiful." "We still bust his chops
about it," says Howie, 26.

Is it difficult being the youngest in the group?
Sometimes it's tough when we're on the road. I mean, Kevin's seven years older than me and there are times when you can really notice the age difference. We're like brothers and we're together a lot, so naturally we do fight, but that's nothing to do with my age. -Nick

"Brian, he's a pit bull, AJ's a Great Dane, Howie's kinda sweet and yappy so he's just like a little Chihuahua, Kevin's a rottweiler and me? I'm a Scottish terrier!" - Nick on if BSB were dogs

"I love these guys.... Oh Gosh!" -Brian

I think we’re now the closest we’ve ever been. The five of us, we definitely have each other's backs. We know that people around us may come and go, but there will always be the five of us. - Nick

"Sometimes [people] do get the wrong impression, cuz all they see is the young, blond boy thing, but it makes me want to show them what I'm really like even more. And I think that's what the Backstreet Boys is about—being ourselves. There are times where you're out and guys got something to say to you, but you just take it all with a grain of salt." - Nick.

 

                                                                                                      More - Nick on BSB's