Source: Daily Yomiuri
Paul Jackson Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
"Backstreet's back!" This was the main point Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys wanted to get across at a press conference attended by the hugely popular boy band in Tokyo last week.
Carter and his four harmonizing partners in song were in Tokyo to perform five straight nights at the 10,000-plus capacity Yoyogi Stadium. The performances represented the start of a comeback by the group, which has taken an extended timeout for the last three years.
With all the nights sold out, according to promoter Kyodo Tokyo, it seems that the group from Orlando, Fla., have pretty much picked things up where they left off--in Japan at any rate.
"Our last concert of our last world tour was here in Japan so we decided to come back and start our world tour here because you guys have been so great to us," said Howie D of the group, who described their Japanese admirers as the "greatest fans in the world."
Such a description is not at all surprising given that Backstreet Boys owe part of their initial success to their fans in Japan, and also in Europe, who supported them in their early years before they broke in the United States in 1997. The group has gone on to sell more than 70 million albums worldwide, becoming one of the biggest boy acts of all time.
In addition to embarking on a new world tour, Backstreet Boys also announced they will release a new CD as they seek to reestablish themselves.
"The new album will be coming out next year, and we're pretty much almost done with it. (We'll complete it) certainly in the next couple of months," Howie D said.
A sneak preview of three tracks from the album--"My Beautiful Woman," "Climbing the Walls" and "Poster Girl"--suggested that the group is looking to embrace more of a rock sound than in the past, an influence acknowledged by Carter, who also referred to the presence of an R&B influence and "a small amount of hip-hop" in their new sound.
"We've really taken some time on it. We've done like 40, 45 songs and we're still not done yet," Carter said of the album. "We're never really satisfied when it comes to being in the studio. So what we did was we took the big adventure of experimenting and trying to do things, and we've been recording for the past eight or nine months with different producers."
Of the producers, Carter mentioned Teddy Riley, Billy Mann, the Underdogs and Max Martin, who has often worked with Backstreet Boys and has penned huge hits for Britney Spears and NSYNC.
"The one good thing about the music is it still sounds like the Backstreet Boys. We have five-part harmonies on top of new music, but our voices haven't changed...well, mine maybe a little bit," said Carter, who was only 13 when the group formed.
Kevin Richardson believes the time off has given the vocalists more perspective and respect for what they had achieved together, something that was necessary for them to reestablish.
"We had pretty much reached a point of some burnout," Richardson said. "It wasn't as joyous as it had been in the past, and on our last tour a lot went on in the world, with 9/11 happening while we were on tour, which made it kind of difficult, and A.J. going through rehab.
"The fact that we have taken time off has been so beneficial for all of us, and A.J. got the time to really work his recovery program like he needed to, and we all got time to recharge our batteries."
A.J., whose dark glasses, baseball cap and tattoos clearly mark him out as the "bad" boy of the group, reportedly spent time in rehab for drinking and depression.
But this has not been the only development during the group's timeout.
In the meantime, Carter launched a solo career with limited success and his own label--the mention of which earned a scowl from A.J. at the press conference.
Howie D, who "does shabu shabu, sukiyaki, teppanyaki and sushi" when he comes to Japan, spoke of how all the band members have become far more aware of the money side of their careers over the years and how they are now investing their money more carefully.
Brian Litrell, meanwhile, became a father and admits that changing diapers has become a form of relaxation for him.
"From a personal standpoint fatherhood has definitely changed my life. Before, Backstreet Boys had always been so important and No.1 in my life," Litrell said, adding that taking on his paternal role had also helped him to take a more responsible role in the band.
Fathers, businessmen and reformed pop stars--these are not words commonly bandied around with the concept of a boy band. And with Howie D and Richardson both in their 30s now, it is clear that Backstreet Boys will have to reinvent themselves to a certain extent if they are to register the sales they have in the past.
Clearly, the 55,000 fans who saw them last week in Tokyo believe they can.
But what if they don't?
"Being a pop idol is one thing," Litrell said. "But being my son's hero--I would take that over anything."