Source: Lexington Herald Leader
By Jamie Gumbrecht - HERALD-LEADER CULTURE WRITER
During a conference call with scads of reporters this week, the Boys dutifully answered questions about their favorite songs on their new album, Never Gone; what's in their own CD players; and what the next single will be.
(For the record, most of the Boys love the tracks Never Gone or Siberia, several are listening to Coldplay's X&Y, and they haven't picked a next single -- maybe I Still.)
And then, when we had our turn to ask a question, we mentioned Lexington.
Central Kentucky natives Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson offered their greetings, cheers and affirmations of Wildcat fandom. Now, Littrell and Richardson live in Atlanta and Los Angeles, respectively, but they haven't lost their roots.
Trust us. We asked.
Question: What reflections of your lives in Kentucky do you see in your lives now?
Littrell: The big reflection I find in my life today is fatherhood, having a son now, being a dad and having a healthy (21/2-year-old) little baby boy. Knowing the stresses of fatherhood, of parenthood, dealing with the things that I have been through in my life that I've experienced in Lexington, being in the hospital. ... (He had a heart infection when he was 5, and heart surgery later in life.) I couldn't fathom the stress that my parents were going through. I think I have a deeper connection to our relationship now, and I have a deeper connection to my upbringing, what life was like, and what I would like life to be like for my son.
Richardson: I live in Los Angeles right now with my wife, but I have a home just outside of Lexington that I'm planning on moving back to within the next three to five years, and raising my family with my wife. I love the fact that I'm from a small town, and now that I live in a huge city in Los Angeles, I feel like it's taught me a lot about people. I think I can relate to a lot of people from all different walks of life just because I have that experience. And so I think it makes me a better person.
Q: Why did you decide that now was the best time to release a new album?
Nick Carter: There really is no perfect time. Brian called and said A.J. (McLean) was doing a special on Oprah with his mom about his sobriety and his drug addiction. That's when we all decided to hop on a plane and go surprise him on the show. It turned out great; the feeling was just there again. The fun and the adventure is back in it.
Q: What did you learn while you were away, and how does it help for the comeback?
Howie Dorough: I think it made each of us stronger when we came back to the table to work as a group. I mean, I think we had a chance to grasp normality once again, a chance to just be ourselves outside the bubble that we were all living in, a chance to go to the grocery store, and do laundry and do normal stuff.
Q: What can we expect out of your live show?
McLean: There was that one big summer when it was us, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, and it was "Who can blow up the most stuff on stage?" We've kind of simplified. The music doesn't really lend itself to that anymore. We do still dance.