Howie D: 'Boy bands will always be boy bands'

Mon, 21 May 2012 15:30:00 +0000

FOR Backstreet Boys' Howie Dorough, being 38 and in a boy band isn't weird at all. "When we started, a boy band was just a group of boys singing together," he explains.

"And we still get called that, but you know what? We've learned to accept it. It's great to be called anything these days and to still be going strong."

Performing tonight in Adelaide, Howie says the band, including Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, AJ McLean and Dorough, couldn't wait to return Down Under.

This time they've brought some special guests in fellow 90s hitmakers New Kids on the Block. "To be back with New Kids on the Block and seeing the love from the fans is awesome," he says.

Together almost 20 years, the group has proved the critics wrong.

"We've almost been going 20 years strong which is crazy," he says.

"A lot of people didn't expect that, being a boy band and all but it's great. It just goes to show how strong the fanbase out here is and hopefully it's testament to the music being good as well."

Back in 2000, Backstreet Boys were on top of the world, and Howie still can't believe the success the group found.

"It was just amazing to be in a category like we were and be one of the biggest bands," he says.

"Being with these guys for so long and seeing the success we have, I've just been so blessed and it's great to be going 20 years strong but also knowing that we have the fanbase to hopefully keep going another 20 years - hopefully," he laughs.

Tickets are still available from $99 through Ticketek for Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block tonight at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Credits to http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/backstreet-boys-new-kids-on-the-block-perform-in-adelaide/story-e6frfn09-1226361814304

Despite solo work, singer still a Backstreet Boy

Sat, 12 May 2012 01:25:00 +0000

Howie Dorough isn’t the most popular Backstreet Boy, and he knows it.

He doesn’t have the youthful charisma of Nick Carter, the blond-bombshell looks of either Carter or Brian Littrell, or the bad-boy appeal of A.J. McLean. All the same, Dorough considers himself “the glue within the guys” — a solid, steady and comforting face for the Backstreet Boys.

He isn’t the only one who thinks so. Carter once called Dorough “the man in the Backstreet Boys,” and more than one observer has noted that, when the Boys walk into the audience to take female fans onstage, Dorough’s choice is likely to be the least attractive.

With that kind of team spirit, then, it’s not surprising that, when Dorough’s first solo album — Back to Me — came out in November, it had been five years in the making.

“I never wanted to make the group stop for my individual project,” the 38-year-old says from his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla. “I was working on and off, between breaks from our tours and recording and whatever we were doing. But after fans kept saying, ‘Howie, when’s it coming? Come on, is it really coming or not?’ I really put my head to it and knew I had to finish my record.”

Back to Me came out rather different from the album that Dorough had been talking about for much of those five years.

Early on, the son of a Puerto Rican mother and an Irish-American father spoke about exploring his Latin roots and singing in Spanish. Back to Me doesn’t sound much different from the average Backstreet Boys album — by design, Dorough says.

“Initially, I was kind of going in a more Latin direction,” the singer says. “I wanted to do something totally different from Backstreet Boys and explore my Latin roots, which I’m very proud of. “But when I finally put my head into finishing this, I started doing some soul-searching and asked, ‘Is this the right direction for me?’ Backstreet Boys have an international fan base, and fans love what we do. I didn’t want to be one of those artists who does something so totally different that people would ask: ‘Why did he do that? Is he not proud?’

“I’m very proud of being a Backstreet Boy, so why stray too far from the mold?”

That mold has been good to Dorough and his band mates since 1993, when the Backstreet Boys came together in Orlando, Fla. He met McLean first, and the two caught the attention of manager Lou Pearlman, who held auditions that brought in Carter, Littrell and Littrell’s cousin, Kevin Richardson.

Taking their name from Orlando’s Backstreet flea market, the quintet started out performing in shopping malls and high schools. After signing a deal with Jive Records, the band had its first success in Europe before bringing its self-titled debut album to the United States in 1996. Backstreet Boys sold a combined 24 million copies worldwide and launched hits such as Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) and I’ll Never Break Your Heart.

The group’s sales declined as the boy-band craze waned, but Dorough and his mates have kept the Backstreet Boys going, touring regularly and releasing albums — most recently This Is Us (2009). Although all the members have outside interests as well, Dorough is clear that the band remains a going concern.

Last year, the Backstreet Boys teamed with their boy-band predecessor the New Kids on the Block for a “NKOTBSB” tour — grossing more than $40 million and playing to almost 605,000 fans in the United States and Canada. A joint album and an NKOTBSB mash-up made its debut at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.This year, the two groups are off to Asia, Australia and Europe.

“It’s been huge, and we love doing it,” Dorough says. “There are a lot of requests to do the States again, but ideally we want to take this tour all around the world first and then come back.”

Meanwhile, Dorough hopes that his solo project, which he has promoted by opening for Britney Spears at a few concerts, will get its due. Rather than croon in Spanish, Dorough opted instead to “push the tempo a little bit, get into more European dance stuff and also the Backstreet Boys’ signature sound in the slower songs.”

The Backstreet Boys have also been in the studio, working on a follow-up to This Is Us.

“We’ve talked about whether to stay in the same vein we did on the last record,” Dorough says, “or do we push the envelope, go harder? Or do we want it to be a little more pop-rock? Right now it’s a totally open canvas.”

Credits to http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2012/05/11/despite-solo-work-singer-still-a-backstreet-boy.html

New pictures

Wed, 09 May 2012 17:25:00 +0000

55 new pictures have been added in:

NKOTBSB tour - Antwerp, Belgium

Credits to Letty

** DON'T use those pictures without Letty's permission**

New pictures

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:05:00 +0000

17 new pictures have been added in:

AJ & Howie at the Porsche Museum - Stuttgart, Germany

Credits to We Love AJ McLean

New video

Wed, 02 May 2012 22:00:00 +0000

A new video has been added:

New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys backstage chat at The O2

Credits to TheO2London on youtube

New pictures

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:35:00 +0000

30 new pictures have been added in:

NKOTBSB TOUR EUROPE 2012 - Dublin+London

Credits to BSBMACHINES & NKOTBSB_VZLA

Howie d working hard!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Credits to http://twitter.com/#!/skulleeroz

Hd

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Credits to http://twitter.com/#!/eddiemeehan

Boys will be boys: the return of the boybands

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:05:00 +0000

The Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block are back, in the form of a superband. And London has Nineties fever

Girls: hands up who had a favourite boyband member in the Nineties. And hands up all the boys who were jealous. The boyband phenomena – the bleach-white smiles and poster-covered walls – didn’t elude many. So the comeback of the decade for anyone who was a pop-loving pre-teen two decades ago has to be NKOTBSB.

The tongue-twisting and quite frankly OMG-inducing acronym for two all-American boyband greats – Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block – emblazoned across billboards London-wide will have been noticed by most fans. The two old-school greats are touring again, this time as a supergroup.

It’s a risky business – fans were either into BSB or NKOTB. BSB’s Howie Dorough confesses: “At first I wasn’t sure if they were gonna be territorial. I started reading some stuff on Twitter and I was like ‘uh oh, security!’”

But, luckily for the pop veterans, their devotees weren’t as crazy as social media portrayed. “It’s cool to see both fanbases coming together, creating this huge monster-like army and being cool with each other,” Dorough says.

”Now they’re friends.”

They admit teaming up keeps things fresh. New Kid Joey McIntyre sees performing in front of someone else’s fans as a welcome “challenge”. But he still knows the songs will go down well.

“We’re lucky to have hits like The Right Stuff, I Want It That Way, Quit Playing Games With My Heart, I’ll Be Loving You Forever, Hangin’ Tough and Backstreet’s Back – every band would kill to have those hits.”

The shows give a lot more than your usual concert. The bands play both their own old favourites separately, but also produce group efforts and mash-ups of the two bands’ songs with tunes from the likes of Coldplay, Prince, AC/DC and Queen.

And it’s the stonking two-hour sets of joint pop-tastic nostalgia that has made the fans cross over. Dorough remembers one who was torn between him and McIntyre.

“There was a girl at one of our early shows with a ‘Howie’ sign,” he says. “Then, I was looking at the monitor when NKOTB were up, and I was like, ‘does that sign say ‘Joey’? She’s got two signs!’ And I went back up there and the sign would say ‘Howie’. Then, when we were both on stage, she had to flip it!”

“We made her decide,” McIntyre says, playfully. And who did she pick? Dorough pauses. “I don’t know … probably Nick [Carter].” And the boyband rivalry is out in the open.

But asked if they fight, Dorough says: “The nine of us have a blast. No arguments. I don’t think anyone’s stupid enough to mess this up.”

But it’s clear they’ve still got their egos – who wouldn’t, after being a heartthrob for 20 years?

“At the beginning of the show we have two lifts and both groups are going up on them. I always equate it to the Roman Colosseum,” McIntyre says.

“We had this one ending and it’s like, ‘boom’ and the lights go out and there’s another roar. It’s magic. It’s something out of some fantasy. To be able to do that every night is really special.

“I would feel for anybody who didn’t want to be in that show.”

Credits to http://www.tntmagazine.com/entertainment/music/boys-will-be-boys-the-return-of-the-boybands

Happy Easter to Everyone from James, Leigh, myself and the Dorough family!

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Credits to http://twitter.com/#!/howied