The Backstreet Boys are pleased that men are finally coming out of the closet as fans of their music and are coming to see their shows.
AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell have been together for 22 years and have fans all over the world. And they admit the audience is not just made up of screaming teenage girls any more.
Kevin said: “We were in Detroit on this last tour, and Detroit is the home of the auto industry, it’s a blue collar town, and to look out and see all these dudes out there going ‘Yeah!’ It blew me away. I guess now that they’re older, they’re not ashamed!”
AJ added: “Our fans have grown up with us, now our fans from the early days are bringing their families. The guys are coming down more. And we have a lot of new fans, we have a wide age range if you look out at a Backstreet Boys concert – from five to 85.”
The band have filmed a new documentary, Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of, in which they look back at their history together.
The Backstreet Boys were formed in Florida in 1993 when youngest member Nick was just 13 and oldest member Kevin was 21. The film is a very emotional journey.
AJ said: “We had set out to initially make a film about the making of the brand new album and gearing up for the 20th anniversary tour, and it just kind of transpired into this full-on documentary.
“It was a fun process, it was also really therapeutic for us. Especially going back to our home town trips and going back to grass roots, because even though we’ve known where each of us grew up, we’ve never truly been there with each other.
“And for some of us it was emotional, and for others we kind of laughed it off a little bit, that was our way of dealing with it. But it turned out great.”
The band also vent a lot of feelings about their original manager Lou Pearlman, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for money laundering.
Kevin said: “We’ve been answering questions about Lou ever since we split form him in ’97, ’98. We could only answer them to a certain extent because we had a legal settlement with him, but we’re in the clear now that he’s locked up.
“But it’s bitter sweet, because we have gratitude to him and at the same time we have strong feelings of betrayal. But without him the five of us wouldn’t be sitting here today, and that’s just the truth.”
The band revealed Backstreet are back for a long time to come.
Nick said: “We have the greatest fans in the world, so we just signed a deal with Live Nation to do 150 shows for the next three years. We’re finishing our In A World Like This tour and then start a new album toward the end of the year.”
:: Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of opens in cinemas nationwide from Thursday February 26 followed by a special performance by the band broadcast live by satellite.
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