Thanks Carla

"Backstreet Boy opens up in his solo work" (AJ, Aug01 Metro Halifax)
Thanks to Misha @ LD

Backstreet Boy opens up in his solo work

DEAN LISK, METRO HALIFAX

He doesn’t remember being in Newfoundland before, but A.J McLean has the
scar to prove he was there.

The Backstreet Boys were flying from Florida to Germany and had to stop on
The Rock so the plane could refuel.

“Howie just actually reminded us that we were here years and years ago,”
McLean said before the guys’ first concert in St. John’s. “I got my earring
ripped out by Kevin by accident while he and I were wrestling.”

The boy-band — man-band, really — started its 13-city Canadian tour in

Newfoundland this week. This is the latest leg in their Unbreakable world tour.

McLean was pulling double duty during some of the European tour stops,
performing with the guys and in support of his soon-to-come solo release.

“My record is a lot more personal and a lot more real, so to speak.

“My stuff is a little more relatable, as far as things I’ve been through —
heartache, the rela*tionship I don’t have with my dad,” added McLean, who
has had well-publicized substance abuse problems.

“As I started making the record, I found I had a lot more to say than I
thought I did, and I had more to get off my chest,” he said. “The only thing I
didn’t harp on was my sobriety and the drugs. I didn’t want to go there yet.”

Backstreet is also planning a new release. When the group was in Stockholm,
the guys sat down with Max Martin, who wrote and co-produced I Want It That
Way, about working on the album.

“We definitely want to bring this new record back to great pop music, but
still have that R & B influence. We’ve just got to come to terms with who we
are now, and go back to the Millennium-type record.”