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INTERVIEWS

THE HAIR RAISING INTERVIEW! TV HITS MAGAZINE (Australia) June 2000 Issue #142

The Backstreet Boys may have the slickest hairdo's in the whole world, but nothing - and we mean nothing! - could save them from the TV HITS Hair Raising Interview!

Do you still play backstage pranks to lighten pre-concert tension?
Nick: You've just reminded me to start doing it again! It's a tradition that on the last show of any Backstreet Boys tour you do little gags and stuff- things that you'd get into trouble for doing at any other time… and I've just remembered I bought some firecrackers that pop when you put them under a toilet seat!

What's the weirdest advice you've ever been given?
Brian: These are famous words from my mother when I left home. She said, "It's OK to get your feet wet, just don't drown!"

What's the strangest thing a fan has done?
Brian: One time we came on stage and looked out into the crowd, we saw a little girl with a big cardboard cut-out of Nick's house! She wouldn't put it down. I was laughing through the whole show!

What's the furthest anyone has every gone to meet you guys?
Brian: Two crazy fans climbed over a barbed wire fence and ripped their clothes to pieces then sat waiting, shredded, in our dressing room for us!

AJ, can you admit to any downsides about your collection of tattoos?
AJ: I've got 11 now, but the last one hurt real bad... I was dying! They can be bad - one of my friend's fiancee is pregnant and the tattooed sun around her belly is huge now.. it's all stretched out!

What's it like having screaming girls mob you?
Nick: Our bodyguard had to pry a girl off me once. I was running into a hotel and she was chasing me. She put her arms around my neck and I kept running toward the lift with the girl running around my neck!
Brian: I knocked a girl over 'cause she was running towards me so fast! I had to get to the elevator of our hotel and I wasn't letting her get in the way.

What's it like when your mum joins you on tour?
AJ: She's always telling me off about my room being in a mess and dirty laundry left around the place! It's the usual kinda mum stuff!
Kevin: If you walk into AJ's room, it's like a suitcase exploded - his clothes are everywhere!

What's one thing about your childhood that embarrasses you?
Nick: I was in elementary school and I had to wear big, square glasses. I was so bummed!

Howie has a reputation as being the most relaxed dude on the face of the earth. What do you do to really stir him up?
AJ: Howie has a bit of a hair problem - it's really thick and hard to control. If you even look like touching his hair, he'll just freak out! It really winds him up and we get to have a laugh!