They made it to the MTV studios and sure enough they were taping comments on everything from their favorite video to their favorite MTV moment for various MTV specials. They broke for lunch and did a very long interview with John Norris about their new album, what they did during their vacation, their history as a group, their plans for the future and of course their personal lives. As much as the guys tried to buffer all the questions Nick received about his well publicized social life as of late he couldn't get out of all of them, there were only so much jokes that could be made. They had just finished doing a few MTV promotional ads when AJ walked over to him,
"So, what happened with your date last night?" Nick smiled as she shook his head, he knew AJ would enjoy his little story,
"I fell asleep...in the middle of-" His words trailed off and he looked over at AJ who had a comedic frown on his face,
"In the middle of what?" He shrugged,
"I don't know. She said she was kissing me all over my body then she looked up and I was asleep." He rolled his eyes as he waited patiently for AJ to stop laughing,
"Damn, thats weak." He nodded and chuckled lightly, it was funny,
"So, you didn't-" Nick looked over at him,
"Of course, this morning." He looked up just as a young guy walked over with a box,
"Guys, these are the shirts, posters and stuff we need you to autograph." They nodded as he handed them both black markers then walked off,
"You know sometimes I feel like we are the employees and everyone else is the boss." Nick shrugged,
"That's pretty much the way it is." he smiled as AJ rolled his eyes and sighed.
They stood behind the curtain and waited for Carson Daly to announce them. He was hardly on TRL anymore but MTV had sense enough to know they deserved the number one host and not the little kids who ran the place when dad was away from home. The screams were deafening as the smoke poured out from everywhere, they walked through the curtains Kevin first, followed by Howie, AJ, Nick and then Brian. Nick reached over and shook hands briefly with a few of the girls before hugging Carson. The crowd settled down and Carson turned to the guys,
"Nice to have you guys back. Now it's been a little while. Usually with pop stars they don't like to be out of the spotlight at all. Either they are performing at awards shows, hosting, presenting, doing something. You guys really haven't done much, as a group, since your tour. Was that a conscience effort or were you like man, I'm tired let's chill out?" They looked around and Kevin spoke up,
"We really were tired, so it was great to get away, do some things on our own." Brian nodded,
"I was thinking the other day if I weren't in the group would I be tired of the Backstreet Boys by now? I don't want people to get tired of us and be like, ugh there they go again, go away. I hope we'll be able to take longer breaks between albums and know our fans will still be there, we're getting older now; we're thinking of not being on the road as much." Carson nodded,
"I think that's a real sign of maturity as artists. It shows you're comfortable with your position in music." Kevin nodded,
"We want longetivity...we don't want to milk the market and leave. We want to be around for a while." Carson looked down at his cards,
"Ok, I listened to the album and although there are some uptempo songs they aren't what I would call dance tracks. Are you getting away from the dancing? Will there be dancing in the next tour...in fact, have you thought about your next tour?" AJ lifted his hand, almost as volunteering,
"Well, we've grown as artists and our strong suit is definitely our singing. None of us claim to be these great dancers, although I think we do alright. On this tour I think we are going to strip it down and go back to the way we were before." Howie smiled,
"We're getting too old for all that dancing around." Nick nodded and raised his microphone to his mouth for the first time,
"I would love to play drums for a whole concert, I think, I think that would be awesome."
"Ok, Howie it seems like every song you wrote deals with love. What's up with that man? Who's the chick?" Kevin laughed,
"Yeah come on Howie, who's the lucky girl?" Howie smiled and winked,
"Well, her name is...no just kidding. I don't know why they always seem to be about love. I guess that's what everyone wants in their life and it just comes out in the music." Carson looked down at Nick,
"Ok Nick you were just the opposite. You co-wrote a song, that had to be one of the ..it's definitely the most down Backstreet song I've ever heard. Some would even say depressing. What was that about?" He had been out on his boat a couple of years ago, during a really low point in his life. There were really high waves and suddenly dark clouds covered the sky and it looked like the world was coming to an end. He felt like his life was the same and he started writing about how it felt and how much better it would be if he were gone. He found the piece of paper in a drawer on the boat while they were making the album and gave it to one of the producers, they worked on it together and after a lot of discussion with the guys and the record label they recorded it,
"It was something I wrote a long time ago. It was hard convincing everyone to do it because we're known for upbeat happy pop songs. But if you're going to grow you have to sing about more than the happy times. You write down what you feel and it's not always happy you know." Carson nodded,
"The song never mentions a person or words like sad or happy instead it uses words like tides, waves, sun, gloomy and the word dies is never mentioned but there is a line like the wave sees its about to go in the wrong direction but does it anyway and then it disappears, it's almost like you're talking about...I don't want to put words in your mouth or make it something its not but it's almost like-" Nick nodded,
"Suicide." He looked around, he never told the guys what it was about, they never really asked,
"I was never at a point in my life where I seriously thought about suicide. I think just about everyone, for like a second or two thinks man, I don't want to deal with this, whatever it is they are going through, anymore. Whether its problems with family or a girlfriend, or your boyfriend or money problems, you know. And I was out on my boat and it...there was bad weather and it was dark and it was like something from a movie you know, real dark and stuff and I just started writing it down and I found it while we were making the album and I took it to the producer, Rich Keaton, he's a really talented guy; up and coming and we sat down and worked on it together." They went to a commercial and stood around as their security stepped back up to ensure the crowd didn't get too close.
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Chapter 97