This is editor Bill Hernandez with Rockbandreviews.com here in Florida, the home-state of today's guest, Howie D (Dorough) of the Backstreet Boys! Howie and the Boys will be here at the BB&T Center on August 23rd. In support of their latest album release DNA. Speaking of new releases, Howie D has a new release of his own titled "Which One Am I?" which is due for release this Friday, July 12th.
Q: First of all… It is a great pleasure to speak with you today, and Congratulations on your first family album.
A: Well thank you, Bill! Thanks for talking with me, and thank you for your support.
Q: What was the inspiration for you to create your first family album?
A: My kids were actually the inspiration behind this new record, especially my son James. He inspired me with this record. Not that he came up to me and said daddy can you make a children’s CD, but instead, at the age of five, I just really had a hard time playing daddy/son hang-out time with him with the music that was out there. I couldn’t relate to any of it. I couldn’t understand why, I mean, with the movies out there right now these days, with the Toy Stories and Wreck-It Ralph and the Minions' soundtracks that both kids and parents can listen to.
And then one day, I was looking out at the crowd at one of our Backstreet Boys concerts and saw that a lot of our fans are bringing their kids to our concerts and I was like, this is exactly what needs to happen. I need to make a record that both the parents and kids can listen to and have good, quality time together. My oldest son James, who is 10 years old now, I am very proud that he is featured in my first single No Habla Espanol. He actually plays little Howie in the music video and I love it! My mother is actually in the video too, so it was a great memory I was able to create with three generations of my family.
Q: Your son James and Mom Paula are both in the music video for "No Hablo Espanol". Does your son have inspirations to follow in your footsteps?
A: James does. I think he’s got the bug. My youngest one, Holden, not so much. My youngest goes to a concert in within 15 minutes, he’s ready to go and play on his tablet. James is making YouTube videos of daddy‘s concerts, people backstage, he’s got his own Instagram page, James The Great, that he came out with and tells fans about stuff. He’s got quite a few followers and he definitely wants to be an actor, a YouTuber, or something. He loves what daddy does and he loves going on tour. We are on tour right now. We’re between legs right now. We were just over in Europe for two months and now we’re getting ready to start the US leg here. But he had such a great time travelling. He’s been on tour with us since he was five months old so all he knows is the road.
Q: Tell us about your collaboration with Tor Hyams and Lisa St. Lou, with whom you co-wrote these songs.
A: Besides my kids, I definitely have to give credit to Tour and Lisa. They were a big inspiration for me as well for making this record. They saw the vision while I was talking on the phone with them and I talk to them about my life story and that is something that is still relatable to kids, stuff that I wrote about being shy and worrying, and not finding my place in the world. So they helped me. Tor is amazing and is Grammy nominated for a children’s CD he wrote many years ago. And Lisa St. Lou, she’s a great actress and singer on Broadway and they really helped create the life of the story by writing the first song, which actually, inspired us to make a musical out of the CD. We’ve got a lot of great stuff we were able to create, so we have a CD and a musical that I am proud to be debuting in Nebraska at the end of January into February of next year. The CD will be out this Friday, July 12.
Q: That is got to be very exciting for you, to step out of the music world into acting.
A: Totally! You know, as a little kid, I got bitten by the bug around seven years old and started doing musical theatre and I was following my sister's footsteps. I love musical theatre. I knew was a kid what I wanted to be and that I wanted to be involved in entertainment somehow. I did the singing, dancing, the acting to try and be a triple threat just to get a break. Luckily enough, 19 years old, I got my break with the Backstreet Boys. But I always had a passion and wanted to get back into musical theatre, so this is a really cool way for me to exercise the chops by doing my own musical.
Q: We are super excited to have you and the Backstreet Boys here in Sunrise, Florida on August
23rd at the BB&T Center in support of the new Backstreet Boys album DNA. This record has a lot of different music styles throughout. Will you guys looking for this kind of diversity for this record?
A: We’ve been pretty lucky, especially on our bigger records. You look back on the millennium record in the larger then Wife records, even earlier records, what is special about the Backstreet Boys is that we all have a different mixture of flavours that we bring to the table. Some of us like a little more R&B, some more rock, or a little more pop, and me, also being Spanish, adding that to the max. We’ve been able to do that with our records in the past and I think that’s why they have been successful because we offer a little bit of something for Everyone out there and DNA is no different.
Q: I see that Brian's son Baylee is opening for the Backstreet Boys. How has that been going?
A: I think it’s going to be awesome! He hasn’t started yet but will start this leg of the US tour. Brian just came to us and asked us and we are all very supportive of each other. Baylee is the oldest backstreet son, I think he 16 now. He’s a first child to be born out of all the kids. He is a really talented boy, Just like his father. We’ve seen him grow into a talented musician and songwriter and he’s going into a totally different direction than his father by going a little bit Country and he’s got a great album. He’s open for us before. We are a big family out there and it is about supporting the family.