I was just going to say what Howie and Kevin were saying. It was kind of like a trio at the beginning. So whether you classify that as a group or not... There were three guys in the group, I consider that a group whether its a trio or not, or if it's two guys. It was their idea along with his to have more guys, and then when they got Kevin, and called me. We grew up together, singing in church with our families and stuff, so all of us have come from entertaining backgrounds.
Howie: We auditioned for the record label, so if you want to consider that auditions, yeah.
MusicMania: From where you're standing today, in retrospect, how much of your success do you
attribute to Louis Pearlman's influence?
Kevin:
Without him giving us the initial start, we wouldn't be where we are. He helped us initially with monies to record demos and to just get started and get our names out there, and we appreciate him for that.
Brian: He put us in a bus all across America doing a school tour, five and a half years ago.
MusicMania: And now, five and a half years later...
Brian:
It's been a lot of hard work for everybody, and we're the ones who have been out for the past three and a half years banging out solid touring.
MusicMania: Is there any easy way to explain what is
going on legally in relation to Louis Pearlman?
Brian: Nothing really.
Howie:
Pretty much it's been a big, blown out renegotiation is what it's been. As every artist ventures off into doing a deal like we did initially, sometimes you don't get the greatest deal. Obviously, people have to put more things out. Like I said, Lou Pearlman had to actually put out some money to help us get to going, to help us make the connections and stuff like that, and get the recordings done at the beginning. Obviously he should be fully compensated for that along with other people involved. And then as things go on, and it becomes more of us more involved, then the tables turn a little bit, so its just a matter of us feeling like...
Kevin: It's a growing process that lots of artists have been through. You grow, and when you prove yourself, you renegotiate and you get things right, so to speak.
MusicMania: So it's not a
matter of -- I don't know what the exact numbers are obviously, but you're estimated to have earned approximately $200 million...
Brian: That's what we heard too...
MusicMania: Is that
what you heard? Well how much of that have you seen?
Howie: I haven't seen anywhere near that!
A.J. McLean: That's a lot of money. We haven't seen that.
MusicMania: Is that a concern
for you? Is that part of what this is about?
Kevin:
Basically, we're just trying to take care of business, and we sought legal advice and things weren't the way they needed to be, and they are now. Things got blown out of proportion.
A.J.:
Our goal now is to have the business settled and keep on moving on and put out good music.
MusicMania: Can I ask you then about your involvement with (former management team members) Donna and Johnny
Wright? What happened there? Just to set the record straight so everyone can know.
Brian:
It was another growing process. Management companies and people can take you to a certain level and then it feels like you're not really growing. We as artists, in a management situation and you feel like "OK, let's do something about it." If everybody is ready for change, and is settled on that matter too. There are no hard feelings, and they broke their backs to do what they did for us.
Howie: We wish them the best and they wish us the best.
MusicMania: We spoke with Donna today and she said exactly the same thing, that her wishes for you are all positive and that it was as
she said a natural progression, but that again, she felt like she was with you guys from the inception, she felt like it was some sort of birth, that she was with you right from the beginning. You know, she
feels motherly towards you.
Kevin:
This isn't the first management change that we've been through. Before Donna and Johnny you know, we had another management team. And so, things aren't always perfect, it's not a perfect world, and obviously there were some things that we were unhappy about, and so we had to make changes in order to grow, in order to have a positive atmosphere around us and a positive order.
MusicMania: How is the band managed now?
Howie: We're self-managed.
Brian: Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough...
MusicMania: How do you divvy up the duties? Who does what? Who's
fielding phone calls?
A.J.: I take care of cooking...
Kevin:
We have weekly business meetings now, we're either going to get new management or we're going to have a consultant, and right now the phone's ringing off the hook, but we want to make the right decision to move forward. Again, lots of groups go through this: Billy Joel, Madonna, Boyz II Men, everybody has gone through management changes. Unfortunately, it sometimes gets misconstrued in the press and blown out of proportion. Everything's fine now. It's been an incredible year for us but at the same time it's been kind of a rough year. We've learned a lot and when we first signed all of our contracts we were a bit naive, and we trusted, and we still trust but now things are a lot better than they were.
