Actually, while we're home we're going to be recording the new album. We just had about a week and a half off, which is the most time we've had off in a while. But now we're beginning the new album.

Serena: Can you tell me a little bit about the new album? When might we see it come out?

Kevin: It's going to be out in the spring.

Serena: New sound? Different sound?

Howie Dorough: Growth, for us.

Serena: A natural progression?

Kevin: Exactly, where the music takes us.

Howie: We're not going to venture far from what we've done. Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't try fixing it. We've had a really great year this last year - actually the last couple of years - two different albums, an international album and an American album, so we're working with a lot of the same producers. Actually we're doing a lot of collaborating with other producers.

Kevin: We're writing a lot of our tracks ourselves.

Howie: It's going to be a growth for us, musically. All around cool thing.

Serena: Any new singles? Anything coming up, off the old record? I know you're working on stuff for the new...

Howie: We have a new single, the fifth single off the Backstreet Boys album. It's a song entitled "All I Have To Give." It's produced by some good friends of ours, Full Force. I think it's a good representation of the whole group. Each of us has a little something solo-wise. I think it's a good way to end the album.

Serena: Inevitably I have to get in to some of the stuff that's very pertinent, and honestly a lot of your fans are concerned, in relation to some of the legal stuff. Let me just ask you first how did you meet (former business manager) Louis Pearlman way back when?

Kevin: He was the owner of an independent record label, and he was looking for new talent.

Howie: The three of us came to him, and then we had a mutual friend of Lou's that knew Kevin. That's how we got Kevin and shortly after that Brian, and he's been sort of the sixth Backstreet Boy, since day one of this whole thing. Just helping us get this together, helping us fulfill our dream.

Serena: I really want to get you guys to have the opportunity to take, or at least set the record straight as far as always hearing reports like they were a group before they came to Louis, they weren't, he held auditions... What exactly happened, back in '92-'93?

Kevin: It's kind of a combination of both.

Brian Littrell: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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...

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: 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.

Serena: How is the band managed now?

Howie: We're self-managed.

Brian: Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough...

Serena: 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.

Serena: How would you depict the changes in your relationship with Lou? From the beginning, I don't know if you did or not, you probably just put all your faith in him and said 'Let's just do this.' So now, how's it different?

Howie: We've just gone from boys to men.

Kevin: We've learned a lot. We've learned a lot about the business. Before, it was "OK," everything he said, we didn't question. Now its like, we've traveled, we've been doing this for five years, we've traveled all over the world, we've talked to other artists, we've talked to other people, we've learned a lot, and now it's more of a team. It's what we want to do.

Brian: It's like [Kevin] said. It wasn't questioned. It's not that we question him now, but it's just that it's an opinion.

Howie: It's more involved with all of us.

Brian: He's one sixth of the Backstreet Boys.

Serena: He says he's the sixth Backstreet Boy. Are you all in agreement here? Is that cool with you?

Howie: That he's the sixth Backstreet Boy? Yeah.

Serena: You all say, "Yeah, OK." Just to clarify and get it straight for the record there is no litigation pending in relation to Lou?

Howie: Nope.

Serena: And Donna and Johnny? That's done?

Howie: Yep.

Serena: What do I do then? I hear other things.

Brian: There's nothing to talk about anymore!

Kevin: You hear other things from where?

Serena: From those people who I speak with. From Donna...

Nick Carter: What!? You've got the facts!

Howie: As of today, we've settled everything. The dots and i's and all the things have been crossed. We've settled everything with them. They know our position and we know their position.

A.J.: Everything's cool.

Howie: We're just trying to move forward with everything.

Nick: Just sit back and relax.

Brian: People would be shocked if we told you that it's been going on for the past year. The Backstreet Boys never stopped. We never stopped one minute. We did a world tour, a U.S. tour, a South American tour. It's like nothing has ever stopped.

Kevin: And it was hard for us.

Brian: Like Kevin said, it's been tough.

Kevin: We'd love to just go out on stage and focus on pleasing the crowd and recording great songs and having a great career as an artist. We've grown up and we've seen some things that we weren't happy with, and we wanted to make changes and we did that, and thank God we did it successfully without compromising our music or our careers.

Howie: Just like one of the guys from the Temptations said to us a long time ago - we've always had the same view with - this whole thing is called "Show Business." It's two words; you have to give equal amounts of time to both of them. And like he said, "Make sure when you're doing your show, that you're also watching your business. Cause someone else can be taking off with your business if you're not keeping on top of it." Now we're on top of it. If our business is going anywhere, it's because we want it to go somewhere.