Star Tribune Review: Johnny No Name - April 2 - Minneapolis

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Apr 04, 2000 Source: http://www.startribune.com/ Submitted By: Butterflystrz@aol.com Cover Boy Steve Hochman / Entertainment News Service Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean stood on a stage Monday in Los Angeles and read highlights from the phone book, to deafening screams and blinding camera flashes from the audience. OK, he didn't. Rather, he gave the touring debut of his alter ego, an English chap called Johnny No Name, who performs songs originated by acts ranging from Rage Against the Machine to Wild Cherry to, yup, the Backstreet Boys. This was the kickoff of an eight-city trek, which includes a show tonight in Minneapolis, to benefit VH1's Save the Music Foundation and the first foray of any note by one of the Backstreet Boys outside the group. And a fun one it was, as McLean (more or less keeping in character) and his band romped through the list of hits with plenty of the winks that were totally absent from Garth Brooks' Chris Gaines masquerade, a similar alter ego trip. Fans flock to A.J. But McLean probably could just as well have read the white pages, and not simply because the screams made it hard to hear what he was doing at all. These, after all, are fans who created pandemonium simply for a preshow appearance in the audience by McLean's girlfriend. They would have been at the show no matter what he was doing. "Yes!" said Monique Cardona, 13, of Alhambra, Calif., sitting with her mom, Christine, when she was asked if she would go to see McLean do just about anything. And it was unanimous among the other young girls in the vicinity. Asked if they were there to see Johnny or A.J., the answer was definite: "A.J.!" That's not exactly what McLean is looking for. "I want people to differentiate Johnny from A.J.," he said. "It's frustrating to be on stage and still be looked at as so-and-so from the Backstreet Boys." But even he had trouble keeping the line during a news conference, repeatedly talking about No Name in the first person and then, catching the gaffe, switching to third person. It's no big deal, though. Johnny No Name, he made clear, is just something to do for fun during Backstreet downtime. The character was originally called Johnny Suede, taken from the label in a jacket a Backstreet backing band member bought for him last year in Nashville. McLean adopted the moniker as his alias to use in hotel registration, and it stuck as a nickname. Soon he and some of the backing musicians were talking about putting something together as a goof. Johnny Suede made his official debut Jan. 9, McLean's 22nd birthday, for a concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Backstreet Boys headquarters, Orlando, Fla. And that inspired this short tour, with the name changed after it was discovered that Johnny Suede was the copyrighted title character of a 1992 film starring Brad Pitt. And the project lets him return to his acting roots, his interest before he was picked by Lou Pearlman's Trans Continental Records operation to be in what would become the breakthrough act of the boy-band craze, paving the way for 'N Sync and 98 Degrees, as well as female popsters Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. "I grew up with no siblings, doing the whole auditions thing by myself," not part of a group, McLean said. Of course, that raises the knock that the whole Backstreet Boys persona is itself just an act, no less than Johnny No Name. "It's almost a double life," McLean said. Singer is an adept mimic Maybe Johnny is closer to the "real" A.J. McLean than the BackstreetBoy is. But if so, it wasn't clear just what that is from the show. McLean is an adept vocal mimic. He was almost dead-on doing Scott Weiland in the show-opening version of Stone Temple Pilots' "Down," with the band rocking hard behind him. And he seemed able to slip into whatever style was demanded, from earnest seduction (his own R&B-styled "Lay Down") to nutty disco (Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music"). But as a statement, the show served only to reveal what McLean likes, and how his tastes sometimes reach outside the Backstreet paradigm, with no attempt to establish who, musically speaking, he (or No Name, for that matter) is. These were not personalized interpretations, or even the kind of joke versions that might have suited the No Name character. They were merely note-for-note copies of the originals. He did accomplish one goal, though. Before the encore, in which he performed as McLean rather than No Name, with fellow BackstreetBoy Howie Dorough joining on the Commodores' "Brick House," the fans were enthusiastically chanting, "Johnny! Johnny! Johnny!" But under just slightly different circumstances, they could easily have been chanting, "Phone book! Phone book! Phone book!" Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: nice penalty removal MPVqzB Thank you for any other excellent article. Where else may just anyone get that kind of info in such a perfect method of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I'm at the search for such info. Submitted by: James Submitted by: Kevin Submitted by: Halz Submitted by: Monika Submitted by: Louise Submitted by: William Submitted by: Louise Submitted by: Edward Submitted by: Shawn Comment on this item. Next Item: Wall Of Sound Review: Johnny No Name - April 2 - Minneapolis Prev Item: Cosmo Girl Review: Johnny No Name - April 9 - New York City