Canada AM Transcript - September 4, 2002

I = Interviewer. I forgot her name. lol...

I: Good Morning to you.

Nick: Morning * said in a high pitched whisper and he spread his arms in a small Whodaman*

I: Are you wide awake?

Nick: No.*laughs*

I: Is it hard for a Backstreet Boys to get up at this hour of the morning?

Nick: This…this is difficult. *he has the most adorable expression on his face*

I: How difficult was it to break away and launch your own career?

Nick: It was difficult, but I've…I've been with the guys you know since I was 12 years old so I mean, this is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but you know. But…I've always been really dedicated, you know. I was dedicated with the guys for so long. Now I just kinda, things just kinda fell into place.

I: Did they fall into place or did they fall apart? Because there's certainly lots of news out there. *Nick clears his throat* I guess it makes sense that after 10 years things change. (Nick inserts a "yea.") What was it like being part of that?

Nick: Well, I mean, of course there's always gonna be different opinions and different you know perceptions on everything when it comes to the group. But like I said, I've been doing it since I was 12 years old and I mean, if everybody wants to know, everything's cool you know, with us. We're…we're …everything's great.

I: So the Backstreet Boys are not breaking up?

Nick: No, not breaking up, but we're taking a little bit of time for, you know, to do individual things. Some of the guys are getting married. Umm… some of the guys are…actually Brian's having a baby. So I think they wanna take time in their personal lives and this is really personal to me.

I: Absolutely - going out on your own. It's also putting yourself on the line, really. You don't have the protection of the group behind you. Does that frighten you at all?

Nick: Umm…in some ways it does because it is all me and, you know, you worry about sayin' the wrong things *makes a smirky face into the camera and his voice goes low* like on television. *laughs* No, I'm just playin'. You just…it's a, it's a weird situation, but at the same time it's fun because, you know, after 10 years of doing it..ummm…it's kinda like a new flame. It's really…it's like adventurous, you know, fun, new and everything. And- (interview cuts him off dammit!)

I: Do you want a new image at all? Do you get tired of the clean cut pop band guy? Do you want to grow up and let the fans let you grow up?

Nick: Well, I mean, for…for so many years I've always been…you know since I was a little kid I've always grew up to rock music and I've always loved rock music. And, you know, I love the elements of the guitars and drums and umm… although I love that, I also love other types of music, too. When I was with BSB, pretty much we were dancing and…and, you know, doing pop R&B songs. And now I get a chance to just do whatever the heck I wanna do! You know, just let it all out on the line and by myself. That's basically what happened. I'm like…I'm able to just show, show people the true me. Alot of the fans who've stuck by us forever, they know how we individually are and hopefully they're all like…just waitin', you know?

I: I'm actually fascinated by how far the fans take the hysteria, as far as stealing grass off of the front lawn of the Backstreet Boys homes. I mean, that comes with a huge price tag. Do you feel in a way that you're a part of musical history, in a sense? Whatever that boyband image is.

Nick: I mean, I don't think so. I mean, I believe so. *makes a face like damn, I messed up.* I think we were definitely part of something very big. Umm…in a way , you know, I'm only 22 so it's like hopefully it's gonna keep going. I mean, I don't know it it's necessarily gonna go on that level because, I'm, I'm entering a whole new realm when it comes to music, everything, cause things are kinda starting to change. But umm…I mean, yea I do believe that I was part of something like that.

I: And what kind of world was that like? I mean certainly as a reader of the news or entertainment stuff you get a sense that there was some rivalry - Backstreet Boys, "N' Sync, you're both sort of fighting for the same audience. That's from an outsider's point of view. What was it like being inside of that?

Nick: Well, I mean, like you can get caught up in like this whirlwind, just this, this big like rollercoaster and, you know, drama and, and that, that, that was really difficult because when the press and everybody puts you in that category then you start, you know, to listen to that stuff.

I: You get paranoid?

Nick: Yea you can get paranoid. You can start, I mean, you just start really losing track of and focus of what it's all about, what you're doing in the first place. And I mean, that's, that's why I'm really doing what I'm doing right now because I'm very focused on the one thing, that's just doing music and, and trying to do it good and the reason for doing music is to make other people happy. To see other people happy.

I: You know you just brought up a really good point, certain challenges within the band and you must've been like brothers. How you all dealt with, when one band member is struggling with addiction, for example. How does that affect the group?

Nick: The group? I mean, it comes to situations like. I mean, it's it's it can be difficult to handle becasue the person it's a personal issue with them and sometimes if there's things that you wanna do or if the other four, the other four members wanna do and there's an issues, you know underlying with, you know, another member of the group, you know, you have to really take that into consideration you know because it's a personal issue. But I mean, you, but things like that, as you can see, they happen a lot in music, in the music business. But I mean, it's just a part of life in everybody's life. The only difference is that we're in the spotlight. A lot of people go through things and they, it doesn't get really noticed.

I: Now the new single is called Help Me. Is there an underlying message in that as you move towards some new… whatever this new world is gonna be for you?

Nick: We'll put it this way, with the album you can kind of… I mean, this whole album has been a really personal thing to me. I really, like, when it came to the title, when it came to the way of recording it. You know, Now or Never… I mean, I felt like now was the time that I was gonna do this, you know, and I feel like all the things, when it comes to the music and stuff, if I didn't write a song, you know, it has to really mean something special to me. It has to mean something. And the song really did. If you listen closely to the whole album, it's very personal.

I: Wow. Thank you so much for being so personal with us this morning. It's called Help Me and the album comes out October 29th.

Nick: Yup.

I: Nick Carter thank you ver y much for being here with us today and the Backstreet Boys are apparently not breaking up.

Nick: Sorry. Sorry to disappoint you.

Interview transcribed by me (Maria).