AJ’s Interview


What Do You Look For In A Girl? Someone who is different, true to themselves, believes in themselves, is motivated, sweet, understanding, supportive

When Do You Turn Off The TV? When I have zapped all channels and I’m sure there’s nothing interesting on anymore.

What Makes You Cry? If a girlfriend breaks up or I loose a good friend.

Holiday Of Your Dreams? Leaving with a girlfriend to a very romantic place, at Valentines Day (doesn’t matter where) 

Best Investment: The time and love I spent on the Backstreet Boys.

Worst Investment: I have once bought shares in the fast food chain 'Hot 'n' Bow', but it became bankrupt.

Skeletons In The Cupboard: None, sorry.

Best Party Ever: The party for my 18th and Nicky's 16th birthday.

What Makes You Fancy A Girl? Her eyes, her personality, her emanation. She must be sensitive and serious, but she also has to have a good sense of humor.

What Do You Absolutely Dislike? People with a negative attitude to life, people who don't care about their looks and body health, people who smell.

Historical Person Who You'd Like To Be? Alexander the Great, a conqueror and a mighty person, who my parents named me after.

Do You Like Being The Center Of Attention? I don't know many guys who wouldn't like attention from girls, and I'm definitely not one of them! Sometimes I wish we were able to be on our own and hang out with our girlfriends or whatever. I mean, we do get a pretty normal life, well, it's normal for us, but people who don't understand are like, 'My god, that's what you go through.'

Who's The Wildest BSB? That's gotta be me. I guess I used to be a bit wilder, a bit like Robbie was in TT. I suppose I still am in a way. I'm always changing the way I look, like dying my hair, growing a goatee, but I like to think it's more about being creative and spontaneous than being a rebel

Do You Remember The First Autograph You Ever Signed? I don't remember the first autograph, but I do remember my first fan letter. We were rehearsing for our very first proper show in a studio in Orlando when someone from our management came down with this fan letter for me. I took it home and put it down in my messy room somewhere and it got lost, which I'm really annoyed about because if I still had it I'd get it framed.

How Do You Calm Yourself Down When You're Angry? I used to smoke and that calmed me but I quit cause it wasn't worth ruining my voice. It's my only instrument and my health is very important to me. Now I'd probably lock myself in my room and listen to music and write.

Have You Ever Said Something Hurtful To The Others You've Regretted? I don't think I've ever said anything horrible, but me and Nick got into a physical fight once. We were at Kev's apartment and Nick kept making fun of me and at the time I couldn't cope it, so I got one of his special comic books and lit a match to it. We got into a fight over it and ended up not speaking. Then about a week later we were in the studio recording I'll Never Break Your Heart and I went into another room to write some lyrics and Nick was also writing in there and we ended up doing a song together. It's the one that we played on the MTV special.

Have You Ever Made Eyes At A Girl In The Audience? Well, there've been a couple of times when I've seen a real pretty girl I wanted to talk to. So, if she kept looking at me through most of the show I'd get one if the security guys to tell her which hotel we're staying in. Then when she arrived I'd come down to meet her. I wouldn’t let her come up because I'm not into that having girls in your room thing. We'd go somewhere quiet and chat. That's if it's a country where I don't understand what they're saying! Sometimes it can get pretty frustrating when they're chatting in a foreign language.

Have You Ever Snogged To A BSB Record? When we were in Germany recently, my ex-girlfriend came over to visit and we were talking with the album playing when Get Down came on and we kissed, for no reason. Now whenever it comes up we laugh-it's kinda funny that of all the freakin' slow songs there are, we ended up kissing to that one! 

Around Christmas time, A.J. found his father's address and A.J. went to his house and he finally saw his father after ten years. Now he visits his father whenever he gets the chance.

Denise McLean

(A.J.'s Mom & BSB Publicist)

(From: Tiger Beat's: The Official Backstreet Boys Summer Tour Mag)

"Our last tour was quite a special one for Backstreet Boys because it was the first time audiences in many cities got to see them. It was also the first time the band and Boys got to perform in bullrings in Spain and Portugal. That was pretty exciting considering the dressing rooms were located right over the pens where the bulls were kept! We even got to see a few running around.

The tour began in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day...Howie and a few of us snuck out of the hotel by way of a small van [in order] to enjoy a bit of the day's festivites. We managed to get to where the parade was starting and saw most of the floats before fans zeroed in on Howie and security said he had to leave. We had a bit of fun anyway and a few fans were pleasantly surprised to get a quick picture and autograph of their idol, Howie D.

The tour moved on to the U.K. and we had four great, sold out shows there...While in London, of course A.J. wanted to go shopping. Since we were in the same hotel for three nights and actually had a day off, this sounded like a good idea. So A.J., security and I set out on our little money-spending spree.

A.J. wanted to hit SoHo first, so we hopped into a cab and off we went. We walked the streets pretty much unnoticed for a while until the mother of a fan spotted A.J. in a store. She actually ran after him and asked him to wait so she could take a picture of him with her daughter. He did, and while he was waiting about six other fans recognized him--and the numbers began to grow...They were kind enough to leave after a few photos and autographs, so we continued on our way.

What we did not realize at the time is that we were getting closer and closer to Piccadilly and the fans were out in force to welcome stars to the premiere of The Man In The Iron Mask...We quickly left the area and moved on to some really small streets for shopping.

...This was exactly what A.J. had been looking for. We found some really cool shops with second-hand clothing and army surplus stuff which he loves. We walked into one small shop that actually had two stores next to each other: one with more dressy styles and one really weird. Of course, our A.J. rushed past the classy into the weird, and all of a sudden I heard, "Mom, You have to see these!!!!" With apprehensive curiosity, I ran into the shop and there he was, in all his glory, standing in the middle of the store holding the strangest pair of pants I had ever seen! They were the color of regular army fatigues--the strangest part was THEY WERE COVERED IN GREEN FUR!

Now A.J. is known for his unique style in eyewear and clothing, but this had to be the max, even for him. And of course, since spring was approaching, these lovely pants were on sale! Oh, joy! Fortunately, I brought my camera with me as shopping with A.J. is usually such a picture perfect opportunity. I broke out the camera as the clerk was writing up the sale and A.J. posed with his new pants. I think they are pretty cool. The only drawback, he says, is that they can be very hot to wear-but they are machine washable!