A representative for the BACKSTREET BOYS has confirmed singer A.J. MCLEAN plans to continue with the boyband’s ongoing U.S. tour despite falling sick with an eye infection.

The four-piece is currently on the road with its This Is Us shows, but fans feared MCLean would have to sit out some of the dates after doctors diagnosed him with viral conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye.

A rep for the band tells TMZ.com none of the other bandmembers have contracted the condition, while MCLean is “doing fine” and is expected to continue with the tour. [Source]

I added a few new photos of AJ McLean to the gallery so, go there to take a look.

Gallery Link:
– Dyson Air Multiplier Presents Tyler Shields’ “Collisions”

HE IS probably better known as the “bad boy” of the Backstreet Boys, but AJ McLean pulls a decent front as a solo artist as well.

Past his much-publicised drug and alcohol addictions, he stepped out to perform shows in 2008 under both his own name and his self-concocted moniker, Johnny No Name.

This time, he keeps it real, going under his real name to release such a mixed bag of tricks that there will be something appealing for everyone.

Tracks range from material that fans will find reminiscent of typical Backstreet shoulder- shrugging pop to rock ‘n’ roll, and even Euro-dance.

In some sense, it re-defines his persona and outlook as a performer who refuses to be pigeonholed into the category of mainstream pop.

More so, it draws a clear line between McLean, the break-out solo performer, and McLean, the Backstreet Boy.

He reiterates this in the album’s liner notes: “First and foremost, I want to thank God for allowing me to have an opportunity such as this to show the world what and who I am outside of the Backstreet Boys.”

While there are no earth-shattering moments on the record, it does hold some nice surprises.

Opening track Teenage Wildlife, co-written and co-produced by former N’Sync member JC Chasez, is a pumping Euro- dance hit complete with strobes of electro and the now-infamous Auto Tune which tastefully warbles McLean’s voice.

He rides the dance vibes on the title track too, which tackles his personal issues with fame and the difficult process of finding love in the process.

Later on, Love Crazy is a tongue-in-cheek affair dabbling in 1950s-style doo-wop while singing about getting naked and having sex.

It is a clear sign that all is well in the McLean camp, with perhaps more to come from him based on this success. [Source]

I added the new music video of AJ McLean, Teenage Wildlife, to the Multimedia Zone so, you can go there to watch this online, comment or download this.

– 2010 – Teenage Wildlife – AJ Mclean

Enjoy!!!

If you are a Backstreet Boy, what’s the only thing worse than waking up with a throbbing headache, stuffy nose, sore throat and every other symptom that can be associated with a day-ruining case of the common cold? Having to be interviewed by someone with the exact same condition.

But that’s what happened when I spoke with A.J. McLean, the shades-wearing, hat-donning, sometimes bearded badass of the group. “Oh, I’ve seen better days,” he mumbled over the phone an in almost inaudible tone after I initially asked him how he was doing. As it turned out, he probably wasn’t faking, either. Later that day, wire services blew up with reports that fellow Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell had been diagnosed with H1N1, more commonly known as the Swine Flu. As a result, the group was forced to cancel various promotional appearances throughout New York City that were centered around the release of its new album, This Is Us. It was yet another obstacle on the way back to the top for one of the biggest pop groups of all time. That’s okay, though. It’s not like these boys haven’t been faced with adversity before.

Remember the Lou Pearlman situation? You know, the impossibly greedy manager that tried to use the group for all it was worth before heading to prison on conspiracy and money laundering convictions? How about when McLean himself admitted to his stunning drug abuse habit, and went on national television to confront it? Or even when Kevin Richardson, a longtime member of the group, decided he wanted to distance himself from the band, leaving to “pursue other interests in his life?”

Like I said, a little case of the sniffles, and hell, even the occasional case of H1N1 couldn’t bring these guys down. Not after nearly two decades of rollercoaster ups and downs.

“You have to stay positive,” McLean told me when I asked him about how any group could survive in today’s ever-changing, fickle world of pop music. “(If we were starting over again) we’d have to know to set goals. It has to be difficult for new artists. But after all this time, we have learned that we have to stay true to ourselves. You just can’t let anything or anyone get in the way of who you are.”

Who are the Backstreet Boys these days, anyway? The group opted for live instrumentation and Adult Contemporary dominance with 2005’s Never Gone. That acoustic/piano driven style continued for the most part with 2007’s Unbreakable. But now, in 2009, what exactly is the sound the four-part band is attempting to achieve with its latest release, This Is Us?

Well, for starters the band recruited top-notch hip hop collaborators such as Lil Wayne, Jim Jonsin and T-Pain to help craft the album. And while other pop mega-producers like One Republic’s Ryan Tedder and the legendary Max Martin offered a hand, McLean is quick to point out the difference between the group’s past experiences making a record with that of their latest.

“We had a real interesting team of people to work with for this record,” McLean said. “We had a lot of hip hop cats come in, so it was different. In the end, it worked out perfectly, though. We couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.”

How it turned out is decidedly more mature than ever before. The acoustic guitars have been ditched for the most part, and the electro-fied beats that helped propel them into legendary status in the mid-1990s return on This Is Us. Why the group sounds more grown-up than ever, though, has nothing to do with its sound. That aspect can be attributed to lyrics that see the Boys in a new light.

A song like “PDA,” with its aggressively sexy feel and suggestive verse, is the perfect example. “Kissing and touching with my hands all over your booty,” sets the lyrical tone for a record that clearly isn’t aimed at the 14-to-16-year-old demographic the pop stars once famously aimed for with songs like “As Long As You Love Me,” and “Larger Than Life.”

“Lyrically, we aren’t kids anymore,” McLean told me. “It’s not like we can’t talk about booties. We wanted to push the envelope with this new record, and I think we did that.”

Pushing the envelope is not a foreign concept for McLean. Clearly the bad boy of the group, the singer cemented his reputation when he checked into rehab in 2001 for cocaine abuse and alcoholism. If that wasn’t enough, earlier this year, TMZ reported that McLean’s sobriety was in doubt after video surfaced of him appearing intoxicated.

Realizing his reputation precedes him almost anywhere he goes, McLean noted that he understands he is the “rocker” of the group. Though he has a soft spot for rhythm & blues music (Prince and Teddy Pendergrass, to be exact), he explained that he’s not like the other guys for more than one reason.

“I’m the kind of guy who grew up listening to Three Dog Night and Lynyrd Skynyrd,” he said. “A lot of the other guys aren’t really into that kind of stuff. Right now, the new Muse record is phenomenal. They will definitely break in the states soon enough. The other guys (in the band) tend to go with the catchier stuff, but I’m a rocker. That’s what I bring to the group.”

What the group plans to bring to the public is a tour supporting This Is Us. The tour, set to stretch across nearly the entire globe, is something McLean is especially excited about.

“It’s going to be an amazing show,” he said as his voice perked up from the sickness he was battling. “Each show is going to be like a live movie. It’s something the fans have never seen before – like a rock opera. We plan on going for about an hour and 45 minutes each night and doing around eight of the 12 songs from the new record, along with a bunch of the classics. Everybody’s going to love it. We are really, really excited about it.”

So with a new album, a new tour and a rejuvenated attitude toward his group’s career, McLean’s head cold seemed to be the last thing on his mind as our conversation wound down.

“We are going back to the old Backstreet Boys sound on this record,” he said before taking a few seconds to let out some coughs and a muted sniffle. “I think people are going to see what we have become. This album is a declaration of who we really are.” [Source]

AJ McLean is most famous for being the “bad boy” of hit 90s boyband The Backstreet Boys but, with his upcoming solo album, he is attempting to forge a successful solo career.

The 30-year-old singer – who is partly responsible for the band’s hit tracks including (Everybody) Backstreet’s Back and As Long as You Love Me – insists he isn’t worried about stepping away from the sound which led to his fame.

“We’re calling it a rock, funk and soul vibe. The vocals are pop and R ‘n’B-ish and there’s even a kind of country twang going on,” he said. “It’s eclectic. I think people will be a little shocked by some songs, which is absolutely fine by me. They’ll be thinking, ‘That is what I hoped he was going to do’.”

However, AJ is arguably more famous for his personal life as for his professional career.

He went to rehab in 2001 to seek help for his alcohol and cocaine addiction after his bandmates Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough intervened when they became concerned about his erratic behaviour.

Now tee-total, AJ insists the experience sobered him in more ways than one, and also led to him writing a book with his mother Denise entitled Backstreet Mom.

He also said he has some advice for other troubled celebrities including Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

“I’m coming up on six years sober,” he said. “I just want to sit down with Britney and pick her brain.

“I want to be just someone who can tell her straight. I’ll say, ‘Hey, do you want to die? Is that what you want?’ If that is what she really wanted, she would have done it already. I know that is not what she wants.”

Instead of turning his back on The Backstreet Boys, AJ insists he will never leave his bandmates behind, and is currently undergoing his solo tour in conjunction with the boys’ Unbreakable World Tour 2008.

A.J also revealed the boys have been incredibly supportive of his solo venture.

“We’re all really supportive of each other’s projects outside of the group, whether it be singing, acting, producing or whatever,” he said. “The one thing we’ve always told each other is that we’ll never hold each other back. If anyone’s got any dreams or aspirations to go do something on their own, that’s cool as long as they can co-exist with the group.”

While the boys’ comeback tour has not been as successful as their previous ones, it is clear they still have some devoted fans. Lacking former member Kevin Richardson, the boys’ most recent album Unbreakable was well received by critics and fans alike.

However, it seems that AJ’s solo career could take him beyond the realms of boybandom to forge a career as a thoroughly successful solo artist.

With pop tracks and heart-wrenching soulful tracks on the as-yet-untitled album, AJ is set to prove he has what it takes to succeed in an industry which enjoys victimising boyband ‘has-beens’. BANG Showbiz spoke to the musician on the day after The Backstreet Boys’ performance at London’s O2 arena, on the night of his solo performance at the IndigO2 – a more intimate concert venue inside the arena.

Q: How was the show with The Backstreet Boys at London’s O2 arena last night?
A: The show was amazing – it went off without a hitch. We added a lot of new s**t yesterday – pyro and stuff so it was like because we were doing it for this big webcast for MSN and we are probably going to make it into a DVD as well – we wanted to add a little flair to the show that wasn’t normally there. It went off without a hitch – nobody blew up, nobody caught fire! It was really good. There’s been moments when that’s happened.

Q: Why did you decided to go solo now?
A: I’m ready. A lot of people ask me, ‘Why didn’t you do it at the height of the Backstreet Boys fame?’ But I wasn’t ready then. I’m really glad I didn’t do it then because I was just getting into my drinking and drugging and I would have probably destroyed my solo career. I mean, I probably would have been in the press an awful lot but it wouldn’t have been positive and I want it to be positive and I want it to be right. I also like to think I would have learned as much as I did to write about. I wanted to be so honest with this record. I’m so psyched – I’m ready for this. I’m scared – I won’t lie. It’s kind of surreal and a little nerve-wracking because you are going to be up there on your own and you turn around a look behind you and there is nobody there – it’s all you!

Q: Have you taken it in a specifically different direction that the material you wrote with the Backstreet Boys?
A: Yes, it is definitely a different direction. There are some songs that could be a Backstreet Boys record but then when you hear the lyrical content you go, ‘OK, maybe not!’ But the melodies and the harmonies – they have that feel to them. For the most part the sound is completely different. It’s more rock, funk and soul with a pop feel. But it’s me tapping into the start of where I really want to go. I couldn’t go where I wanted to go on my first record because I think it would have taken people much too much by surprise. But for my second record, if this one does really well, I’ll do the kind of record I want to do which is straight up funk – anything from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Jimi Hendrix – straight up rock funk.

Q: Normally, the album precedes a tour, but you’ve done it the other way around. Why?
A: I think just because we have talked about when we are going to make another record. We have talked about the sound that we are trying to go for on this next Backstreet Boys record. I think it’s just the timing – it just happens to be what is best for me. We are going to wrap up this whole tour in September and then I am going to continue doing shows like this right up until the single release and then do a proper solo tour next year. But it just seems to be the right time.

Q: Have you found your solo music has had a different reception with American and European audiences?
A: I don’t know. I’ve done two US shows, at the House of Blues and at the Roxy, and they seemed to love it. There was a lot of European fans there but there was a lot of American fans there too, and everyone seems to really love it. They get it – they see that it’s me and that’s what I want them to see. And also they take something from it because it’s more real music as far as directly what I’m talking about. It’s more relatable and it’s just people – guys and girls. There were guys at my show, there were guys rocking out – I think it’s OK to like Backstreet Boys if you are a guy now and even more so, it is OK to like just good music! It doesn’t matter who is doing it – a guy or a girl. I spent probably about four years making this record. It started in one direction, and then I went in another direction, and then in another direction again. Everything just kind of fell into place.

Q: What do the other boys think of it – are they supportive of you?
A: They love it – they are in full support. They love the record and they think it’s going to do really, really well. After I cut a couple of songs I bounced it off a couple of the guys and said, ‘Hey, check this new one out, what do you think?’ They all have two particular songs across the board which are their favourites which are London and I Hate It When You’re Gone. They are going to be there tonight to watch the show. They haven’t seen the show yet so they don’t really know what they are in for. It’s a little different than a Backstreet Boys show.

Q: You started as an actor in the very beginning – have you got any plans to go back to that?
A: I would love to. I mean, obviously I want to put the cart before the horse, but I definitely want to get back into doing my musical theatre, and I actually want to get a flat here in London next year. I love London and I want to move here. I want to move down to the West End, to really be near the theatre district, and I definitely want to get back into acting again – I do. It’s something that I would really love to do. I don’t know how many parts I can get with all my tattoos though! I don’t want to be stereotyped as the prison guy or the bad guy.

Q: What do you think about Britney Spears starring on How I Met Your Mother?
A: I think her performance on the show will do well. I think as long as she can just keep her feet on the ground and just find herself again. She is a little lost but I know she can do it, I believe in her. I believe in anybody who wants to do something for themselves.

Q: Nick found a lot of fame in the US because of his reality show, House of Carters – would you ever consider doing a reality show?
A: I’m not a big fan of reality television. I can openly admit and accept that TV is becoming a great bit outlet with people nowadays, but the layout of a group like us – we have been doing what we’ve done for the past 15 years without it – we don’t need it. We don’t need to conform to doing a reality TV show. There is really not much to us to watch the four of us do a reality show – it would be kind of boring. There’s not drama, there’s not fighting and bickering – there’s nothing to watch. It would have to be made up. I do like stuff like A Hard Day’s Night that are more like a true documentary, or something like that that shows who you are there – real – it shows everything. That to me is more credible and more respectful. But I don’t know – reality television is the big thing right now. I think Nick learnt a lot about himself through his. He was kind of 50/50 doing it – part of it he hated, and part of it, he learned about himself. I don’t think he would ever do it again, but who knows?!

Q: You said the Backstreet Boys’ show last night was broadcast on MSN and you have found a lot of success with your solo material through YouTube. How much of an impact do you think the internet is having on the music industry?
A: It’s huge. I mean, you ask anybody who is an artist and more than likely in the next five years there’s not going to be any more record companies – period. There will be one big huge one that has every artist and iTunes and YouTube and the internet is going to run through that. Or you get artists who become their own record companies. There are people now who are just doing distribution deals with people – they are their record company. And that is what every artist has ever wanted when you really think about it – to have complete and utter creative control and all you really need is a great publicist, a great distribution company and a great marketing plan. The rest is you just doing what you love to do. You don’t need a record company nowadays anymore. And record companies are becoming obsolete – there’s nothing for them to do. But the internet – especially sites like YouTube and MySpace – is huge. MySpace now is going back to what it was originally meant for, which was for new artists in the music industry to promote themselves. You look at people like Ryan Tedder from One Republic – they were one of the biggest MySpace bands in the world and now look at them! They are doing quite well for themselves! But YouTube has been really great for me with my solo stuff because now I think a lot of fans will know a lot more of the words. [Source]