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My first official
guest on "Kid's Couch" is
'A.J.' of the Backstreet Boys!
AJ McLean talks about the end of the Backstreet Boys latest tour, his upcoming
solo concert as his alter-ego Johnny Suede and he even grants us the first-ever
interview with Johnny Suede.
KID CRUZ: Hi welcome back, welcome back. The tour is done, right?
AJ: It’s officially done. We finished yesterday in Ft. Lauderdale it was two great shows. I’m really glad and so are the rest of the guys that we got a chance to, you know, go back and redo the shows since the whole tornado thing happened and we couldn’t actually do it…or a hurricane, I’m sorry. But you know, it was a great way to end the show. I got drenched with super-soakers last night, so you know…
KID CRUZ: Did someone hand them to the crew, the dancers, or the other guys got you with the super-soakers?
AJ: No, the dancers, the guys, our security cause usually at the end of our shows, I soak the audience and I’ve got my security a couple of times so payback was not good for me last night. I got drenched!
KID CRUZ: (Laughs)That’s funny. Well good for you! We’re going to be talking here in a couple of minutes about a show you have coming up, which is going to be on your birthday.
AJ: On my birthday, January 9.
KID CRUZ: With a friend of yours named Johnny Suede. (Laughs)
AJ: Yes sir!
KID CRUZ: This is Kid Cruz with AJ from the Backstreet Boys.
AJ: What’s up?
KID CRUZ: We’re talking about a show you have coming up on your birthday.
AJ: On my birthday.
KID CRUZ: This is cool. Did you specifically plan it to be on your birthday or did it just happen that way?
AJ: Yeah, I was trying to do it sometime towards the middle of January, but I said ‘you know what, why not do it on my birthday? I could be with everybody hopefully some of the guys will come down and if they wanna come hang out you know afterwards for my birthday’ and whatnot and you know, and I can be with my band and everybody and just have a good birthday. I mean, I’m only 22, so it’s not as cool as 21 you know, it’s aaagghhhh. No one really cares…it’s a birthday.
KID CRUZ: But still, you know, like the first 25 birthdays are really, really cool so you gotta make the most of each and every one.
AJ: Exactly…I’m gonna try.
KID CRUZ: To see AJ perform as um…
AJ: Johnny Suede
KID CRUZ: Johnny Suede. Now, you have to explain it to everybody what’s going on. AJ’s doing this thing as Johnny Suede. Now ,what did Johnny Suede come from? What’s that all about?
AJ: (clears throat) Johnny Suede came from a… At the very beginning of this tour back in Nashville in May when we were in Rehearsals, I was told by one of my one of my members of my band to go check out this clothing store. I went and checked it out and bought this jacket and on the inside of the jacket, it had Johnny Suede and…but you know… it was something that kinda fit my whole personality I guess cause he told me to go pick it out cause he thought I would like it you know and I just kinda developed this character based off of Johnny Suede because everybody knows “Bone” and “Bone” is more Backstreet Boys related and this is something kinda like an alter ego I guess I have so you know it’s just like a… He’s just a British pop fiend, just an off the wall crazy guy. He’s got no inhibitions, he’s just off the wall. He makes…he makes me look bad so you know…
KID CRUZ: Oh, ok, so you just needed someone to blame this all on.
AJ: Exactly. So now for all the bad things I’ve done, I’ll say, ‘Oh Johnny did it, it wasn’t me I promise.’
KID CRUZ: There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in your head I’ll tell you that for sure
AJ: Yeah, yeah, dude (Laughs)
KID CRUZ: I’m just learning that. All the years that I’ve known you off and on, it’s taking me a while.
AJ: I need help man!! (Laughs)
KID CRUZ: So, Johnny Suede apparently is going to be dropping by in a little while.
AJ: Yeah, he is. He’s gonna come by and talk to everybody and say what’s up and a…
KID CRUZ: All the money and all the proceeds will be going to VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, which is incredible, and they’re gonna use this concert as a big kick-off to open up a Orlando branch possibly for Save the Music.
AJ: Yup–yup.
KID CRUZ: That’s gonna be fantastic. Here’s my question and I’ll ask Johnny when he gets here later. I feel silly saying that but… Now, what does Johnny Suede like to perform? Does he care about Backstreet Boys songs or what?
AJ: No, I mean he is probably gonna do a couple a Backstreet Boys’ songs but he’s not going to do them the traditional way, like a we’re gonna flip the script on a… I’ll give away one song we’re gonna do “Hey Mr. DJ”, but we’re gonna do it as a rock version instead of as a kinda reggae version, so you know he’s just gonna do a whole bunch of different types of …a couple of cover tunes here and there and a couple of originals and then a song that I wrote, so you know it’ll be something different!
KID CRUZ: Wow, this is very cool. Will there be an opening act for Johnny Suede? How’s that gonna work out?
AJ: Oh yes, actually there’s going to be a couple of opening acts. One our saxophone player, Mindy Abair, is going to be opening up and on top of which I’m gonna have EYC. My boys are gonna open up.
KID CRUZ: Oh really?
AJ: And then we might do a couple of things together but you’ll see everything from maybe if I have the nerve to let Johnny do a little bit of moshing, maybe we’ll do some moshing. Maybe we’ll smash some guitars on stage…
KID CRUZ: This is gonna be cool, dude. This is gonna be a great time
AJ: Have a major riot, man…it’s gonna be a lot of good
PART 2
KID CRUZ: Hey Johnny Suede is here. How are you Johnny?
JOHNNY SUEDE: Doing just fine, mate, I’m doing just fine
KID CRUZ: Hey what’s going on?
JOHNNY SUEDE: Same ol’ thing, different day, man!
KID CRUZ: I like your jacket
JOHNNY SUEDE: Ahh, thank you.
KID CRUZ: Nice clothing you have.
JOHNNY SUEDE: I appreciate it, man, thank you
KID CRUZ: So, where do you get your style? Where do you buy most of your clothes? You’re a flashy kinda guy, dude. You’re pretty slick here.
JOHNNY SUEDE: I try to be man, but um…jeez I’ve shopped in LA, shopped Miami, shopped a little bit here in Orlando, but there’s really not a whole lot to really shop here. I mean, there’s a lot of tourists like me here, so it’s not really my kinda gig, man.
KID CRUZ: So, you’re tight with AJ from Backstreet Boys?
JOHNNY SUEDE: That’s my boy, man
KID CRUZ: So, are you tight with any of the other guys?
JOHNNY SUEDE: I’ve really not really been that close with the rest of the guys. I’ve only met like Kevin and Howie once or twice, but we all went out had a nice blast at a couple of clubs when the rest of the guys were on tour. But AJ and I just kinda clicked, man, he’s got my same kinda vibe except he’s from one side of the, you know, country or whatever you wanna call it, man, and, you know, and I’m on my side, so it’s great. I’m happy.
KID CRUZ: So, you’re gonna be performing at Hard Rock Live on Sunday, January 9 to benefit VH1’s Save the Music and that’s gonna be that’s AJ’s birthday. Do you guys share the same birthday? Or are you just coming out to help him celebrate? Or is it your birthday as well?
JOHNNY SUEDE: We actually do. We found that in common when I was first, you know, when I first met the man. He’s a great bloke. He’s a really nice guy, but you know he’s a little bit younger than me, so he’s not really sure what to do, you know. I can show him some of the ropes about being a good performer and stuff cause I’ve been doing it for a lot longer then he has, but, you know, I think he’s doing a pretty good job with the rest of the guys. He can hang.
KID CRUZ: So that’s why this kid, AJ’s become so twisted cause he hangs out with you wild older people…
JOHNNY SUEDE: It’s probably because, yeah….it’s all my fault, man, but you know I take the blame for everything anyways, you know, so it’s alright. It’s cool.
KID CRUZ: I understand. So well that’s interesting. We’ll see if any of the other guys come out to, you know, if any of the other Backstreet Boys come out to support you or see who shows up. And again who’s gonna be opening the show? Did you hand pick some opening acts?
JOHNNY SUEDE: Well, I talked to AJ about it a couple of times before and he was telling me about EYC, who opened up for the Boys for their US tour and he talked about his keyboard, saxophone, and percussionist, Mindy Abair, who is also a solo artist and she’s going to open up and also a group from Tampa called PYT, so you know it’s gonna be a hype show. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. You better be there, man, or I’m gonna come after you… I’m serious.
KID CRUZ: I promise I’ll be there. I’m gonna be there to support AJ cause it’s actually, you know, I don’t wanna steal his spotlight, but it’s close to my birthday which is like three or four days after that. So it’ll be like a big celebration. I’ll be on stage...we’ll have good time!
JOHNNY SUEDE: Well, there you go. Well, I’ll be there with bells on, you know it.