The real preview of tonight's New Kids on the Block show at Nassau Coliseum is in the paper today, but the guys had some extra stuff to say about work when we chatted after their recent appearance on "The View."
What's the main thing that's changed with the group since the last tour in 1994?
Donnie Wahlberg: What hasn’t changed? On a personal level, I think we’ve all developed a work ethic while we were away. When we were a group before, there were five of us, so there was always someone to lean on. When you go off on your own, it’s just you. Whether it’s Jon sellling condos or Jordan doing a solo album and performing onstage. When you’re alone, if you fail when it’s just you, you fail. I think our individual work ethics have improved tremendously.
Jordan Knight: A lot of people when they interview us, they think we stopped when the New Kids stopped. Maybe none of us achieved the frenzy that the New Kids created but that doesn’t mean that we weren’t out there learning and growing. I think each of us had our best growth while we were all away. We’re each bringing that growth to the table so the group is that much stronger today than it was back in the day.
What should fans expect at the show?
Jonathan Knight: They should be prepared to get it all – it’s going to be an eargasm, eyegasm, orgasm, you name it. It’s exciting. We’re really pulling out all the stops and we’ve done a good job mixing the old with new, the fast with slow. The decades of influences we have to draw on. We can go all the way back to Frank Sinatra and Al Jolson, the Motown sound and Philly soul and even the sounds. And we can even incorporate today. We can borrow stuff from Chris Brown and incorporate it with stuff we borrowed from The Osmonds. We have years and years of experience that we can draw on. We’ll mix it up. Sometimes we’ll spice them up a little bit, but we don’t want to make it too different. To really change it would be a downer for them.
Joey McIntyre (yelling from across the room): I just read your review. You just tanked your whole career, man. You said our album was good.
[I didn't get the chance to answer, but it's OK, Joey. "The Block" is good. And, obviously, my career has been in the tank for years.]
PHOTO: New Kids on the Block by Olaf Heine for Interscope Records