THUNDER BAY - Backstreet’s back, all right. Nick Carter, the larger than life international pop-star who has played sold-out arenas around the world, will be bringing his solo material, and a few Backstreet Boys favourites, to a more intimate setting for fans in Thunder Bay.
Carter, who rose to fame with the chart-topping boy band, Backstreet Boys, is touring Canada in support of his latest solo album, All American. Carter will be bringing what he calls a much more intimate experience to Crocks on Nov. 14.
“I have more freedom as a solo artist and I like to do that because I can go to places that we wouldn’t necessarily go,” Carter said in an interview with the Thunder Bay Source. “They hide a lot of those fans that we have in those places. Canada is one of those places that I personally love because it has always been a place that has shown so much love to the Backstreet Boys. As an artist, I love being able to have that freedom.”
All American is Carter’s third solo effort and it offers an eclectic mix of musical genres, from pop, to rock, to country.
“As a vocalist, I can sing on anything, R&B, rock, country,” Carter said. “But I just like to have music, as an individual, that is almost broken down into the four or three elements, just the bass, drum, and guitar.”
Carter said that offering up smaller shows with 500 to 1000 people provides him with an opportunity to reflect on his musical beginnings.
“It’s just so much fun,” he said. “In a lot of ways, it’s like the old fashioned rock band approach that I take. It humbles me in a lot of ways and reminds me of what it was like in the beginning.”
Carter will be performing with a five piece band on his 14-stop tour that is taking him from North Bay, Ont. to Victoria. Audiences can expect to hear songs from Carter’s solo work, covers, and a few Backstreet Boys hits. But what Carter enjoys most about the smaller venues, is being able to interact with fans up close.
“You get to see Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys in a different light that you normally wouldn’t see,” he said. “You are watching me outside of the five guys, but it’s something about those venues that you are able to see every single audience member and to look in their eyes and say hi to them.”
At only 13-years-old, Carter formed the five-member group, Backstreet Boys, in 1993. The group rose to international fame throughout the 90s with chart topping albums and sold-out shows around the world.
It was a whirlwind experience for the young singer and Carter has experienced his own share of ups and downs throughout his more than 20 years in the music industry. But the now 36-year-old father said he wouldn’t change a thing.
“If I had the opportunity I would just say, do it all again,” he said. “I love where I’m at right now. I’m very fortunate, I’m very happy. My story is my story and I’m very proud of that story, proud of my scars. They have given me layers, so I wouldn’t change anything.”
Carter’s musical roots are never very far away. The Backstreet Boys are still recording, touring, and preparing for a residency in Las Vegas next spring.
“I am a Backstreet Boy, I will always go to the mothership,” Carter said. “I am looking forward to always coming back to the group and doing things. Our Vegas residency is so exciting because we can take our greatest hits and catalogue and bring them to a place that right now is so hot.”
Before the mothership lands in Vegas, fans can see one of the Backstreet Boys in Thunder Bay on Nov. 14 and Carter promises that it will be unlike any show you’ve ever seen, for past fans and new fans alike.
“It’s just so much energy, we rock out, we laugh, we cry,” he said. “It’s a great show from top to bottom and it’s a night out with me in a more intimate environment that gives you an opportunity to say hi to me, to look me in the eyes, for me to look you in the eyes, and to just be close to me.”
