Backstreet Boys are back

Fans of the Backstreet Boys can stop worrying.

It's been more than a year and a half since their last album but the clean-cut five from Orlando, Fla., haven't changed.

They're older now -- but not too much.

"We're not trying to mature overnight into something that we're not," says Howie Dorough, 25. "We're trying to be better"

Their new album, Millennium, will be launched May 18 in New York, where they released their last record, Backstreet's Back. On the same day, half a million copies will go on sale in Canada.

The group, whose hits include Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), begins a European tour in June.

Then they'll take a break before starting a North American tour in September. Canadian dates have not been decided.

Dorough says the Backstreet Boys' music will evolve with their public. But millions of teenage girls don't need to fret about their idols.

"I don't think that there will be drastic changes," Dorough -- Howie D. to fans -- said in a telephone interview from Madrid. "We won't turn into an alternative band overnight.

"Our music is what it is. Our look is what we decide, but we always try to keep up with new trends, new styles."

So far, the group has sold 27 million albums -- more than two million of them in Canada.

The five singers -- Dorough, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean, and Nick Carter -- are known for their positive values. Three of them give thanks to God on their new album's cover notes .

"We're no angels. Far from it. But we had a good education and we have good values. We hope that's reflected in our music, in our image, and in our style."

Dorough adds that the group's new disc is a natural development from their self-titled first album and Backstreet's Back (1997).

"It's just more of a growth for us, the music and lyrically wise ... We always try to challenge ourselves to become better, tuning our craft, developing our ear, our style of music.

"We constantly try to grow to the next level. It's simply a little bit more mature-sounding."

Littrell and Richardson have writing credits on four of the Millennium numbers.

Littrell wrote Perfect Fan for his mother. The tune uses a 45-voice choir, mostly current or former students of his Kentucky high school.

Dorough says McLean is "if any, the most rebellious of us all, with his tattoos and his different colour of hair. But he's just growing, trying to find himself, what style he wants to go to."

Dorough says there's no question of anyone in the fivesome going solo.

"We're very happy together as a group. We may talk about it for the future, but not any time soon. We have fun on the road.

"We get on each others' nerves once in a while, here and there. But we talk about things, we communicate. As long as we do that, everything's cool."