Boston Herald: New Kids still rule the block

Danny was interviewed in a recent article from the Boston Herald about NKOTB's continued success.

New Kids still rule the block

New Kids on the Block thought they couldn’t get any bigger.

In 1989, the Boston boy band sold out arenas and cornered the market on Trapper Keepers. A quarter century later, the New Kids have lost their notebook dominance, but the coming arena tour will top ’89’s. It will also top their 2008 and 2011 tours.

When NKOTB reunited in 2008, they headlined the TD Garden. In 2011, they packed the Garden and Fenway Park 
a few days apart. This summer, the guys host their fifth annual cruise, play three shows at Mohegan Sun Arena and return to Boston for back-to-back Garden gigs.

“I’m shocked it’s still at this level,” Danny Wood said from his adopted home of Miami. “When you’re away for 15 years and you’re a pop group, you don’t know what to expect. Pop changes so fast, and it’s a young man’s game. I didn’t expect the first reunion to be so big. So to be playing three Mohegan Sun shows when we usually play one, that’s amazing.”

The New Kids’ career came crashing down in 1994 when the “Face the Music” album bombed. The guys went their separate ways. Between the five, they released a dozen solo albums, but few paid the music any attention. The boy band craze had been hijacked by Backstreet Boys, ’N Sync, 98 Degrees and other young talents.

But you always remember your first love — especially if your first love was cutie Jordan Knight or bad boy Donnie Wahlberg.

The New Kids kept the love flowing with a 2011 co-headlining tour with the Backstreet Boys. This summer’s “The Package Tour” features the New Kids with a reunited 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men.

Wood says the key to keeping fans in those stadium seats is creating a fresh experience on every tour.

“We’ve talked for a while about getting Boyz II Men on tour with us because we know they’ll work great with us,” Wood said. “We share management with Nick Lachey, so when we heard 98 Degrees was reuniting, we knew we had the perfect third band for this tour.”

Ticket sales have been surprising. Demand for a second reunion album is astounding — NKOTB’s sixth record, “10,” comes out Tuesday.

The group’s last disc, 2008’s “The Block,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. With little competition from next week’s releases, there’s a slim chance “10” could earn the top spot.

Chart dominance is nice. But even if the album only squeaks into the Top 10, it proves New Kids fans aren’t fueled wholly by nostalgia.

“We did these town hall type events last year, and the first question everyone had was, ‘When’s the new album coming?’” Wood said. “We weren’t even thinking new album until people asked for it.”

Give the people what they want — even if it means spending your 40s performing, rehearsing and riding on a bus for days on end. Not that Wood’s complaining.

“We sing and dance for a living,” he said. “I have friends in Boston who are bricklayers. That’s work. We never look on our careers as work.”

Tour dates and tickets for New Kids on the Block TD Garden and Mohegan Sun shows at nkotb.com.