By Aidin Vaziri

The members of America's hottest-selling boy band are causing quite a scene in an Orlando hotel room. Shouting down cell phones, straddling furniture, and generally goofing around, they hardly fit the picture of the well-mannered teen stars the public thinks it knows.

Then again, 'NSync deserves a little time to let loose. Putting last year's record industry legal wrangles behind them, the band members were preparing for the release of their second album, No Strings Attached, with an onslaught of television appearances, a massive spring tour, and a feature length film, which begins production in August. We cornered Lance Bass, 20, for a quick conversation about the state of 'NSync.

CDNOW: You guys always seem to be on MTV with screaming girls and everything, and that can make an average guy jealous.

Lance Bass: Oh, please. Don't be [laughs].

Don't you just make videos and talk to Teen People all day?

That's over half of it.

Lance Bass

That seems pretty easy.

Not at all. I had no clue how hard it really was until I started promoting [the record]. I really didn't expect this much. I thought we could just sing, and that would be it, but it's not.

Do you ever have an off day?

We never get any off days.

What about mental off days, where you want to walk around in your underwear and punch people in the face?

Oh, of course. There will be days where you haven't slept in three days, you've been in three different countries, and sometimes you'll just lose it.

How have you guys not killed each other after all this time?

We've been together so long; we're really like brothers. Brothers have their disputes here and there, but we love each other, and that's where it is. You always make up.

What's the longest fight you ever had?

Oh, no more than 24 hours.

"There will be days where you haven't slept in three days � and sometimes you'll just lose it."

When you were going through all the legal stuff last year, did you consider breaking up?

No. That only brought us closer together. We really became closer the whole last year with the lawsuit.

What do you guys do for fun?

We like to go chill and relax. We do normal things like jet-skiing or scuba-diving, that kind of stuff. Or we just hang with our friends. Go to a club and have fun.

What is the first thing you're going to do when you turn 21?

It's not going to change much. I do what I want to do anyway.

People must not check your ID.

Yeah, they don't really care [laughs].

Remember when the Backstreet Boys were on MTV, and they called 'NSync a bunch of copycats?

Yeah, we saw that.

What do you have to say about that?

It's not true. It's totally not true. They totally contradicted themselves in that whole interview. We won't go deeper than that, but it's sad.

Did they hurt your feelings?

We were kind of hurt by it because we thought they had no beef.

Are you a Backstreet Boys fan?

We totally respect those guys. We think they're great and that they do a great job at what they do. But, with us, we don't get to look at what other people are doing. We're so focused on what we're doing that if you start looking at other groups, you start worrying about things like that. We don't have time for that. I mean, why look behind you when you're going forward?

The thing is, so many people hate all of you guys, that you would be better off just sticking together.

Exactly. But, you know, I don't know. I can't get into their heads. I don't know their deal. But it just made them look bad, and they totally lost a lot of respect from a lot of people.

Everyone knows how the boy-band story ends. Are you worried about being washed-up like one of those New Kids on the Block guys?

You know, we have been compared to so many different groups, but we are so different from a lot of groups that are out there. The main thing is, we put ourselves together. We're a vocal group. We're not put together by a company to make money. This is all about the music, and we've already surpassed what anyone thought possible.

"When we first got together, they were like, 'You're going to be broken up in three years.'"

In what ways?

When we first got together, they were like, "You're going to be broken up in three years. You're going to change." Now we've been together for five years; it's still going strong with probably the biggest album of our career coming up. We stay positive. It's like a big family.

Yeah, but how are you going to avoid the backlash?

We try to keep things different and challenge ourselves with different projects. I think that makes a group stick together. We look to groups like the Rolling Stones and the Bee Gees, who are still together and doing it. We try to see what they did. What they did is keep challenging themselves by doing different stuff. That's hopefully what we're going to do.

You're going to disappoint a lot of young girls if you change your act.

Your fans are going to grow up with you. It's just like what happened with the Beatles. They came out, and they had the younger generation screaming their heads off. Everyone was like, "That's stupid. It's pop. They're a boy band." But then, as they lasted, they got a broader audience. Their fans grew up with them. They became respected, but they kept doing the same music.

What?!

We just have to live through it, and we have to last. We just have to prove to everyone that we're going to be around for long time.