Spice boys: Marilyn's Boys, a pop quintet from Germany, talk about making their mark as the first all-gay boy band. (music).

"Which Backstreet Boy Is Gay?"--that Internet parody of the band's "I Want It That Way"--is the song on my mind when I meet Marilyn's Boys, because here the question is irrelevant. They're all gay.

"Our record company came up with the idea," says 26-year-old Canadian Yves Steinhauer. "The gay market has always been important for boy bands, and there's a lot of talent in the gay community. It was important that we all had musical backgrounds."

Beginning last summer, auditions were held in five major German cities, followed by a final casting in August in front of press and a nightclub audience. "That day was one big drill in singing and dancing," remembers Yves, whose nickname is "Mr. Fitness" because of his bodybuilding interests. "They wanted to see how far they could push us."

In addition to Yves, the winners were London-born piano player Jeremy Golledge, 25, who's also a flight attendant; Ruan Ratnatunga, 25, who is partly of Sri Lankan heritage; ex-hairdresser Rico Hoffmann, 23, from Cologne; and 21-year-old Andrim Emini, whose parents are Macedonian. In January the quintet released their first single, "I Give You the Stars," followed by promotional appearances and touring as the opening act for popular German singer Jeanette.

The boys say that homophobia hasn't been a problem so far. "We were a bit nervous a few weeks ago when we played in a city with a very macho vibe," says Jeremy. "But afterwards a bunch of straight 16-year-old guys came up, put their arms around us, and told us how good we were." Girls adore them too, he adds: "Eighty to ninety percent of our fans are straight females. We love it."

"Especially all the teddy bears they give us," laughs Andrim.

"There is a fair amount of gay groupies around," adds Yves. "One of them stood waiting for four hours today. We finally let him in to talk to him."

But do these five young, good-looking gay men in the same band need any groupies? Can't they just date one another? "The sexuality is gone," says Jeremy. We feel like cousins or brothers by now."

The next major event on the boys' schedule is marketing the second single, Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff." An album will follow at the end of summer. "We're trying to stay away from the traditional boy-band format," says Yves. "There's some pop in there but also R&B, some Kylie disco, and a few '70s covers. And if the album goes well, we're hoping to come over for a tour in the States."

Can we expect a lesbian Destiny's Child after this, then? "But they already have Tatu, the Russian group," says Yves, citing the teen girl duo with the worldwide hit "All the Things She Said." "Though maybe they weren't so lesbian after all," he adds, alluding to continuing press speculation that the girls' love affair is a marketing stunt. "But we're all 100% gay. And that's a promise."

Billing is an international freelance writer based in Berlin.