article from U Magazine, 16 May 2000
Thanks to Melanie - meln_rulez@hotmail.com for this article!
This has got to be one of the biggest, best-est interview we've done for you. You voted them as best new band, best boy band and a lot of other bests, we're flooded with entries every time we have a Westlife competition. So here, we have for you, Mubashera Ashger's interview with none other than Shane, Kian, Nicky, Mark and Bryan ...Westlife.
How do your girlfriends feel about the female fans?
Shane: There's only one of us that has a girlfriend and that's Nicky.
(Nicky is going out with Georgina, the Irish Prime Minister's daughter).
Nicky: She's fine about it. We've been seeing each other for long before the band ...six years! So she's okay. I guess sometimes when she realises the enormity of our female fan-following or sees girls throwing themselves at us, she does get amused, but she knows that at the end of the day, I love her and nothing's gonna change that. She knows that being in this band is the best thing to ever happen to me. She knows it's something I've always wanted all my life, and she stands by me.
Do you guys ever get so stressed out with all the fame and pressure that you end up arguing with each other?
Shane: Nah! We're five guys who live together, we're like a family. So of course there will be silly arguments, but nothing major ever.
Kian: Like I'll get annoyed with Mark cause he's got his feet in my face or something on the tour bus, but never anything that's gotten very serious. That would never happen among us.
Nicky: We're really just five brothers living out our dream. There's no time to argue.
What about other boybands, do you regard them as rivals or healthy competition?
Nicky: there are a lot of bands out there, like Backstreet Boys and Boyzone who are just so successful. We'd like to emulate them and find that kind of success.
Shane: But that doesn't mean we want to be like them. Bands like Five for example, we wouldn't look up to them. But BSB are cool.
Kian: With Westlife, we try not to worry about other acts. As long as we do our thing and be us we'll be okay. If you spend too much time worrying about every other boyband, you'll waste so much time and energy that you won't have time to do positive things for your own band. That's how we think anyway. And it's worked for us so far. We'll keep doing our best to bring out good music. The thing with this business is the minute you get too comfortable or take a break, there's always someone who might be better than you. So instead of worrying we'd rather spend that time, trying to better ourselves.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Bryan: We're all big Michael Jackson fans, we love Bryan Adams, Backstreet Boys...
Shane: we grew up listening to Take That and then Boyzone. That's sorta what made us want to do this thing in the first place.
Do the comparisons to Boyzone ever bother you?
Shane: No we don't let it affect us too much. Besides it's never bad to be compared to a band like Boyzone.
Mark: When we started off everyone compared us to BZ, now though it doesn't happen too often. Besides, in BZ, only Ronan and Stephen are the two in the limelight, with Westlife, we're a five piece band. All of us contribute to the band equally. We don't have like a lead singer or anything. There is no star in the band. We're like a basketball team. If even one person's missing, the band won't be able to function.
Shane: If you're in a boyband the comparisons are inevitable. Just because both BZ and us are from Ireland, people compare us. It's the same with BSB. People compare them to N Sync all the time cause they're both American boybands with five members each.
Are you all working on any new material, guys?
Shane: We're on a nine week tour right now, then in summer we'll start recording our second album. By the first week of October we should have the first single out from our second album, and by the third week the album should be out as well. Then from Jan next year we'll be on our world tour. We know what we're gonna be doing till April 18.
Nicky: And we'll definitely come back to Dubai. That's for sure.
With your second album, have you ever thought of changing your sound?
Shane: The reason Westlife is so popular is because we have a particular style to our music that is unique. It's very ballad-based. And that's one thing we never want to change. We could never become a dance act or do some rap in our music.
A lot of boybands are not allowed to do what they want to do, because their management lays down strict rules for them. Does that apply to Westlife as well?
Kian: So many people believe its like that with us, except that it isn't. Sometime back there were all these rumours that we weren't allowed to get married or even have girlfriends while we're in the band, but Nicky's going out with his lady for six years now. If we wanna do something we will. Like smoking for example. People say we don't smoke because we're not allowed to. The truth is, if we wanna smoke we will. The only reason we don't smoke is because we don't wanna, not because we've been told not to.
Bryan: Of course because we're role models to children, there are certain things we don't wanna rub into people's faces.
Shane: We're not particularly clean cut and overly goody- goody, but we're not completely rock 'n' roll either.
Which artists would you most like to collaborate with?
Mark: All of us would like to do something with Michael Jackson or Bryan Adams.
Shane: And maybe at some point we will. Like when we started off, we were a support act for Boyzone, and now, God bless, we have our own support act most of the time.
So who would you want as your support act then?
Shane (giggling): Backstreet Boys!! We wanna be that big!