Joining one of the biggist boy bands in the world for a day is the stuff dreams
are made of. Isn't it? TOTP discovers that being the sixth member of WESTLIFE is
all very glamorous and exciting but no one said it would be such hard work!
Picture this: Dublin international Airport, 10am, Valentine's Day. As the
Westlife Jet, direct from Germany, touches down, we're all feeling a little
bleary-eyed. There's no time for dozing though - ahead lies a gruelling day of
interviews and photo calls topped of a headlining performance for The Children
Concert at Dublin's most famous venue, The Point!
The arrivals lounge is awash with screaming fans brandishing cameras, ´Westlife
Rock´ banners and TOTP poster mags, all ready for signing. Surely that's the
last thing you need when you've been up since 3.45am with just two hours sleep
under your belt? "It can be difficult if we're really tired and there are loads
of fans waiting," explains Bryan, "but once we see them it gives us a bit of a
buzz."
But what if you're looking really rough? "Well, we're usually too tired to
care," utters a pooped Nicky. "We always make an effort to smile and give as
good as we can, but we're not going to run and fix ourselves up. It wouldn't be
so bad if we never had to see the pictures, but some of the fans give you a copy
and you look at it and it's like..." (gasp of horror).
And with that we swoop through the airport. And we mean swoop. "My feet barely
touched the ground!" Kian gasps as we fall into the pop star Previa waiting to
whisk us to our hotel. We quickly settle in and as the guys wade through their
respective mountains of Valentine's cards and gifts we seize the precious moment
for a proper chat.
SO IS THIS JET SET LIFE ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE?
N: It's great to travel but the last few weeks have been a bit mad. We've been
to LA, New York and South Americ and the ten-hour flights take their toll. At
one point we worked a 40-hour day.
B: After a while you start to get homesick.
N: It's mad to look at a map of the world and say we've pretty much travelled to
every part of it considering the fact that a year ago we hadn't been
anywhere.
YOU MUST WAKE UP SOME MORNING AND THINK, "I CAN'T DO THIS TODAY".
K: Sometimes, especially if you're really jetlagged, you're just desperate to
get back to sleep and you think physically, you can't do it. But somehow we
always manage.
N: It is a little daunting to think we've actually got a schdule which pretty
much takes us up to April next year.
HOW DO YOU COPE WITH ALL THE EARLY STARTS?
M: Well, some of us don't cope with them. I'm just terrible. It's not a
deliberate thing. I'm just crap in the mornings. I was always late every day
for school. It's just the way I am.
N: The only time he gets up is when we're travelling a long distance un a car
cos the first one down always gets first pick of the seats. Apart from that
he's terrible.
SO WOULD YOU SAY YOU'RE THE HARDEST WORKING BAND IN POP?
M: I'd say we were definitely strong contenders. A lot of bands have a schedule
similar to ours - bands that have hit that certain level of success when it's
just non - stop.
WHICH BANDS HAVE IT THE EASIEST THEN?
B: Boyzone!
N: The Spice Girls!
M: Oh yeah. All the Spice Girls do these days is shor in Gucci and throw a
concert every 12 months! I'm only joking girls, by the way!
B: Michael Jackson's got a pretty esy time of at the moment and I believe Elvis
is pretty relaxed too, heh-heh!
HAS THERE EVER BEEN A TIME WHEN YOU'VE FORGOTTEN WHICH COUNTRY YOU WERE IN?
M: We were appearing live on MTV Select in Brazil and the interviewer asked us
something about football and i said i wanted to get the Mexican trainig
tracksuit and everyone just looked at me. i honestly Thought we were in
Mexico!
N: I remember waking up in the middle of the night one time and I swear I didn't
know where I was. I Grabbed my mobile phone to call Georgina and it was like
12.30pm in Dublin. I was like, ´Where i am? What am I doing?´ She was
laughing, telling me to relax and that I was in Poland. It was really freaky.
IS IT THE TIMES WHEN YOU'RE REALLY TIRED AND STRESSED OUT YOU'RE MOST LIKELY
ARGUE?
B: We have our little niggles about someone sitting in our seat and stuff but we
never properly argue or fight. We're normally too tired to fight most of the
time anyway!
HOW MUCH LONGER CAN YOU KEEP GOING LIKE THIS?
B: Another 20 minutes, tops!
M: At the end of the day we're just ordinary people, so of course we're going to
get stressed being away from home so much, and sometimes we do snap. But then
you sit back and realise how lucky you are.
Just as we start to relax we arrive at the Berkley Court Hotel, one of Dublin's
finest, which has seen names as Jacko and Leonardo DiCaprio roll into its
reception. Today however it's merly the venue for a couple of interviews and a
phot shoot for TOTP. After a quick freshen-up, the boys click into True
Professionals mode and the wholecaboodle is wrapped in just under two hours.
There's no rest for the wicked cos it's straight off to rehearsals at The Point.
But while we have a spare second...
WHAT'S THE WORST THING ABOUT BEING IN WESTLIFE?
S: All the early starts. Bein away from home can get you down too. Sometimes
you're on the other side of the world and all you want is to be at home with
your family and a nice cup of tea.
M: Having to shave every single day is pretty bad too. I hate it, especially cos
I'm so terrible at getting up in the morning, I usually only have five
minutes to do it and end up with a slashed face, dripping with blood!
N: Interview can be pretty bad sometimes if you're doing, like, 40 of them in a
row. It's fine in Britain and Ireland cos there's usually a theme or a topic,
but elsewhere when they start asking you the basics, we end up making stuff
up just to keep ourselves amused.
B: To start with we used to fight over who did the interviews cos we all wanted
to. Now we're only too glad to let one of the others do it! (Unless it's
TOTP, of course!)
DO YOU EVER FEEL YOU DON'T REALLY NEED TO DO THEM ANYMORE?
S: The day we feel that way is the day we become too big for our boots. The way
we feel is that we're still babies in this industry. We've only been going
for just over a year and so for us o start thinking that way would be mad. It
doesn't matter how many interviews you do, one more is always going to help
you. Even if it turns out to be a bad interview, there's no such thing as bad
publicity.
DO YOU STILL FEEL EXCITED ABOUT APPEARING ON FRONT COVERS?
S: Of course! I can't wait to see how this cover turns out. I'm really looking
forward to running into the shop and buying it.
N: I remember the first time we ever saw ourselves in a magazine... it was TOTP
in fact.
K: We were in ´Everyone's Talking About´ and it was when we were still called
Westside.
N: We were just so chuffed! You never forget that buzz.
We arrive at The Point where preparations are fully under way for this evening's
star-studded ChildLine benefit gig. The Westlife rehearsal goes without a hitch
so the band have a brief rest period and the chance to grab some well-earned
grub - a pretty darned good chiken tikka and rice as turns out. This is swiftly
washed down with the press conference which sees the guys besieged by
practically every newspaper, radio station and telly program in Ireland - it's
enough to give Pavarotti indigestion!
AREN'T PRESS CONFERENCES JUST A WEE BIT SCARY THOUGH?
M: Oh no, they're excellent. It's almost like walking up the red carpet. they
make yoe feel really important.
B: Do you remember the one we did in Taiwan? It was fantastic. it was called
´Get to know Westlife´ and we were all in separate booths. we had these pieces
of cards and they'd ask us questions like ´Who's the laziest?´ and we'd have
to write the answers on the card. It worked so well! They got so much out of
us, stuff we normally wouldn't have said.
S: By the end of it Bryan was doing impressions of me in front of the whole
crowd. It was so funny!
YOU MUST HAVE BEEN ASKED SOME PRETTY BAD QUESTIONS IN YOUR TIME?
K: Questions referring to virginity are always embarrassing and a bit too
personal.
S: One of the first questions we were ever asked in Germany was about sex.
M: It's just a bit disrespectful really cos these people don't know us and
that's the first thing they ask. Can you imagine just going up to somebody in
a club and asking, ´So when was the first time you had sex?´
S: Any question relating to stuff like that we just don't answer. It's too
personal.
M: The thing is though, in places like Germany it's perfet normal to talk about
stuff like that. I'll never forget opening a teen magazine in Holland and
seeing pictures of naked teenagers in it. You'd never see that in the UK or
Ireland.
S: It's not that we're prudes or anything, we just have respect for people's
privacy.
DO YOU FEEL AS IF PEOPLE ARE WATCHING YOU THE WHOLE TIME?
B: It just comes back to being carefil. The papers go mad if they see us talking
to a girl. I've lost track of the number of people I've been linked with.
S: Bryan's been getting a real hammering about girls ion the press recently.
M: It's so unfair though.
B: The best example was when we where at ´Titanic´ one night and I was talking
to Jamie from Hepburn and her boyfrind. But of course, the story the next day
was that I was going out with her!
S: The thing is it's really affected him. The poor fella's now afraid to meet
any girl.
B: It's though cos I'm afraid to approach girls and girls from other bands don't
talk to us cos they're scared of us being linked. But it's an aspect of the
business we're in and we have to accept it.
M: People must think Bryan's a complete slapper and he so isn't! Please set the
story straight once and for all. (Consider it's done!)
SO DOES THIS JOB MAKE YOU PARANOID?
K: Absolutely cos people are always looking at you. It got so bad at one point I
actually thought someone had tapped my phone. Then suddenly I just thought,
´As if´!
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF NICKY YOU'RE ALL SINGLE. DO YOU WORRY YOU WON'T FIND TIME
TO SET THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE?
S: It probably won't happen for a few years.
K: The situation for the four of us is very difficult when we meet a girl. First
of all we don't know if they like us for who we are or for what we are. And
if you're away for, like, the next four months, how are you going to get the
chance to get to know them? Life is so lonely sometimes.
S: You sometimes just get this urge to go out and go rampant, have a drink and
be daft.
M: Just like every other person our age.
S: The thing is we can't do it because of who we are and because we probably
have to get up at the crack of dawn the next day.
K: It's actually really unfair cos if you took your average 19-year-old guy from
Sligo and tell him he couldn't go out, have a few beers and pull a girl
because of his job, he'd think you were mad!
M: It's scary to think we attract that kind of attention and you could be fooled
by a girl who could be the best actress in the world. You've certainly got to
be a good judge of character to do this job, definitely.
With every second of today's schedule accounted for the next stop is a meet and
greet with the fans. After all, they're the reason we're all here and it also
provides the perfect opportunity to find out what it is about these five Irish
chappies that has gotten under everyone's skin...
Noelle, 18: I love Westlife cos their voices are absolutely devine and they're
such sweet guys. The fact that they're are sexy, Irish guys doesn't do them any
harm either. They're absolutely wonderful!
Sinéad, 15: They're such talented guys with brilliant voices but they're still
really down-to-earth. They're all gorgeous and Nicky's my definitely favourite.
Susan, 12: Westlife are better singers and better looking than all the other boy
bands. Despite the fact he's got a girlfriend Nicky's still my favourite. He's
just gorgeous.
Rosanna, 13: Bryan is my favourite cos he's so good-looking and also really nice
and friendly. He's even better than I could have hoped for in the flesh.
By now the kick-off time for the is approaching, but Westlife have Quite a wait
ahead of them. As the headlining act they've earned the honour of performing
last, a feat even more incredible considering that at the same event last year,
Westside were the opening, warm-up act!
The boys make use of their valuable free time (if you can call it that) by
chilling out bachstage and chatting to the other acts, in between picking their
outfits and having the old make-up touched up! Somehow they also manage to
squeeze in a pep talk from head Westlife honcho, manager Louis Walsh, before we
nab the frantic fivesome again...
SO APART FROM STAMINA WHAT OTHER ESSENTIAL QUALITIES WOULD A SIXTH MEMBER NEED?
K: Well, the voice is the main thing. You have to be able to sing.
S: It's not that we can sing well individually but that we sing well together as
a group. We don't boast about it but that's the main quality that sets us
apart.
WOULD A SIXTH MEMBER HAVE TO BE IRISH? ARE WESTLIFE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
EMPLOYERS?
K: You'd probably stand a better chance if you were Irish. It'd be a bonus!
B: But, like, if Michael Jackson called us up saying he want to join the
band we're not likely to turn around and say, ´Sorry Mike but you're not
Irish! Though!´
S: I'm not sure we could have another blond actually cos they already outnumber
the dark-haired ones. Perhaps we could have someone with red hair.
B: Or pink?!
K: Yeah, someone we could have a dig at and slag off. ´Ah, shut up you there
with the blue hair!´
M: If you can't take a good slagging then don't even think about joining
Westlife.
S: We're always abusing each other in a nice, funny way. We always niggle each
other about one thing and we all know about it but nobody else does. It's
something we keep between the five of us. For example I could say one word to
Kian and it ould wind him up a treat.
IT WOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH AN IN JOKE ABOUT HORSES, WOULD IT?
S: That's not the exact one I was thinking of but Kian is afraid of horses.
K: No it's not that, it's just I'm a stallion!
The Rest: Yeah right!
S: You are so scared of horses! When we were younger he'd come along when I was
doing shows and stuff but he wouldn't go near the horses. I was like, ´It's a
horse man! It's just like a big dog!´ but he was having none of it.
K: They're just too big, man. I don't mind other big animals.
S: Oh, I dont like bulls, they're vicious man. and ostriches, they're freaky as
well!
It's 9.30pm and Westlife finally take to the stage amid the hysterical screams
of the crowd. This is the moment they've all been waiting for. the lads deliver
a blistering set of all their hits and the fans go mental!
Clearly exhausted but exhilarated the guys kick back in the hotel bar. There's
no denying it's been one heck of a day. Glancing at a clearly and somewhat
dishevelled TOTP journo shane poses the inevitable, dreaded question. Same time
tomorrow?
Erm, thanks guys but I think we'll leave this lark up to the professionals!