Shane Interview

VIP magazine, December 2000

In a special Christmas treat, Westlife, the boy band of the moment reflect on their record-breaking year and talk about the challenges of the year ahead.

Its only 18 months since a fairly unknown boy band called Westlife surprised everyone when their debut single, Swear It Again, made number one in the British charts.
But unlike so many who became one hit wonders, the five Irish lads have gone on to staggering success, reeling off a history-making seven number hits in a row in the British charts, making them one of the most popular boy bands in the world. Add in some eight million sales of their first two albums – including number one in the UK – and there’s no doubt the lads are on their way to being multi-millionaires in the next few years.
They still have their sights set on conquering the lucrative American market, but meanwhile they have some other very important engagements such as a sell out record 11 nights at The Point theatre in March and a 63-date British tour.
They’re currently on a promotional tour in Japan and Korea, but will be back for a three-week break for Christmas, before going into rehearsals for their New Year tour. Their Irish fans eagerly await the gigs at The Point, as it will be the first time they will have the opportunity to see the boys perform live in concert for 90 minutes.
But despite their phenomenal success the Sligo/Dublin band – Nicky Byrne, Bryan McFadden, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan – remain 5 young lads with their feet firmly on the ground.
VIP spoke to Shane Filan when the lads were back briefly in Dublin about their worldwide fame, the money they earn and their plans for the future as their careers go from strength to strength.

Shane, you’re enjoying tremendous success at present and obviously earning a lot of money. Do you intend splashing out on amazing presents for people at Christmas?
That’s always a tricky one. Like the rest of the lads it is something we’ve all thought about. If you spend a lot on a gift you can be accused of being flash with your money and if you don’t? I’ll be some nice presents but really most of the money goes into the bank for that rainy day.

Have you treated yourself to anything special?
Again, with the exception of Mark we’ve all bought cars. I got a BMW but it is in a garage most of the time. The last thing you want to do when you get home is to get behind the wheel of the car. We spend so much time in cars as we travel all over the world.

How do you relax when you get a break from touring?
I go home to Sligo as often as I can and to chill out I go horse riding. My family have a lot of horses and actually bought me on for my birthday. Horse riding is my main life outside of music. It always was. We have a lot of land so I can climb up on a horse and gallop all over the place. You can really let your hair down.

You’re doing a lot of promotional work at present all over the world. Do you enjoy that?
It is an amazing way of seeing the world. Of course it’s hard. Anyone who travels a lot will tell you that, but its exciting, visiting different countries and meeting fans in America, Korea, Australia and Europe where we sell a lot of records.

How are you preparing for your forthcoming tour in which people will be seeing you live for the first time?
So far we’ve had no time to rehearse but that will change after Christmas when we go into rehearsals for some five weeks. We’re doing 11 nights at the Point, which is a record, and one that we’re very proud of. We thought we’d get maybe three nights, so it was quite a shock when we learned that we had sold out so many concerts. The same thing applied in Britain. When the tour was suggested we thought it might run for about 20 dates. You can imagine our surprise and shock when we were told we had filled 63 dates. We haven’t done a live tour before, so it will be very exciting for us.

Some people have said that your concert will be boring, as all you’ll be singing are ballads.
Yes, a lot of people are expecting that but they’d be wrong. There will be quite a few up-tempo numbers in our act. A lot of money is being spent on the set and we don’t want anyone to be bored at the show. The audience will want to be lifted and have a great time. We know that and intend to make it a night they’ll remember.

Are you still surprised at the amount of success you’ve achieved?
We’re all knocked out by it. It is absolutely brilliant to see all your dreams come true so quickly. It really is the best life in the world but we’re still shocked at how quickly it happened.

Your manager, Louis Walsh, said from the very beginning that you were going to be bigger than Boyzone. Did you believe him?
I wouldn’t say we were bigger than Boyzone but certainly we’ve done very well for ourselves. Maybe we got more success than we actually deserve but I think we were in the right place at the right time.

You’re in competition with bands like the Spice Girls and recently you beat them to the number one spot in the album charts. Did you enjoy that?
Yes, it’s brilliant. It helps for great sales in England, which is a great market for us. To go up against the likes of the Spice Girls after only 18 months in the business gives a great feeling. They’re superstars in their right. They’ve done some great things so it’s amazing for us to be up there with them. I think the Backstreet Boys on a world scale are the biggest boy band but it has taken them eight years to achieve it so they’ve earned their success and worked hard for it. That’s what we have to do now in the next couple of years, to get America on board and sell a few million albums out there. All we can do them is get bigger and bigger and that’s exactly what we want to do, get bigger and bigger.

After seven number one hits in a row in the UK how much bigger can you get?
We’re now looking for number eight. You can always get bigger just as you can get smaller very quickly. You’re as good as your last hit or your last concert. Truthfully, we never think our success very much. It can go to your head very quickly. From day one Louis Walsh taught us that when in Ireland just think of our Irish success, in England the same and so on around the world. It’s much easier to take in rather than thinking of worldwide success.

You have enjoyed a lot of record sales all over the world. Do you know how many you’ve sold?
I think it’s about 8 million albums worldwide so far and about 3.5 million singles. Singles are very important to us in the UK. In the first week of a single release we would expect to sell around 120,000 copies in Britain. We’re very proud of that and we like putting Ireland on the map.

What do you mean?
Well, to follow on the success of Boyzone and, of courses U2. We’ll never beat the like of U2, who are legends. You can’t compete with a band like that. We’re just trying to add to something they’ve started off. But if we’re going in 20 years, who knows?

Do you think you’ll still be around then?
Who knows? We honestly don’t know how it will go. If you get success like we have then you have to work harder to hold on to it. If you sit back it will all fall apart.

What about in five years time?
You think ahead but you don’t know what its going to be like in five years time. I hope we’ll be together. No, we will be together. We’re planning to do at least five albums together and we’ve only done two. As a band we’d like to be still together and be very successful. Hopefully, we’ll be big in America by then. If we’re not then we’ll give up trying but I do think we’ll make it in the States.

You all seem to get on well together.
We’re a tight band, genuinely close. If you’re fighting all the time then there’s no point in being in a band. From day one we set out certain rules and we’ve stuck by them. If there are any disagreements then its decided by a majority vote and it really works. When we disagree over something it’s a case of who voted for this? Then it’s hands up and that’s it, over in two seconds. However, if someone is really unhappy about something then we listen seriously to what he has to say and probably don’t do it. But on things we’re not sure about it simply goes to a vote.

You’re also together a lot?
A lot is an understatement. We’re together 24/7 apart from sleep. Just think about it. When I wake up the rest of the lads are the first people I see and the last people I see at night. We live in eachother’s pockets and living in hotels a lot doesn’t help. Yes, it’s a hard life, but a very good life.


Thanks to Laura for sending this article!