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Westlife Backstage

Star Magazine, February 2001 thanks very much to Katrina for this article!!!

Tell us about the tour.

Shane: There are a lot of surprises - it's great. A lot of people think we just get up on stage and sing 20 ballads but we actually perform nine up-tempo numbers. We've spent a lot of money on the set and it's very futuristic with lots of dancers. And we perform all of our number ones, so there'll be a good mixture of things and lots of surprises. It's a good show

Do you feel you're missing out on normal lives?

Mark: We do miss out on doing normal things. It might seem silly, but I'm not excited about going on planes anymore. It's boring - we've done it every single day of our lives for the past two years! The one thing I think I have missed out on was not being able to go to college because we went straight from school to this band. But I guess the experience and knowledge we've lost through education, we've gained by doing what we're doing. We've been all over the world and seen every culture there is. We went straight from being taken care of by our parents to having to look after ourselves, we were thrown off the deep end and had to mature fast. All of a sudden, you're in a hotel room by yourself and you have to organise stupid things like laundry. It's good, it makes you more sensible, but there are times I really wish my mum was there, because I don't have a clue.

Nicky: I think you miss out on sleeping in your house every night, eating your mum's dinner, going to the pub at the weekend and going to a football game with your friends. Ireland is very traditional with things like St Patrick's Day and you miss out on events like that, but you have to make sacrifices in life.

What do your friends envy most about your way of life?

Kian: I don't think they envy me. They say "well done". I guess they'd love to travel the world, but they realise it's not all about that. I've kept my really close friends but it can be a bit awkward when I come home - the boys will be chatting about stuff and I feel a bit left out. But I'm having so much fun doing this.

Nicky: My friends think I'm very lucky, but they know I work hard. You have to know I was let down playing football. My mates love football and loved the possibility of coming over to Leeds, but then the music came. Maybe they would like to do what I do but I don't think they envy anything.

Shane: I think they're proud. Obviously everyone would love to be in a band for a while. They'd love to be a fly on the wall and check out what's going on. I think everybody wants to be famous in one way or another. You see stars on TV and want to be part of that life but only a few people get the opportunity.

Is it impossible to date a fan?

Mark: No, not impossible. Some of us have actually dated fans in the past, but it has never been serious. It depends on which level they are fans. For example, level one is a girl who has our album and likes it, and level ten is a girl who's such a fan, she sleeps outside our hotel. I wouldn't date anyone for the wrong reasons. A lot of girls like me just because I'm in Westlife and that's not enough to get me out on a date with them.

Kian: It was fun when the band started, with all these beautiful girls wanting to be with you because you're in a band, but after a while you realise that they don't want you. They want a guy in Westlife. It's all fake and I don't like to live in a fake world. When I meet a girl now, if she doesn't like me for me, it's bye bye!

Are you afraid you'll never find real love?

Mark: I'm a big believer in destiny and what's meant to happen will happen. If I'm gonna find the girl I love and want for the rest of my life, it will just happen. I don't sit at home waiting for her to knock on my door; I go out and enjoy myself, but I don't try to look for that special somebody. I haven't been in love, really. There have been a few times when I thought I was, but it never worked out. In a relationship though, I'm very honest. You can never lose if you tell the truth.

Kian: I've been dating a few girls here and there but it's too hard. Every time I find a nice girl and end up dating her, I have to go away for two weeks. And she's like, "I'm not waiting two weeks!" It's always the case. I've been in love before. I fell in love when I was 17 and we broke up when I was 18, but I'm still young and if I find love, I won't ignore it. I'm not a nasty guy, so girls don't have to watch out.

Is it hard to work within the constraints of a boy band?

Mark: I'd like to think we're original, but we're never going to be original. Unless we do a heavy metal song, we're not going to be different from any other boy band. But it's going to be fun to see what people think when they see us doing our uptempo songs. On the first album, we left everything up to our record company and perhaps there were too many ballads on there.

Kian: I don't think we're trying to come up with something unique. Our songs are great, but there's nothing to them that is different to other bands' songs. People like them - that's what counts.

Have you ever regretted joining Westlife?

Mark: Sometimes - for ten minutes - I've thought I regretted it, but then I realised I was just having a bad day. Sometimes I wish I could just go home and watch TV, but I'd be bored after two weeks. I'm sure everybody would like a break from what they do sometimes.

Kian: This has been my dream since I was a child - I started acting when I was four. I never thought it would happen - worldwide success! There are hard days but this is perfect for me.

What's the maddest thing about touring?

Mark: All the fans in the UK are absolutely amazing. It's definitely boosted our energy levels. I think all of us would like to say a big thank you to all of the fans who are there with us.

Bryan: One thing that really surprises me about doing signings is the amount of male fans who turn up to see us. There was a huge turn-out of them when we did the Coast to Coast promotion. We've done signings before and I don't think we've ever seen as many male fans as we did that day. I think it's really cool.

Mark: We've worked out recently that we've crossed over to both male and female audiences, which is great. As well as young girls coming to our signings, there are a lot of older people as well.

Nicky: A woman turned up in Glasgow who must have been about 95 and she stayed with each of us for five minutes, saying, "And which one are you? How are you? You're a great bunch of lads!" It was fantastic to see someone like that turning up. She had queued up in the rain with thousands of other people for hours and it was so special because she had really made an effort.

What are your plans for the immediate future?

Shane: We'll be concentrating on the promotion of the album all over the world and continuing the world tour; playing 58 dates. America is a very big priority for us this year too - we want to crack that market like no one has done before.