The fact Brian looks different now from the time he was still called Bryan is mainly caused by his longer hair and beard. But he also lost a lot of weight thanks to the Atkins diet which he still follows. "At one point I did start again with a beer every now and again but I've completely stopped now. The only problem is: because of that I developed a major caffaïne addiction! When I now go out, I have a coffee before and after, instead of a beer hahaha!" And indeed: We never saw anyone so happy before when his tourmanager brought him a cup of coffee during our interview!

Alright to start of, why did you leave Westlife eventually? We received a lot of letters about that.

And I bet those letters contained; "Thank God he p!ssed of!" Not? Well there were a few different reasons. During the last year I spend with the band, I wasn't completely happy. Mind you that had nothing to do with the lads, nothing ever happened between us and I still see them as my best friends. But I just couldn't enjoy my part in Westlife anymore.

What caused that? The music perhaps?

Amongst others yes. I wasn't too fond of some of the songs. The sad thing is; the last album we did, was the best so far in my opinion. While the singles we released, didn't reach the status of the ones before that. 'Hey Whatever' for example didn't do that good at all. Then we had to release a different kind of song as singles like 'Mandy' and 'Obvious'. That really put me off so I quit. We had some time of and instead of joining the band on a trip, I just stayed at home.

So it really came as a surprise to everyone?

Definitly! No-one knew, not even my wife Kerry. Everyone was shocked. They knew I wasn't happy but no-one thought I'd actually quit, they thought I'd go on anyways. In the mean time I did find out it was indeed the right descision. I feel completely happy again while my last year with Westlife was depressing.

Did you intent to go solo straight away?

No, not at all! I actually wanted retire hahaha And I thought I'd be behind the scenes writing and producing for others. I did do that for a few weeks, like for Girls Aloud for example. I was already working on that. But I didn't like that as I realized that the songs I wrote were songs I wanted to sing myself, and not have others sing them! So I continued writing for myself.

What did the other Westlife lads say when you did go on making music, but now on your own?

Oh, no problem. They didn't know at first since I withdrew myself from all attention and no-one really knew what I was doing. The album was actually finished before people even knew I would be releasing a single. It all went really fast.

And what did your wife think of it? You going back into the music?

I think she knew haha. I think she knows me so well that she knew from the moment I left the band that it would go like this - even before I knew it. She knows how much I love music so she didn't expect anything else then that.

It's probably very different from being with Westlife..

Definitly. But the thing helping is that, it is completely different! I work with all sorts of new people: different manager, record company, musicians.. The only two people I work with now and that I know from Westlife is my hairdresser Ben. He's in his last week with Westlife, then he'll be working for me. And Paul, he was head security with Westlife and is now my tour manager. Besides that it's all new people which makes it easier for me since it doesn't feel like the same job now.

Were you frightened when you first had to enter the stage on your own?

Ofcourse! But also because I hadn't rehearseld, I was still working in the studio. There was this huge TV program on a saturday evening, which they record months in advance. I was asked for that in advance because they knew my single would be released around the time of the broadcast. So there a stood, with a band with whom I'd never played live before, just in a studio! When I did the soundcheck, I still had to think of how to sing the song. And before I had the guts to go on stage for the real broadcast, I had to down three beers hahaha. Luckily everything went great.

You look completely different, did you do that on purpose?

Well.. no. I don't feel any different or so, and I wasn't really working on image or something like that. Untill recently, people didn't recognize me as much as they did when I was in Westlife because back then there was the five of us. But now that my single has reached number one in the UK charts, I'm in every magazine and people recognize me even more. Because no-one really has this look in the UK, less spikes then I used to have. Now they see me more like a failed John Lennon, so each time they see someone that looks like a begger, they think it's me! And unfortunately more people recognize me now then before.. that's a shame really, haha!