FAMOUS & FRIGHTENED! - UNTOUCHABLE?
Why Westlife fear for their live!
TV Hits, November 2003

They're the biggest boyband around, but do they still have time for the fans? tvhits! investigates …

Five years ago, when five funny, flirty boys came to tvhits! towers and took us out for a cup of tea, they were more than ready for fans, fun and fame. Five years is a long time. Half a decade, the age gap between Jack Ryder and Kym Marsh of the lifespan of yer average gerbil. And in boyband terms, it's an eternity, a distance that most groups don't manage to reach. But Westlife aren't most groups, they're a phenomenon. They've got fans stretching from here to Australia who just can't get enough of em! But have the boys had enough of signing autograph books and body parts?

Hey boys! Ya must have like a ker-zillion fans by now. How does that feel?
Shane: Amazing. We wouldn't be here without them. They buy the music and they make our life the way it is.
Bryan: It's hard to believe we've got fans in places we've never even heard of!
Kian: If we could figure out how we've done it, we'd be the cleverest band out there! I think it's cos we're just five normal guys.

D'ya read all yer fan letter?
Nicky: I get stuff adressed to Nicky, Westlife, Ireland and it still comes to my house!
Mark: My mum leaves it on my bed. When I go home, I flake out in my bedroom and read all my post. I separate them into two piles and throw the bills into the cupboard and I read the fan mail. It's a nice thought that someone bothered to write.

Are ya used to fans following ya everywhere?
Shane: You get used to it. Even though they have 10 different pictures of you they still want more cos they just want to be close to you.
Mark: It's so weird, the things they do. Like, pretending to be journalists to get into a press conference. They'll jump up in the middle of it and go crazy!

Does that bother you?
Shane: Na, it's part of your job. You have to realise that even when you're not at work, you're still working. I don't like it when you're out and people stare. I'd rather people came over and said hello. If I'm having dinner I'll say, "What are you staring at me?" I think what they're doing is rude so I'll be rude back.
Mark: I don't like that either. I was never the kind of person who liked to be the centre of attention. If people stare at me in a club it almost makes me want to leave.
Kian: I don't really notice it. Other people notice more that I do. They'll say, "Everyone's looking at you!" and I'm like, "Who? Where?"

What's the craziest thing a fan's ever done to get your attention?
Mark: Some girls faint to get into the pit at the side of the stage and when no one's looking they leg it up on stage! In Indonesia, a girl ran on stage and jumped on my back. It was scary - I thought I might be some crook with a knife.
Bryan: That was mad. We've had fans breaking into hotel rooms, too! It's annoying but it's only kids. Our security deals with it.
Nicky: Two weird fans were hanging around my parents' house for days and it really upset my mum. I get upset when fame starts affecting my family, but if you tell the fans, they usually get the message.

Have ya had any weird presents?
Kian: D'ya remember when that fan gave you that used tampon Nicky? That was probably the most vile thing I've ever seen in my life.
Mark: A fan gave the a tuna for my birthday. It was left outside my hotel door in this lovely pretty box with a ribbon on it. I opened it up and there was a tuna inside it, like a raw tuna still with bits of muck on it!

Eugh! Have ya ever had to be rushed out the back door when the crowds have gone mad?
Bryan: Yeah! We were at the airport in Indonesia and there were 5000 fans, and I'm not exaggerating!
Shane: We couldn't even check in, we just had to drive straight on to the runway! It was a great send off!
Nicky: Last Christmas back home in Ireland, me and Georgina went shopping to HMV. We were in there for about 10 minutes, when suddenly we looked outside and a crowd about 300 people had gathered to look at us! It was so scary, especially for George. I was so worried she was going to get hurt. But the manager was cool and let us use the back entrance.

Have ya ever had a police escort?
Kian: Yeah! It was from the Four Seasons hotel in Dublin before we played our Landsdowne Road. It was such a buzz!
Mark: The only time I didn't like it was right at the beginning when we did a signing at home. My friends were there and one nearly got knocked off the road by the escort. It was scary with all the sirens going and I just wanted to be out there with them. I wanted to be normal again, but I've learnt normal's not really possible if you want to do what we do.

D'ya get scared when fans grab ya?
Shane: The first time we went to Asia was pretty mad, Bryan got one of his trainers stolen off his foot, my T-shirt was ripped, Nicky's chain was ripped off his neck and Kian's ring was taken off his finger. I think that's unacceptable.
Mark: Sometimes they'll grope you and that is disgusting. I've made sure our security finds out who did it, remembers their face and never lets them near us again. If one of us had done that, we'd have a lawsuit on our hands! I just want people to understand that I'm not just a big lump of meat.
Shane: That's just rude, when they pinch your bum!
Bryan: They crowd me a bit too much when I'm with Kerry and the kids and I want a bit of peace. That frustrates me.

Would you be friends with a fan?
Mark: We've made friends with loads of fans, but I don think it's the healthiest friendship when someone wants to wait outside a hotel for you for hours.
Kian: We appreciate their love and support but if they don't go to school because they're following us around or they don't have a job because of it, that's a bit worrying.
Bryan: I had a conversation once with a fan who was pregnant and gave her some advice. Generally it's more of a fan thing than a friend thing, but we know loads of them by their first names.

And what's the best thing you've done for fans?
Bryan: Visiting sick kids in hospitals means a lot to me, especially since having my own.
Kian: We do it, but the hardest bit is getting a phone call saying: "That kid you met last week just passed away, and you gave them three extra days of life." It's really, really strange for someone to say that to you.
Mark: It's weird when you meet them and they might be this beautiful kid who looks 100% normal. And just before you meet them you're told they're gonna die in a matter of weeks.
Kian: I was in a chip shop, and a woman came up to me and said, "You're Kian from Westlife!" I was like, yeah. She said, "I hate to ask, but my daughter was knocked over, she's in a coma. She's a huge Westlife fan, would you meet her?" So I went to the hospital, and held her hand for five minutes. It's amazing to think you can make a difference. But I'm very glad if we do!

Thanx 2 Franzi