Westlife looking forward to Christmas
Hello Magazine, November 2003

Looking forward to Christmas back home with their families, the 5 members of Westlife give an exclusive insight into their amazing time at the top of the music business, and reveal their plans for the festive season...

Life has changed beyond all recognition for the 5 lads who make up irish boyband Westlife. Since pop svengali Louis Walsh formed the band as Boyzones successors nearly six years ago, the lads have gone from fresh-faces boys to fully fledged men, all under the glare of the media spotlight.
There have been 2 high profile weddings, fatherhood, an engagement, 11 No 1s, over 20 million album sales, world wide sell out concerts, inumerable tabloid headlines, and success so phenomenal that it has seen Bryan McFadden, Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily become household names in countries the world over.
Now about to release their fifth album, Turnaround, the lads took time out from their hecitc schedule, prior to their beautiful rendition of their latest single Mandy, at the IFTAs, to spend time with VIP. As it turns out Christmas is going to be very joyous indeed for Shane Filan, who will be following suit with fellow band members Bryan and Nicky by taking a trip down the aisle to marry his long-term girlfriend Gillian Walsh. The two will celebrate their nuptials in sumptous Ashford Castle in Co Mayo, By all accounts, its an occaision that the entire band is very much looking forward to, as VIP discovered.

You're about to release you fifth album Turnaround. The new single is a cover of Barry Manilows Mandy- whose idea was that?
Kian - it was Simon Cowells actually. When we recorded the album, he wasn’t massively invovled. Then we were in having a listening session and he thought there was something missing. He played us Mandy and we thought it was a brilliant song that would suit us.
Shane - We think its probably one of our best ballads since Flying Without Wings.Its got a really strong melody and the reaction from people had been great. It’s a song that has never been covered before and it was release 30 yrs ago, a lot of our fans wouldn’t have heard it already. Plus, the older fand would remember it so its killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Its going to be a big success we hope! If it isnt we don’t know what would be!

What's Simon Cowell like to work with?
Mark - We have an understanding with him. We’re not what youd call best friends with him- hes bery strong minded as u can see from TV. Hes not necessarilt the type of person youd want to go for adrink with, but hes definitely given us a lot of good guidance through the years on a business level. And we respect him.

You’ve had phenomenal success to date. Do you feel under huge pressure to perform well with every new sinlge you release?
Bryan - We always feel under pressure, no matter what the single is, as weve always had to deliver. I think it’s a different kind of pressure now though because weve been so successful up to now, people are expecting us to fall by the wayside. In that sense I suppose that with the release of our next single were coming under the most pressure we’ve had to face yet.
Nicky - We knoew that we’re under more pressure than we’ve ever been, as we havent had a number 1 in a year. We’re that bit older and more mature, and we don’t really have young teeny bop fand who are rushing out to buy our singles. We’re more of an album selling band, which is a good complaint.

In saying that, does that mean that your fans have grown up with you?
Nicky - Definitely, the average age at our concerts is normally between 20-45. In saying that your obviously going to get the odd, 15,16, or 18 year old and the odd 55,60 or 70 year old. We may be an album selling band but we still want to be successful and get to Number 1. We have to pick and choose songs carefully from here on in.

You’ve spent nearly six years together non stop, but you’ve all obviously grown as individuals. Do you still find it easy to gel with one another?
Shane - We’re getting on better than we ever have.
Nicky -we’ve never had a break after which we’ve come back together that was longer than a week or two. I think 3 weeks was the longest we’ve had and that was when I got married. We know each other so well at this stage that even if this album isnt a success, I still think we’d consider that the album we made was good enough, and wed still go back and make another one.
Mark - We’ve got a relationship that’s identical to brothers. If we didn’t see each other for 6 months it would be straight back to normal.
Nicky - And Im the eldest so what I say goes. They have to listen to what I say!
Shane - Yeah absoloutely, Nickys the boss. (laughs)

Louis Walsh manages Westlife and Girls Aloud. Whats the story behind you both having the same release dates for your new singles? Do you think theres a conflict of interest there for Louis?
Kian - To be honest, I had a conversation with Louis about that and he flipped the lid when he found out that they were being released the same day as us. Its never really a management decision when a singles is to be released it’s the record companys, but obviously the manager can challenge it. He got really annoyed because he eflt that realistically Westlife and Girls Aloud could both have a number 1 before christmas. But then his opinion was that if we released together, wed probably beat them!

Are there any solo projects in the pipeline?
Kian - Nothing like that will ever happen while Westlife is still a unit.
Shane - As long as were a band, we plan to make a few more albums hopefully and take every year as it comes. Were very excited about our fifth album. We just feel that were enjoying it, people are coming to the concerts, theyre buying the albums, so why finish it? We’ll know oursleves when its time to go but hopefully that wont be for a long time yet.

Whats next for Westlife?
Nicky - We break around the 18th or 20th of December. Then we’ve got Shanes wedding on the 28th. Then we’re not back to work until the end of January. First thing back is the Childline concert, which we’re playing at, but Bryan and I are presenting it, which should be realy cool.
Kian - We’ve got the new albums which we’ll probably promote until February, then go on tour. Its not announced yet but we think it’s a five month, 80 date tour. We’ll be in Ireland at the start of May, and then we’ll do some nights at the Point. Then we’ll look at the whole again. Its our fifth album and we’ve been doing this for 6 years. Its hard to be on the road for 24 hours, 7 days a week for 6 years in a row. I think everyone in Westlife really wants to continue though, record more albums and get to the stage where we can release Greatest Hits Part 2, but only time will tell.

There are lots of new boybands on the scene like Blazin Squad, Phixx, and D-Side. Bryan your good friends with Phixxs Peter Smith - have you offered him any advice about the industry?
Peter is one of my good friends, but when it comes to music, he's got Phixx and I've got Westlife. Also I grew up with 2 of the lads from D-Side- Derek and Shane. To be honest with you, I ve tried to give them some advice but im not sure theyre listening. We only started to be photographed out socially after we’d become successful. Ive told them they’re setting themselves up for a fall- the way to become successful is not tobe pictures coming ot of clubs every night of the week, with a different girl on you arm,at suchan early stage in your career. Its really cheap and shallow and Ive tried to warn them but they said they’ll do whatever they want!

Shane, this is going to be a very special Christmas for you isnt it?
Yeah, Im getting married after Christmas. Gillian and I are really looking forward to it.

Whos going to be your best man?
My eldest brother, Finbar.

How involved are you in organising it?
We actually have a wedding planner. Gillian is putting everything to bed with her and so far everythings going according to plan. Id be in Hong Kong or wherever at the other end of the phone seeing if everything is going right, but Gillian in doing 99% of it.

Do you know where you're going on honeymoon?
We’re sorting that out at the moment. It's looking like it could be Hawaii or maybe Mauritius.

You're not doing a magazine deal, why is that?
I just didn’t want to do it to be honest. We got offers off both UK magazines but we just felt that for us, it just wasn’t right.

Are you worried about the possibility of a media onsluaght on the big day?
Maybe, especially after Nickys wedding yeah, To be honest with you, I thought the media were very rude. Everybody was just begrudging and it wasn’t fair- they were 2 people getting married. Maybe Ill have to go through the same though.
Nicky - No, you wont. It was mostly about Georginas dad for journalists.
Shane - Yeah, it probably wont be half as bad. It was because of the Taoiseach and because of the magazine deal that most media couldn’t get their picture- that annoyed them, but that’s just the way they chose to do it.

Will you pose for the press?
Shane - Ill probably pose for a photograph outside after the wedding. I think at the end of the day, though, regardless of what we choose, the press should just leave us alone. It’s a special day for us. Im just going to get married and hope for the best.

Will Westlife be performing at the wedding?
No, they won't be. There will be no special guests. There’ll just be a band and DJ and plenty of food and drink.

Nicky how is married life treating you?
Absoloutely fantastic. We're together now ten years so its not really that much different to be honest with you. I suppose it’s a huge commitment but we’re still as madly in love a ever!

Are there any plans to start a family soon?
Not really. If it happened, that would be fantastic but we havent talked about it that much. Personally, Id rather wait a awhile because I see how bryan has to be away so much and its hard on him. Id rather wait and have a bit more time to spend with my kids. I mean we’ve a dog and that’s hard enough!!

Mark, with pretty much all the band settles fown, do you feel under pressure to give up the single life?
No definitely not. One of the beautiful things about this band is that everyone is their own person. Obviously because the rest of them are settling down, its certainly something I get asked all the time but I havent been lucky enough to find the person im going to marry yet!

Fame of such magnitude is obviously accompanies by constant media attention. How do you cope with it?
Shane - We don’t think about it too much. We’re very proud of what we are and what we’ve achieved. The media attention we get, good or bad, we very rarely read. Sometimes the press are nice and the next thing they stab you in the back.

Do you give each other Christmas presents?
Nicky - No. We give each other wedding presents though!

Did you all have to choose from a wedding list for Nicky?
Shane - No, he just told us what he wanted, so we got Nicky and Georgina a grand piano.

So Shane, what would you like to get from the lads then?
I have a grand piano already, so maybe a snooker table or something like that. Or an old American car. I like cars, so they’ll probably get me a classic car.
Nicky - You’ll be lucky (laughs)

Can you still enjoy a normal Christmas?
Mark - Oh yeah, I just go home, drive around and see friends, go around to peoples houses for drinks and go out to the night clubs.

What are your plans for Christmas?
Bryan - Nothing! Im just staying at home. I think Kerrys Mam and her Granny, her Aunty and Uncle might be coming over, and Ill have my family over as well. It’ll be a quiet Christmas though.
Kian - Just to be at home and spend time with the family and friends obviously, and have a nice Christmas. I'm going to Australia after Shanes wedding for 3 weeks with some friends and my girlfriend.
Nicky - We havent decided yet. Last year Georgina and I had everybody, her family and mine over to our house. Wed literally just moved in so this year were a lot more settled but were obviously not going to do that again. Maybe we’ll go to her Mums for dinner, or her Dads, or my familys.
Mark - Im going to Shanes wedding, obviously. I was going to go away on holidays but now im just going to stay at home in Sligo and relax for a few weeks.

Did Shanes wedding disrupt any plans for any of you?
Kian - No, Shanes wedding is a very big thing in our calendar, just as Nickys was. It would never affect us, if anything wed plan on going on holiday around the event. You can go on holidays as many times as you want but Shanes only going to get married once in his life.

With such busy schedules, how do you cope with you Christmas present shopping?
Shane - to be honest with you its usually a rush, I go in and do 2 or 3 hours shopping for the whole family. I'll go and buy the fist thing I see that I know they’ll like. Its not something I think about for 3 weeks coming up to Christmas, especially this time around.
Mark - Im a half five on Christmas Eve man myself! Its not that I don’t think about my loved ones, but im thinking more about spending time with them than thinking about buying them presents.
Kian - We don’t plan it but if we get an afternoon off in London we’ll take advantage of it and go shopping. Its just a case of doing it around your schedule.
Bryan - Kerry's started it already, but we’ll try and get as much done together when we can find the time.

So Nicky any ideas about what you are going to buy your new father-in-law Bertie Ahern, this year?
I haven't even thought about it to be honest. Usually Georgina and I do a bit of shopping together in Dublin leading up to Christmas and we usually come up with something. We've got so much ahead of us with the new album and single that I haven't even thought about Christmas presents at this point though.

And finally, Bryan - you’ve 2 very young children, Molly and Lilly Sue. Will you be playing Santa to them?
Kerry acutally got me a Santa suit yesterday!
Kian - Are you gonna do it?
Bryan - (laughs)Yeah!