- MARK AND NICKY GIVE OK! ACCESS ALL AREAS AND REVEAL THAT LIFE ON THE ROAD IS ONE BIG PARTY -

Ever wondered what it’s like touring with a boy band? The sights, the sounds, the adulation - and the parties. Well, wonder no more as pop heart- throbs Westlife invite you onto their tour bus as it criss-crosses the country during their exhausting UK extravaganza. Nicky Byrne and Mark Feehily act as tour guides to life on the road for Ireland’s most famous fivesome.

So, what’s touring actually like?
Nicky: It’s dangerous - for so many reasons! You don’t live in a real world. You don’t get out of bed early because you don’t have to work until late at night, and then you’re on such a high after the show that you feel you just can’t go to bed, so you sometimes turn to drinking - and you can drink till whatever time you want. It’s all very enjoyable because you’re having a party every night. But you don’t realise that suddenly you’ve been partying for 30 or 40 nights straight! It might sound fun and we do have a laugh, but it’s actually quite dangerous. And then when the tour ends it’s all gone. You’re just there on your own at home wondering, where’s the crew? You must be mentally strong to cope on tour. We’ve learned an awful lot from the first tour where we just went daft. We still party, but not as much.

Bryan says that you never sleep on tour. Is that true?
Mark: Bryan never sleeps anyway, so he’s only speaking for himself! I need my sleep. On this tour I want to do something productive with my time. I’ve bought a laptop and a lot of music software and I’m learning how to use it. I’m still going to go out and have fun, but I’m not going to just waste my free time anymore. I think we had to let a lot out of our systems on our first tour - we had to run wild!
Nicky: At the time we felt a bit like a pop machine, so when we got on tour we felt we had some time to ourselves without the record company always looking over our shoulders. We were really young and every other 19 year old in Britain was going out, getting drunk, doing whenever they wanted, but we weren’t. We were on planes going to Germany or Sweden constantly. Not that we have any regrets, it’s why we’re here today, but when it came to touring we definitely made up for lost time.

What’s a typical day on the road like?
Mark: It depends if we’re travelling overnight. If that’s the case we usually arrive at the city around eight in the morning and then we go straight to bed at the hotel.
Nicky: And you turn off the phone! I used to always leave my phone on so that my family could get through, but I turn it off now.
Mark: If we stay at the hotel overnight, we can do whatever we want during the day. I like to use the swimming pool or the steam room because it’s good for your voice. At four in the afternoon we’re off to the venue and we usually eat dinner after our sound check.
Nicky: We employ a great caterer and they’ll cook anything we want, but they cook for the whole band and the crew so we can’t have too many demands. I try to eat a bit healthier these days and I try to train a bit more. I’m not in the same shape I was when I was playing football - then I was very fit. It shows on your waist when you’re in a band like this because you’re travelling all the time and you don’t have time to train and you eat at McDonald’s every single day. Well, not every single day, but most days.

Do you ever have any ridiculous requests?
Mark: Some things are very important to have, but we don’t demand any crazy things. We’re not like Jennifer Lopez. There’s some food and drinks, a bit of fruit, a Playstation and a TV, a few couches to relax on, but no alcohol, we don’t drink before the show.

Does touring burn you out?
Mark: Yes, it does burn you out a bit. I think if you do the same show, night in, night out for four months, the screams from the crowd, the show, everything really, it all gets a bit repetitive. At the start it’s all new and fresh and we’re all excited.
Nicky: We start off wondering how the crowd is going to react to a song or part of the show. But after a while you know what’s going to happen.
Mark: But the fans who are seeing the last show don’t know and they may be seeing us for the first time, so we try and act like it’s the first show every night. It’d be unfair otherwise. But it’s difficult.
Nicky: It’s bound to happen that some of us will be going through the motions at times, but we’re tried to make the show fun for us too.
Mark: This whole tour is four months long, including the rehearsals, and at the end we’re all going to go: "I can’t wait to get off on a holiday!"
Nicky: It’s great fun in the beginning, but obviously at the end it gets a bit monotonous. But then two months after the last tour ends, you’re dying to get back on stage again. We’re not fed up with this yet, not at all. But ask me again at the end of the tour and I will be.

Do you still get as much attention from women now that three of you are either married or engaged?
Nicky: I guess so. We did a signing in Norway recently and it was the same as ever until this girl came up and said: "I don’t like you." I looked at her and said "You don’t like me?" And she said: "No, I don’t like any of you!" Fair enough, but why did she queue up for a couple of hours to meet us?

So what’s next on the agenda - are the rumours true that Westlife are going to break up?
Mark: We’re definitely planning to do a new album and we already have a few songs that we think will be on it. I know a lot of people don’t believe us when we’re saying that we’re going to come back with a new record - everybody is expecting us to break up now after the greatest hits album. It’s been quite frustrating and annoying, actually. I can’t wait for an album to come out to shut everybody up. I just hope people stop asking us if we’re splitting up. It’s not nice to keep asking a married couple: "When are you going to get divorced?" It’s the same for us.
Nicky: And we’re happily married, ha ha!

So what can your fans expect from your next album? Will it have a different sound?
Nicky: I don’t think there’s any point in making another album if we’re not going to change a little.
Mark: At the end of the day it’s pop music and pop is meant to change all the time. We’re not getting bored yet, but if we did the same stuff for another album I think we would. Change is important both for us and fans. We’re not going to become a rock band, but it’s going to be exciting.
Nicky: The music is only going to get better! We haven’t made an album in almost two years now, so we haven’t been experimenting in the studios for ages, and we’re really hungry for it. We want to set that fire ablaze again! Hopefully it’ll be out before Christmas and then we’re off on tour again next summer!