Like most people, you may think Westlife have always, you know, just
been there happily churning out inoffensive Christmas tunes. What
you might not realise is, since bursting into the charts in 1999,
Westlife have been record-breakingly successful they're way up
there with The Beatles. In fact, they've actually had more Number
Ones than John, Paul, George and Ringo. They've had four multi-
platinum-selling albums, have filled Wembley Arena several times
over hell, they've even met the Pope!

But, despite their success, plenty of people still have trouble
telling one Westlifer from another, so, if you don't know your Kian
from your Shane, allow me to introduce the band: Bryan McFadden, 23,
is the married-to-an-ex-Atomic Kitten father-of-two (the one the
press always refer to as chubby, but he's actually tall and dishy in
real life); Shane Filan, 24, is the cute lead singer mums love; Nicky
Byrne, 25, recently got hitched to the Irish PM Bertie Ahern's
daughter, Georgina; Mark Feehily, 23, is the quiet one; and, finally,
Kian Egan, 23, is the unofficial spokesman of the group.

First to arrive, looking bleary-eyed, is Bryan. He smiles and
introduces himself before ordering scrambled eggs on toast. Shane and
Mark arrive in tandem, equally friendly, followed closely by Nicky
and, finally, Kian who, in true pop-star style, arrives two hours
late, but his grin is so wide, he's quickly forgiven. After an
endless supply of bacon sarnies, I round up the boys. In their five
years in the spotlight, Westlife have courted numerous tabloid
stories, involving everything from boozy fights to groupies,
celebrity spats to outrageous partying. And it's my job to uncover
the truth behind the headlines.

If you believe the paper reports, Westlife are the Jekyll and Hyde of
pop. One minute they're portrayed as butter-wouldn't-melt mummy's
boys, the next they're the last men standing after a boozy night of
excess. So, what's the truth? "We do enjoy a drink, there's no doubt
about that," laughs Nicky. "But we work under a strict work-hard-
play-
hard code of conduct."

"And besides," interrupts Kian, "we're only human. I'm 23 and, yeah,
I have been photographed coming out of a nightclub really, really
drunk, but show me one person my age who hasn't done the
same." "We've had some serious parties," Bryan interjects. "Some
serious, serious parties. But the launch party for our second album,
Coast To Coast, was my favourite." This sparks a debate among the
guys as to which has been their best night out before most agree the
S Club 7 party was up there. "Sometimes, those kind of parties can
really wreck your head," Mark says seriously. "I only really enjoy
myself when I'm around people I feel comfortable with, and at those
parties there are so many people you don't even know and you have to
be nice to everyone. I'd rather just get a bottle of vodka and go to
someone's house and drink it there."

Westlife are also quick to quash reports that their management have
put a ban on their late-night antics. "That really annoys me," says
Kian. "They say our management have put a marriage ban on us and they
won't let us go and get drunk, it's ridiculous."

"Louis [Walsh, of Popstars: The Rivals fame] never tried to force us
not to go out, he actually tries to make us go out," adds Nicky. So,
they're more rock `n' roll than squeaky-clean, then? "We're squeaky-
clean rock `n' rollers," laughs Bryan.

"We're neither," interrupts Mark. "We're just a bunch of lads." "I
think we're a bit wilder than your average English guy because we're
Irish and that's just the Irish mentality," says Kian. "But I bet the
Glasgow boys could drink us under the table!"

Westlife might come across as perma-grinning pop puppets, but don't
be fooled they're not averse to the odd spat with a fellow
celebrity. The first rumour concerns Christina Aguilera and the time
she allegedly had Mark kicked off his VIP table in the Met Bar. "That
was so long ago," groans Mark, with a do-we-have-to-talk-about-this
look on his face. "There was an incident, but it was only a mix-up
over a seat! Anyway, I think she's very good, so I have no intention
of slagging her off."

In hope of more gossip, I move swiftly on to Bryan's rather unwise
decision to take on So Solid Crew (and, remember, there's a lot of
them, and Crew members Jason Phillips and Ashley Walters have been
known to carry guns!) at the Brit Awards 2002. So, Bryan, surely you
didn't think you could take them all on? "That was the last time I
got falling-over drunk," he says quietly. "To be honest, I don't
remember much about it."

Nicky steps in to fill in some blanks: "What happened was, we were
doing press interviews and Bryan was so drunk, he wasn't making
sense, so we told him to go back into the auditorium. Then we heard
this riot with Bryan and So Solid Crew. They were lucky we were still
outside," he laughs. "It was blown out of proportion," adds
Shane. "The Brits are full of adrenaline and there's a lot of
tension it's easy for things to kick off with a bit of drink."

Moving on to yet another alleged row this time, with Mel C, which
led to her calling Westlife crap, live on CD:UK. "She bitched about
us on TV, that was all," says Kian. Nicky sees it another way: "We
seem to be a good way for some celebrities to get press have a go
at Westlife and get yourself in the papers."

So, have they ever met anyone who wasn't quite so nice in the
flesh? "Oasis, but then we weren't really expecting them to be nice,"
says Nicky. "I don't know what we were thinking going up to Liam and
saying, `Oh hi, we're Ronan Keating's new band'. He told us to ****
off! But what did we expect?"

Bryan seems delighted to recall the time Westlife met Huey from Fun
Lovin' Criminals. "Kian went over and Huey goes, `Who the **** is
this guy?' So, Kian said he was from Dublin and Huey said he was
doing a gig at Dublin's Olympia, which holds about 800 people. We'd
just done 12 nights at The Point, which holds about 8,000. Graham
Norton had heard the whole thing and he turned to me and said, `Ooh,
Bryan, maybe some day you'll get to do Olympia.'"

Four of Westlife are spoken for. Nicky married long-term girlfriend
Georgina Ahern in the summer. Shane is engaged to childhood
sweetheart Gillian, who's also Kian's cousin. Bryan has been married
to former Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona for two years and they have two
daughters, Molly and Lilly Sue. Kian has behaved more like a pop star
and has been dating Hollyoaks actress Jodi Albert for the past six
months. Mark, on the other hand, is buying a car to make up for his
absent love life. Being the only single one makes Mark the natural
focus of tabloid attention. "There's been a lot of press about me
having one-night stands and I've had a few kiss-and-tells done on me.
It sickens me to see that, because I'd never use anybody, especially
groupies," Mark frowns. "It pisses me off I don't like the thought
of my granny sitting at home reading something like that."

Shane's more pragmatic about the whole thing. "You have to ignore
it," he explains. "You can get caught up in fame and money, it'd be
easy to lose your head and get involved with the groupies. But it's
****e, because they don't care about you, they just want to be seen
with you, then tell their friends."

The worry of kiss and tells hasn't put Mark off looking for love. "It
would be nice to meet someone and fall in love. Every time I talk
about it in an interview, it's like rubbing it in that I don't have a
girlfriend."

As for the others, being scrutinised by the press and followed around
by adoring fans, it must be hard to maintain a relationship. For
example, the press had a field day reporting a lap dancer's claims to
have slept with Bryan on his stag do before his marriage to Kerry.

"All our girlfriends and wives wouldn't be there if they didn't
totally know what it's like. They understand we know how to deal with
it and trust us," states Kian firmly.

Kian may be happily settled with Jodi Albert now, but not before
tabloid-friendly flings with Jodie Marsh and Liz McLarnon from Atomic
Kitten. Not that he wants to talk to me about either. "I don't like
my name seen beside that girl's [Jodie Marsh]. I went through a phase
where I didn't care about the consequences of anything I did. And to
be honest, I'm sick of talking about the Liz thing. I went out with
her, we broke up, that's it, end of story." So, no scandal there.
Although, when asked if he and Liz are still friends, Kian's quick to
say no, so maybe there is more to it than he's letting on…

When you're in a famous boy band, the people who knew you before you
made it onto Top Of The Pops can get a bit jealous, as Kian
discovered when he got into a scuffle outside a kebab shop in his
home town, Sligo, two years ago. Both Kian and the two locals
involved were injured, Kian was left with a black eye, busted nose
and a chipped tooth not good when your job is to look pretty. "I
was coming home from a club in the early hours," he says. "I stopped
to get something to eat and there were two guys there one of them
turned round and hit me, then the other one did. I went to school
with one of the guys. It could happen anywhere, but because I do what
I do, there might have been more of a reaction. They obviously
went, `There's your man, who does he think he is?' You get over it,
but I was annoyed at the time." It hasn't stopped Kian popping to his
local, though. "Not at all, you just realise you shouldn't go into
town at 3am. People are drunk and things can happen."

You know you're properly famous when you have to employ someone to
look after your safety. And Westlife are properly famous! "Sometimes,
we'll have security when we're going out, but just one person,"
admits Shane, mildly embarrassed. "It's just to be sure, as a lot of
people would like to get at us." Nicky chips in, "It's not just for
people who want to have a go at you. People often try and sit with us
for a chat, and you can't entertain everybody else or you'd never get
a drink."

"That's especially when people get drunk," adds Kian. "They feel like
they're your best friend, and I understand because if I wasn't in
Westlife and I saw someone famous, I'd go over and say, `What's the
craic, buddy, how are you?' It happens all the time people come
over and say, `Can I buy ya a drink and can ya just sign that for me
lil' sister.' Which is fine, but then they introduce their whole
family and we're just trying to have a quiet drink."

So, what have I found out about Westlife? They like a drink, they
like to party and they've had a few minor scraps. I'd say that makes
them pretty normal blokes. Wouldn't you?