cd:uk chat

10/28/00

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worldpop: Is it impossible to date fans?

Mark: No, not impossible. Some of us actually have dated fans, but it's never been a serious relationship. It depends on which level they are fans. Say level one is a girl who has our album and likes it and level 10 would be a girl who sleeps outside our hotel. We could date, like levels one to three. But I wouldn't date anyone for the wrong reasons. A lot of girls like me just because I'm in Westlife. That's not enough to get me out on a date with them

The biggest band in pop go on tour in February next year. But we can't wait that long for a Westlife fix so we sat the boys down to find out exactly what to expect ... worldpop: Are you looking forward to your tour in 2001? Shane: Yes, we are. It starts 9 February and it's going on for practically the whole year with just a short gap when we visit America for three months. So yeah, we've very excited. It's our first tour and we can't wait to get out on the road. worldpop: What can we expect it to be like? Mark: I think a lot of people are going to be expecting it to be similar to our first album because that's what people know us best for. I also think they're going to be expecting in slow songs and mic stands and stools and stuff like that but they're wrong! worldpop: So come on, spill the beans ... Mark: We're getting a lot of dance routines put in for some of the up-tempos that we've done for the new album Coast To Coast. It's just gonna be a lively show, very lively. The main thing that we want to get from the show is for everyone to go home saying, 'God, that was really cool,' or 'We really enjoyed ourselves.' That it'll stick in their mind as opposed to the fans just going home saying, 'Yeah, whatever ...' worldpop: Steps, Five and Britney have all completed arena tours this year. How will yours compare to that? Kian: I think if you look at their sets first of all they were very industrial, very metal, loads of silver on stage. Ours is totally away from that. We've looked at all the other shows and said, 'OK, we've got to be totally different.' worldpop: why change something that works? Kian: Because we don't want to go out on stage and have the fans see the set from the Steps tour stuck in a different position. That's not what we're gonna do. We're just going to have something totally new, totally different. As Mark said we're gonna have people walking home going, 'That was an amazing show. That's the best show that we've ever seen from a pop band on this side of the world.' Mark: Hopefully! worldpop: How does it feel to have so many No 1s? Nicky: It feels great. It feels absolutely fantastic. We just don't know how we've done it to be honest with you. Looking back at them all now I think we've beaten some bands' records that took six or seven years to do. It's thanks to all the fans that bought the records. As we've said before we're going to be around for a long time so if we can keep this up we'll be very happy men. worldpop: Your nearing the Beatles record for No 1s ... Nicky: Well, we're halfway there. Bryan: It's 14 for Elvis and 13 for The Beatles isn't it or is it the other way round? Nicky: Somebody had 16! Shane: Elvis is 13 and The Beatles is 14. Kian: In my past life I had 16. Bryan: The Beatles had 14 and Elvis had 13! Shane: Whatever it is we're not there yet. worldpop: What will Westlife be like by the time you have your 16th number one? Bryan: Probably about a year older! Nicky: I think we'll be all bald. Mark: I think that's a very optimistic view on the future if you ask me. People are probably saying now that any time we release a song it's going to go to No 1. I think we've been very, very lucky to have that but eventually someday we're not gonna go No 1 and we're well prepared for that because we're not taking anything for granted. It would be lovely to have 16 No 1s but I just don't think it's going to happen. Look out for the full Westlife video interview on worldpop from Thursday 21 December.