Here you can read all about what steps though about there latest tour 'Steps into christmas'
worldpop: You've just started the Steps Into Christmas tour - how's it all going for you?
Claire: Erm, we've started the Steps Into Christmas tour and it's going very well so far. It is now, although I had a few costume disasters on the first couple of nights but thankfully it's all alright now and everything's running quite smoothly.
worldpop: What does the stage set look like?
Claire: The stage set starts off with a big backdrop and there's a massive Christmas tree on it with five presents underneath - and I think you can guess probably what they are. That drops and then it's like the outside of a castle with five little doors which we can come out of at various times. Then at some point the drawbridge comes down and there's a big massive staircase so it's all very glamorous and lovely.
worldpop: What are the most eye-catching moments of the show?
Claire: H's is quite spectacular. He comes through the audience. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, if I've given away a secret, but it's all kinda set in Egypt and it's all very Egyptian and kinda of the dance is very ... I suppose Egyptian is the word. I'm trying to think of another word for it but I can't think of another one!
worldpop :What are your costumes like?
Claire: All the costumes for the show are quite fab I think. We helped design them as we always do and we always go for things that are quite sparkly and that show up quite well. They're all quite cool. We get to wear frocks and stuff as well which is very nice.
worldpop: You said you'd had a couple of costume disasters, what happened there?
Claire: Oh dear! I've got this white, beaded top which is actually cardigan on back to front done up at the back. On the first night in the first number it came undone so I was trying to dance without putting my arms up too far because it would have just fallen off. And then what happened to me? Oh, the zip broke on my trousers. And I was nearly flashing my bottom to everybody. I had to walk upstairs backwards to make sure nobody saw my bum. And then, my top came undone and I nearly flashed all that to everybody as well! I just caught it just in time. It was very embarrassing. The audience were very understanding though thankfully. They all cheered!
worldpop: Which is your favourite onstage outfit this time round?
Claire: I think it's probably my solo number cos I've got five girl dancers with me and we all wear black suits with a tie, white shirts and trilby hats. It's all quite cool. I quite like that.
worldpop: Do you have to do quick changes?
Claire: There are quite a few quick changes in this one. We have to actually get changed on stage this time for a few of the changes cos they're that quick. There is one very surprise quick one in my number which is very exciting.
worldpop: How long does it take to get your hair and make-up done?
Claire: It all depends really on how long we take to get ready. Sometimes I can take hours if I'm not in the mood to do it. I just faff around and do a bit of my hair and then do a bit of my make-up then go and do something else but if I'm on a mission and I wanna get ready I can get ready in about half an hour but that doesn't normally happen!
worldpop: Do you have any showbiz tips to make getting ready quicker?
Claire: I'm probably not the person to ask on tips to get ready quicker! I think you've just got to be organised really. Do one thing at a time. I try it every time and it just doesn't work.
worldpop: Who looks after your wardrobe and makes sure your clothes are ready between changes?
Claire: We have got a lovely lady called Dawn who looks after all our costumes, makes sure they're all clean and ironed and looking lovely. She does that every day and she helps us get changed every night as well. She gets us into our outfits and then when we're doing quick changes she's always there to help zip up and do hooks and buttons and necklaces and stuff. She's really cool.
worldpop: If you have matching outfits, how do you know whose is whose?
Claire: I don't think any of our outfits are actually matching. They might be the same colour but I don't think we've ever worn something that is exactly the same. I'm quite a pinks person, Faye loves her yellows and Lisa she likes her blues. We normally know which is which.
worldpop: What happens to the clothes after the tour is over?
Claire: Lots of different things happen to the clothes I think. I'm a hoarder so I like to collect all mine - one day I'm going to have this amazing collection of costumes. I can't bear to throw anything away. I like to keep all mine so the costumes from the last tour all went in a box in my spare room at the moment and the ones from the first tour I don't know where they are. They're in storage somewhere. I know Faye donated a couple of things to charity, which is really nice. I'd really love to do that but I just can't bring myself to give them away. I have to keep them! I don't know why.
worldpop: Do you still get nervous before a show?
Lee: It's our third arena tour now and it's our fourth tour in total, so we've sort of had a lot of practise at it, so I think we're alright. No nerves really kick in, it's more excitement I would say than nerves.
worldpop: Do you have a pre-show routine?
Lee: We did have in the early days but y'know you get all these American artists who pray or they have a certain saying or something they do. And we were just being so stupid, we were like, 'No, we're going to hold hands, stand in a circle and go urgh' and just do loads of stupid things together just to get a happy vibe going before you go on stage. Nowadays we just go round to our dancers and everyone there and say, 'Have a good show'. Shake some hands and go, 'C'mon'. Get a bit of cheering going. We never really sit there and concentrate heavily on anything.
worldpop: What do you do as soon as you get to the venue?
Lee: When we get to the venue we'll arrive about 4.30pm and we'll do a sound check. Which means we'll put our ears (earpieces) in so we can all hear each other, get the mics and run through a couple of songs that we sing live on the show just so to get all the levels right 'cos every venue's different. The ceilings can be higher or it can be bigger or smaller, whatever. The stage might be shallower in depth so you always have to do a sound check to check that. Then we'll go for some lunch and that'll be around 5.30-6pm. From there onwards you just chill down, all the girls start getting ready 'cos they take longer obviously, then we're on stage about 8.45pm I think. The support acts go on around 7.30-8pm and I think we've got three support acts this time. We've got a mixture. There's a lot of people chopping and changing on the tour. The audience get the show started about 7.30-7.45pm. They're actually watching things.
worldpop: Do you order anything special for your dressing rooms?
Lee: We've got a rider. I think every band has a rider when they go on tour. On our rider we have silly things like fruit and some chocolates and things like that. We'll have drinks as in cranberry juice and things like that. Me and H will probably have a couple of beers on there as well and the girls may have a bottle of wine just to chill down with.
worldpop: Have you had a chance to check out any of the support bands yet?
Lee: Girls@Play, Boom have been on supporting us a few times, Brothers, which is Lisa's brothers and Atomic Kitten are supporting us as well. There's only Girls@Play really that are the new support band everyone else we know and we've met before and we're friends with anyway. But Girls@Play are pretty cool, nice girls.
worldpop: Can you tell what the crowd will be like when you're waiting backstage?
Lee: I think you get a sense of an idea of how they are to the support acts or how restless they're getting before we come on stage. You get a sort of idea of what they're gonna be like when you're there. If they're really quiet and they're happy waiting for you to come on, well to me, they're the type of fans that are really excited or they get going as the show gets going. Whereas if you've got fans who are screaming, 'We want Steps' then you know straight away as soon as you come out they're just gonna go mad and go wild. So you do get a sense of what they're going to be like.
worldpop: What's different about the Steps Into Christmas tour?
Lee: Well Steps Into Christmas is different obviously because of the title - Christmas. So we've got some Christmas songs on the tour. We've got new songs from our album, Buzz, that we perform that people have never seen before and a couple of songs that aren't on the album. Lisa does a solo and Claire does a solo as well and they're two different songs totally. The whole stage set is different. The whole vibe of the show's different. I think there's a bit more talking on this one as well - once again me and H on that one. It's more... God what is it? It's a total pop concert with that element of closeness again. We always like to involve the audience and it really does vibe people up for Christmas. Sorry to all the parents out there but all the kids are desperate for Christmas Day to arrive after they've seen it.
worldpop: How much of the crowd can you see from the stage?
Lee: To be honest with you it depends on the songs 'cos all the lighting's different for every song. You can usually see down the front a good halfway but then at the tops and the back and the sides things like that forget it. You just see these little glow lights going round everywhere! But when you do talk to the audience you do get them to bring the audience lights up and then you can see the whole size of the arena. Sometimes that can be quite breathtaking. When you go out there the lights are in your face, it's dark, you've got little glow lights going, you don't really get how big it is. Then halfway through the show they'll bring the lights up, you'll talk to the audience and you'll realise that there's people all the way, little dots in the distance at the top watching you, so it's pretty big.
worldpop: Have you seen any good banners lately?
Lee: Oh, what banners have we seen? There's loads of banners. There's not one that jumps out to mind. There's usually a few rude ones or some sort of inventive ones or things like that but most at the moment are all y'know, 'We get a Buzz from you', 'cos the album's Buzz. So there's a lot of those type of banners going around. Sometimes they'll stick pictures on themselves and have like our names in the corner and things like that. They usually make a lot themselves actually. There's a lot of really big banners out there.
worldpop: What's your favourite song to perform this time around?
Lee: Ooh, I don't know really. There's a few that I really like doing. It's The Way You Make Me Feel is probably one of my favourite tracks off the new album and I like it 'cos it's very different. It's like ballroom dancing. It's all period costumes and things like that. We involve all the dancers as well and I'm sure you'll get to see that on TV as well when we perform it 'cos it's going to be our next release. I like that because people won't expect that.
worldpop: If something unexpected happens on stage, what's most likely to make you laugh?
Lee: Besides him (points to H)? God, what's most likely to make me laugh? Actually Claire's been making me laugh recently. Claire doesn't usually talk a lot on tour. I think she's just a bit nervous and hasn't had enough confidence about it but on this tour she's got a whole bit where she does talk. I think she got her words confused a bit the other day. She just started going off on one and doing a little bit of movement as she was talking. Me and Lisa were behind her in hysterics. You know if you lose your voice suddenly you do get nervous and then you start talking quick and you don't know what you're going to say and anything comes out? Well I think that was her first experience of losing it slightly on stage. It was funny.
worldpop: If you've had a good show, how do you feel when the last song comes on?
Lee:Thankful! I do actually. I feel really happy, really good about myself 'cos the whole show hopefully has gone really well and there hasn't been too many disasters in there. I'm not going to give away the ending of our show but it is a bit of a spectacle so the audience are left seeing a lot of things happening and they are so into the spirit of things that you can't help but feel good about yourself at the end of that. You know every audience is going out with a smiley face. We quickly run away off the stage and we see everyone as we're coming out. We see them all leaving and the kids are dancing and all that. No matter what your music is, whatever you do, if you see that you cannot feel anything but happy 'cos you've just made all these people have a great night.