"Wow, that's large!" Code Red are bowling down a Los Angeles highway, completely agog at the sheer size of everything they see. A limo we pass is virtually as long as as the road it drives on and we spot a shopping mall done up like a castle and about ten times as big. Wow indeed!
This is the group's first visit to California and they're well excited. In addition to making a video for their new single, Is There Someone Out There, they're here to shop, see the sights, and -of course- hang out with Smash Hits.
"We went down to the Baywatch set on Santa Monica Beach yesterday," fizzes an excited Lee. "We saw David Hasselhoff and everything!"
They've also been on a tour of Beverly Hills to spot the houses of all the big stars.
"We got one of those star maps and just drove around." says Neil. "We saw Aaron Spelling's mansion - it's meant to have 200 rooms! And there was this Mercedes going in - it must have been Tori!"
The band are in fine form on the morning of their video shoot, despite the face they had to get up at 4:30 am. Lee's still going on about Baywatch, Neil's tormenting Phil with a banana skin and Roger's discussing what a sore loser Lee is. "When we play Fifa Football and he wins, it's like (smarmily) 'sorry, guys!'. But when he loses, he storms upstairs."
The location of the video shoot is amazing. It's in the middle of the Mojave desert, with mountains that look, in Lee's words like something from Mars." It's also unbelievably hot. Code Red climb into the mobile home that doubles as their dressing room and start slathering on the sun block.
A beautiful, red Mustang convertible car arrives for Code Red to drive for the cameras. Drawing awe-struck cries of "That is cool! That is bad! !" from the lads, it ends the day a bit battered as Roger (who's driving) scrapes the bottom on an 'awkward' angle on the road, then commits a number of tyre-torturing acts in the desert.
The rest of the video involves the Codesters larking about in a swimming pool, a hotel garden and a spooky desert grove full of palm trees. Everything stops when the sun goes down and massive insects dive-bomb on band and crew alike. "I got bitten on my eyelid by a fly!" groans Lee. "It absolutely kills!" But the video, everyone agrees, should look 'well wicked'.
We get up the following morning for breakfast in an American diner, then spend all day shopping in Bloomingdales department store and a hip-hop clothes shop called Baseline. Code Red rush about picking up loads of baggy designer gear. "We try to mix and match stuff - get stuff that no-one else has got," says Lee. Today's labels of choice are Karl Kani, TWISM, and Rico.
The lads end up spending a fortune. Fortunately, their record company will probably pick up most of the bill. "They look after us well," says Roger. "They pay for food, haircuts, hotels and that. "The only thing we don't have much of is money to spend on going out," explains Neil. "But we never get the time to do that anyway."
Night's falling and it's time to head off home. We set off along glitzy Sunset Boulevard, before drawing to a halt at a traffic light.
"Don't look now," says our driver, "But I think that's Brad Pitt in the jeep next to us."
We lean forward to stare... Then pandemonium breaks out.
"IT IS BRAD PITT!!!!" screams Roger, and by crivens, it is as well. Moodily muttering and looking somewhat less than ugly, sits a real life movie star, just a few inches away.
"Aww, man, I'm totally star struck!" yells Lee.
Brad zooms off towards Hollywood Hills. "He might be going out to get over Gwyneth Paltrow," Neil suggests, while the Code Red bus virtually explodes with excitement. "America - what a wicked place!"
