S Club Heaven: Interviews

An interiew with Jo, Paul and Rachel, Top of the Pops Magazine, December 1999

How much has a typical day changed for S Club 7 in the last year?
Rachel: “Everything’s changed! I wouldn’t be here for starters. I’d probably be, um, what day is it? I don’t know!”
Jo: “A typical day? What time is it? Two in the afternoon? I’d be doing normal things like watching telly. It’s weird cos we feel normal but were not.”
Paul: “I’d be taking my pennies to the bank, going to a CD shop and having a laugh with my mates. It’s a real shame to miss out on normal things like that but I guess loads of people would love to be really busy and doing what we do.”

When was the first time you realised you were famous?
Jo: “For me it was when Bring It All Back was played on EastEnders in the Queen Vic. I taped it and everything.”
Rachel: “For me it was when we had our premiere for Back to the Fifties. It was an amazing feeling to have all our own fans there, cos they were there just to see us. The Radio One roadshow was mad too. The way we had to escape out of the place was really funny – we got on this little train, went two seconds down the track, and then we all got out into another van with all the fans running after us.”
Paul: “It was quite mental. They were banging on the windows! I guess the point when I realised I was famous was when I went to pick my laundry up and the laundry lady said, ‘I know who you are. You’re that boy, aren’t you?’”

Do you ever take a reality check and think about how huge S Club 7 have become?
Jo: “Yeah, but you don’t get much chance cos you’re so busy all the time. Even when I’m in bed I’m thinking ‘Right, in the morning I’ve got to pack this and this…’ Your brain can’t comprehend it, but every now and then you sit down and take a reality check.”
Rachel: “It’s always the big things that make you sit back and take stock, isn’t it? Like the roadshows, the premiere, all the big performances. And we just went to Canada and we’ve got fans out there as well!”
Paul: “I tell you what, as a band we never talk about fame together cos we don’t see it.”
Rachel: (To the others) “None of us have ever said that to each other, have we? But if something really big happens sometimes I think ‘Oh, my God, are we famous now?’”

Do you remember the first time you were recognised?
Rachel: “Early on in the year, me, Jo, Hannah and Bradley were in Top Shop on Oxford Street in London. It was half term and we’d just come from dance rehearsals. There were loads of kids asking for autographs, taking pictures, and we couldn’t’ shop, we couldn’t do anything! It was mad and the security guards were saying ‘You can’t take pictures in here.’!”
Jo: “And we were like, ‘Oh, sorry’.”

How do you get used to being recognised?
Paul: “I don’t think you ever do cos you never expect it. But I very rarely get noticed. I find if you walk differently, like if you’re walking down the road with a purpose, you’ll be OK. If you’re ambling around, then it’s more obvious.”
Jo: “I’m a bit more used to it now. Before, I used to be walking down the street and I’d see girls looking at me and I’d be like ‘Yeah, what you looking at me for?’ thinking they were giving me attitude! I was getting the whole situation wrong.”

What do you do when all the attention gets too much?
Paul: “Well, I like it when we go to America, cos no one notices us. We’re well known in most other countries except America, so when we go there we really are normal.”
Rachel: “It is so nice to escape sometimes. It might change soon, but you can’t worry about it cos whatever happens happens. You’ve just got to try to enjoy it.”

Do you ever wear disguises?
Jo: “We haven’t had to yet, but I’ll tell you where I would wear one next year – to see my little nephew running at his sports day. I went this year and I ended up being helped out of there by the police. It was a nightmare and I couldn’t even watch him run cos there were hundreds of kids after me.”

Are you worried that one day you’ll be so famous you won’t be able to go out without disguises or bodyguards?
Jo: “Yeah, I am scared.”
Paul: “It might get to that stage. I hope it won’t be too extreme when it happens, where you have to pretend that you’re someone else. None of us would like that.”

What’s the weirdest place you’ve been recognised?
Jo: “Bingo! By an eighty-year-old man! I was at bingo with my mum and he came and got an autograph for his grandchildren.”
Rachel: “I was recognised at Wimbledon and that felt really weird. I was just watching the tennis with my mum and I never thought that people might see me.”

What’s your best S Club 7 gig so far?
Rachel: “Party In The Park. That was mad. We performed along with a lot of big acts like The Corrs and the Eurythmics.”
Jo: “It was 110,000 people – that says it all.”
Rachel: “It was really weird for me cos the year before I was in the audience and I would never have dreamed that this year I’d be on stage. My mum took pictures of us on the massive screen – it was unbelievable.”
Paul: “When we got off stage we felt so amazing but then it was straight back to work. And I don’t think we even spoke to any of the other acts, we were so busy.”

Who’s the most amazing celeb you’ve met so far?
Jo: “Bryan Adams. I’ve always admired him. I met him on my twentieth birthday at Top Of The Pops, which was really nice. Me and Bryan from Westlife went and, said hello and had a chat.”

What’s S Club’s schedule like for the next twelve months?
Rachel: “There will be a tour but there’s no date set for it yet. That will be so amazing, being able to perform every night.”
Paul: “From January we’ll be filming the second series of Miami 7 in America for three months. To be away from home for one month is a long time, but it’s different for three months. That’s a quarter of a year!”
Rachel: “Yeah. It’s a bit daunting.”

What level of success can we expect from you over the next year?
Rachel: “It’s up to the fans really. We’ve been so lucky. Thing’s have gone so well for us. But we’ve worked really hard for it and it’s just really nice that people actually enjoy what we do.”
Paul: “It depends how much we want it. I never thought things would go as fantastically as they have.”
Jo: “Well, we’ll put the wok in. We’ll give it everything we’ve got.”