So lads, is the popstar life what you expected so far?
Kian: It’s harder work than we thought it was going to be, but it’s brilliant!
Nicky: When you aspire to be a popstar you always have an idea… Everyone thinks being in a band is gonna be all limos, red carpets, glitter, everything. But we go from photoshoot, to interview to TV… You only get to bed once a week (laughs) I’m tired.
Mark: We haven’t got a popstar life - we’re not popstars yet… Michael Jackson is a popstar.
Shane: He’s bigger than a popstar. We’ve got a popstar schedule… We’re getting to travel the world with our best mates and we’re living out a dream that we’ve always had.
Bryan: One thing’s for sure, it’s different from everything else in the outside world!

Did anyone warn you how hard you’d have to work?
Shane: Ronan did, but you don’t really understand ‘til you’re in the situation. We’re getting used to it now, though. The last six weeks have been really hard going – lots of late nights and early starts.
Kian: A few months ago I was always asking Louis, "When are we going to do this, when are we going to do that?" and he said, "Look Kian, in a year’s time you’ll be asking me, when are we going to have a day off?"!

Are you surprised at the number of fans you’ve got already?
Mark: There were lots waiting for us at the airport in Amsterdam where we’ve done no promotion and haven’t even had a single out – that’s what I call scary! We were totally freaked out wondering how they’d got to hear about us.
Kian: I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when we’ve had a few singles out, especially if they do well. I’m trying not to think about it. I’ll just deal with it if it happens.

Do you think you’d have had as much attention if Ronan and Louis weren’t your managers?
Shane: It’s helped an awful lot – got our foot in the door. Especially doing the Boyzone tour – that was brilliant ‘cos about 50,000 people saw us on that. And having Ronan’s name behind us has definitely helped, because at least all the Boyzone fans want to find out what we’re about!
Kian: Ronan and Louis’ names turn heads. People think, "Well, if Ronan Keating’s involved in this, there’s obviously something there".
Mark: It would’ve been ten times harder to get to the stage we’re at now if it wasn’t for them.
Shane: And they’ve learnt from the mistakes Boyzone made early on and have been able to help us avoid them. Ronan’s said to us that it took them at least two years to get to the stage we’re at now. So we have been very lucky. People take more notice of Irish bands now, thanks to Boyzone.

Were you sad that you had to change your name?
Shane: I think Westlife is a brilliant name. I’m quite glad we changed it.
Kian: The saddest thing I think, is that we’d done so much as Westside, and to some extent I felt we were going to lose it.
Nicky: However, it’s great that it happened before the first single ‘cos it would’ve been disastrous if it had happened after our single was out.
Bryan: Everything we’d done as Westside we’re doing again as Westlife. It’s almost free publicity in a way, as the story about us changing our name was in all the papers.

What’s the most "popstarry" thing you’ve done so far?
Shane: The Childline concert in Dublin. There were loads of big bands there and we were on stage with them all at the end in a big line… we felt like we were really part of the whole thing.
Mark: Most of them were people we used to look up to in the past…
Kian: Last year we watched Ronan Keating on it and then we were, on stage next to him singing No Matter What. It was unbelievable.

What are you most looking forward to about being famous?
Shane: I’ll tell you when we get there – if we get there.
Bryan: We just want to be successful and live up to the hype ‘cos it’s expected of us now. At this stage, if we don’t get into the Top 10 in England we’ll be disappointed. This time last year if I’d been told I’d have a Top 50 single in England I’d have been over the moon.
Kian: I’m looking forward to getting my first gold disc. We’ve been in studios where producers have got gold discs covering all the walls. We walked in and we we’re like, "Wow!" Where would I put my gold discs? I’d put them in the loo like Robbie.
Nicky: We were speaking to Ronan about this and he said, "Lads, don’t believe the hype – create the hype, as we did."

Would you like to steal the pop crown from Five, BSB, B*witched and bands like that?
Mark: We want to be the biggest band in the world – which’s our dream. We don’t really see it as taking over, though.
Kian: In reality, this time last year we never would’ve thought we’d be here where we are today. That’s why we don’t really look at it like taking over the "boy band crown" or anything – we just want to do as well as we can. There’s room for hundreds of bands if they’re all making good music.

What have you got to offer that other boy bands haven’t got?
Shane: We’re not claiming to be completely different. We’re a band who loves singing, we’re five new personalities, five new faces, five great voices… we’re young, energetic – and that’s us.
Mark: But a lot of bands try to clone other groups – we’re not doing that, we’re being ourselves. People will realise when they hear our album – it’s going to be amazing!

Which other bands are you friends with?
Kian: Apart from Boyzone, we know Five, B*witched and Steps. Steps are great – the three girls have got great voices…
Mark: It’s funny you should ask us actually, because we were hanging out with Status Quo last night – they asked for our autographs for their kids! I was about to ask for their autographs for my dad.
Kian: There’s one person who doesn’t like us – a new female solo artist. I can’t say who she is, but we met her one night and we thought we were getting on fine, then we read a magazine a couple of weeks later and there she was, saying she hadn’t got on with us all. We were quite upset.

If you had to be in another band, who’d you choose? And don’t say Boyzone!
Bryan: Backstreet Boys, definitely. I think they’re absolutely brilliant!
Nicky: It would’ve been Boyzone for me, but otherwise, Backstreet Boys. I’d love to be able to just sit in front of a piano and sing. I’m actually trying to get piano lessons at the moment.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Kian: Ronan told me to treat people, as you want to be treated yourself.
Shane: He also told us to keep our feet on the ground. And Louis is always ringing us up saying, "Who do you think you are? You’re not like popstars!" He’s really funny like that!
Bryan: Ronan told us just to be ourselves, if we’re on TV or anything. If you see Ronan on TV, the way he is, is exactly like he is in real life – he’s naturally a really nice bloke. He hasn’t changed – if you do, that’s when you start losing it.
Nicky: All our best advice has come from Ronan or Louis. Ronan just told us to be ourselves, not to be fake, and to be nice to everyone. Growing up in Ireland is such a great place that we do treat everyone like we expect to be treated ourselves. We hate people who are arrogant towards anyone. I never look up to anyone or down on anyone – it’s not right and I don’t believe in it.

Who decided on the smart, almost designer look for the band?
Kian: We sat down with Simon Cowell (the A&R guy who signed them) at the beginning and we said we wanted all the baggy clothes, the same as everyone else. But then we decided we wanted to be different.
Nicky: I used to love wearing suits anyway but we’ve found the right stylist now, Kenny – he’s the seventh one and he styles Spice Girls. He shopped for us individually ‘cos we all had different ideas and individual looks. We have such a good relationship with him.
Bryan: We tried out loads of famous stylists, like BSB and Five’s people, and we thought we were never going to find anyone!
Kian: Basically, our stylist sat us down, thought about our individual personalities and came up with this – what I’d call a "laid-back, slick" look.
Mark: Before we started in the band, I thought Dolce and Gabbana was a type of pizza!

Do you have nicknames for each other?
Kian: Not really, but if someone does something stupid we call them a "deutz" - that’s the main one. We say, "Don’t be a deutz!" It’s a Sligo word. It’s hard to explain ‘cos it means a lot of things.
Shane: It can mean good things as well – it depends on the context.
Mark: Louis has Spice Girls-type names for us, but we’re not telling you what they are ‘cos we don’t want everyone to start using them!

Does the band have characters, like the joker, the cute one and so on?
Bryan: Nicky is a cross between Ronan and Kevin from Backstreet Boys – he’s level-headed with a lot of charisma. Shane is a mix of Ronan, Gary Barlow and Brian Littrell. Kian is like Mark Owen and Rich from Five – the cheeky, cute one, with a little bit of Stephen Gately as well. Mark would be kind of the Mikey or Howie D, a little quieter and held back.
Nicky: Bryan is very funny. He knows how to put a smile on your face and he’s a good mate to me. We room together and talk about things. But he’s very hard to get up in the morning.
Bryan: D’ya mind? Shane’s worse than me!

When you’re working away, do you go out clubbing or are you sensible?
Kian: We’d like to go out, but we’re too tired. Like, when we were in Holland the other day, we had to do 25 interviews, one after the other, from nine in the morning to eight in the evening. Then we had rehearsals and a TV show as well! After all that, there was no way we were going out!
Shane: Every two or three weeks we’ll all go on a big night out, but it’s Bryan and Kian who are the biggest party animals!
Kian: We learnt our lesson on our first tour when we went out every night – we were nearly dead by the end of it!

Which celebs do you have the hots for?
Kian: Britney Spears. She’s absolutely gorgeous!
Shane: I really like Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Zeta Jones (The mask of Zorro)
Bryan: Britney Spears.
Nicky: I’m not really looking as I’ve been with my girlfriend for four years, but I think all the Spice Girls are attractive and Britney Spears is also nice.

So you’re going to own up to having girlfriends, are you?
Nicky: Yup, I’ve got a girlfriend. Most people know about it already because she’s the Irish Prime Minister’s daughter.
Bryan: I had one up to a few weeks ago. Now I’m single and looking for love!
Nicky: Because we’re in the public eye, if you’re going out with someone, people will see you together and if you’ve lied about it you just end up looking stupid.
Bryan: If our fans are spending their money buying your single and album or whatever, then they’re showing their respect to you, so you have to respect them back – and lying to them isn’t showing respect.
Nicky: It hasn’t really affected my popularity – well I don’t think so, anyway!

Can you ever imagine leaving Ireland?
Kian: Maybe in five years time or something.
Shane: I might buy a little flat in London if we make any money, but my main base would be in Ireland.
Kian: I’d like to live in America for a bit. Whereabouts? I dunno, I’ve never been there! But it looks good on TV, though! And of course, Britney Spears lives there!
Mark: I’d like to buy a big house in Ireland and a little flat in London.
Nicky: No matter how big the band gets, I’ll always live in Ireland. If we make enough money I may get a place in London as well, though!
Bryan: I’d like a wooden shack out on a beach somewhere. If the band is very successful I’d still live in Ireland, but I was thinking about moving to the Caribbean and setting up a little bar.

Would you be prepared if there was a kiss ‘n’ tell story in the papers about you?
Shane: I try not to think about it – I’ve no skeletons in my closet. But if a story got turned around, I might get upset. It depends what they said.
Kian: It said in the paper that I was a stripper the other day – that’s not true!
Bryan: I don’t worry because I don’t have any sleazy stories. But I do worry that someone who knows me might make up a lie and ‘cos they know me, everyone will believe them.
Nicky: I’d hate a story to come up that was untrue. One paper once quoted us as saying we were better than Boyzone, which was completely untrue. We totally look up to Boyzone.
Mark: It’s just a bit of crack, isn’t it? There’s nothing you can do about it – anyway, it’s all publicity, isn’t it? Only joking!

Is there one of you who already gets more attention than the others?
Kian: We’re all getting a fair bit of attention, but I think Bryan gets the loudest screams when we play a concert. But we all have our own groups of fans.

Do you ever worry that in a year or two you’ll hate the sight of each other?
Bryan: No – even if we go home, me and Nicky always go out together. We’re all like a family. Actually, we’re together more than our families – we’re always on the phone to each other!
Nicky: We don’t even argue properly – we just sit down and tell each other what’s wrong. This business is all about positive thinking and you have to believe in yourself, think of all the good things you have. We all love what we do so much.

Do you have a motto?
Nicky: I always pray before we go on stage – we all do. Shane always says a few words, and we stand in a circle and say a Hail Mary prayer. We all put our hands in the middle of the circle, on the top of each other’s, then we count to three in Irish and shout, ‘Westlife!’ And wish each other all the best.