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August, 2000
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U.S. OF AAARGH! Reckon you know which Westlife would break the law, distress a diva at dinner or run riot with his Platinum AmEx? Hold on to your hot dog as Westlife run rampage Stateside
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NICKY We
hear you went on a few outrageous shopping sprees. Well,
Kian would say he was the worst, I’d say it was me. We both went mad
as soon as we were in LA. I’ve spent an absolute fortune – more than
£5,000. Didn’t
it cost you in excess baggage? We
never have to pay excess baggage cos Anto always gives out pictures of
the band or signed albums. We call Aer Lingus the big, green bird –
they always seems happy to see us! Was
the American food up to standard? I
didn’t like the things like grits (gritty American breakfast dish). In
Manhattan we stayed in an Irish Hotel, which served stew, cabbage and
potatoes and stuff – lovely! It has to be said, though, that the
Ronald McDonald and the Kentucky Fried Chicken colonel are absolute
legends and will get a thank you on our next album! Did
you run up against any unexpected language barriers? The
record company over there soon picked up a few words we use, like ‘knackered’.
At first they’d say, ‘What’s knockered?’ but next day some of
the guys were using it nearly every other word! Would
you ever consider moving to LA? I
could definitely live in LA – it’s cool! Although it is very fake.
I’d be there for two months then be dying to come home! Why? I
can’t stand fake boobs – they seemed to be everywhere in LA! And not
just girls have plastic surgery to be more beautiful. It seems automatic
that, at a certain age, boys as well as girls have nose jobs! Any
outrageous flirting in the Westlife camp? There’s
always flirting going on with us! Bryan was the biggest flirt with the
US girls – as usual! He’s not really secretive about it. He’ll
just tell you six months later, ‘By the way… ‘ I really thought
Mark was going to hit it off with Mandy Moore, but he didn’t! (See
Mark for more details!) Go
on then, divulge the raucous American rock’n’roll stories. They’re quite boring in the States actually cos I am rock’n’roll! I love going on lads’ nights out, but it’s so difficult there cos of the age thing. So, sorry, it didn’t happen!
MARK What
American phrases have you picked up after spending so long in the States? I
pick up accents really quickly and I caught myself saying ‘baloney’
a couple of times, but it’s not conscious thing, honest! How
did the Americans cope with the Irish sense of humor? The
Irish and English sense of humor is really sarcastic. You say things and
people know you’re messing, but in America they take it so seriously.
I was always putting my feet in it. Once we were backstage at a concert
meeting competition winners and I said to this girl wearing a skimpy top
and skirt, ‘Jesus, where are the rest of your clothes?’ She was
really offended and gave me the dirtiest look. It takes a lot of getting
used to. Who’s
the biggest fan of American food? We’re
all big fans and if we stayed out there any longer, we’d be coming
back looking like Rab C Nesbitt! All we eat over there are huge steaks
and burgers, and the portions are absolutely massive. So
there must have been some dinner disasters? Yes,
the night we had dinner with Mariah Carey. Mariah’s one of those
people that the slightest remark can put her off her whole meal. So she
was telling us this, but Bryan didn’t realise how serious she was, so
he said her plate of seafood looked like a bowl of snot. And that was it,
she put her knife and fork down and said, ‘I can’t eat that now’,
and Bryan and me were like, oh no, we’ve upset Mariah Carey. BRYAN
(butting in): Mariah flipped at me and said, ‘That’s it, you’re
eating one of them.’ It was clams or something and I was like, ‘No,
I’ll be sick,’ but she just put it in my mouth. I swallowed it whole
cos there was no way I was chewing it! (Back to Mark.) It was all these
fishy things Bryan hates. He had a bit of a session in the toilet later! What
about your wild partying antics. Bryan
portrayed as the mad party animal of the group, but most times I’m out
there with him. The thing is I can’t legally drink in America cos I’m
under 21, which is a bit crap. We kept trying to find a way round it,
but they are so strict it’s near impossible. It’s crazy – you need
ID for pratically everything, even a can of coke! You
must have gone out and let your hair down for your birthday. I
wanted to go out to this club, but they were having none of it so I just
set in my hotel room and read Angela’s Ashes. There was nothing else I
could do. The place we were in was so dull as well. It made Sligo look
like New York City! Were
you any of you lucky with the ladies? (Suddenly
looks incredibly coy.) Wll, we had a good laugh. We weren’t exactly in
the situation where we could meet girls 24-7, but there were a couple of
incidents. Like what? There’s nothing to divulge – I had a laugh! How
do American girls’ snogging techniques compare with the Irish and
British lasses? Ummm,
it’s fine. Girls are girls and boys are boys, worldwide. Snogging’s
the universal language of the world! Right.
What about the Mandy Moore incident? Nothing
happened with Mandy Moore – honest! We went out a couple of times, but
when I first met her I didn’t realise she’s only 16. She’s a
lovely girl, absolutely beautiful. And we had a great laugh – but
really, nothing happened. We’ve kept in touch even though we’re on
opposite sides of the world, but at the end of the day, we’re just
good friends.
KIAN How
did you find the US grub? It’s
strange cos what we call a Mars bar, they call Milky Way and all the
chocolate tastes really different in America. And their milk is just
terrible too! They have stuff called ‘half and half’, which is like
half milk, half water, and that’s what it’s like – water! When you
come down to breakfast in the morning, ordering is so confusing.
There’s easy, over easy, over easy easy, sunny side up… I was just
like, ‘Can I have two eggs on toast and make them soft? Thanks.’ And
the bacon!They cook it twice, so it’s rock solid. And the cornflakes… Is
the Irish accent popular on the other side of the Atlantic pond? Yes,
on the whole I would say the accent was a bit of a hit over there. To be
honest though I was very nervous and didn’t want to start getting into
that whole thing of meeting a girl for just one night. I don’t like
doing that. I’m not a slag. We hear you spent an obscene amount of money in America. I
bought a diamond ring, a Rolex watch and a thousand-dollar jacket. I
spent about £5,000 on clothes and another £5,000 on jewellery – all
for myself! I’m going to buy a car soon. Probably a Porsche, but I’m
not sure yet. Hmm,
things can’t be bad. Well,
I only just passed my driving test – I think that’s fair enough. What
American phrases have you adopted after spending so long out there? I
started to develop a bit of an American twang and caught myself saying
things like ‘awesome’, so I checked myself and put a stop to that! What
about all the mad nights out on the town? There
were hardly any cos we’re under 21. We met up with Savage Garden at a
club in New York, but it’s only thanks to them we got in. When we
first turned up and said we were Westlife the door people didn’t
believe us. What,
Westlife refused entry? Well,
yes. So the Savage Garden turn up and go (adopts rather convincing
Aussie accent) ‘Oh, Westlife, what’s the craic, boys?’ and that’s
when the had to accept we were Westlife and let us in. You
must have got up to some skulduggery? Well,
that night we ended up patying with slash and the drummer from Guns N’Roses.
They just got up and started jamming – it was mad! Then another night
we actually sneaked into a club. The doors were open all the way round
the club, but the security were only on the front door so we just
sneaked in round the side. It was this bucking-bronco place in LA. What
was the most outrageous proprosition made to you by an American fan? There were quite a few – not so much original ones, but, er, straightforward would be the word I think! One of the tamest was, ‘Can you come to bed with me, please?’ As simple as that. Then I had a 14-year-old flashing at me from the crowd in upstate New York. She flashed her boobs! She just lifted her top at me, but thankfully she kept her bra on! |