FOR two years, BBMak band members had no money, 
one dream and no time to spend with friends.

 Said Christian Burns: "We couldn't afford to buy new clothes or to 
go out with friends. Whatever money we had, we needed 
to spend on things like guitar strings."

 All that has changed. Now that they are on the road on a 
promotion tour, they have left "families, friends and pets behind" 
and it sort of just comes back to square one.

 So Burns quipped: "We get to see the world, but we also talk 
to them. We've got mobile phones, now."

 Or they pen songs for people they miss back home.

 Mark Barry wrote Emily's Song for his niece of that name, 
who was born when he was recording in Sweden

 Of the 12 songs in Back Here, nine were written by the group.

 Life has certainly perked up for them. 

"When we were in Los Angeles, we saw Elizabeth Hurley, 
Hugh Grant, Busta Rhymes..." said Stephen McNally.

 Besides mobile phones, there are now rides around London 
on their scooters, more video games to play with, 
meals in "lovely restaurants", stays in "fancy hotels" 
and "free hotel slippers".

 BBMak members display a wide range of "hidden talents".

 Burns did an imitation of Kermit the Frog, while Barry confessed reservedly to being a four-time English champion bagpipe player
when he was a teenager.

 When he was just 13, he also played with a band at Old Trafford (the home ground of Manchester United) as an opening act for Rod Stewart.

 "Nah, we didn't see him," he said. "We played, 
we marched off, he came on."
 

No, We're young lads. 
We're in a band. 
We don't dance, 
but we play and we write. 
It's like The Beatles. 
They were a boy band.
They were young boys, too. 
They even have the same hair.
--- BBMak on whether they get cheesed off 
when people think they are a boy band---
 

This article first appeared in The New Paper < 8 October 1999 >