Interview TV HITS May 2001
Firestarter
Meet Bellefire - four irish girls who are setting the pop world alight!
Hey girls! Tell us, what did you think of each other when you first met?
Ciara Well, I first met Kelly and Tara at the auditions for the band. We're all really shy so it was quite a quiet meeting!
Kelly But we all got on well instantly.
Ciara Yeah, a lot of girls auditioned for Bellefire and most of them weren't friendly because there was a big element of competition.
Kelly But I was standing behind Ciara and we soon got chatting. I remember thinking, "This girls is so nice". So we exchanged numbers at the end and stayed in touch.
Tara And Ciara and Cathy are sisters so they've known each other for quite while now. Ha ha!
Cathy Yeah, and now we're all in the same band and it couldn't be better!
You supported Westlife on tour recently - what was it like?
Cathy Amazing! It was the first time we sang our own songs in front of so many people, so it was kinda scary.
Kelly But we'd been looking forward to getting on stage for so long. It was great to finally get up there!
Ciara The Westlife lads kept playing pranks on us! Someone put a whoopee cushion on my stool on stage one night.
Tara That was funny! Shane said it wasn't him, but I'm not sure...
Ciara And another night someone ran across the stage wearing a funny mask half-way through our set!
Sounds like you had fun! Did you have rock 'n roll parties in your hotel?
Cathy Not really. But we've been to a few of the parties Westlife have thrown.
Ciara The best was Bryan's 21st bash in London. There were loads of stars there - S Club 7 even Jerry Springer!
All together Go Jerry! Go Jerry!
Ciara Those parties were great for star-spotting!
Do you annoy each other when you spend lots of time together?
Ciara It's grand!
Tara And really very cosy!
Cathy We really enjoy each other's company so it's always fun.
Kelly Yeah, we've shared a house together in Dublin for nearly two years now. And there are never any fights or anything! If anyone's in a bad mood, we just leave them alone, but we're quite mellow folk.
Tara Yeah, if I'm in a stinking mood I'll probably sneak off to my room.
Have you had to sign any autographs yet?
Cathy Yes! It's so weird.
Kelly There was this time we were asked to hand out certificates at the Junior Achievement Awards in Dublin and we got absolutely mobbed! There were about 1000 kids there and they were going mad.
Tara It was absolutely amazing!
Ciara And I kept getting my bottom pinched the whole time!
Kelly The funniest thing happened to Tara in Norway. A taxi driver asked her to sign the bill and she thought he wanted an autograph! So she put "With love, Tara". He had such a confused look on his face!
Tara I was so embarrassed!
Ha ha! Everyone loves you Irish pop stars - why is that?
Tara Because we've all got silly accents! (Laughs)
Cathy It's prbably cos most of the bands you hear are really good musicians, like U2 and Westlife.
Kelly And Samantha Mumba is really good too - just look how well she's done!
There are loads of girl groups around at the moment. What's gonna make you stand out?
Cathy I guess the fact that we play our own instruments is a bit different.
Ciara Cathy and I play the violin and the piano.
Kelly And Tara's the rock chick on her electric guitar.
Tara Yeah! But we're more of a vocale band. We love singing live and we've started to write some of our own songs too.
Okay - give us one word that describes each of you...
Ciara Kelly's the hippy.
Kelly And Ciara is cheeky.
Cathy Tara's funky and arty.
Tara You might as well call me farty.
Cathy I've changed my mind. Tara's a peanut (All laugh for ages)
What are you talking about?
Ciara Sorry! We call Tara a peanut cos she's small, cute, sweet and a little bit cracked! Ha ha!
Tara And Cathy's reliable.
Cathy That makes me sounds boring!
Tara Okay then - you're fun-loving!
Cathy Ta!
You filmed your first video in the States, what was that like?
Cathy Wicked. I'd never been there before. It was brilliant!
Tara Wanna know a secret about the video? Well, if you look really closely, you can spot one of us with a raisin stuck in our teeth! Ha ha!
Kelly And there's another bit where it looks like Tara's messing about in the water, but she actually fell in by accident and they filmed it all!
Ciara But we were so busy working we only got to have one day off to see the sights.
Cathy We made the most of it! We went to Times Square, Central Park, saw a baseball game as well as taking a boat ride out to the Statue Of Liberty.
Right then girls, you've got a minute to tell us why we should buy your record. Speak!
Cathy Because it's gonna be the song of the summer!
Kelly It's infectious and catchy.
Tara Yeah, once you've heard it, you won't be able to get it out of your head - ever!
Ciara It puts a nig smile on your face.
Kelly And the video is lovely too!
Ciara And it's such a lovely sing-a-long song - you'll all be singing it!
Cathy Completely! It's a great summer hit and once you hear it on the radio, you'll be hooked!
Tara It's the best thing ever!
Kelly In fact it's what you might call Perfect Bliss! Geddit? Hah ha!
TV HITS May 2001
