March 22, 2000 - Smash Hits - Wetlife!
Take one paddling pool, 20 buckets of freezing water and whaddayaknow? It's Westlife - Flying without water wings
Westlife are drenched. They've spent most of the afternoon lying in our paddling pool, and now they're running round dripping water on nthe floor. Poor old Shane's had the worst of it - for some reason the others have been finding it funny to chuck buckets of cold water over him! But once everyone's towelled off and the floor's had a good mop, the boys settle down to answer our steady stream of water-related questions.
Who's the wettest member of Westlife?
Kian: As in the weediest? Nicky's afraid os a lot of things - but he's not a wimp!
Nicky: I'm as hard as nails, me! Anyway, whio's afraid of heights?
Bryan: Er, well, I wouldn't do a parachute jump...
Kian: OK, I admit it, we're all wet!
How long do will your reign as pop kings last?
Nicky: Are we the kingsof pop now? That's nice, I thought Boyzone were still the kings of pop!
Bryan: Hopefully as long as possible - about 10 years would be good.
Kian: Forever!
Will you make a splash in America?
Kian: i think we've got a fairly good chance 'cos the radio stations are already playing our song over there, which is really important. The record company are fairly confident, anyway.
Mark: Everything;s looking good for us, but only time will tell.
Is it true that you had to hire a shower of bodyguards when you went to America?
Shane: Some newspapers said taht we had five bodyguards each, but that's not true! We had one each, and then there were about 10 security people on tope of that.
Kian: But that was in South America though, in Argentina.
Nicky: They even got the riot police out in case anyone tried to kidnap us!
Mark: We didn't hire them though.
Kian: People read these things and think we're making all these demands, but the people around us organise those things, and they only do it if they think we're not ging to be safe.
What's your favourite fish?
Mark: What's the one in fish fingers?
Kian: Cod - I think that's my facourite too.
Nicky: Sole.
Which question do you try to duck out of answering?
Bryan: "What's it like having Ronan as a manager?" We must get asked that one at least five times a day, every day!
Nicky: "How did you get together/." I don't know how many times we've answered that! We get asked it even more now we're doing interviews in different countries.
What's your fave liquid?
Shane: Lager!
Mark: Water, 'cos you can drink it, wash in it and use it for loads of things!
Nicky: Snot. In liquid - not solid - form.
What's the last thing that bought a tear to your eyes?
Shane: The last time I cried was when I was leaving her for three days, but at the time I thought I was going away for six weeks.
Kian: Soppy movies make me cry.
Bryan: Getting bills makes me weep. I don't like them at all.
Bath or shower?
Mark: Shower.
Kian: Bath.
Bryan: Shower.
Nicky: Bath.
Shane: I prefer a bath, but most of the time I shower 'cos it saves time.
Did not being nominated for a Brit put a dampener on your success?
Bryan; Not as much as not being nominated for any Smash Hits awards would!
Kian: I don't think it put a dampener on it, because we didn't expect to win anything anyway!
Nicky: The Brits are more rock-oriented. If more pop groups were nominated and we weren't, then we woujld be bothered.
Mark: We don't look ai it as a setback - we're very positive. We celebrate when we win something, but don't get down if it doesn't happen. We've won loads of awards in the last year anyway.
Who takes the longest to scrub up?
Bryan: Me, because I'm the biggest, so I've got a lot more places that I have to scrub.
Kian: Nicky, Bryan and I take the longest because we've got longer hair.
Nicky: I don't do much to my hair now I've had it cut - I just splash some water on and put a bit of wax in it.
Bryan: And I don't wash my hair that often. I sometimes don/t touch it at all for two days (laughs).
When did you last wet the bed?
Shane: When I was about two, I think.
Mark: I can't remember!
Nicky: A long time ago, honest!
Who's the most likely to tap the others for money when they're skint?
Mark: Bryan. We'll all borrow money off each other and nobody minds.
Shane: Bryan's most likely to borrow off us though, because he's so forgetful and he's always losing his wallet.
Which pop stars make you want to reach for a bucket?
Kian: No-one in particular, but I don't like pop stars who are fake or arrogant. I don't like people who try to be hard and are scared to just be themselves.
What do you like to sing lin the shower?
Shane: Whatever song happens to be in my head at the time. Recently, it's been the Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way.
Nicky: He's liked that one for ages. He was so busy singing it, he didn't get out the shower for two months!
Bryan: I don't sing any particular song, I just make a load of noise.
What famous laydeez make you drool?
Nicky: Liz Hurley's nice.
Kian: Sarah Michelle Gellar - she's great in Buffy.
Mark: Beyonce from Destiny's Child.
Shane: Michelle Pheiffer's my favourite.
Bryan: Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. Oh, and Hillary Clinton. (Eh?) - she's one of my five million girlfriends!
Which famous people have you sea-n recently?
Nicky: We met Diana Ross, Gloria Estefan and Enrique Iglesias while we were in America.
Bryan: We saw the Vengaboys the other day and we've been bumping into Christina Aguilera a lot recently.
Shane: And we've seen Aqua and B*Witched...
Kian: And we just did a gig for Childline with Hepburn and Atomic Kitten.
Is there anyone you'd still like to meet?
Bryan: Stevie Wonder.
Nicky: Madonna and Lauryn Hill.
Mark: Michael Jackson's my hero - and I haven't had the chance to meet him yet.
Kian: And Celine Dion.
Can you swim?
Mark: Yes, I learned when I was about 10.
Nicky: I'm 21 and I still haven't learnt! I can't swim that well, but I can jump in and splash around a bit.
Kian: He can swim a little bit, but he;s not very confident.
Bryan: If there's any inkling of danger, he starts to panic.
Shane: I can't swim that well either.
Kian: I learned quite young, but my sister had to save me from drowning when I was at swimming classes. I was standing near thedeep end messing around, and these two guys pushed me in. Luckily, my sister just came underneath me and brought me back up.
Are you watersports fans?
Kian: We had a go at jet-skiing in Acapulco, and me and Bryan went way to sea. Bryan was going underneath this ledge, and he grabbed it, but the jetski kept going! (Laughing hysterically) He was hanging there with his legs dangling!
Bryan: Then Nicky was just moving along slowly and suddenly our manager crashed into him. They were oth OK, but they craxked Nicky's jetski!
Nicky: Yeah - it was scary, but the coastguard was keeping an eye on us!
Who's the most likely to spone free stuff?
Kian: Shane loves any free stuff - especially clothes and CDs.
Shane: I get bags full of free stuff, but Mark grabs anything he possibly can.
Nicky: And if anybody's reading this and their father works for BMW, I wouldn't mind a new car...
Bryan: And if there are any Porsches, Ferraris, Skodas going free...
Who does your washing?
Mark: We do it ourselves!
Bryan: But if we're staying in a hotel, we put it in the laundry.
Nicky: (Embarassed) I usually save up loads of stuff and take it home to my mum!
Have you had a soaking recently?
Shane: Doing these photos.
Bryan: The last time was in Mexico doing a photoshoot by the sea. I had to stand at the back and these waves kept splashing me. It was freezing!