Post by shayne on Nov 16, 2010 8:54:20 GMT 8
By Ricardo F. Lo
“We know we can sing. That’s the easy part.”
That’s Shane Filan speaking in an interview and he could be referring to what makes the Westlife probably the most durable among the boy bands, still going strong together for more than 12 years now, with 10 albums that are all best-sellers and more than 44 record sales so far — and counting.
So what could be the hard part?
“Not much,” said Shane in an exclusive phone interview with Funfare last week, definitely not including being together for more than a decade even as other bands were breaking up. “It’s important that we are good friends first and foremost, and that we love making music together. For Westlife, the music will never stop as long as our fans are around inspiring us to keep on making beautiful music together.”
One member, Brian McFadden, has quit the band and the remaining four (including Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne) have continued to make beautiful music together, the latest of which is an album (their 11th) called Gravity, produced by John Shanks, the same guy behind the hits albums of , among other artists, Take That, Bon Jovi and Alanis Morissette.
“It’s the kind of album we knew we could make and we just needed the right person to deliver it with us,” Nicky was quoted in another interview.
Perhaps the most moving song on the album is Too Hard To Say Goodbye with which many people could identify. Both Nicky and Kian lost their fathers last year, Nicky’s of a heart attack and Kian’s followed soon after.
“Over lunch,” Nicky was quoted recalling in the production notes, “we were discussing our fathers’ passing with John and he said, ‘Let’s write a song about it.’ There were tears in our eyes while we were putting the song together.”
In the interview, Shane talked about more than just Gravity (recorded in California and London) which will be released on Nov. 22, locally by Sony Music.
Why Gravity as title for your latest (11th) album?
“It was actually named by a fan. We put on Twitter some kind of a competition for our fans to name our album. The word ‘gravity’ was taken from Safe, the first single from the album; it’s in the second line. We thought it’s a catchy name, so we said, ‘Let’s go with it, why not?’”
According to the production notes, the soaring ballad Safe features you guys in your most “nakedly raw form.” Why?
“I think that lyrically, Safe is a very positive song, it’s very strong, it’s about keeping somebody safe and protecting people. I think everybody anywhere in the world can relate to it. I think everybody wants to feel safe; everybody wants to feel protected. We made the video for that song in that context. We feel that lyrically, Safe is one of the best songs that we have in a very long time.”
In terms of style and thrust, how do you think is Gravity different from your previous 10 albums?
“I think Gravity is better not only lyrically but also production-wise. I think the songs are of higher quality. There’s a lot more variety in this album. Safe is probably the only really Westlife sound in the album and all the other tracks have something different about them, although still basically very Westlife. We needed to move a step higher. It’s very important to us and to our producer, John Shanks because we’ve been planning to do that for a long time. We are amazed that we’ve finally done it.”
I’m sure that the Westlife guys are far more mature now. Is this maturity reflected in your choice of songs and the way you sing them?
“Yeah, I think it is, actually. As a band, we have grown up, you know, and you will notice it in some of our songs. We feel that we just get better and better as we go on every year. The lyrics of our songs are more mature, especially the last song called Too Hard To Say Goodbye. It’s quite an emotional song.”
You guys have been together for 12 years and you’ve produced 12 albums, chalking up over 44 million record sales. How do you keep the group together, considering that other boy bands didn’t last that long?
“I think that as a band, we find joy and we love what we are doing. We are very good friends so we get on very well, and we have a lot of respect for each other. We have a lot of respect for what Westlife is. We have a very, very solid and strong fan base all over the world. I think it’s very important to have that. But I think the main thing that keeps us going is, you know, we have so many fans and we love to sing and the fans are there for us. It’s a great feeling to have that kind of loyal following.”
You guys are always together, working. How do you spend your time away from each other?
“We spend time with our respective families, we just relax and go on holidays. I like to play golf. Kian likes to surf; Nicky likes to play football; and Mark likes all kinds of sports.”
You were quoted in some interviews as saying, “We made some choices over the years that we were not happy with.” Is it okay to know what these choices were and what you learned from them?
“Hmmmm. I think it’s about different times in our lives, and not particularly just one song. It’s certain songs in certain albums. I think every band goes through the same experience that makes you feel that, you know, we could have done better. We feel that in the past couple of years, we could have done better, so we made sure that Gravity would be a lot better and, as I’ve said, of a higher quality in all aspects — from the choice of songs to the video to the photo shoot to the production of the songs, the lyrics, everything. We wanted to raise the bar higher. We’re very proud of this album. The songs are just incredible. We feel that we’ve got it all right.”
Your fans are surely glad that you’ve stuck together all these years. None of you has ever thought of going solo for a while and going back to the group?
“No, it has never happened to us. Brian has left a long time ago but the four of us are very happy within the band. As long as we’re a band, we stay together and keep going, you know. I’m not saying that we will be around forever but we plan to be around for quite some time. There’s no plan for us to stop.”
How do you keep the competition at bay? You have no rivals at all.
“I don’t think we worry about competition too much. I think Westlife is very unique, we have a certain sound, we do our thing our way and we don’t try to change too much. I think that’s what the fans love about us. We keep giving the fans what they want every year. The style of music never really changes too much. Sometimes it gets better, sometimes it doesn’t, but we feel that we are always trying to make it better every year with every album.”
And your fans have grown up with you.
“Exactly, exactly.”
You guys have been in the Philippines. Anything you want to tell your fans here?
“To all our fans in the Philippines, we hope that you will like Gravity. The Philippines is an amazing place. We are planning to do a big tour in a couple of years and we hope to go back there. Hopefully, it would be a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour. Say hello to all our fans in the Philippines.”
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)
Taken from: PHILSTAR SITE
“We know we can sing. That’s the easy part.”
That’s Shane Filan speaking in an interview and he could be referring to what makes the Westlife probably the most durable among the boy bands, still going strong together for more than 12 years now, with 10 albums that are all best-sellers and more than 44 record sales so far — and counting.
So what could be the hard part?
“Not much,” said Shane in an exclusive phone interview with Funfare last week, definitely not including being together for more than a decade even as other bands were breaking up. “It’s important that we are good friends first and foremost, and that we love making music together. For Westlife, the music will never stop as long as our fans are around inspiring us to keep on making beautiful music together.”
One member, Brian McFadden, has quit the band and the remaining four (including Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne) have continued to make beautiful music together, the latest of which is an album (their 11th) called Gravity, produced by John Shanks, the same guy behind the hits albums of , among other artists, Take That, Bon Jovi and Alanis Morissette.
“It’s the kind of album we knew we could make and we just needed the right person to deliver it with us,” Nicky was quoted in another interview.
Perhaps the most moving song on the album is Too Hard To Say Goodbye with which many people could identify. Both Nicky and Kian lost their fathers last year, Nicky’s of a heart attack and Kian’s followed soon after.
“Over lunch,” Nicky was quoted recalling in the production notes, “we were discussing our fathers’ passing with John and he said, ‘Let’s write a song about it.’ There were tears in our eyes while we were putting the song together.”
In the interview, Shane talked about more than just Gravity (recorded in California and London) which will be released on Nov. 22, locally by Sony Music.
Why Gravity as title for your latest (11th) album?
“It was actually named by a fan. We put on Twitter some kind of a competition for our fans to name our album. The word ‘gravity’ was taken from Safe, the first single from the album; it’s in the second line. We thought it’s a catchy name, so we said, ‘Let’s go with it, why not?’”
According to the production notes, the soaring ballad Safe features you guys in your most “nakedly raw form.” Why?
“I think that lyrically, Safe is a very positive song, it’s very strong, it’s about keeping somebody safe and protecting people. I think everybody anywhere in the world can relate to it. I think everybody wants to feel safe; everybody wants to feel protected. We made the video for that song in that context. We feel that lyrically, Safe is one of the best songs that we have in a very long time.”
In terms of style and thrust, how do you think is Gravity different from your previous 10 albums?
“I think Gravity is better not only lyrically but also production-wise. I think the songs are of higher quality. There’s a lot more variety in this album. Safe is probably the only really Westlife sound in the album and all the other tracks have something different about them, although still basically very Westlife. We needed to move a step higher. It’s very important to us and to our producer, John Shanks because we’ve been planning to do that for a long time. We are amazed that we’ve finally done it.”
I’m sure that the Westlife guys are far more mature now. Is this maturity reflected in your choice of songs and the way you sing them?
“Yeah, I think it is, actually. As a band, we have grown up, you know, and you will notice it in some of our songs. We feel that we just get better and better as we go on every year. The lyrics of our songs are more mature, especially the last song called Too Hard To Say Goodbye. It’s quite an emotional song.”
You guys have been together for 12 years and you’ve produced 12 albums, chalking up over 44 million record sales. How do you keep the group together, considering that other boy bands didn’t last that long?
“I think that as a band, we find joy and we love what we are doing. We are very good friends so we get on very well, and we have a lot of respect for each other. We have a lot of respect for what Westlife is. We have a very, very solid and strong fan base all over the world. I think it’s very important to have that. But I think the main thing that keeps us going is, you know, we have so many fans and we love to sing and the fans are there for us. It’s a great feeling to have that kind of loyal following.”
You guys are always together, working. How do you spend your time away from each other?
“We spend time with our respective families, we just relax and go on holidays. I like to play golf. Kian likes to surf; Nicky likes to play football; and Mark likes all kinds of sports.”
You were quoted in some interviews as saying, “We made some choices over the years that we were not happy with.” Is it okay to know what these choices were and what you learned from them?
“Hmmmm. I think it’s about different times in our lives, and not particularly just one song. It’s certain songs in certain albums. I think every band goes through the same experience that makes you feel that, you know, we could have done better. We feel that in the past couple of years, we could have done better, so we made sure that Gravity would be a lot better and, as I’ve said, of a higher quality in all aspects — from the choice of songs to the video to the photo shoot to the production of the songs, the lyrics, everything. We wanted to raise the bar higher. We’re very proud of this album. The songs are just incredible. We feel that we’ve got it all right.”
Your fans are surely glad that you’ve stuck together all these years. None of you has ever thought of going solo for a while and going back to the group?
“No, it has never happened to us. Brian has left a long time ago but the four of us are very happy within the band. As long as we’re a band, we stay together and keep going, you know. I’m not saying that we will be around forever but we plan to be around for quite some time. There’s no plan for us to stop.”
How do you keep the competition at bay? You have no rivals at all.
“I don’t think we worry about competition too much. I think Westlife is very unique, we have a certain sound, we do our thing our way and we don’t try to change too much. I think that’s what the fans love about us. We keep giving the fans what they want every year. The style of music never really changes too much. Sometimes it gets better, sometimes it doesn’t, but we feel that we are always trying to make it better every year with every album.”
And your fans have grown up with you.
“Exactly, exactly.”
You guys have been in the Philippines. Anything you want to tell your fans here?
“To all our fans in the Philippines, we hope that you will like Gravity. The Philippines is an amazing place. We are planning to do a big tour in a couple of years and we hope to go back there. Hopefully, it would be a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour. Say hello to all our fans in the Philippines.”
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)
Taken from: PHILSTAR SITE