Kian & Shane Interview From Indonesian Magazine - October 2006

 

© Thanx Mae for typing it up

 

Teenage Magazine, November issue

With Love, Westlife.
Kian & Shane of Westlife, were recently in Singapore for a one-night concert as part of their Face to Face Asian tour. The lads spilled the beans on keeping it fresh and going solo.

What was the reception like when you visited other Asian countries for the first time?
Kian: We went to Korea & the Philippines and it was great! Our fans in Asia seem to be more excited than fans in the UK. In Korea, they all had these coloured things (pongs pongs) and it just looked so coo. It’s great to finally be back in Asia.
Shane: It’s really great! We've all grown up wanting to do this, performing in front of huge crowds, so we really do love it.

What’s in store after this Asian tour?
Kian: We've just finished our new album, it’s called The Love Album and it’s a tribute to the ballads and love songs we enjoy. Songs such as Total Eclipse Of The Heart, You Light Up My Life, and many more! We used to sing these songs in the shower.

There are not many prominet boy bands these days, & even then, band members tend to do their own projects. Any of you guys thinking of going solo?
Kian: No, none of us want to go solo and none of us will. It just won’t be as powerful on your own as opposed to being part of a band.
Shane: It’s too hard to go solo and it’s not fun. Now you have four men, and it’s like we're four men on a road trip.

How long do you think Westlife will last?
Shane: As you go through life, things change, you know. Family becomes more important as we grow older.
Kian: I think we'll be around for maybe 5, maybe 10 years, we don’t really know.
Shane: We don’t know how long we want to do this, probably not at 40 years old though!

Ever thought of acting? If all four of you could star in a movie, what sort of movie would it be and who would be your leading ladies?
Shane: I don’t think I would be good at it?!
Kian: Well my leading lady would be Halle Berry!
Shane: Hey how about Charlize Theron?
Kian: Oh there's just too many!

What was it like performing with Lee Hom? Any chance you might collaborate with him and sing a Mandarin song?
Kian: Lee Hom is a very nice guy! We had a very big concert in Taiwan and we got to see the fans there, & see that it’s like. We might sing in mandarin if we can learn it, but it’s pretty hard!
Shane: We'd really love to collaborate with Asian artistes, hopefully one from each part of Asia. But it’s difficult. With Lee Hom, we met and it quickly snowballed into a joint project. We don’t have any plans in the near future, but if the opportunity comes up, it'll help him & help us too!

P.S THERE'S MORE!!

On keeping it fresh
KIAN: We always come up with new ideas and we never use the same gag or trick twice. We're kind of running out of ideas but we have good people who help us come up with new ideas. Yeah we have good outside opinions,

On song choice
KIAN: We're very comfortable with ballads. Pop songs are what makes us Westlife, so we're going to continue doing ballads.
SHANE: My favourite songs are You Raise Me Up and What Makes A Man
KIAN: This is quite difficult. I like Unbreakable, Flying Without Wings and Swear It Again. There are such so many amazing songs!
SHANE: We have become so used to singing these songs that sometimes we forget about the power of the songs.

On best experiences
KIAN: Performing at a stadium in front of 40,000 people.
SHANE: When we met the Pope and when we first won Record Of The Year!
KIAN: As time goes on, it gets harder and harder to pick just a few moments.
SHANE: But when we're sixty and we look back on Westlife, I think that will be our greatest memories!

On Singapore
KIAN: It's a very clean city, it’s a cool city. The cleanest city I’ve ever been too... But I don’t think I could live in a city. Shane and I were brought up by the sea and we couldn’t live full-time in a place not close to the ocean.
SHANE: I want to live in a golf course!!

 

Credit/Source: Teenage Magazine / Mae