twec.com: twec.com would like to welcome Westlife to the chat tonight!
Shane Filan: This is Shane, and I'd like to say hello to
all our fans on the Internet. And Mark says, ‘Ditto.’
starbright31: What does the new video for "Swear It Again" look like?
I love you Shane!
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. The video is set in a car wash
and we're basically singing the song as we're washing the car. We're
having a fun video. It's colourful and creative. I never saw a video in
a car wash before, so it's interesting. We shot it in a car wash in
LA. We got the idea from Nigel Dick, the video director.
katsy: Hi, I just wanna say I love you guys and you are so fine!! I
just wanna know how do you deal with all the stress of the fans (not
that we're bad) and the stress of each other? Thanks for answering!
Kian Egan:: This is Kian here. I think one thing we all
realize is that the fans put us where we are. We treat them with the
utmost respect. We're like brothers now. We're like five brothers on
the road together. We're like a basketball team, but only Bryan can
slam dunk.
nickysgirl: What would you do on a dream date and who would it be
with?
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. I'd go for something to eat and bring her to the cinema, and go back to the penthouse overlooking a river around the world, and listen to some romantic music.
Shane Filan: This is Shane. I'd have a dream date on the beach.
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. I'd like to go out with a girl who can drink me under the table. I mean who can drink more than me!!
Westlifegirl5: I love you all!! I saw your US TV debut on the Fox Family channel and I loved it! I fell in love the first time I heard your voices! I would like to know who your influences are! Your # 1 fan, Candi.
Shane Filan: Candi, this is Shane. My influences are Michael Jackson and Bryan Adams.
Nicky Byrne: Hello, this is Nicky. And my influences are my mommy and daddy.
Kian Egan: This is Kian. My influences are the Backstreet Boys and Bon Jovi.
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. My influences are the Beatles and Michael Jackson and Boyzone and Frank Sinatra and Garth
Brooks.
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. My influences are Michael
Jackson and I like Mariah Carey a bit.
Anna: Is it true you may release a duet with Mariah?
Bryan McFadden: Yes, that's correct. This is Bryan. Yeah, we met Mariah at the American Music Awards. She talked to us for half an hour and we were like, okay! It's unconfirmed because she's on her world tour right now.
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. I'm one of her biggest fans in all the world.
tainadr: Shane, what do you do to get prepared for a concert?
Shane Filan: I usually just chill out. About half an hour before the show I get everything out of my mind except the show. I chill out with the boys. We get into a big group hug and shout ‘Westlife.’ Like a big basketball ritual.
Westlifegirl5: What do you do in your spare time?
Nicky Byrne: That's exactly what we do. This is Nicky. We like to look at the stage and see how big it is, trying to get a feeling for what it's going to be like when I get out there. There are so many things happening all the time.
Kian Egan: This is Kian. We all try to be as cool as Bryan on the stage.
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. That was Kian, not Bryan. Usually what we do is go back home if we have a few days. We try to catch up with everyone back home, get milled, spend time with our families.
WESTLIFE: If we don't have time to go home then we just stay in town.
Sam14: What is your favourite Westlife song?
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. My favourite song is called "Tunnel of Love." We have an a capella version.
Kian Egan: This is Kian. My favorite song is called "I Don't Want to Fight."
Mark: This is Shane. My favourite song is "Swear it Again."
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. My favourite song is "I Believe It."
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. My favourite song is "Flying Without Wings."
OTown_Girlie: Will you be going on tour sometime soon?
Kian Egan: This is Kian. During the summertime, what we're doing is all the radio shows. So that's kind of our American tour for the summer. It will be cool to see everyone. It's a 6 week tour. We're going everywhere. Buffalo, Chicago...everywhere.
Shane Filan: This is Shane. We're very excited about it. We're going all over. We're so excited. We like doing these. We haven't really bumped into a lot of American fans. We don't really have many fans yet. The single was just released and the album is released tomorrow, so we're still gaining our fans. We did a signing in Boston and that was cool. There were lots of fans there.
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. We were on our own to do a radio show in Northern England once, and Bryan wasn't with us because he was home sick in Ireland. The song came on the radio and Mark got on his cellphone, and Mark said ‘Why do you want me to get off the phone? We've heard the song 100 times?’ And we said ‘It's the first time we've heard it on the radio!’ Over here, we haven't heard it that much because there are no radios in the hotels.
Westlife4ever: Did you enjoy coming to our country of Argentina?
Kian Egan: This is Kian, we are unfortunately not going back to Argentina till summer, July, or August, we got a lot of support there and will be definitely going back there. We also love the plate we got there and would like to thank our fans for that. We're going to be recording some songs in Spanish very soon!
WESTLIFE: Thank you so much for the silver plate that we got in Argentina.
Sam14: What is the best thing about being in Westlife and what is the worst?
Nicky Byrne: Nicky here. The best thing is being on stage, being able to sing the songs to thousands of people. The worst thing is being away from your parents and having to travel all the time. It takes a lot of work and time to be successful, so we'll have to pay
the price of separation from our families. We have so much work to do that we don't get to see them as much as we'd like to. In the future we'd like to bring them over sometime. We like playing at home. The Irish crowds are so much fun. It's always special to play in Ireland. It doesn't happen half as often as we'd like to, but it's our country where we grew up.
Nickys_Girl: Do write your own songs?
Shane Filan: This is Shane. For our album for tomorrow, we wanted to have the best songs that we can do. Our album tomorrow is great. It's ballad, then mid-tempo, then ballad, then mid-tempo. There's something for everyone. It looks like a totally different
band. If you were to compare the two albums, you'd think it was two different albums.
WESTLIFE: We've written about 7-8 songs between us for the next album, though we didn't write any on the first. For the first album, we didn't really have time to write.
Meiness: How did you celebrate "Fool Again" going to #1 in the UK?
Shane Filan: This is Shane. We actually haven't had a chance to celebrate! We went out and had a beer before it was released. Next week we're going to the 25th anniversary of Arista. Whitney's performing there, Santana....
WESTLIFE: We have a problem in America because you have to be 21 to drink in America, and in the UK you have to be 18.
Shane Filan: This is Shane. I'm going away until I'm 21, and then me and Nicky are going to the pubs.
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. When Shane turns 21 we're going to get hammered.
OTown_Girlie: Would you guys ever wanna get into acting?
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. We'd love to act. All of us have done acting before the band, whether it be in the film or the TV shows or in school. It's something that all of us love to do. We've been offered some scripts by producers and directors, but that's a long way down the road. Steven Spielberg offered us $37 billion each to do a film but we thought it was too soon. *laughs*
katsy: How did you guys get formed into a band? I love you Shane
Kian Egan: We came from Sligo, in Northern Ireland. We were in the musical Grease together. We met the guy who manages Boyzone. In 1998 he offered to manage the group. It was me, Shane and Mark. We held auditions and met Bryan and Nicky, and met Westlife. That was our first big break. It all happened so quick after that
Shane Filan: And this is Shane - I love you too Katsy.
WESTLIFE: We all love you all.
AmityD: Do you guys have a home video or a book out or coming out soon?
Mark Feehily: Actually, I don't know if it's coming out in America when we're more well known. We made a long form video – a documentary - about us. It goes into who we are, what we do, like Shane does horseback riding and I do tennis. It's really interesting.
RoseMN17: Bryan, what's the sweetest thing a fan has done for you here in the States?
Bryan McFadden: We have a couple of fans and they've been so nice, the ones who have come over and said hello and brought us magazines. But they haven't ripped our clothes off yet. It happened to us in Argentina. We've had hair pulled out of our heads and everything.
OTown_Girlie: Okay, here's what every girl wants to know: Do you guys have girlfriends?
Kian Egan: This is Kian. I don't have a girlfriend. I am single and looking.
Shane Filan: This is Shane. I don't have a girlfriend.
Nicky Byrne: Nicky here, I do have a girlfriend.
Mark Feehily: Mark here, I don't have a girlfriend either, actually, but I'd love to meet someone soon.
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan here, I do not have a girlfriend.
Shane Filan: This is Shane here. I have 12 girlfriends and 6 of them are married.
Mumi: What do are you doing with the money that you are earning?
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. Giving it all to charity. I do give some of it to charity. We don't have much time to spend our money since we're all on the road. We're buying cars and Shane is building a house. Just normal things, really. We spend a lot of money
on clothes. Kian bought a Rolex.
Westlife4life: If you weren't in Westlife - would you buy their album?
WESTLIFE: Definitely. Definitely. It's an album that will make it in America. It's not necessarily an album just for little kids or just for teenagers. Anyone can listen to it. My grandmother listens to it and my four-year-old cousin listens to it. It's not designed for one group in particular. Hopefully it will appeal to more than just the typical boy band.
Sam14: If you could change one thing with the world what would you change?
WESTLIFE: Obviously one thing is war, people dying for the wrong reasons.
WESTLIFE: And change all the Boyzone, N SYNC and Backstreet Boys fans to Westlife. Well, at least add them.
lilfunky1: If you were strapped into a chair until you read one book, what would you read?
Shane Filan: This is Shane. I never read books. I would not ever read a book. Does Playboy count?
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. I'd read Nanne and Barry.
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. I'd read the Bible.
Shane Filan: This is Shane. I'd read my breakfast menu.
Kian Egan: This is Kian. I'd read Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. I used to have a neighbour called - what was his name again? Tom Fox. Anyway, I'd read the Witches by Roald Dahl.
twec.com: twec.com would like to thank Westlife for joining us tonight, is there anything that Westlife would like to say to your fans before you leave us?
Nicky Byrne: This is Nicky. Thanks for logging on, we love you all you so much. The album is out tomorrow.
Bryan McFadden: This is Bryan. Thanks for logging in. We'll see you soon!
Shane Filan: This is Shane. To all the girls and boys, thanks for all your support and for welcoming us in America. Our album is out tomorrow.
Mark Feehily: This is Mark. Thanks for logging on and it was a pleasure chatting with you! Check out our Web site, www.westlife.co.uk. There's loads and loads of stuff on there.
Kian Egan: This is Kian. Thank you for logging on! we hope you like us and enjoy our music, and we hope to see you all. Thank you all so much!
