"It’s more a gentleman’s agreement than a written contract," says Egan. "When Louis proposed it to us we laughed at first, we didn’t think he was serious. He said ‘I want you to promise you won’t get married and have kids for the next five years, seriously’ and we said’ OK, we will, seriously, we promise.’ We shook hands on it." What if one of them falls in love next week and finds someone they want to spend their life with? "You can fall in love, nobody stopping us doing that," Egan says, "it’s just getting married and having kids. We’ve really got to concentrate on this if we want it to make it happen, we’ve got to spend all our time at it."
Egan says there’s no conduct guidelines on behaviour, a la the famous no-drinking-in- public policy that helped Take That split when Robbie Williams broke the clause. "If we’re working the next day, out of common courtesy we won’t go and get drunk the night before," says Egan, "but they don’t put a stop on our lives." Apart from having kids and getting married. "Well…" Ironically four fifths of Boyzone – Stephen Gately recently came out – are either married or fathers. "I don’t know what it what like for Boyzone, but that’s the way Louis wants to do it for us, we’re quite happy to do that," says Egan. He says that many see having Ronan Keating as a manager as publicity stunt. "People also think, ‘OK, if Ronan is involved, these boys obviously have something, he wouldn’t risk his reputation.’ "Ronan is always there for us. He’s been on the road for six years; he advises us on all the ins and outs of being in a band. "It was weird at first, having him as a boss. He’s more like a friend to us not. We were star-struck for about two months, but he’s just a normal person." And it’s not just managerial links the band share. Being a five-piece boy band from Ireland with a taste for ballads has seen them labelled Boyzone II.
"When people says we’re Boyzone , we say ‘thanks, that’s a big compliment.’ If we get half the success they’ve had we’ll be happy. "Because out first single is a ballad, and it does sound like a song Boyzone might record, people go ‘oh. God, it’s another Boyzone," Egan says. "But our second single is an up-tempo song, Boyzone don’t do up-tempo songs anymore. Our whole album is not ballads." After successful tours supporting Boyzone, the band changed their name form Westside to Westlife because an American merchandising company has their original name. Swear It Again was almost destine to reach the top on pre-release demand and attention. "We wanted to take a risk by releasing a ballad," Egan says. "It’s not a typical boy band song." Their second single, If I Let You Go , was written by Max Martin and his Swedish production team – the brains behind Five, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears – who have also worked on much of their October-due debut album. "They’re very selective with who they work with," Egan says. "They’ve created a new style for us on some of our songs. They make sure each band has an individual sound." In Melbourne this week for a brief promotional tour, Egan says Westlife are happy to be the latest in an increasingly long line of boy bands. "Boy bands are taken more seriously now than five years ago. You have to be able to sing and do it right now- it’s not just about being good-looking"
