Article by Brad Balfour
Photos by Brad Balfour
Portraits by Anthony Cuttajar

Scene One

Tour manager Anto Byrne is sitting in the restaurant at the Fitzpatrick Hotel waiting for the first guy from Westlife to come down and join us. The mid 30s-something Byrne says, "Well actually, this is relatively relaxed for us. We've got no crowds, none of the fans about. So we can actually get around without being mobbed--it makes my job easier."

Shepherding around the members of Ireland's current teen pop sensation isn't the easiest job. But compared to having worked with the Irish bad boys of rock such as Thin Lizzy, this job is a dream.

Bounding into the bar, the boys are hyped up - not on amphetamines (they're still babes in the woods when it comes to all the ravages of stardom and the record industry) but on the energy of coming to New York in order to pursue the next major step in their career - to conquer America as they have Ireland and Europe. With their eponymously titled debut just kicking in, they have as much of a chance as any of the other contenders to be the next Backstreet Boys/N'Sync (replete with screaming teen girl fans, etc.)

As the contingent flops into table seats by the bar, the energy bubbles up. Between 20 year old Kian Egan and 21 year old Nicky Byrne, (once a pro-soccer apprentice with the Leeds United team) sits teh comparatively hulking Bryan McFadden (20 years of age as well) comes around behind them. there's always a mix of joust and jibe as they bouce off each other. Only Mark Feehily is missing, called away by a family emergency.

Kian starts off, "We were just five guys, three straight from the west of Ireland (Sligo) two from Dublin, just starting up the band for a laugh. And here we are." His matter of fact take belies a more determined story. They have been focused on making music or performing ever since they were kids.

"The first time I walked on stage at four years old I was reciting poetry." he adds. "Well, I used to be into rap music when I was young so that's different from what I do now. Before the band started, three of us did all types of musicals together--Grease, Oliver, Annie Get Your Gun, and then we just started out. Bryan and Nicky were in Dublin--Nicky was doing a lot of karaoke singing. He actually ran a karaoke bar with his father. And Bryan, he was doing the exact same thing we were -- singing in musicals and such."

From that came the story that's been in all the magazines.

1) Getting spotted by Louis Walsh (BoyZone manager) while performing on a television news show.

2) Opening a gig for the Backstreet Boys when they played in Dublin.

3) Having former Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating become co-manager and a proper mentor.

4) Getting signed to RCA, the star-stoking label that made Britain's Take That and Five million sellers before them.

5) Debuting with five consecutive #1 singles in the Brit charts thus establishing them as the new popmeisters of the slow smoky ballad-dripping of emotion, sometimes to the treacly extreme.

As Westlife moved up the ranks signing with Arista in the States, they've gone from having all their songs picked for them to choosing new producers and songwriters. They are being groomed for America--with its rougher touch and dance bottom. New videos have been made to shift them from Euro audiences to those of the States. They've embarked on the career are their label Arista is quite familiar with. Now they've done a star turn with Mariah Carey recording the song "Against All Odds" with her---a track she also produced. They're getting more anxious to write and even play instruments on some of the songs.

Of course having hits and top selling album lends confidence. Their current U.S. single release "Swear It Again"--a light expressive ballad previously a hit in Europe. The album has different tracks than the European one so it bodes for a new direction beyond the lush hamonies they have already perfected. A new album has been created and is ready in the queue "When we started up, we watched BSB, European groups, and stuff like that. It got us interested in doing the band. At first we said "why don't we do it for a laugh. But we soon said why don't we take this seriously, and then we got spotted by Louis."

At first it took a while for them to develop the rapport that seems apparent now.

"it was a bit like the two familes coming togethelike the Brady Bunch," chimes in Shane, "We've all had our little fights and differences maybe some body holds out but surprisingly we all of really get along now.

Of course Bryan adds in his two cents. Being more the pisstaker, he's the one who takes the edge off with his comic relief. When he tells me that Bryan Adams is one of their favorites, I tell him I was a fan of the song, "Summer of '69." he says to me--'yeah you would remember that year."'

But just as quickly as the patter settles in, things break up. Kian is off to do a "phoner" and the other guys go upstairs to prepare for meetings at the label.

Scene Two

Once Westlife piles out of a van on W. 39th St., I join them in the elevator to the studio. Quickly all find their way in, and begin the prep for a photo session and two video shoots. A news service will tape them singing during the shoot while another crew live on CNN will get them on the roof singing a song accapella. The previously missing member Mark (he had rushed home to attend his grandfather's sudden funeral) has now appeared. So I sit down with him on the couch to chat while the others try on clothes and get made up.

"I have always been into music of all kinds" the dark-haired, bushy-browed Sligo cohort says. "I remember my dad had a large record collection-real vinyl records--and I heard people like Marvin Gaye and the Motown singers." He seems to always be singing riffs as if what's in his head has to be heard out. It's Mark who really gets intense when they do the vocal bits for the crew. Before the camera I see him emote, push out these lingering notes as any good Gospel singer would while the others provide a solid harmonic foundation.

"I plan to record a solo someday, music I really can't do with this group," he adds. " Because I love so much music, there's lots of music I want to.

For all of this team's professed love of simple things--their family or the hometown--or of the trappings of success--a couple of the guys bought Dolce & Gabbanna suits, another got a $2500 guitar--they really do love music.

Maybe the music they love is not the rock and roll that seized the common consciousness or has the grit of R&B but this music with the big sound and broad swatch makes its form as appealing. This new theatrical material, like the musical comedies they first performed may not have the taint of revolution but that of role playing fantasy. "I never thought I would ever afford clothes like black this," says Bryan--holding up a designer label item,

Still, there's no doubt, that these guys love singing. All the trappings and circumstance of fame, fortune and celebrity seem far away when they do their accapella numbers. They become technicians of sound, precocious in their desire to get it right. Damn these boys can sing. And they look pretty good while doing it.

I've gotten to talk with them now and though it's not quite long enough to really drop their guards, they give me a glimpse of the sense of the group together and the disparate people they will become as they get older.

Scene Three

About 10 pm, I have gone back to the hotel restaurant to join Kian and Nick for final words since we didn't speak individually during the shoot. Nick has a girlfriend there, daughter of Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister.

We talk about how everybody gets along, who decides what moves are made and where their career is going as they mature and become more confident in their own decisions.

Nick seems the politician, the more worldly and experienced one because of his days with the soccer team. "I learned a lot about discipline being with the team. We had to get up in the mornings and train. I came through that experience and I bring some of it to the group.

Nick has ambitions. He's been driven towards the public spotlight whether it be spirits or singing. He says, " We'd like to copy the likes of the Beatles' success if we look back at bands like that. Maybe we'll even bring in a medley to our tour of other bands before us like the Bee-Gees. But we still want to keep in the Westlife sound and roll with the project if you'd like." While Nicky seems to understand the fine points of managing their success, it's Kian who knows what this success will afford them. "I'm, already investing in property. I've got property in Spain and Ireland with my sister." This young mogul in the making will share with his cohorts and mates a long life in the business because they've come into the industry at a time when it's about the Benjamins--being commercial and having the big bucks. Says Kian "T want to learn about the music business and learn from the right people. A lot of people try to advise us. I don't think a lot of record people can tell you how it is I usually take solid advice from people who have done it themselves, people like Ronan or from other bands. Nick's father used to be in a band; he's toured all around. I'd listen to somebody like that before I'd listen to a young person just learning the business. The people who give the best advice the people who have experienced it." To that he adds, "But now everyone's coming to me for advice, asking me how to get into the record industry!"