Brian McFadden, singer, songwriter and former member of Westlife chats with Kevin Cooper about losing his driving licence, recording with Mica Paris and Andrew Strong, his forthcoming album Otis and his forthcoming tour of the UK in April 2019.

Brian McFadden is an Irish singer, songwriter and television presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boy band Westlife. Following his departure from Westlife in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo album, Irish Son, which peaked within the top five on both the Danish and Irish albums charts, and produced his first two number one solo singles Real To Me in four European countries and also Almost Here, a duet with his now ex-fiancée Delta Goodrem which gained a platinum accreditation in Australia. Like Only A Woman Can, the lead single from his second album, Set in Stone (2008), became his third number one single as a solo artist. He has also had a fourth number one hit with Just say So.

In 2013 he joined forces with his lifelong friend, Boyzone’s Keith Duffy to form Boyzlife. They have toured the UK sharing stories from their pop heydays as well as performing each of their bands best know hits.

Whilst preparing for the release of his latest solo album, he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Brian good afternoon how are you today?

Hi Kevin I’m fine thanks how are you doing mate?

I’m very well thank you and before we go on let me thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

Not a problem, it’s an absolute pleasure.

And just how is life treating you?

Life at the moment is good, but having said that I was up until the wee hours last night so I’m not quite as sharp as I would have liked to have been but in general, all is good (laughter).

You and I last spoke on 22^nd September last year just as you were heading off to meet Willie Morgan for a round of golf. Who won?

(Laughter) as you know I love my golf and I try to play as often as I can. I always like to win but with Willie I tend to take it easy as its nice when you let the old fellas win every now and again (laughter).

We spoke about the then forthcoming Boyzlife Tour so I just have to ask you how did it go; did you enjoy it?

Ah me and Keith (Duffy) had a great craic on that tour but, then again, we always do (laughter). For all of the years that we were in Westlife and Boyzone Keith and I never really enjoyed the tours, simply because the rest of the guys were always concentrating on work, they were always doing interviews, and to be honest we were flat-out every day. Now whenever Keith and I go out on tour, we just have a great craic on stage. It is just so much fun; we really do enjoy being up there on stage together, and it really is so much fun.

You probably saw me photographing the last date of the tour which was here in Nottingham at The Glee Club.

(Laughter) yes I did, I did see you and at one point I thought that you were actually hanging off the balcony (laughter). You will most probably know this by now but I left the gig that night and I got flashed by a speed camera and I have recently lost my driving licence because of that.

Well all that I will say is don’t hold that against me because I am based in Nottingham (laughter).

I wouldn’t dream of it. That was the night of the last gig of the tour. I left Nottingham that night and at twelve o’clock that night I got flashed on my way home. I was very unlucky, stupid but it was my own fault.

Didn’t they give you a bit of a rough ride in court?

Yes they did, well I thought that they did. They tried to tell me that I should Tweet my fans and ask them if they could give me lifts to the gigs which I thought was totally crazy. Look, if you break the law then you have got to be prepared to accept your punishment. I just thought that the court were being sarcastic and patronising when they said that I should get the fans to take me to gigs. But beside that, I have simply got to accept it and move on. I have been caught speeding four times in the last three years and if you do that then you have got to pay the price. It is what it is.

I was going to say swiftly moving on but we had better slow down a little hadn’t we (laughter).

(Laughter) bastard.

However, staying with the law for a minute, I personally do not thing that it is legal for you and Keith to be having that much fun on stage.

I know what you are saying, it is pretty unbelievable the amount of fun that the two of us have up there. When we were in our respective bands Keith and I would never drink on stage but with Boyzlife we do like to have the odd tipple on stage (laughter). Now we are that little bit older we have found that we can make those kind of decisions for ourselves now.

On the subject of Boyzlife I have to ask, will you and Keith be doing any new material?

It’s funny that you should ask that as we are talking about it at this very moment. Keith is going to be involved with the last ever album that Boyzone are bringing out on 19^th November which is two weeks after my Otis album is being released on 2^nd November. So we have discussed it and we currently have a couple of ideas so maybe when both of those projects have run their course and we have toured them then maybe. There are two options open to us at the moment; we might record an album which would be re-recording’s of some of the Westlife and Boyzone hits with the London Philharmonic Orchestra or we might recorded it as a double album also with the London Philharmonic Orchestra but this time including ten new original songs.

So one album would be remakes of the old Westlife and Boyzone songs and the other album would be all originals. That at least is one of the ideas but we will see just how it goes. Keith and I are always coming up with ideas and it will be down to how we feel next year. We both have such a lot going on this year with Keith touring with Boyzone; they are doing a full arena tour in January. I will be heading off to South Africa and Dubai in November and then Keith and I are doing another Boyzlife tour this month so as you can see we have got so much going on for the next six months. I think that we will look into things and take stock when we have some free time in the middle of next year. We may even be able to take in a little break somewhere, who knows.

Perhaps a few rounds of golf somewhere warm?

That would be so nice as to be honest with you I haven’t played a round of golf for ages. Normally at this time of year I play every single day but for some reason this year I haven’t played golf for over a month now which is a very long time for me. Having said that it’s about time that I got my priorities right and actually started to do some work (laughter).

I think that you are being a little harsh on yourself as I understand that you have been working extremely hard on your forthcoming album Otis, which is your interpretation of some of Otis Redding’s lesser known recordings.

Thanks for saying that. It has been hard work but let’s just say that it has been a real labour of love for me.

Well I have to tell you that I have been collecting Soul and Motown records for over forty years now and one of my all-time favourite artists is Otis Redding.

No pressure there then (laughter). Well I really do hope that you like what I have done with the songs. If you are as familiar with Otis as you say you are then you will be familiar with most of the songs on the album. However, if you don’t know the work of Otis that well then most people wouldn’t have heard some of the songs on there, songs like Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Champagne And Wine, Cigarettes And Coffee and Security. These are songs that unless you are a real Otis fan then you wouldn’t know them. Hopefully you will appreciate them. Then I did a few of the songs which I thought that everyone would know, songs like A Change Is Gonna Come, which as you will know was originally written and recorded by the late Sam Cooke but I feel that Otis recorded one of the best versions of that song, Love Man, and These Arms Of Mine.

Have you stayed true to the original recordings?

Yes I have as I didn’t want to mess around with them too much. The production is pretty similar to what Otis did but I have managed to put my own spin on them. I have tried to keep them as true to the original recordings by Otis as I can.

Are you happy with the album?

Yes I am, I really am. I am so used to writing albums that for me to make an album of Otis covers, then for me the pressure is off. The only thing that I have to worry about is whether or not I do a good job. You know that the songs are great because they have already been great. The pressure is well and truly off whenever you record an album like this (laughter). I am usually under pressure when I have written an album; like what if people don’t like the songs, what if people think that it is crap, or what if people think that it’s stupid. So it is nice for me not to have that pressure.

There will be pressure but it will be a different type of pressure. This pressure will come from the purists.

I’m not making this album for the purists because I know that the purists will hate it. I have made this album for people who don’t know Otis Redding or his work and hopefully I can show you some of what Otis Redding did. I am trying to bring his work to a new audience. Hopefully people will listen to the album then go and buy some albums by Otis and listen to the original versions. I am trying to make the younger listeners aware of some of the work by Otis that they haven’t heard before. Most people my age only know of Otis Redding through Dirty Dancing. So hopefully this album will open their eyes to what he has done.

So there is an advantage to being an old fart (laughter).

(Laughter) I’m fucking getting there now myself. I’m rapidly approaching forty (laughter).

You have simply called the album Otis.

Yes I have. I thought that it would be good to keep it simple and straight to the point. It is just me paying homage to the greatest man ever to record soul music. So the album is simply called Brian McFadden…Otis.

I have to ask you, why Otis?

Well there were originally a number of artists who I first thought about covering on the one album but once I heard Otis it took me back to the times I spent listening to his voice and all of those great songs. After that the decision was easy, it just had to be Otis. As soon as I heard his voice again, it just had to be him.

I defy anyone to listen to Otis singing These Arms Of Mine and not get a tear in their eye.

When I was recording the album I had to write down the lyrics, and to be honest, I didn’t think that there was anything special in the lyrics. All of the magic in those songs is what Otis is singing. He pours every bit of soul, passion and tears into those songs. It all comes from his voice. The words don’t mean anything, it’s the way that he is singing them that tells you everything. The only other person who I think ever managed to do that was Michael Jackson. You didn’t listen to what Michael was singing, you felt it.

I have heard that there are a couple of special guests helping you out on the album?

(Laughter) how the hell do you know about that?

Let’s just say that I have my sources (laughter).

Well let me just say that your sources are right and when I find out who they are they may well find themselves out of a job (laughter). Mica Paris recorded a duet with me on Angel and then Andrew Strong from The Commitments joined me on Shake.

How is Andrew because he has had some problems with his voice in the past?

I have to be honest with you and say that Andrews’s voice is simply better than ever. It is unbelievably strong. Andrew has been one of my vocal idols since I saw The Commitments so I really was so excited to get to record that track with him. Watching The Commitments was the main reason why I wanted to record a solo album for the past fifteen years but I have never got to do it. He inspired me completely. I first met Andrew at a corporate show one night where we did a song together and after the show I told him about the Otis album and said that I would love to get him on it and he said ‘okay let’s do it’ (laughter).

And that was that, he just came into the studio, grabbed hold of a mic and did the duet with me. It was just unbelievable for me to sing with him and to hear his voice. For me to record with someone who I have admired for so long, and to stand there watching him belt out the song, it was brilliant.

What was it like working with Mica Paris?

Mica was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I have sung duets with some of the best singers in the world, Mariah Carey, LeAnn Rimes, Dolores O’Riordan and Sinéad O’Connor but I have to say that Mica is one of the best singers that I have heard in my life. As soon as she opened her mouth, the hairs on the backs of the necks of everyone in the studio stood up. I personally think that she is one of the most underrated female singers that Britain has ever had. She should have been a lot bigger worldwide than she was. I really do believe that Mica should have been a superstar.

Everyone I speak to puts Ruby Turner at the top of the list but I personally think that Mica is there alongside Ruby.

Do you, I would place Mica above Ruby. Pound for pound she is our very own Aretha Franklin. We simply don’t have that many great soul singers here in Ireland.

You say that but to be honest with you I think that Imelda (May) could do a great Motown covers album.

(Laughter) fucking hell, excuse me, I beg your pardon, of course, Imelda May, what was I talking about, I had forgotten about Imelda May. I wouldn’t mind but the guy who produced my album produced Imelda’s album as well (laughter). I did want to have Imelda on the album but for reasons which were out of my control it simply never happened. I really shouldn’t be greedy should I as I have got Mica Paris and Andrew Strong.

Which formats will you be releasing the album on?

At the moment it will be released on CD and vinyl. We are actually going backwards as we have pressed the vinyl first before the CD’s (laughter). I actually bought myself a record player a few months ago now so I am really looking forward to hearing the album on vinyl.

You have a release date of Friday 2^nd November. Is all ready for that or will you have to shuffle things around?

We should be okay. However, you have to remember that, unlike it was back in the day, you no longer have a definite date when the album will be released to the radio stations. At the moment a few of the radio stations are already asking us if they can play a few tracks off the album which I have to say is pretty cool.

And what about the Holy Grail of Otis Redding songs, have you avoided it?

You must be talking about (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay?

Yes I am and I have to say that, in my opinion, it is one of the greatest songs ever written.

Yes I have. There was no way that I was ever going to record (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay. I have stayed away from that and I have also stayed away from the songs that The Commitments have already recorded. I have left Try A Little Tenderness and Mr. Pitiful well alone.

Have you received any feedback on the album from either the Redding family or Steve Cropper?

I have to report that to date we have heard nothing from either party which could be a good thing. At least Steve Cropper hasn’t sent it back saying that it is fucking rubbish (laughter). What you have to remember whenever you listen to the album is that I haven’t touched the songs, the structure, the production, the guitar lines, the bass, the brass section; everything is the same. It’s just that I’m singing and not the great man himself. I honestly haven’t really changed the songs that much. Whilst I can’t sing the songs like Otis sang them, I have kept then as true as I could.

Will there be an Otis 2?

No there won’t. I already know exactly what I am going to do for my next album. Again it is going to be a solo album and I am going to write an album of original songs. I am going to write an original Northern Soul album. I want to write an album of original songs but I intend to follow that Northern Soul structure. I am hoping to write with some of the old school writers in Nashville and Memphis, some of the guys who were writing back in the Motown days trying to create that original sound but with a modern producer.

I see that you will be touring the album here in the UK in April. Are you looking forward to that?

Yes I am. It will be nice to finally get the album out there and see just how the audiences react to the songs. I really can’t wait.

You have mentioned the fact that you are approaching forty, and you say that you have finally recorded a grown up album. Is that the way you see your career going now, making real grown up music?

Whenever I make a record I only want to do something that I am passionate about. This album was the kind of album that I really wanted to make. In the past I have toyed with the idea of making a country album. I wrote a hell of a lot of country songs when I was over in Nashville so who knows, perhaps one day I will get the urge to release a country album. It really does depend upon where my head is at that time. Making a solo album is something that I really never believed that I was capable of doing because it is very tough to make a solo album. I am very happy with the way that this album has turned out so if I can make more albums like this, then I will be really happy. I honestly feel that this is a new beginning for me.

Balancing your time between your solo work and Boyzlife. Is that something that you are happy to undertake?

Absolutely. Listen, if I wasn’t doing Boyzlife as well as my solo career I would just be sitting at home. I am really focused on the album but I really do love it when Keith and I get out on the road singing the old songs. We really do have so much fun. It’s a different atmosphere whenever we do that. The good thing is that I enjoy them both equally. It’s good to do both.

What one thing can’t Brian McFadden live without?

That’s easy, I simply cannot live without my kids and my father. I also love salt and vinegar popchips, they really are gorgeous. Plus I really do get withdrawal symptoms whenever I don’t get to play golf (laughter).

What has been your most extravagant purchase?

(Laughter) you had to bring that up didn’t you. I bought myself a Ferrari when I was out in Australia which cost me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Other than a house, that is the most money that I have ever spent on one thing. That was back in the good days (laughter).

On that note Brian let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been great. I hope to catch you at The Stables next year.

Cheers Kevin, I really do appreciate it. You take care and I will see you in Milton Keynes.

Brian McFadden, Irish singer songwriter, TV presenter and former member of boy band Westlife, chats with Kevin Cooper about a Boyzone and Westlife double header tour, playing golf, leaving Westlife and touring the UK as Boyzlife with Keith Duffy.

Brian McFadden is an Irish singer songwriter and TV presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boyband Westlife. Following his departure from Westlife in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo album, Irish Son, which peaked within the top five on both the Danish and Irish Albums Charts, and produced his first two number one solo singles, Real To Me in four European countries and also Almost Here, a duet with his now ex-fiancée Delta Goodrem which gained a platinum accreditation in Australia.

Like Only A Woman Can, the lead single from his second album, Set In Stone, released in 2008, became his third number one single as a solo artist. In 2010, McFadden scored his fourth number one with the hit single Just Say So, which featured American singer Kevin Rudolf, and gained his second Australian platinum accreditation.

On 13 September 2012, McFadden announced the release of his fourth studio album, The Irish Connection, featuring covers of his favourite Irish songs as well as duets with Ronan Keating and Sinéad O’Connor.

In 2014 McFadden became the host of daytime ITV series Who’s Doing The Dishes? and in 2016 and 2017 he toured with good friend Keith Duffy from Boyzone, under the name Boyzlife.

Whilst taking a break from playing golf, he took some time to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Hi Brian how are you?

I’m good Kevin thanks how are you?

I’m very well thank you.

Good stuff.

Before we move on let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

(Laughter) not at all, It’s my pleasure. In fact I have to be totally honest with you and tell you that I have a few interviews to do today and I absolutely forgot; I completely forgot (laughter). I am literally on my way to the golf course to play golf with Willie Morgan the ex-Manchester United player. Someone has just called me to say that they have to cancel their interview and I suddenly remembered ‘oh my god, I’ve got five interviews to do this morning’ (laughter). I totally forgot and went and arranged a round of golf with Willie (laughter). What an idiot.

I was about to ask you just how is life treating you but it sounds as though everything is going well.

Life is good in fact life is great at the moment. Keith (Duffy) and I have been doing lots of Boyzlife shows and we are currently getting ourselves ready for the UK tour that is coming up in December. On top of all of that Keith is now back working with Boyzone playing some big shows and whenever he does a Boyzone show I then do a Brian McFadden solo show as a special guest supporting Boyzone. So as you can see we have got two shows going on at the moment which are keeping us very busy.

You have mentioned Keith and Boyzlife, who’s idea was it for the two of you to get together?

It was actually Keith’s idea. The original idea was for Keith to do the show by himself. He had this idea of doing a one-man autobiographical show where he talks about his career, his life and everything that he has gone through in the last forty years or so. Then he came along to see me performing my solo show and as he watched me singing he realised that the one thing that was missing was the performance side of the show. So we sat down together and thought why don’t we do it together. We could perform the songs from Westlife and Boyzone together with us telling the stories about our careers. We have both got very similar careers; both being in boybands, both of us grew up in Dublin, in fact we only lived five minutes from each other. I absolutely loved the idea and that is pretty much how the whole thing started. Me and Keith have been friends for a very long time; we are very big golfing buddies and we manage to play a lot of golf in our off time (laughter)

When Keith first put the idea to you, did you take much persuading to get on-board?

No (laughter). We were actually having a few pints of Guinness in my dressing room after one of my shows when he said it. We had a very long chat about it and I thought that it was a great idea. I text Keith the next day saying ‘I really love that idea that we spoke about last night’ and he text me back saying ‘I thought that you were drunk. I didn’t think that you would even remember what we talked about last night’ (laughter). The idea stuck in my mind no matter how much drink I’d had, I still thought that it was a great idea. After that everything happened really quickly. It all made sense to me for the two of us to do this together because most of the time that we are hanging out together we will either be having a few drinks or playing golf (laughter). I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if we toured together so we could play the gig in the evening, golf in the morning and a few drinks after’ (laughter).

That sounds perfect to me.

(Laughter) let me tell you, it is perfect (laughter).

Last year you did a Boyzlife tour of the Hilton Hotel Group. How was that?

That’s right we did and I have to say that it was great. We signed a deal with Hilton worldwide where we basically put our show on in all of their conference rooms, which was good. Some of the rooms were obviously very big for example in Birmingham there were eighteen hundred people there whereas the Dublin venue is very small so there were only about three hundred people in there. It was different but I think that it suited the kind of show that we were doing back then. We were sitting down, talking, and it was a completely different kind of show and it suited that atmosphere. However, I think that now we are doing it bigger and it is now a musical show it needs to be seen in theatres.

I understand that the show has now grown from its humble beginnings.

(Laughter) you could say that (laughter). On our very first tour we sat on the stage with big screens behind us showing videos of us both and we would tell stories of our lives and of our times in the bands together with all of the things that we went through. On the first tour we would only do eight or nine songs but then the fans started to approach us saying “I really wanted to hear this song” and obviously between Westlife, Boyzone and my solo career we have had over twenty number ones between us so we decided that we really had to put more songs into the show. So we found that the more shows that we did the more songs we were putting in. So with the forthcoming tour there are going to be a lot more songs this time; we are going to try to do as many of our own hits as we can.

The UK press, as you know, like to build up rivalries between bands. Were you and Keith friends when you were in your respective bands?

Let me tell you that there was never any rivalry between Westlife and Boyzone. We started our career as a support act to Boyzone; they gave us our big break. Then obviously when Westlife took off Boyzone then took their break, Ronan (Keating) went solo, Keith went onto act in Coronation Street and the rest of the boys went off to do their own thing so we were never in the market at the same time. Keith and I go way back, we are friends.

You are bringing the show to The Glee Club here in Nottingham on Tuesday 19^th December, do you enjoy your time spent here in Nottingham?

Yes I do I really do and I am so looking forward to playing The Glee Club up there. I think that I have only played Nottingham once in the last few years. I was in the show, Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds and I can remember playing at The Arena a few years ago now and I think that was the last time that I was in Nottingham.

You are forgetting 2013 when you opened for Ronan on his Fires tour here in Nottingham at the Royal Concert Hall.

Of course, Ronan did play Nottingham, I had forgotten about that. Don’t tell him will you (laughter). When we play The Glee Club I am hoping that Nottingham’s favourite son will come down to the show; Carl (Froch) loves the Boyzone and Westlife gigs (laughter).

Without giving too much away, what can we expect?

Well there will obviously be quite a lot of hit songs being sung because as I said, there is twenty one number one hits between the two of us. We will also be telling you a lot of things that happened backstage, on the road and stuff that you probably wouldn’t see in the music videos or in the magazines, such as the mischief that we get up to. We really do like to tell a few little stories (laughter).

In 2013 you released The Irish Connection, an album of your interpretations of some of the very best in Irish song writing. Was that an album that you felt that you had to make?

To be honest with you that album was first and foremost recorded for the Australian market. I had recorded two solo albums prior to The Irish Connection that were all original material and it was, as they say, of the moment because I would say that the people would not know most of the songs on that album. Obviously everyone in Ireland and most of the UK would know the songs because every one of the songs has an Irish connection. But having said that the album was not intended for release here in the UK; it was made especially for the Australian market. However, when I came back to the UK to tour with Ronan my UK label said that they would love to release the album over here because it was something different.

It was nice for me because it was a different experience. I only produced the album and didn’t write any of the songs because they were all covers. For me that was different because most of my other albums involved a long process because I would start by writing the songs, producing them, recording them which believe me is a very long process. However, with The Irish Connection I did the whole thing in just three weeks because it was just literally producing.

Were you happy with the fans reaction to the album?

Yes it was fine, the Australian fans seemed to like it simply because it was something different. It was just one of those things you know. It wasn’t one of those things that had me sitting back waiting to see what the fans thought of it. It was just something that I did at the time. What I have found is that over there in Australia they like to have a bit more frequency in their music. Here in the UK you can take two or three years between albums but over in Australia they constantly want new material.

Is there any new material on the horizon?

Yes there is. I took two years off from writing because when I was in Australia I was writing every day but that was for other artists so it soon became a nine to five job being in the studio. It was at that point that I intentionally took two years off from writing just so that I would feel excited about writing again. So to be perfectly honest with you I have literally just started writing once again and I am currently writing new material for a new solo album.

I was thinking that you and Keith could perhaps record an album of your interpretations of Boyzone and Westlife hits.

We could most definitely do that. Perhaps we could do a live version of that because I think that it would be funnier (laughter).

You left Westlife in March 2004. With hindsight was it the right time to leave the band?

Looking back now it is hard to tell what was right and what was wrong but I have to say that at the time it felt completely right. I was ready to step back and take a rest. I had been in the band for six solid years and I know that six years doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you are working three hundred and sixty days a year and you are literally only getting a couple of days off at Christmas to see your family, you are literally working from six o’clock in the morning until one o’clock in the morning getting very little sleep, then those six years began to feel like twelve years. At that moment in time for me it felt right. Who knows, if I had stayed longer then maybe things would have been different but how things were in my head and how things in the band were happening, then it felt right for me to step away.

I interviewed Shane (Filan) last week and I mentioned that 2018 was Westlife’s twentieth anniversary and he told me in no uncertain terms he will be doing nothing whatsoever to celebrate it.

Well to be honest with you I know that I personally won’t be doing anything to celebrate it, there have been no discussions. I haven’t even heard if they will be doing anything to celebrate it. You have to remember that there are two Westlife’s, the one that I was in and then the Westlife after me. They are two different bands. After I left the boys reinvented themselves and they started a new band with the four of them. To be honest with you I would say that the most likely thing is that if they do get around to doing something then it will most probably just be the four of them, the Westlife that came after me. They really are two different bands. The boys reinvented themselves, and so much time has passed now to do anything different.

Because 2018 is also Boyzone’s twenty-fifth anniversary I mentioned to him a Westlife and Boyzone double header tour but I got the feeling that he wasn’t very impressed with that idea (laughter).

(Hysterical laughter) I think that nine people on the one stage is most probably too many (laughter). It’s hard enough keeping mine and Keith’s egos in check without having eight more (laughter).

Which gives you the most pleasure, presenting or singing?

That has to be singing, it always does and I hope that it always will. The reason why I started presenting is that it was something different to keep me occupied. I had been doing so much writing that I just wanted to get out of the studio and do something different. I have to be honest with you and tell you that I got a buzz out of presenting Who’s Doing The Dishes? because it was fun and something different. However, whenever it comes down to the crunch, music will always be my number one. I will try almost anything to keep myself interested. At the moment I am playing golf fulltime like a professional but music will always be my number one.

What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?

That would have to be Westlife, absolutely. The beginning of Westlife and me getting into the band has to be the highlight so far. It was such a massive thing. It was really strange because most people start off in the music business and they don’t know just how it is going to go but there was such a buzz around Westlife when we first started, even before the first single came out, you could see that something big was going to happen. We had that feeling every day at the beginning. It just felt like a dream; it didn’t feel real. At times you felt that you were going to wake up and find out that it wasn’t real (laughter). That’s the bit that I would have to go back to, the very beginning of Westlife, simply because it was so special.

What was the first record that you bought?

(Laughter) that was I Should Be So Lucky by Kylie Minogue; swiftly moving on (laughter).

Who did you first see playing live in concert?

That was Nirvana at The Point in Dublin.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

Funnily enough that was yesterday. Keith and I were on the BBC yesterday with Gabby Roslin and Nell Bryden was there to perform a live acoustic set in the studio. I was sitting next to Nell and to be that close to someone who you can almost hear their breath when they are singing, I was that close, and it was just the most magical thing ever. She has the most incredible and angelic voice. To hear someone singing without a microphone who is sitting only a couple of feet away from you, it was quite moving. It actually took me away somewhere because it was that beautiful. So in answer to your question it was yesterday, Nell Bryden did that for me.

Where do you see Boyzlife going?

At this moment in time I can only see it going to The Glee Club up there in Nottingham in December (laughter).

Did you enjoy your time spent in Australia?

Yes I did, I loved Australia. I spent seven years over there in Australia and it was absolutely wonderful. However, I have to say that I missed the weather. When you get up on a September morning and you can’t see out of the window for the rain, then I do miss Australia quite a bit. But there is no place like home. When I was over there I really did miss home; I missed the football, I missed sausages, I missed EastEnders, I missed all of that so if England could have Australia’s weather, it would be the greatest country on the planet to live in.

On that note Brian thanks once again for taking the time to speak to me today and I will see you here in Nottingham in December.

Thanks Kevin it’s been great. You take care and I will see you in Nottingham. Bye for now.