[Peter Robinson] How
are you?
[Mark Feehily ] I am good thank you.
[PR] Exciting. What's been happening
apart from your band - the only band I ever really loved - splitting
up?
[MF] Erm, well this week we've been doing loads of promo but it actually
hasn't been crazy busy. Apart from that we've just been sitting
around...
[PR] Is it a bit like when you know you're leaving a job and
you're working your notice period so you're not really working as
hard?
[MF] Well there have been moments like that, I have to admit. Let's just
say we didn't take Lorraine Kelly as seriously as we might usually have done.
[PR] Perhaps in your final moments as a band you'll experience the
carefree abandon you missed during your living years. Maybe it will all make
sense far too late, a bittersweet glimpse of what might have been.
[MF] Well
there's definitely a feeling that a weight has been lifted, in a sense, and I
think that there have been many moments throughout our career that would have
been more enjoyed if it was that way. There was a pressure that we put on
ourselves and maybe it was a pressure that we should have tried to hide a bit
more. With the business side of things and the boring side of things it's
important to be driven, but maybe that came through a bit much in the music. But
since we announced the split and it's been done, I've felt that it was a bit
like coming out - now it's over, you feel a big weight off your shoulders and
you can begin to enjoy yourself.
[PR] Blimey. So are you relieved it's
over?
[MF[ I think everybody's relieved that we've got to where we are and
it's all amicable. Nobody really knew exactly what was going to happen and that
created this tension. Nobody quite knew how it was going to unfold, and how we
were going to manage the end of the band. But all that's gone now because we've
done it, and we got there. When we were away in China and South Africa on tour
and even before that we were worried about saying we were splitting up and
nobody giving a fucking shit! But we've just found out that our tour is - bar
none - going to be our biggest tour we've ever done. So thankfully people, well
our fans, give a shit. It is bittersweet because the reaction has been
fantastic but we still have to face the unknown which is scary. You're walking
into the darkness. We've got no idea what's facing us. Ultimately people are
going to look at whatever we do as either complete flops or massive successes -
nobody cares or everybody cares. You just have to be positive with yourself and
try to do something good, but of course you also hope that whatever you do is
going to justify itself with a bit of success, you know what I mean?
Nobody sets out to make an amazing album nobody listens to. Nobody sets out to
make a flop.
[PR] Speaking of flops - what about the single? What did
Barlow do? Take That torpedoed Westlife at the last minute!
[MF] Ah - well,
the song that I'd written, 'Beautiful World'...
[PR] ...which is the best
of the new ones on your Greatest Hits...
[MF] Great. Well that was the one
that when Nick Gatfield our A&R man came to see us in the studio, that was
the one we played him because 'Lighthouse' wasn't even in the picture at this
stage. And 'Beautiful World' was the one Nick Gatfield was like, "this is a
smash, it's amazing". And he had months to live with it and at the last minute
'Lighthouse' came in, and it was written by Gary Barlow, and, you know, people
were very quick to assume that whatever he writes is going to be
massive...
[PR] Did you think the song was any good though?
[MF] I think
that as a band we have to be a unit and we have to stand by our decisions and we
all went and made the video and we released it and...
[PR] Mark you seem to
be talking yourself away from the question slightly.
[MF] Look, when I talk to
my friends and stuff, I think... Well, on paper, it's a stereotypical Westlife
song, but to me there's something about it which is also unlike anything we've
ever recorded before...
[PR] It's got a rubbish tune?
[MF] (Laughs)
Now you said that, not me... But anyway we have to stand by every song we
release. It's definitely not our best song ever, and it's definitely by far - by
a million miles - our worst chart position ever. But the album's been doing
well. But as I say, a lot of people were charmed by the idea of the song. I mean
we all have to stand by our decisions. It's been our least successful song ever.
There you go. Anyway we're doing a video for 'Beautiful World' and that's
technically our last ever song, so...
[PR] When you say it's 'technically'
your last ever song, are there more to come? I'm a bit worried about this whole
split thing being a long goodbye that never really ends.
[MF] No it's not
that, don't worry. 'Beautiful World' isn't technically going to be a single, but
it'll be serviced to radio and there'll be a video so it'll be a bit like 'When
You're Looking Like That' where it was never released but it was still
promoted.
[PR] Thanks for bringing that up Mark because despite being your
best song 'When You're Looking Like That' seems not to be on the standard
edition of your Greatest Hits.
[MF] I know. We were doing some signings the
other day and they were playing the deluxe version of the album, which does have
it on. 'What Makes A Man' is on that second CD as well. It was difficult, we
wanted there to be a balance. I mean to be honest we kind of left it to the
label. They went off and did all this research and I don't know whether to
listen to a second of it...
[PR] What did the research say?
[MF] Some of
it was more obvious - 'Flying Without Wings' was people's favourite song or
whatever - and there's other bits I can't even remember. We went in one day to
sit down and listen to the results of the research. They went through ten or
fifteen pages' worth of research on a big projector - then left about about two
hours' worth of stuff I think they didn't want us to know about - but the whole
point of it was to show us what songs should go on the Greatest Hits.
[PR] What do you think they didn't want you to know?
[MF] I would love
to know that.
[PR] It would be useful for you to know now you're doing
your solo stuff.
[MF] Definitely. Maybe it's a bad habit but when I write
songs these days I tend to think of who I'm writing for. That's something that I
got into because of Westlife - you've got to think to yourself, 'what's the best
Westlife song I could write?'. And...
[PR] Well, 'When You're Looking Like
That'.
[MF] Well yes but when I'm doing my solo stuff I think I need to get
away from that a bit. I think it needs to be believable and real or there will
be no point. It's exciting for me because I have no idea how good or bad it will
be. I'm excited about the idea of having no rules - if it's a shit song, it's MY
shit song.
[PR] What was that stuff you were saying the other week about
everyone in the charts being boring? And then the interview came out and
everyone went 'oh fuck off Westlife you can't talk about people being
boring'?
[MF] Did I say that?
[PR] It was about people in the charts not
being original enough, or something.
[MF] Sometimes we might do an interview
and we might give an answer and people turn it into one big blunt fucking... You
know what I mean? The thing is though, just because I'm in Westlife it doesn't
mean I can't have my own opinion of music, and the music I'm into isn't always
relevant to the fact I'm in Westlife...
[PR] So are you saying as well as
being in Westlife, you are also a fan of music?
[MF] (Pause) Yes.
(Laughs) I like the way you twisted my words. I also like Westlife music!
[PR] You like Ed Sheeran quite a lot don't you?
[MF] There are a lot of
exciting artists out there but Ed Sheeran's album in particular is very fresh
for me. When it's next to everything else that's out there I find it really
fresh. But you don't like it do you? Don't you call it The New
Boring?
[PR] In the sense that Westlife are sort of The Old Boring, and
Sheeran represents boredom for the next generation.
[MF] We were years ahead
of the market!
[PR] But the interesting thing about Ed Sheeran boring,
Adele boring, Birdy boring, and that sort of boring, is that it's credible
boring. Whereas Westlife weren't ever really very cool. It's like The Great
British Bake Off - five years ago, if you were in your twenties and said that
baking was a hobby you might be seen as being a bit eccentric or whatever. But
now it's cool.
[MF] Maybe it's something to do with the economy? A few years
ago it was all 'oh let's fucking fly to the moon' and maybe all people really
want now is a log fire and a freshly baked cake.
[PR] Can you
bake?
[MF] If it's in a readymade packet, I can. I can follow directions
pretty well.
[PR] Sometimes being able to follow directions is all you
need in life. Tell me where I need to be, tell me when, I'll see you
later.
[PR] Not everything in life comes with instructions, unfortunately.
[PR] If only life were more like a shake and bake pancake mix.
[MF] I
know. I can get through one of those and a jar of Nutella in half an
hour!
[PR] Diet tip: when you're preparing for your solo tour, lay off the
Nutella.
[MF] I know. When I'm more in control of my life I naturally become
fitter as a person. As you may have seen on the year off. I don't know if you
were paying attention.
[PR] Will your solo stuff be all kind of 'ooh
everyone fuck off I used to be in a band and now I'm not' or will there be more
to it than that?
[MF] I'm not sure. Coming out of fourteen years with Westlife
there was a very specific formula and I could go off and experiment for a year
and still only scratch the surface. More than anyone else in the band, I think,
I need to experiment. It's scary. Music is such a massive spectrum. It's
daunting! But it's exciting.
[PR] What does make a man?
[MF] A
cock and balls.
Interview by Peter Robinson
