One Direction: The Totally Nuts Interview

One Direction’s latest autobiography Who We Are might be a perfect gift for Christmas, but at this most wonderful time of the year, we just want to know who in the band has been naughty and who has been nice. Guilty Pleasures caught up with the boys this week for some rapid questions.

It’s Christmas time boys, everyone wants to know who in the band has been naughty and who has been nice?
Niall: I have been great.
Harry: He helped an old lady across the street….but he actually left her half way. He wasn’t as nice as we originally thought.
Louis: Niall has been the naughtiest. He steals old ladies handbags.
Harry: That’s why he left her in the middle of the street.

What is your craziest story involving Sinitta?
Liam: Our craziest story is still from The X Factor when she came out with us dressed in leaves.
Harry: Niall slept with Sinitta. Wearing leaves.
Louis: That sounds like we’re joking but that did actually happen.
Niall: My favourite story about Sinitta is when she took a penalty on us in A League Of Their Own. She scored past Harry.

When did Simon Cowell last get cross with you?
Louis: Simon don’t really get angry though, does he, like? He don’t ever raise his voice.
Niall: Sometimes he will do that disappointed voice but he hasn’t done that in a while. I’ve never really seen him angry at all. Even with the people he works with. He just gets his point across in a relaxed manner.
Harry: He will be angry when he realises that Eric is Niall’s.
Liam: This interview is crazy.
Niall: I am going to have to do some serious apologising to Simon now!
Liam: I’ve not met the kid yet.

You’re on tour again next year – who is the worst for farting on the tour bus?
Liam: To be fair, Niall, you do just let rip at random occasions. And they are proud farts. They are not quiet ones. They are not smelly. But they are musical.
Zayn: The farts used to be worse, but now they are calmer.
Liam: Did you know that Niall can’t burp?
Niall: Yes. That’s something people don’t know about me. I had cholic as a child and didn’t have power over my muscles in my throat. The muscles moved down here [points to bum].

When was the last time one of you walked in on the other naked?
Louis: Someone just walked in on me having a wee, actually.
Liam: [To Louis] You walked past me having a wee the other day. The toilet in the hotel had a window and I was having a piss and then I turned round and he was looking at me.
Louis: A lot of hotels have windows in the bathroom.
Harry: The Standard in New York has windows where you wee. It’s ridiculous.

Harry – who would you rather be stuck in a lift with: Caroline Flack, Taylor Swift, or Kendall Jenner?
Harry: Erm… well I have had amicable relationships with all of them, so that’s a trick question.

All of them at the same time? Would that be fun?
Harry: I see what you are doing…I don’t know.

Would you give Caroline a shoulder to cry on now she’s single again or give her advice?
Harry: Erm… what a question!
[Publicist] Next Question!

Who did you last snog? With tongues? Zayn – we’re assuming Perrie?
Zayn: Yeah, my bird.
Liam: I love how Louis and I have girlfriends, but you’ve not asked like we are out snogging fans all the time.
Harry: Niall’s was Ariana Grande. And Caroline Flack at the same time. They were stuck in a lift.
Liam: That was Niall’s relationship advice for Caroline. And Sinitta was there as well. Wearing leaves.

[Printed Metro December 2014]

5 Seconds of Summer sent male strippers by fans

Obsessive fans of pop rockers 5 Seconds Of Summer once sent a group of male strippers to the band’s shared house.

The Don’t Stop singers were stunned when uniformed officers turned up on their doorstep – only for them to be erotic performers.

‘Some people sent strippers to our house, which was interesting because they were male strippers. It was a bit of a joke, but it was funny,’ 18-year-old Calum Hood of the band explained in an exclusive chat.

‘I’m not sure who sent them exactly, but I will try to get them to send female ones next time.

‘They were dressed as policemen but we didn’t answer the door because we were scared. They could actually have been the real police,’ he laughs, saying his bandmates can be rowdy when they get together.

Although Hood said he and his Aussie bandmates enjoy their shared party pad, the Kerrang! award winners prefer to chill out when they take a break from supporting One Direction on tour.

‘We have fun when we live together – it’s kind of hard not to. We haven’t had the neighbours complaining yet but they probably will in the near future.

‘When we have free time we would rather be sleeping, to be fair.’

As for painting the town red with thier 1D tour mates, Hood added: ‘The thing is we are very busy at the moment and it’s very hard to find time in our schedules to party together.'

With 1D recently causing a storm when a video emerged appearing to show band members smoking drugs, Hood said 5SOS were much more clean living.

‘Did they offer us marijuana or drugs? No! Definitely not,’ he said.

[Originally published Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Monday 16 June 2014]

One Direction: Our tour bus stinks!

If you’ve ever wanted to know exactly what a One Direction star smells like it’s a mix between crisps and damp grass.

Liam, Louis and Zayn have revealed the smells that permeate their tour bus.

‘It sometimes smells of crisps,’ Liam said.

‘And it might smell damp because we always play football,’ added Louis – who was recently signed to Doncaster Rovers.

‘It’s the dew from the grass. It’s got a musky smell,’ he added.

While the band agreed there is a definite ‘man’ scent to the bus in general, Irish band member Niall Horan, 19, added to the conversation by lovingly telling Louis: ‘You smell!’

The band might want to spritz up their rolling quarters by spraying a bit of their debut fragrance, Our Moment, around the bus which finally hits stores this week.

‘There was a fan on Twitter who tweeted about it and started a petition for us to make one, and we thought why not,’ Liam said, revealing the origins of the fragrance.

With its pleasant tones of grapefruit and jasmine (among others), the bottled fragrance has much more of an appeal than the smell of the tour bus – although the boys said a lot of sweat went into creating their signature scent.

‘We’ve never had so many meetings, not even about the album. Not even about anything - to do this it takes so much work,’ Liam said about the creation process.

‘We were heavily involved. You wouldn’t believe,’ Louis added.

Meanwhile 19-year-old Harry Styles added: ‘It’s been a long and exciting process and we’re really proud to have made a One Direction fragrance.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

One Direction: Acting is not for us

After making their movie debut, One Direction are split over a future in Hollywood.

Their debut film, This Is Us, hits screens at the end of the month with the fab five’s every move being documented by controversial film maker Morgan Spurlock, but any fans concerned they might not see the real band on the big screen can be rest assured by Zayn.

‘We’re not acting in this film, it’s us. We’re just being ourselves,’ he said.

With Liam saying he would rule out a career as an actor saying ‘I’d be too nervous’ (despite his fair attempt in the Best Song Ever video), fellow singers Louis and Zayn say they might be up for it.

‘It’s something that intrigues me,’ said Louis.

While Zayn said: ‘it’s something I’m interested in but I wouldn’t see that as a direct relation between the movie we’re doing and acting.’

As the documentary follows the bands life on the road it also gives the boys a chance to see what all the fuss is about their stage shows.

‘It’s nice in a way it’s the thing of watching ourselves and we never get to watch our own shows,’ said Louis, adding: ‘so it’s good to see that.’

And while Zayn says he didn’t mind having the cameras following him around for months during the making of the movie, a line had to be drawn somewhere.

‘They’re filming us in our dressing rooms, then going from the dressing room to the stage. But they don’t follow us into the toilet or anything like that.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

Louis Tomlinson: I let my girlfriend Eleanor Calder hear our grungier new tracks first

Louis Tomlinson says his most important critic is his girlfriend Eleanor Calder.

After the group took turns in writing duties for their new album, loved-up Louis made sure his 21-year-old girlfriend was the first to doll out the feedback.

‘I’m always showing Eleanor our new songs and I’m always proud of saying that – “we wrote this”,’ he said.

With the first single from their third album riding high in the charts around the world, the 1D boys said fans should prepare themselves for a grungier sound for their next studio offering due later this autumn.

‘It is a bit risky. It’s an implied risk. We’ve thought about it,’ Liam says of the new direction the band’s sound is travelling in.

With Best Song Ever drawing comparisons to iconic British rock band The Who’s Baba O’Riley it would seem more homages to classic rock acts might be in the works.

‘It is old school, actually, and I like that. It’s grungier. Not like Nirvanna. More like a 60s kind of sound,’ Liam added.

Fellow bandmate Zayn also revealed he has enjoyed shaking off the more commercial sound of their music to date.

‘I think we’ve kind of taken away the glitter of our music,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s got that groovy kind of feel to it. And it’s not as poppy.’

Liam agreed, saying he’s enjoying the fact the band are more hands on with the music this time round.

‘We’re so involved. We’ve all done writing. It’s our take on things and we’re old enough to do what we want now,’ he said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]

Zayn Malik: Perrie and I keep our love life alive via Skype

Keeping a relationship alive is tricky business when you’re one fifth of the biggest boyband of all time. Zayn Malik thanks technology for keeping things steamy with his Little Mix fiancé Perrie Edwards.

The Little Things singer has settled for Skype dates with 20-year-old Perrie when they are driven apart by their hectic work schedules.

‘I think she’s coming back as I leave,’ the 20-year-old said as his group prepare to continue their Take Me Home tour, while Little Mix are out performing in the States.

‘We miss each other,’ admitted the pining star.

‘We’ve got Skype as well. That helps,’ he said – to the amusement of band mates Louis Tomlinson, 21 and Liam Payne, 19.

‘Alright!’ Louis said with a stifled laugh after Zayn hinted his Skype activity may keep his love-life with Perrie spicy.

Meanwhile Liam added: ‘I don’t wanna know what you’re doing in your personal time!’

Zayn and Perrie met after both finding fame on The X Factor and began dating after meeting back stage on the ITV talent show in 2011.

And while the lovers are now looking to make their love permanent by tying the knot, Zayn has already made a permanent declaration of his affections in June this year when he had a cartoon image of his future wife tattooed onto his arm.

The Bradford lad has also explained he loves to use his down time between 1D gigs to add to his body art – but refused to say if he would get more in honour of Perrie.

‘Our manager is going to draw a graph comparing the correlation of time off with getting more tattoos,’ he said. ‘It will go up.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 27 August 2013]