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]

Melissa Steel wants to sing at Zayn Malik and Perrie Edwards wedding

Kisses For Breakfast singer Melissa Steel says she’d love to be a wedding singer for her old school mate Zayn Malik.

The 20-year-old has been friends with the 1D hunk for years and is willing to offer her services for his big day with Perrie Edwards.

‘I haven’t spoken to him about the wedding, but hopefully I can be singing there,’ the Bradford lass laughed.

‘We were at school together and in the same year and had classes together. He’s always been supportive of me and we’ve been supportive of each other. I am proud of him,’ she gushed.

Revealing Malik, 21, was a squeaky clean student, Steel admits she was a much more disruptive pupil in comparison.

‘I wouldn’t say I was a rebel, but if I had an argument with a teacher, the argument would last for the whole lesson,’ she said.

With her debut single out this week, the singer says she would love to get the 1D star involved as a guest vocalist for one of her album tracks.

‘We always used to talk about doing a YouTube video together but we never got round to it because obviously the One Direction thing took off. His voice is so RnB so if we did a song it would be amazing. I’d love to make that happen,’ she said.

James Cordon begs Harry Styles to let him write for 1D

James Corden says he is constantly begging One Direction to let him write them a hit after he penned a tune in his new film.

The jolly 35-year-old comedian stars alongside Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in music rom-com Begin Again and now he wants to use his new skills to help his mate Harry Styles.

‘I’d love to write with One Direction but I doubt they would let me. I’m constantly talking to Harry about letting me do anything,’ he revealed at the low key UK premiere at London’s Ham Yard hotel on Wednesday.

Corden also revealed he is working on a TV project with HBO – which is notorious for sex and violence filled shows like Game of Thrones and Sex & The City – however he’s not sure how extreme his own efforts will be.

‘Can I write a good sex scene? I’ve not given it a huge amount of thought!’ he laughed.

[Originally published Metro, Guilty Pleasures, Friday 4 July 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]

Rebecca Ferguson on love after Zayn Malik and X Factor 2014

Having learnt from her previous relationship with One Direction star Zayn Malik, Rebecca Ferguson has said  she’s keeping her new romance out of the limelight.

The former X Factor contestant was a single mother-of-two by the age of 21, endured a whirlwind romance with One Direction’s Zayn Malik and has now shacked up with an old mate in a long distance relationship.

‘I’ve got a boyfriend. I’m seeing him tonight and I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. It is hard because we’re always away,’ the I Hope singer told Guilty Pleasures at an exclusive playback of her new album, Freedom.

‘But I think you make it work if you love each other,’ she continued, explaining she has found comfort in an old friend and prefers to let love blossom away from the limelight.

‘We’ve been friends for years, which makes it easier. I’ve known him since I was about 22. The only person who was in the public eye was Zayn. And then the last three years I’ve not dated anyone. Apart from one idiot, who I won’t name, who then proceeded to tell everyone “she’s my girlfriend”. But other than that it was people I knew and who had been friends,’ she said.

‘Not that I’ve been with loads, right!’ she laughed.

With her second album due to be released on November 29, the singer will also be making a return to the X Factor stage to sing live in December and is backing Tamera Foster to win this years’ competition.

‘I think with the right guidance she could be a star,’ she said, adding she hopes the teen singer will be allowed to show more of her personality as the show enters its final weeks.

‘I feel like it would be nice to see more of who she is. You just have to be really honest. She’ll be able to relax with people with time and age. She’s just 16.’

Ferguson also thinks the bad reputation Tamera has weathered during the course of the competition is unfair.

‘I was probably a rebel at 16. She looks older so she gets judged. She looks like a woman you’d see in clubs,’ she said.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures Thursday 21 November 2013]

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]

Liam Payne: An obsessive fan tried to rip off my ear

One Direction saying getting stuck in amongst a throng of hysterical ‘Directioners’ can get a little, er, eerie.  

‘One girl tried to pull my ear off in a shopping centre in Amsterdam,’ said Liam Payne, who recalled the alarming incident while in Europe with the Take Me Home world tour.

‘Sometimes you’re just going through a crowd and they grab what they can. One girl got my ear and just went for it,’ he continued.

‘I was like “That’s mine! I’ll be keeping it”,’ he added, although understands why fans scramble to get close.

‘European fans don’t get to see us often and there’s a lot of places we’ve never been to and there will be places where there are people who have waited 3 years to see us,’ he said.

Having already endured months of live shows and hysterical fans in the UK, Europe and USA, 1D will next be hitting up Australasia before their current world tour ends at the end of October.

Preparing to get back on the road again after a brief stop back in London for the premiere of their This Is Us documentary, Liam is ready for what the fans down under might throw at him.

‘It gets frantic. But it is fun though,’ he said.

[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]

District3: We don’t mind when our ‘free spirited’ fans tweet us their boobs

Former X Factor boyband District3 have revealed that their legions of female fans have become rather over familiar when it comes to communicating over social media.

Dan Ferrari-Lane and Greg West – both 19 – joined Guilty Pleasures for a chat (fellow bandmate, 18-year-old Micky Parsons, was out of action with Flu) as they celebrate the release of their debut EP (simply titled EP – and performing surprisingly well on downloads), when they discussed their fanbase which regularly gets the band name trending worldwide on Twitter.

‘We have amazing fans. They’re all pretty nutty – but in a really great way,’ Greg told us.

‘They can be very, very, dirty on Twitter. We never have a clean time line. We’ve had boobs,’ he went on with Dan swiftly adding: ‘And that’s the soft stuff!’

‘They’re very free spirited,’ Greg continued, defending the honour of the group’s female admirers, but is glad the more persistent fans haven’t managed to stalk them just yet.

‘None of them have tracked us down to our doorstep… but they’re in the area. We’ve been quite lucky with that,’ he said.

As the only member of the band to be taken, Greg (who has dating a school friend named Heather for two years) is also glad not to suffer the abuse that fellow boyband One Direction endure whenever they go public with a squeeze.

‘The fans are really nice and respecting our privacy etcetera,’ he said of the fan response to his love life, adding: ‘We’ve had a very smooth run of things which has been very nice.’

Meanwhile singleton Dan says he is on the lookout for love, and even suggested he might be up for dating a fan.

‘I am single. I am not looking for love, but if love finds me I won’t be running away. In a girl I just look for someone who likes to go out and party and have fun,’ he said before adding with a knowing laugh: ‘Someone who is… free spirited!’

As Micky was not present to defend his choice in women, his bandmates decided to seize the opportunity to have a joke at his expense.

‘If it’s got a pulse, it’s Micky’s type!’ Greg laughed.

The debut EP by District3 is out now.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 22 August 2013]

Nathan Sykes: Cyber bullies are cowards

Nathan Sykes of The Wanted has hit out at online bullies – having seen first hand how savage some Twitter users can be.

The 20-year-old has seen both the good and bad side of fame but does not like to let internet trolls get the better of him.

‘I’m in a position where I’ve seen hate from people who maybe don’t like the band,’ he told Guilty Pleasures from America, where the band are currently out performing.

‘When the One Direction argument, or whatever it was, was going on between a few of the boys, for no reason I was suddenly getting death threats and stuff off young girls and I was quite confused by that.

‘I didn’t know what I’d done but then realised they associated me with the band. But the way they say things – the fact people can hide behind a computer screen, they’d never say it to your face.

‘They have that power, almost, of hiding behind a computer so they can be more expressive and a lot nastier.’

The We Own The Night singer does has some sound advice for anyone who is suffering from abuse online.

‘You can block these people, you can remove them from you’re time-line, you can unfollow them. You don’t have to be “friends” with these people and you can ignore them,’ he said.

‘That is the best way of dealing with it. And also speak to your friends and keep on interacting with your friends as much as possible and that will make you feel a lot better.’

Sykes also revealed that The Wanted fans were supportive – even when it came to his bandmates’ girlfriends, Kelsey Hardwick, who dates Tom Parker, and Nareesha McCaffrey, who is seeing Siva Kaneswaran.

‘On the whole they’re great and look out for them and defend them. I think a bit more with the reality show [The Wanted Life], Nareesha’s quite opinionated and there are obviously people who disagree with her opinion.

‘So you’d get people who are like “Oh you’re out of order”, but it’s a reality TV show so people will side with her opinions.’
And while Sykes told us he and fellow singleton Jay McGuinness sang All By Myself while in the car together, would-be girlfriends will be sad to here he doesn’t have time for dating himself.

‘I’m not really looking for a love-life at the moment. I’m very focused on what we’re doing and we’re so busy over the next few months so I think now would be a stupid time to start looking for a girlfriend,’ he explained.

‘I hold huge respect for Siva and Tom who have managed to hold down such strong relationships. It is hard in this line of work.’

The band released their new single We Own The Night this week, have an album due this autumn and will then be heading on their first world tour.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 12 August 2013]

Neon Jungle: We’re not as much Trouble as you think

Neon Jungle may look like trouble but they insist they’ve never even been in detention.

The sassy pop quartet, consisting of Japanese-born Asami Zdrenka, Scottish girl Shereen Cutkelvin, both 16, and Londoners Amira McCarthy,17, and Jessica Plummer, 20, are hoping to emulate Little Mix in the charts –  but say don’t lump them in the same basket as The X Factor winners.

‘The only thing we really have in common is that we are four girls and we make music,’ insists Jessica after the colourful singers, signed to Sony, swung by Guilty Pleasures for a chat.

Asami is chuffed they are already in the same race as Little Mix.

‘I think we’d all take it as a compliment,’ she said of the comparisons. ‘Because, I think, their success, in quite a short period of time, has skyrocketed and if we can come anywhere close to that we would be grateful.’

But while they may look a little more bad-ass than the DNA singers, the girls promise they are well behaved.

‘We are the biggest geeks, really. People see our exterior and they paint this picture of what we’ll be like and, really, we’re the most goofiest people,’ said Jessica.

Amira confirmed: ‘I’ve never been expelled or suspended. I haven’t even had a detention before! That’s good.’

But the girls are hoping to gatecrash Little Mix’s social circle in the hope that Asami can get her hands on Harry Styles, who she fancies the pants off.

Confident Jessica revealed she too has a crush on a famous musician.

‘I’m rinsing J Cole’s album, Born Sinner, which I’m just obsessed with and so I’ve become a little bit obsessed with him. Like, I’m not joking,’ said the cheeky minx.

‘I’ve googled his age and he’s 28 so I’m thinking when I’m, like, 25, and he’s like 33, maybe something could happen?’

But she went on to say: ‘But then it could change, because last week it was Pharrell and next week it could be Snoop Dogg.’

The ladies are gearing up for the September release of their debut single, Trouble.

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 22 July 2013]