CityLife

Interview: JLS

JLS

July 2010

JLS have come a long way since The X Factor. They are set to play the M.E.N. Arena later this year and are currently recording their second album; while their current single The Club Is Alive is out now. 

CityLife caught up with them to find out how it’s all going...

What are you all doing at the moment?
Aston: We’re eating breakfast.

And what’s in a JLS breakfast?
Aston: Porridge, fruit, Lucozade.

Your new single, The Club Is Alive, is out now. When was the first time you heard the song?
JB: We first heard it in the studio with the producer, Stevie Mack. As soon as he played it we knew it was a huge song and couldn’t wait to get recording.

Are you willing to take chances with your music?
Oritsé: It’s about developing the sound. The JLS sound will always be there, but we want to progress, from our first album to our second. When Beat Again came out no one knew us, and when Club comes out no one will know it’s us. It’s great knowing that people will get into the music before they know who the band is behind it.
Marvin: No one wants to hear the same thing over and over again though, they want things to sound different and not get bored with an album. We don’t want that!

How’s the second album going?
Marvin: It’s going really well. We’re just starting the recording process now, and we were in the studio last week for our first session. We’ve written all the singles, apart from The Club Is Alive too, so it’s been a really interesting process for us. We’ve had a lot of fun with the writing, so it’s about shaping the album and making choices on how it sounds.
JB: We’ve written 50 or 60 songs for it. We don’t mess about, we like to write as many as possible.

The Club Is Alive’s video looks like it was a lot of fun to make. Girls, nice cars... it’s a hard life!
JB: Yes, it wasn’t bad! We used Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka. The whole video is based around Entourage, you know the series? It’s about guys going out and having a good time. Us having a laugh in the video is all genuine though, it really was fun.

Any mishaps?
Oritsé: The stage we were dancing on was a spinning stage, so you can imagine how hard that was to stay on, doing double-time dancing and things. And in front of lots of beautiful girls too. That was interesting.

Did you embarrass yourselves?
Oritsé: Not at all, we kept our cool and stayed on there.
Aston: We made sure the focus was on the girls at that point!

You’ve toured almost all year. Has all the practise improved your performance?
Oritsé: We’re a very well rehearsed band – we’re perfectionists – and there’s one thing to be talented individuals, but it’s another to be a talented group. We always keep on top of each other too, so if any of us aren’t on it, the others will just say straight away. It’s all to make the best shows possible, and each show has to be better than the previous one.

Have any of you seen Simon Cowell recently?
Oritsé: We have, actually. When we were in America, we went to the American Idol studio and saw Simon. Ryan Seacrest interviewed us and we sang for him. Simon said, “Boys, you’ve improved!” and we were blown away. It’s amazing to hear people who have known us a while say something like that. It shows we’re on the right path.

You’re doing an arena tour later this year. Do you have lots of exciting things planned?
Aston: We’re very excited about that and we’re in the middle of preparations at the moment. We’re having conversations about creative directors, choreographers etc. It’s still up in the air, but we’ll have that locked down soon and we can really start getting ready. We’re really looking forward to it.

JLS play at the M.E.N. Arena on December 16, 20 and 22, 2010. Tickets, priced £25.54 and £31.67 are available on 0844 847 8000 or www.men-arena.com.