US Boyband 5West reckon they’ve been handed the baton by Boyzone to carry on their pop legacy after supporting the Irish lads on their last ever tour.
Theshowbizlion.com recently caught up with the four funny lads during their visit to Scotland to chat about their music and new single The Stars About You.
‘Fun and poppy’ are how the four amigos describe their music and they are keen to bring a new energy to the stage.
Luke , 17, Owen, 19, Jon Paul, 21 and Peet, 29 had to audition for a place in the band and they admit they are lucky to all get on.
The band, who initially began as a five piece, made their first live performance as a group in South Africa at The President’s Ball before headlining Cape Town’s Mr Gay World 2019. An invitation to perform at Grand Canaria Pride (supporting Eurovision’s Conchita) was followed by spots at Pride Festivals in the UK where the group then hit the road to perform at county shows, holiday resorts, high profile charity events (including a tribute for England legend Duncan Edwards), under 18 nights, and their own school tour.
Linguist Luke who used to live in Monaco and is described by the other lads as seventeen going on forty eight said: “We auditioned in LA and we met in Nashville in February and that afternoon we recorded our first single. Every day it feels like we are fine tuning this so its pretty cool.”
Peet, the loveable redhead in the band couldn’t wait to come to Scotland to explore his ancestry.
He said: “My great grandma was from Scotland and I’m really into finding out more.”
The boys have been learning a lot from their elders including Ronan Keating who they describe as a father figure.
Charmer Jon Paul explained: “We met Ronan just before we went on stage and he was in flip flops with a sweater on. We had fifteen seconds before we sang and were shaking and he just was so casual and said good luck. He was looking like a dad and he’s a living legend.”
Owen, who was keen to try the haggis on his trip and loves fast cars, can’t wait to come back to Scotland with the rest of the band and make some new Scottish friends.
He said: “We’ve really enjoyed and appreciated all the shows we’ve done so far this year. We aren’t expecting things to fall into our laps and are prepared to work really hard, to get out there and perform wherever we can and to as many people as possible. It’s been so encouraging to see the reaction from the audiences to our songs and our shows.”
The boys new single ‘Stars About You’ is out now co-written with Grammy Award winning producer Bryan Todd (Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus).