Weekend on The Hits Radio

JAMES

BILLY
DUSTYN
OSCAR
RILEY
SCOTT

Helloooooo and thank you all for tuning into The Hits Radio. I'm James Everton and I'm joined with possibly one of the biggest bands, if not THE biggest band in music right now. Ladies and gentleman, Weekend are here!!

Background cheering is heard as well as someone mimicking a drum roll on the table

So, you guys have been very haven't you?
Scott: VERY busy, very very busy
Oscar: We're having a few days of rest now before we finish off the tour

Yeah I was going to say you deserve a break because it's just been non stop for you guys hasn't it?
Riley: Yeah, I mean we've been touring since July whilst still going into the studio, doing interviews, promoting the new single and album plus not to mention personal issues but we do enjoy doing what we do. It's all part and parcel of the job really so we can't complain.
Oscar: Billy does...(He laughs and Scott can be heard chuckling in the background)
Billy: Oi!
Dustyn: Oh he certainly does...

(Laughing) Billy are you a bit of a diva backstage?
Scott: He's a diva all the time, Mariah Carey and Madonna are easier than him

So do you have all these crazy demands or you're just grouchy or....?
Billy: Right, OK, I'll tell you....
Scott: He doesn't like anyone touching his hair
Billy: Shut up, I....well, actually I don't like that but what I was going to was that I like my bed. I'm a notorious sleeper, like honestly I could sleep anywhere for God knows how many hours so getting up at the crack of dawn everyday since July kinda becomes a pain in...
Dustyn: Ahh! Kids could be listening
Billy: I wasn't going to say arse

(chuckling is heard)

Billy don't be so....vulgar. I do apologise....so you are heading where next?
Riley: To France. We've never been there so I'm really looking forward to it
Dustyn: Yeah and on my Twitter, I always gets lots of tweets from French fans so it will be great to meet them




So apart from early mornings and hair touching...
Dustyn: That sounded so creepy...

(Laughing)Oh God....well apart from that, how has the tour been?
Oscar: It's been amazing. I never knew we had so many fans and it's not just that, it's how dedicated they are and how much love they show for us. Going out every night and seeing them is brilliant.
Billy: It's been....stressful
Scott: ..for you..
Billy: No it really has been stressful for us all but like Riley said earlier, it's all part of the job and I only get up early for all you fans out there, I don't get up for just anyone so you're all really lucky.

Is it true you guys will be touring with Katie Coyle at the end of the year too?
Riley: Yeah, we'll be touring with Katie. She's an amazing artist and a great friend to the group and we were approached by Katie herself and she is like one of the biggest musicians there is so it was a real honour and we can't wait
Dustyn: We must be mad though cos we've been working non stop and then going on another tour on top of that...it's quite a lot of work

After the tour with Katie Coyle, are you going on a long break?
Scott: Nope! We have our second studio album to release and promote after that tour is over. No rest for the wicked.
Billy: I actually can't wait to promote the second album though, I know it's not released until next year and we've only really recorded like 3 songs for it but it's shaping up to be something really great

So more Weekend in 2013?
Oscar: Definitely. This year was just our first year in music, this was us just starting out. Next year, we get serious
Billy: Very serious
Scott: Yeah, super serious!



Wow so if you weren't being serious this year, I can't imagine what your career will become when you do get serious
Dustyn: Ah you've only just scratched the surface with us, Jamie Boy
Oscar: Ha well we're not saying that we'll be changing and stuff but we will be exploring more with our music. This year, we were new to it all and it felt like we were just learning to walk. We took little steps at the start, wobbled about a bit and got a bit scared and now we're feeling more confident so next year it's just all going into full swing. We feel like we're all proper musicians now and ready for whatever 2013 throws at us.

Would you say that a lot of the uncertainty was down to negative comments?
Riley: A little. There was a time when we felt like giving up because one day we logged onto Twitter and seen we were trending worldwide for the first ever time. This was the week that 'Smile About It' went to number one and so we clicked on the trend and whilst there was lots of lovely comments there was just screeds and screeds of these nasty messages and we felt like we were doing something wrong. If someone says they dislike our music or voices then that's ok, I can understand that but we were reading things like 'Hopefully they all get killed in a car crash'. That made us uneasy.
Dustyn: 'Die, Leprechaun, Die' was my personal favourite one aimed at me but......I ain't even ginger....
Scott: I agree with what the boys are saying but also a lot of that uncertainty and doubt was down to other musicians themselves. When we started, Nadia Berry, Isabel, RRH, Stephanie Fierce, Michelle Green, Brittany Knox, Glamazon, Suzie, Alicia Lena and Katie Coyle were all basically owning the charts and are still huge stars and we didn't think that anyone would want to listen to us because they had all of them. Now, we're up in the top of the charts with them. It's just crazy



Can I ask; does it still get weird having people recognise you in the street and stuff?
Dustyn: It's not really weird anymore, I has gotten used to it but sometimes it can get quite annoying. I isn't saying that I don't enjoy meeting fans cos I do but sometimes a simple trip to the corner shop for some milk can take like 45 minutes cos I has to keep stopping and I would never ignore a fan, that's bad and rude.
Billy: I do it all the time...
Oscar: That's where the diva comes out
Billy: I'm only joking. Like Dusty said it's not weird now but sometimes it's uncomfortable. Like, one day I was on the bus and was on it for about a half hour and honestly, from the beginning of the journey to my stop people could not take their eyes off of me, it was so creepy.

What's the weirdest and oddest place you've been approached by a fan?
Riley: I was approached in the toilet by a man...
Scott: Great way to open that sentence Ri.
Dustyn: I swear it wasn't me!
Riley: (laughing) Eh, so I was in a public toilet. We had a day trip out somewhere and I obviously needed to go. It was very quiet this toilet and so I go in and there's a guy in there who is washing his hands at the sink. I go to the urinal and obviously do what I need to do and the tap had stopped running but I never heard him leave. A few seconds later, he comes over beside me and I thought 'is he gonna try something?'. I asked if I could help him out...
Scott: Riley, watch your wording (laughs)
Riley: Not in that way (chuckles)....anyway, it turns out he only wanted an autograph for his little girl, so it was all good.
Oscar: Maybe he was just saying that?

We know Weekenders are crazy. What's the craziest thing they've asked you to sign and what's the wackiest gift they've sent you?
Billy: I won't say what I've been asked to sign because of many reasons.....eh, the craziest thing a fan sent me was a life size cardboard cut out of themselves...I keep all the stuff the fans send me in the spare room, so in there is a huge cut out of some stranger from Wales....
Oscar: I was sent a video....I'm not saying what the contents of it were!
Scott: Someone sent me Spaghetti Hoops in an envelope, I think that was a bit random and creepy. I was also asked to sign someone's bus ticket once which was rather....different...
Riley: I was asked to sign the bottom of someone's foot so they could get it turned into a tattoo but I was like, 'you won't really see it that much though'. Oh and the weirdest thing I was sent was an 8ft toy giraffe
Dustyn: I was sent a sculpture of my head. It's really good actually but it looks a bit scary at night so I has to hide it somewhere because it might get me. The weirdest thing I has been asked to sign was a guys bum cheek. Not complaining, just thought it was a bit odd.

Last thing from me before I move on to something else. Your next single was just confirmed and it's going to be 'Turn Up The Volume'. Tell us why you chose it, a little bit about the video and its release date and then at the end of the interview we will be giving the song its first ever play on radio!
Billy: We asked the fans to choose the next single and they voted for T.U.T.V. The feedback on the song since the album was released was just amazing and it's a sort of mid-tempo ballad which I think is nice as our previous songs were more uptempo.
Scott: I think the message and the lyrics are great, it was written by Dusty and a girl called Kelly Franklin who is also in a new group called 'Radioettes'.
Dustyn: The video is going to be filmed around Winter time. It has that sort of Christmas like vibe to it and I can just picture a very snowy video already! It won't be released until November at least. Like I said, it's about the Christmas feeling.



Ok well now we're going to take some questions from fans. We have a few phone calls and a couple of tweets. Here we go;

-Phone Call 1: "Hello! I'm Megan and I love you guys! I'm a huge fan, I cannot believe I'm actually talking to you! Anyway my question is: what are the plans after the tour? I hope you will release another album already, I've listened to 'Fired Up: Reloaded' so many times already that I need new music!"
Oscar: Helloooo! After the tour we take a teeny tiny short break then we go on tour with Katie but we are still working on our second album during the touring so it won't be long before you get a new album for us, Megan.
Riley: Glad you like 'Reloaded', Megan. It's nice to hear what lovely fans think

-Phone Call 2: "Hello. Charlie here, a big Weekend fan! I wanna ask you guys where do you see yourselves in ten years?"
Billy: I think we'd be older....
(The boys begin to chuckle)
Billy: In 10 years, I'll be pushing 30 and Scott will actually be 30, almost 31 but I don't think that will stop us being in a band. I know some people say bands like Take That and the Spice Girls are past it but to us, age ain't nothing but a number like the wonder Aaliyah said.
Scott: Yeah I agree with B. I think if we were still together though, our music would definitely be maturer though. Right now, we're young and so sing and write things that relate to us but we'll be wiser when we're older...well, maybe not Dustyn...and so we'd obviously be writing about different things.

-From @WeekendersUnited: "Is Billy still releasing solo music? I'd love it, but I'm afraid it could mean the end of the band! If it is, please don't do it B!"
Billy: Sadly, no. I put that on hold. Actually I was just going to release one single anyway but with the tour and stuff not to mention a baby on the way, a solo career would just add to an already mountainous amount of stress

-From @WardBlueWellingtonKhanHamilton: "What are you doing this Christmas?? I love you!!!"
Dustyn: I love you too person with the extremely long username. We is all going to spend it all together and we decided to Skype a lot of friends and family and also Twitcam with our fans and it's also my birthday on Christmas Day so the family will be around to see me. Plus this will be Shay's first Christmas so I is going all out and maybe going a little overboard with the presents!
Billy: Doing what Dust said but I'll probably end up cooking Christmas Dinner...
Oscar: You WILL. You're the only one that can cook
Billy: Yeah so, I'll be doing Christmas Dinner and everyone will love it obviously, apart from Riley who will be munching on lettuce since he's one of those vegans
Riley: Don't diss lettuce...it's ace

-From @JanineWatson: "Is anyone of you going into the next Celebrity Big Brother series? That'd be great"
Billy: There are a lot of rumours going around. Some of us have been approached and are willing to do it but we're not sure if schedules would clash so we don't want to say anything yet as nothing is set in stone

-From @ITurnUpTheRadio: "Best memory of the tour?"
Scott: The opening night. We were a bag of nerves and Ri nearly had a panic backstage but it really was SUCH a memorable night and we eased into it.
Billy: It would have to be when Andrea surprised me and joined the tour. It was amazing seeing her and it was a great opportunity for Andrea to perform her new material on stage too.
Oscar: For me....eh....probably when we landed in Australia. Everything we've released there has went to number one. Our first single is still in the top 40 there. We were greeted like it was a Royal or Papal visit, I will never forget that.
Riley: The time I was doing the dance routine to 'Fired Up' on stage and my mic went flying out of my hand and hit the drummer in the face. I felt so bad as it came at him at some speed but he just laughed. Honestly though I felt like crying but it's one of the best memories because after that he threw his drumstick at me and then we all had a fake fight on stage, it was funny and the crowd were in stitches because I fell.....
Dustyn: I loved going to Ireland for obvious reasons. I hasn't been there since October last year and to go back there was incredible, like Oscar said about Australia, everyone in Ireland was treating me like Royalty. I burst into tears as I realised how much I missed the place.

Well thank you for joining me guys, good luck with everything and I hope to see you all soon. As promised, here is the upcoming single; 'Turn Up The Volume'