60 Seconds talks to Kian Egan
Ex-Westlifer and Voice of Ireland judge Kian Egan, 33, has released his first solo album, Home, but will be happy to be back surfing in Sligo when it winds down
Home is your debut album, how have you found it? It’s been pretty daunting to be honest, coming out of Westlife and being thrust into the idea of doing it on your own. It wasn’t something I had planned, I wasn’t saying ‘I’m going to come out of Westlife and release a solo record’. It was more a case of, I did I’m A Celebrity… last year and I came out of that and got offered a record deal. I didn’t actively look for one at all. I just thought what an amazing opportunity, I’d be crazy not to take it. After that I just went into the studio and started recording, started playing around with it. I definitely feel like I’ve separated myself a little bit from Westlife. It’s not a gazillion miles away, it’s not a heavy metal album, it’s a little bit grittier, a little bit grainier. Not as polished as the Westlife stuff.
Did you find the songwriting process different? The songwriting process in Westlife was a bit unusual in that it didn’t exist. It was very much a case of here’s a load of songs, what do you like, or here’s a load songs, here’s what we like. Whereas with this I got to sit down and pick the songs myself and pick the ones I want to do. The record label was very happy to let me make decisions, which is cool.
You had a bit more artistic control, so? Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t super controlled in Westlife but because there was more than one person having an opinion it was quite a different take on it all. So for me, this is so much different and so much more me, and I’m having so much fun doing it. I’m just really happy with it.
Was it a lot of fun being back in the studio after a while away? It was quite nerve wracking at first. It was fine in Westlife because you always had someone to fall back on. If I couldn’t hit that then Shane or Mark could take those parts, they’re much better singers than me. So when I got back into the studio, I was thinking is this going to be good enough, am I going to be able to do this? After recording the first two songs and hearing myself back I was absolutely going for it.
Did you have a lot of support from the Westlife fanbase? The Westlife fans have been incredibly nice. Things like Twitter and Facebook lit up continuously with people saying well done. It’s lovely to hear and I’m taken back by it all. For me, it’s not about people buying my album; it’s not about how successful it is. It’s about that I got to do it. Hopefully I get to get to get on stage and play it. I play guitar on the tracks, it’s more of that for me than it is standing at the side of a boy band singing backing vocals.
Are you going to play some gigs? I mean this has happened so quickly, I came out of the jungle, I signed a record deal, I made an album, I put it out St Patrick’s weekend. It’s incredibly quick. Right now, I’m thinking let’s do this bit and we’ll worry about that afterwards. I don’t want to come back and do gigs on my own. I want to do the mini festivals like the Sea Sessions in Bundoran or the random little festivals around the country. I just want to be part of that scene more.
Has the recording and TV work helped you after the end of Westlife? Doing those things was lovely to refocus my brain. The thing that I had spent the last 15 years of my life doing has ended, and even though it’s been amazing, lingering on that could have a negative effect. I was lucky to have something to move on to. When the jungle came around, I thought why not? What’s the worst case scenario? I make a t*t of myself, I get chucked out, and I come back. And low and behold, three months later, here I am releasing an album.
Have you enjoyed spying out some new talent on The Voice? The Voice is an amazing platform for people that struggle to get out there. You can come, you can enter a show, and if you get chosen, it can be a great platform. A lot of people that have done The Voice, OK haven’t gone on to sell millions of albums worldwide, but they’re all making a living from being singers. I would love to find someone that can cross over but the industry is so small, it’s more difficult.
When the album buzz has wound down, have you any plans to relax? If the album winds down in the next month or two, I’ll go back to Sligo. Put my feet up, go surfing and enjoy the summer. That’s one plan. The other plan is, if it goes well, I’ll probably go back out on the road. I’ll probably spend the summer touring the UK and Ireland. Just have to wait and see. I had something solid for a long time, so it’s exciting not knowing what I’ll be doing.
Source: GoMetro - Sam Williamson