The Saturdays nose around for Comic Relief
Thursday, 12 March 2009
By Fiona Pryor
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
Nuts, mirrors, Red Bull and fruit are the only things girlband the Saturdays require to keep them happy backstage at a gig.
“I think Red Bull is the most rock and roll thing on there,” laughs Frankie.
“We only just started asking for mirrors,” Rochelle giggles.
“And that wasn’t even us, that was our tour manager.”
The five-piece group, who are reduced to a foursome during the interview because Vanessa is not well, are full of enthusiasm for their next single, for two reasons.
First, it is only their fourth single and secondly, the track is for Comic Relief.
“We were honoured to be asked so early on in our career,” says Molly.
“We’re so happy to do it, and do everything we can to help it. It’s amazing we can.”
Frankie adds: “We’re working the hardest we’ve ever worked to promote a single because it’s so important to us that people go out there and buy it because it’s for such an important cause.”
In fact, they are so enthusiastic to promote their cover version of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough, they launch into singing it just before the interview starts.
However, after further questioning, it is not just the charity that is on their minds.
“Everyone keeps asking us, ‘Do you feel pressure to get to number one?’ says Rochelle.
“There is pressure but we put it on ourselves, as we know the money’s needed.
“We don’t want to let anyone down – that’s the main thing. But there is the fact that for seven years running every Comic Relief single’s been number one. So, obviously that’s what we want.”
‘Compliment’
So, there could have been a bit of disappointment all round for the girls when the single only reached number two on Sunday.
However, once the single promotion is over, the group, who only released their debut album, Chasing Lights, last year, are on to bigger things.
“We’re going to the US, that’s always been the plan,” says Frankie.
“But we want to set our place in stone here first, before we go over there, so no one forgets us.”
Inevitably the group is often being compared with fellow girlband Girls Aloud, the Saturdays insist there is no real competitiveness between the groups.
“It’s evitable that we will be compared and it’s a compliment,” Uma says.
“They’ve been around for a long time, both those bands have been so successful and we’re just at the start.
“We don’t know how big we’re going to be. The fact that people are already starting to make comparisons is really nice for us.”
Despite that, Rochelle is keen to point out that although both bands record pop music, their sounds are very different.
“If you listen to our album, I think it kind of speaks for itself,” she says.
‘Amazingly successful’
“I think people see five girls singing and they automatically think we’re going to be the same. But that is part of the job.
“We’ve just been on tour with Girls Aloud and they’ve been nothing but nice to us and they’re amazingly successful, we always say if we could have a bit of their success we’ll be flying so we hope it keeps going well for us.”
When asked what it is like to be famous, all four girls start talking at once, insisting they do not yet count themselves as celebrities.
Rochelle, who says she “hates” the word fame admits she finds being recognised in the street strange.
“I was out with my mum the other day and there was a girl staring at me and I was getting really paranoid.
“She was looking at me and talking about me and I felt really bad, thinking I had something on my face.”