Words: Billy Sloan
Timeframe: May 20, 2001
The day’s schedule is planned with military precision….each item timed to the minute. There are newspaper and TV interviews, a live internet link-up, a kid’s message to be recorded, a charity spot and photo sessions. You won’t believe this, but I’ve managed to catch pop stars STEPS on a quiet day.
Love them or hate them, if the charts were based solely on work rate Lisa, Lee, Claire, H and Faye would be permanently top of the pops. And that’s where they plan to be on June 4th when they release new single Here and Now/You’ll Be Sorry – two tracks from their chart-topping album Buzz…
That’s why it rankles so much with STEPS when performers like Noel Gallagher of Oasis diss them for not being a proper group. The criticism is like a red rag to a bull. And STEPS seem more than capable of fighting their corner. “We’ll all defend STEPS name to the last…we’re a great team who work well together,” Faye Tozer, 25, told me in the bands London hotel. “What we do is bubblegum pop. We’re aware it’s not rocket science. We don’t play instruments, we’re voalists and we dance. But that doesn’t mean we’re not a proper group.
Some people think we’re just another manufactured pop group who are raking in pots of money that we never actually see. But that’s not how it is with STEPS. We’re not being dictated to by managers or record company bosses. We’re not told what to say or what to wear. We can make up our own minds.”
Warming to the topic, H Watkins, 25, told me: “It really gets our goat if people slag us off when they don’t really know what we do. I think a lot of it is jealousy. We work very, very hard. Take a look at today’s schedule. Believe me, this is one of our less busy promo days.”
Faye continued: “Some people just don’t get it. We don’t go out preaching about our music. We don’t get involved in politics. What we do is fun – it’s all about entertaining people and having a laugh. It’s that serious.”
Lisa Scott-Lee, 26, added: “When we began, we were written off as one-hit wonders. Everybody slagged us off. Four years on we’re still here. Gradually, people saw just how hard we were prepared to work on tour, on television or in the studio. You’d be surprised now at the number of people in the music industry who really respect us.”
Thousands of Scots fans will get the opportunity to see just how hard STEPS work this summer. The group are one of the attractions at the Irn Bru LIVE + LOUD show at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow on June 17th. They’ll line up alongside other pop acts such as Five, Mel B, Atomic Kitten, Dane Bowers and a1 in the six hour spectacular.
And make sure you catch the STEPS live – for the days of seeing the band perform are certainly numbered….
But don’t worry STEPS fans. The group are not splitting up. It’s just that they are realistic enough to know that, in the fickle world of pop, all-singing, all-dancing vocal acts often have a short shelf-life. Their chart rivals, Boyzone, appear to be disintegrating slowly. And this week, Boyzone’s fellow Irish mates, Westlife, made a shock announcement that they may soon be calling it a day.
When the time comes for STEPS to write the final chapter of their amazing pop career, they’re determined to go out on a high. In their private moments, all five group members have already contemplated a time without STEPS. “We’ve been incredibly lucky to have enjoyed four great years,” Lisa confessed. “When the group began, we didn’t think it would last more than twelve months. Any tiem we’re having now, I definitely regard that as ‘bonus time’. But it would be nice to go out on a high like Take That did.”
Faye said: “We’ve had a good run. Ultimately the people who dictate when it’s time to finish are the fans who buy our records. But I still think it’ll be a sad day when STEPS has to end, because it’s been a great ride.”
And Claire Richards, 23, told me: “We’ll also know when it’s time to quit. The minute any of us stops enjoying it – or the fans don’t respond to what we’re doing – that’s when it’s time to say enough is enough. I’d like to think we’d all be sensible enough to know: ‘That’s it, we’ve enjoyed ourselves…but we’ve had our time. It’s now time to move on’.”
For the moment however, it’s all systems go on the STEPS quest for world domination.
On top of the concert and new single, they will release a greatest hits complilation in September featuring their smash hits 5,6,7,8 Heartbeat and Love’s Got a Hold on MY Heart. They can’t wait to appear in front of 25,000 fans at the Irn-Bru LIVE +LOUD event this summer, the biggest Scottish gig of their career.
“We’ve not been to Scotland since our last arena tour and we always get a great welcome from our fans there,” said Claire. “We’re putting a great set together and are also planning some extra special costumes, too. On the day we’ll just go on stage and give it welly!”
The group also hope to experience what they’ve dubbed ‘The Air Force’ at Bellahouston Park. Faye told me: “You won’t believe this but, when the fans are screaming, you can actually feel an air force coming towards you. It’s like a wind caused by a rush of sheer energy and it’s one of the most unique and amazing things I’ve experienced. We can totally identify with the kids who come to see STEPS because we’re also pop fans ourselves. It wasn’t that long ago that we had posters of our favourite stars on our bedroom walls.”
And Claire can relate to the excitement of the experience. She revealed: “I’ll never forget going to my first ever concert – it was Michael Jackson on the BAD tour – I even remember the exact date, it was August 25th 1988. How sad is that?! It was actually my dad’s birthday. And we went out to the gig and left him sitting at home on his own. I was amazed, I’d never been to anything like it.”
But Claire and the other members of the group appear genuinely concerned for the welfare of many of the youngsters who follow them up and down the country.
Lisa told me: “I’ve never followed a pop star around the country and camped outside their hotel. I don’t think my parents would have been too happy about that. So I worry about the kids who come to see us. They sit outside our hotel all night, often in the rain and freezing cold. And, lets be honest, it’s not a safe world. We find ourselves saying to them: ‘Take a picture, have an autograph – but please go home!’ It’s not that we’re not pleased to see them. We just get genuinely worried that any harm might come to them.”
And Lee Latchford Evans, 26, said: “Usually, it makes no difference. They’ll stay there to get even a glimpse of us at all hours of the night – even though they’ve actually met us time and time again.”
By the nature of the pop industry, STEPS are forced to spend 24 hours a day living in each other’s pockets. They claim they’ve never had a serious fall-out or disagreement, and they’re such a likeable bunch that I believe them.
“If we didn’t get on, being in STEPS would be the hardest job in the world,” admitted Faye. “We get on socially and, when we visit foreign countries it’s great to have your mates with you.”
Of course, they occassionally have disagreements but, according to H, they’re soon sorted out. He said: “I’ve changed so much as a person since I joined the group. I used to be very ‘I’m doing this…I’m doing that’. Now, I think, I’ve learned to listen more.”
Claire said: “I honetsly don’t think we’ve ever had a real shouting and screaming match. I don’t remember anyone raising their voices in anger. That’s not to say we don’t have heated discussions. We’re passionate about what we believe in. But we’ve learned to sort out our differences. In STEPS, we see each other more than we see our own families. We know a lot of bands who don’t get on half as well as we do. They’re usually the ones who take a pop at us.”
And H said finally: “This month we’re celebrating four very happy years together. We’re still strong and still having fun. It’s not a bad life is it?!”
Read more classic STEPS interviews in our Interviews & Reports section here.