STAR SECRETS: From A1 to Route 66

Sunday Mirror, Jun 16, 2002 by Cath Rapley

In a room decked out with purple and gold streamers and hung with papier-mache masks, a group of American teens in evening dresses and black tie are dancing badly to Brit boy band A1.

Or rather, they're pretending to groove to A1's Caught In The Middle. The sound system is turned right down, while the four 20- something boys stand on stage and mime the words - also with no sound. No, it isn't a bizarre cult club of silent singing. It's the set of one of America's most established soaps, The Young And The Restless, this is the programme's prom night - and A1 are the special musical guests.

'I always thought Americans couldn't dance when I saw them on TV,' says 27-year-old Paul (the cheeky one) during a break. 'Now I understand why. The sound has to be turned off so the actors' lines can be heard over the top of it. They add the music later,' he explains, jumping about like a little monkey in what turns out to be typical Paul fashion. Paul's the oldest (and the shortest) in the band, but that doesn't curb his boundless energy.

It's 4.30pm at LA's CBS studios. Paul and the rest of A1 - Ben, Mark and Christian - have been here since 7am. Since make-up they've been hanging around all day waiting for their big US TV debut. Twenty- year-old Ben (the cute one) has spent most of the time sitting in the dressing-room watching the action on a live feed to the TV and learning his lines. Beside him are bowls overflowing with American sweets - like Nerds and Tootsie Rolls - and silver platters of brownies, most of which have had a bite taken out of them and then been put back. Boys.

Mark, the smoothest member of the band (otherwise known as 'the fit one'), saunters in to the room in an open-neck shirt and flares. 'It's great to be here,' he says, raising one eyebrow. 'I've never seen how a soap works before. And usually bands have to plead with record companies to come over to the US, but they actually invited us.'

It's all part of the masterplan for A1 to conquer the States - something every British group wants to do. They've just released their third album, Make It Good, in the UK and are now spending time across the pond touring radio stations and charming the Yanks over the airwaves. This appearance on The Young and The Restless is an important part of their assault, and will introduce them to eight million American viewers. 'Y&R asked Columbia if they had a group who could perform in this scene,' explains Paul, 'and because Caught In The Middle was doing really well on radio, they thought of us. A lot of the DJs tune in to satellite so they hear what's going on overseas. Some of them started playing our record, we got a write-up in the press, and it's now big on the radio.'

Suddenly there's the sound of women screaming from across the corridor. Ben jumps up out of his chair and dashes into the hall. 'It's for me!' he jokes, before pointing out that the baying's coming from the studio next door where The Price is Right is being filmed.

Then a disembodied voice booms over the tannoy. 'Will A1 come to the set.' The boys are required on stage and they set off down corridors lined with photos of stars such as Richard Dreyfuss and Ted Danson.

After a couple of hours' miming, the lads are ready for refuelling and pick an up-market Italian restaurant. Mark, however, stays at the hotel, after nipping to Larry Flynt's porn shop, Hustler, with Ben where they giggle like schoolboys at porn vids such as Pee Midget Pee. Ben buys some goodies, but won't reveal what they are or who they're for.

Mark goes to the gym as he's practically teetotal and prefers to work out to avoid 'comedy boy band belly' which he thinks other, inferior bands have been developing. It's especially important now A1 have stopped dancing. 'We were never proper dancers,' confesses Christian, checking out the waitress (he definitely has an eye for a pretty lady). 'We did it because, when we started, bands like the Spice Girls were big and that's what they did. Now we're lucky because the musical culture has changed more towards guitar bands. And we'd look a bit stupid doing a dance routine with guitars.'

Later, after a beer or five in a spit and sawdust type bar, the band (minus Mark) show off their talents by singing along to Travis' Flowers In The Window. A rumour sweeps round that there's a party upstairs being held by Eminem's manager. The band are not invited but, hey, so what? They're the latest hip crew from England. Flinging open the wooden door to the party, they're faced with a room full of rather large gangster rappers, swigging champagne straight from the bottle. 'Who do you know?' a tall man with gold teeth and dreadlocks demands gruffly. 'We're with Sony promoting a record,' answers Paul. And that's good enough. The band are in. And on their way up.

A1's album, Make it Good, is out now