Celebrity Access: Brian McFadden

Brian McFadden is releasing his new solo album SET IN STONE in Australia this month before anywhere else in the world. The singer/songwriter and gorgeous beau to Delta Goodrem took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with Bellaboo and chat about his new album, new attitude and what he does to chill out.

Thanks for taking the time to speak to Bellaboo today. How are you feeling about the release of your new album Set in Stone?
I'm so anxious about the release because it's been so long. I didn't have that with my first album because I wrote it in three weeks, produced it in a week and released it four weeks later. So it just happened and I was working and that was it. With this album, I spent two and a half years making it. So it's coming out a week on Saturday and I'm getting quite anxious about it. All the work and all the effort I've put into this album for the last two and a half years is all going to make sense when it's released. I'll find out if people like it. I suppose it's like when people make a movie and they wait for that first premiere to see what people think.

Why did you choose Australia to release the album?
I wanted to choose somewhere new, a new challenge perhaps. I didn't want to do the same stuff I do all the time like I did with Westlife. People know me here from my personal life, like my relationship with Delta, but they don't know me well for my music. I really wanted to start here with a clean page and just come out with music and do just that and nothing else.

The last album was your unedited life story…
It was an autobiography basically. Every song was relative to my life and when you hear it from start to finish, it's pretty much my life story.

Is Set in Stone a continuation?
This one is kind of the follow up. The first album was dark and pretty miserable and the next one is two and half years later when my life is completely turned around. It's changed and is really looking to the positive side of my life.

This is what sets these two albums apart. What about your sound?
The sound is completely different. This one is far more popular then the first album. Obviously that comes through because of the lyrics and the production. Every song on this album is different. I had a pretty vivid sound running through the first record, whereas every song on this one could be from a different album. I kind of wanted it to sound like ten singles, ten songs that you could hear as individual songs rather than coming from a record.

You wrote 150 songs for this album. How did you choose the 10 songs that ended up on the album?
I wrote the songs in phases. I went a month where I would write a lot of acoustic songs then a couple of months where I'd write a lot of rock songs. Then I would go a month where I'd write cheesier pop songs, like Alice in Wonderland, which is a clubby dance vibe. And then I did songs that were kind of soulful and Motown-y. I just went through all these different songs and pretty much picked the best song from each phase.

It must have been hard to narrow them down. You must be so close to all of your songs?
It's like I have ideas and I keep writing songs. I'd keep writing until I had the best song from each style. Songs would move in and out of my favourites.

Do you have a theory to writing your music?
Not really. The theory only comes from how I want the album to sound as a whole. There are some good songs that I didn't put on the album. There were a couple of acoustic ballads that I would have had on the album but then I would have had an album of acoustic guitar songs and love songs. I wanted all of the songs to sound different.

So what happens to those songs?
They give them to other people. Only Break My Heart, Delta's new single, was originally from my album. It wasn't right for mine so we rewrote it for her album.

What is your favourite song?
I don't have a favourite song. Because I wrote so many songs, they all really mean something to me. The 10 songs I recorded were my favourite songs. I don't really have one. Only a Woman Can is important to me. It's the first single I released off my own label in Ireland. It has a lot of meaning to it and I've had it for a long time. In general I don't have any favourites.

This one was written about Delta?
Yes, but I have a lot of songs about Delta. It's because when I write, I write about things that are in my life.

When will you be touring?
We have a couple of dates in Sydney on May 21st and 22nd in the Basement. And then in June and July we'll be doing a full tour of Australia.

Will Delta be making an appearance?
Probably not, she's in America doing her own tour.

Are you enjoying living in Australia?
I love it, it's great.

What was life like in Westlife compared to now?
It was all work. You would never stay in the same place for a week. It was all work. We lived to work basically.

Do you feel a lot happier now that you have a lot more creative control?
Absolutely. The main difference between what I'm like now and what I was like in Westlife was that in Westlife I lived to work and now I work to live. I work so I can have a lot of fun after it.

And you're having a lot of fun?
Yes, I sure am.

What do you do when you're not Brian the performer?
There are a lot of things in work that are actually more fun. I've been doing a lot of appearances and I find them really fun….hanging with prize winners and staff at local radio and TV stations. We never got to do that in Westlife. It was pretty much rock up, jump on a plane, go home and watch TV. That's it!

What keeps you grounded?
Probably my kids. When you spend a long time making a record and do all of the hard stuff…when you actually go and meet people and perform and do interviews, you enjoy it. You realise that all of the hard work that you did in studio is paying off. I think what grounds me the most is that I've had a lot of extremes in this industry. Being at the very top and also being at the very bottom. When you've done both, you appreciate it when you work again. I spent three years not knowing whether I was going to make an album again. Now I'm out doing it I'm thinking back to the times when I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It's a good feeling.

A lot of people are inspired by you in the fact that you've had some tough times and pulled through. What would you say to people in a similar situation?
I can only speak about my life and the industry I'm in. You just have to look at my life. I hit rock bottom and I had everyone telling me that my career was over. Here I am now with a new album and nothings changed. The best DVD to watch if you feel like you need to turn your life around is the Dixie Chicks DVD, Shut Up and Sing. You watch that DVD and you will realise that anything's possible. The most hated people in America and they turned it around and won album of the year at the Grammy's the following year. That DVD is one of the most inspirational things I've ever watched because I could relate to everything in it. I watched it before I came to Australia and came here with a good head then. It's very inspirational.

You have an amazing career and an amazing partner.
Yeah but two years ago my career was pretty much nearly over. I though it was over and everyone else thought it was over. I went and wrote a great album and changed it all around.

Do you think that feeling that was really an influence on this album?
For me, what it has done is changed my attitude. I really enjoy what I'm doing now. I like what I'm doing. I appreciate little things, like getting my song played on a radio station. If my song gets played I get excited now whereas I didn't care with Westlife. We didn't care. Just tell us if it's number one or not. Now I appreciate it a lot more and I enjoy it. I actually wish I could go back and relive Westlife again because I think I would have appreciated it and enjoyed it so much more.

Our first single went straight to number one. Then after that we only cared if our singles went to number one. If it wasn't number one, we couldn't believe it. This week my song went into the charts at number fifteen and I'm watching it go up and down and seeing what it's doing. It's so much more exciting. If you had told me that I would have been excited about having a number fifteen single four years ago I would have laughed at you. Crazy!

Are you anxious about releasing the album overseas?
I treat every country the same. I'm not going to do what we did in Westlife where you just release all over the world at the same time, then you go around the world. I'm going to Asia next and I'm going to do the exact same thing as I did here. Spend a couple of months there. Then I'm going to go to Europe and do the same there. And finally go home to England and Ireland and do the same there.

Do you miss home?
No, how could you miss home living here.

Quick questions...

What do you do to make yourself feel good when you need a lift?
An episode of Friends. If I'm tired and I want to go to sleep, I watch an episode of Friends and I go to sleep happy. If I'm bored, I put on an episode of Friends. If I'm sad, I'll put on an episode of Friends. I don't know what it is, it's really weird. It doesn't matter what episode, it can be any episode.

What song is at the top of your play list?
I love the Veronicas album. I didn't know whether they were cheesy pop or whether they were a girl band and then I heard their album and I love it. Great songs, they're amazing.

Do you have any fave Aussie designers?
Sass & Bide, Alex Perry….I'm just making these up. They don't do men's clothes. I'm just naming some Australian designers that I know. Actually I love Bowie, he's given me some great stuff.

What's your favourite place to visit in the world?
Sydney is number one.

What's one thing you can't live without?
Delta.

What is the new tattoo on your forearm?
Sometimes life breaks in mysterious ways.

It's a lyric from a song on my first album. It doesn't really mean anything. It's there to remind me that sometimes life can go tits up but it can always swing round to a good place.