00:00 We were definitely here first.
00:02 First when?
00:03 23 years ago, we believe.
00:05 24.
00:06 We don't remember what we had for breakfast, so bear with us.
00:09 We know we were here 5 years ago for our own tour,
00:12 and we think 3 and a half, 4 years ago for a playback festival.
00:16 I've got a number like 8 times that we've been to the Philippines and back.
00:20 That's just sort of roughly in my head,
00:22 but I have a feeling that some fans out there will correct us right away.
00:26 And then now you guys are going to be back in Cebu and Davao.
00:29 And Davao.
00:30 And Manila.
00:31 Manila was supposed to be just one show.
00:34 But then the first one sold out so quick, so we just added another.
00:38 We're just being received so well every time we come out here.
00:41 You don't get a better welcome than here.
00:42 This is the best welcome.
00:43 That warm welcome is very special.
00:45 I also look forward to having congee for breakfast every day.
00:48 Oh yes, that's right.
00:50 Yeah, congee, congee.
00:52 Yeah, congee, yeah.
00:53 Yeah, congee, yeah, it's very nice.
00:54 Let's go back, you know, 1998, 1999.
00:58 What was that like for you being a boy band at that time,
01:02 considering it was like a boy band era?
01:05 I mean, there were so many bands at that time,
01:07 and you guys came in towards the end.
01:09 Well, we all started out as songwriters and musicians,
01:13 and we knew that if we were going to succeed in that time, that era,
01:16 we had to be like the boy bands and girl bands that were dancing and stuff.
01:20 So we worked really hard on trying to learn how to dance,
01:23 which we never really mastered, to be honest.
01:25 But we do it, we still think it's fun to dance around.
01:29 But we, you know, that's what was working at the time,
01:31 and we were very happy to join that, even though, I guess, in our hearts,
01:35 and after a while, when we did songs like "Caught in the Middle,"
01:39 we stopped dancing and we just played our instruments.
01:42 But now, as we're a man band, more or less, I guess,
01:47 we enjoy dancing more than ever because it's just so much fun.
01:50 The only chance we get to keep fit.
01:52 Yes, yeah.
01:53 It's not so serious.
01:54 Everyone thinks it's fun to watch men in their 40s dance around.
01:57 What would you say would be one of the discoveries that you had
02:01 about yourselves or with the group being together for 25 years?
02:07 I'd say that one of the biggest discoveries--
02:11 I'm trying to think of a funny answer, but I don't have anything--
02:14 but an honest, real answer would be tolerance amongst each other.
02:18 Tolerance and respect and consideration.
02:21 Because it is quite hard to be in a band of four very, very different personalities
02:25 and to be able to sustain that level of professionalism for 25-plus years.
02:32 So I just think it's a mutual--
02:36 a lot of things that we have in common with each other
02:38 that keep us together and keep us strong.
02:42 But, yeah, I think also the discovery that our fans are still
02:46 really keen to come and see us perform.
02:48 That's incredible.
02:49 If I can add a thing as well.
02:51 For me, personally, it was gratitude.
02:53 Because when we were here 20 years ago,
02:56 we were always just rushing to the next thing.
02:59 It was always, "Oh, the next single, the next promo tour, the next concert."
03:04 And we didn't really--I guess we took it for granted a little bit.
03:08 And now, as we've grown older, we've learned to really appreciate it
03:11 and be grateful in the moment, like, "Wow, 25 years later, we're here.
03:16 We're doing interviews on CNN, and people are buying tickets
03:20 to sing along with us the songs that started in our little minds 25 years ago
03:26 on the other side of the planet.
03:27 They know these melodies."
03:29 And to me, that makes me just incredibly grateful.
03:31 So what is it now for you, being 25 years in the business,
03:39 rediscovering yourselves once again?
03:42 You said it was like, "Bam, bam, we're doing so many things."
03:45 Was it work then? Was it fun? Where are you now?
03:48 I see you guys practicing.
03:50 You seem pretty determined to get it right.
03:53 Is it work? Is it fun?
03:58 Well, it's like--
04:00 More professional?
04:01 It's like Christian and Mark kind of glossed over a little bit.
04:06 It's like you get to stop and smell the roses now
04:09 because you haven't got such a massive, huge weight on your shoulders
04:14 of the next single and chart position and this.
04:17 Let's make a video. We've got to go there.
04:18 We can actually spend a bit of time really just enjoying ourselves
04:23 and meeting people properly and seeing places properly.
04:26 And it's nice.
04:28 It's the enduring love of music.
04:31 We all love music so much.
04:34 And now that we have families and kids and stuff, traveling--
04:38 I mean, it is work because you're away from home,
04:41 and it's a lot of hours, a lot of flying and traveling.
04:45 But it's like someone said once, it's our hobby as well, so it's our jobby.
04:51 We're basically--we love it so much because we do what we love all the time.
04:57 Well, I guess now it's also the passion.
04:58 I mean, you are probably more passionate now, would you say,
05:02 than you were way back when you first started,
05:04 having a better understanding of what you guys are doing,
05:09 and the music that you want out there?
05:11 Yeah, I mean, I guess we've always been quite passionate about what we do
05:16 because it's the only thing we know how to do, really.
05:18 I mean, I was 16 when I joined the band, so I've never done anything else ever.
05:23 So I think we've always been passionate.
05:25 We're passionate about songwriting, about the songs we sing.
05:28 As you say, you saw us rehearse earlier.
05:30 We just like getting things right and love what we do.
05:35 Also, on top of that, everything that you hear of A1,
05:39 and I think you have done for the last few years,
05:41 is all produced by these guys.
05:44 So everything we want a song to sound like will sound exactly how we want it to
05:49 because it's all done in-house.
05:51 Would you say that would be one of the aspects that would set you apart
05:55 from the other bands at one point in time?
05:59 It definitely helps to give you longevity as a band
06:01 because so many other bands do rely on producers and songwriters
06:07 for their catalogue of work, whereas we've always enjoyed writing together.
06:12 Every time we want to put out a new song, we go,
06:14 "Hey, should we schedule some time to write?"
06:16 We don't get as much time as you'd think or as we'd like
06:19 because, as Christian said, there's families now,
06:22 there's other jobs that each of us do, different projects.
06:25 So we don't get as much time to write together,
06:27 but when we do, we make sure it's special
06:29 and we make sure we write songs that really mean something to us.
06:32 And because of our life experiences, the songwriting is very different now.
06:36 I think back when we first started in '98, '99,
06:39 the songs we wrote were very young, a little bit naive.
06:42 They still had a real innocence to them.
06:45 I still look back at some of those ballads
06:47 and there's still something very, very charming about them,
06:50 but I do feel like some of the songs we were under the influence of
06:53 what the record company was pushing us to say.
06:56 Sometimes your songs would be like a calling card for your fans.
06:59 "Be the first to believe in A1" and that kind of thing,
07:02 whereas now we're writing a lot more from life experiences.
07:07 So that being said, your set list that you will be performing,
07:12 how do you choose? Where is A1 now?
07:15 Half and half? Half from big hits to your new albums, your new songs?
07:21 We always look at the territory we're in
07:23 and it's quite interesting for us as songwriters
07:27 to see what songs become hit in different territories.
07:30 And out here is a lot of the ballads.
07:32 The songs that weren't even released as singles back in the UK
07:37 have been number one hits in these parts of the world.
07:40 So we always tailor-make the set list for the territory we're in.
07:44 Obviously we focus on--I know as a fan myself,
07:46 to artists that I've listened to growing up, I want to hear the old hits.
07:50 So it's going to be a majority of that.
07:52 But we also, as songwriters, like to perform some of the new stuff we write.
07:56 So we actually have a brand new single out.
07:58 I heard that. Tell us a little bit about this brand new single.
08:04 "Call Me When You Land," right?
08:06 Yeah. It was written right after the pandemic
08:10 and we realized how much we missed just being able to hug the people we love
08:17 and how we've taken that for granted and how important it is to,
08:22 while we have the chance, the opportunity,
08:25 we should really treasure the moments and hug the people.
08:29 We actually wanted to call the song--
08:32 "Come and Hug Me?"
08:34 No. One of the lines of the song is "Hug them while you can."
08:36 Was that an invitation?
08:38 You can have a hug.
08:40 Sure, you can have a hug.
08:42 Would you like to hear a bit of the song?
08:44 Sure, sure. Do, do, do.
08:46 Is there an album that's going to be out soon?
08:48 We've been promising this album for like five years now.
08:52 I mean, there are enough songs for an album.
08:55 But yeah, so there will be more music.
08:58 But when and what it's going to be, we don't know yet.
09:02 So tell me the sound that you would like to go to moving forward compared to.
09:07 Where are we now? I mean, you're more mature, better understanding.
09:13 We talked about this, like what do we want to do?
09:16 And we write in all different genres and all kinds of different sounds.
09:20 But we actually wanted with these new songs to go back a little bit to the beginning
09:24 of how we wrote songs just around a guitar or piano and make it more organic, I guess.
09:30 Thank you. Thank you so much. Nice meeting all of you. All the best.
09:33 Thank you so much.
09:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
Comments