I Am JLS...
JLS first came to the public’s attention when they were runners up in 2008’s X-Factor Final, just narrowly losing out to Alexandra Burke. Since then, they’ve been busy in the studio recording their debut album, and recently hit the No.1 spot in the singles chart with their first single, Beat Again. We caught up with Oritsé, Marvin, JB and Aston to find out about the people and music that has made them who they are today.
heat: Who are the people that have been the most influential in your lives?
Oritsé: The people who have been the most influential in my life have been my family, and to be honest, the JLS boys. If it wasn’t for Marvin, Aston and JB, I wouldn’t be sitting here.
Marvin: Definitely my mum and dad, and friends, and obviously the boys as well.
JB: Similarly, the most influential people in my life are my family. Obviously they’ve done so much for myself and for the group, the boys as well. I owe a lot to them.
Aston: The most influential people for me would have to be, again, all the boys and my family, the whole team around us. When it comes to people who look after us, the tour management, record company, everyone. Everyone’s looking after us to the best of their ability and everything’s going amazing.
h: Can you remember when you first heard something and thought, oh my god, this is amazing?
Oritsé: When my grandma was alive, I used to live at my grandma’s house and one record played and that was One Love, and I just remember the joy that filled my heart.
Marvin: I think my first musical memory was when I imitated Kris Kross singing Jump in my mum and dad’s hallway when I was a kid - I’ve got video footage of it! I remember thinking I was Daddy Mac, cutting shapes in my eyebrows and wearing my jeans back to front and just rocking to Jump when I was about 6. I think that was the first record I bought as well, that or Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby.
JB: It wasn’t my first musical memory, but [the moment] when I decided that I really, really wanted to do this was when I performed at school at a charity concert. It was so well received that I was like, “Do you know what? I actually want to do that!” And that was it.
Aston: At school, we did a Christmas production and they actually changed the Christmas production and put Michael Jackson in, and did a dance to Beat It. It was in the Nativity play, which is obviously very different, so that was probably the first time that I was actually like, “Wow, I actually really enjoy this.”
h: Has there ever been a point where your parents or brothers and sisters have really got your back?
Oritsé: When I was studying in Uni, a lot of people said, “Do your Uni first and there’s always time for music later.” My mum said, “No, do the music whilst you’re doing you Uni, don’t waste any time because you’re doing what you love.” So my mum pushed me from the very beginning and just said find your dream, and luckily enough I found it with JLS.
Marvin: My dad’s been a huge inspiration to me in terms of music because he used to be a DJ and he’s got the hugest record collection. I was born listening to music. I always took it upon myself to push myself in terms of my career from a really young age in acting and singing, but my mum and dad would always be behind me making sure I was on time, making sure I had enough money to pay for my lessons. They’ve been very, very supportive and I couldn’t wish for better parents. They never pushed me to anything, I owe a lot to them.
JB: My family have been quite supportive. They’re not really that musical to be fair, so it’s not so much that they wanted me to go into music, but especially my mum, [she] always said that I can do anything if I really want to and she’s supported me. But it’s probably my cousin Mark Armstrong who’s been the most influential on that front, because he’s always encouraged me to write songs and to continue my musicality. Even with the boys, he’s given us tips and pointers.
Aston: My nan told me the other day that her granddad was an old singer. But just getting sung to at a young age by my grandparents, that was it. I moved to London, got into debt; they bailed me out a few times and I’m trying to pay them back still to this day and it’s all worth it.
h: Does any one of you want to pick a track for your mum or your dad?
Marvin: Let me play a special track to dedicate something to my nan. It’s been my nan who’s been a huge inspiration to me from day one. She’s my biggest fan, my biggest supporter, but she’s really not well at the moment. One of her favourite songs is a track by Dean Martin called That’s Amore, and I’d love to try and get that on the radio and dedicate it to her and let her know that I love her very, very much. [Editor’s Note: This interview was recorded before the sad passing of Marvin’s nan – we send him our best wishes.]
h: You all had day jobs before you got into the music business, what’s the worst job that you ever did?
Aston: I remember just before the X-Factor first audition I had a job in a phone shop. I was like, “Listen, I’ve got to go, I’ve got rehearsals.” They weren’t too happy about it all. I ended up having a massive argument with the manager. I had texts, phone calls saying, “Why are you not in work? You should be in work!” The week after, we had this massive argument and I said, “I’ve got an X-Factor audition,” and he said, “If you go, don’t bother coming back into work.” That was it, I just left. But actually I was in Croydon yesterday doing a signing, thousands of girls outside screaming, and the shop that I used to work in was literally a hundred yards away!
Oritsé: When I was at Uni, I had some exams to do during boot camp and the times clashed. I went back to Uni and said, “Can you please give me an extension because I really want to be here, I really want my qualifications but I can’t be at two places at the same time,” and they said to me simply, “You’ve got to choose between your high level education or a once in a lifetime opportunity.” And I looked at the guy in the admin office and I said, “Well, you know which one I’m going to choosem right?” and he said, “Yeah,” and I said, “Good.” So I just put my university card on the table and I just walked out and I never looked back.
h: How was school? Were you tearaways or were you good kids?
JB: I loved school, I can’t lie. To be fair, I didn’t really want to leave school, I liked it that much! I’m still in touch with most of my friends from school and even if I don’t speak to a lot of them very often, I could always pick up the phone. If I probably wasn’t going to get too much hassle I could always go out for a drink with them and do it like the old school days.
h: What was your favourite subject?
Marvin: It has to be either English Literature or creative writing, just because I love songwriting. English saved my schooling because that was the only thing I was really good at. I remember I used to always be in Saturday detention, so I had to put on my uniform while everybody was on their weekend break. I’m walking, like a mug, to school for a Saturday detention and I’m there for hours writing lines. And then the headmaster would want you to and get McDonalds for him. It was deep like that!
h: Has anyone got any teachers who you particularly fond of?
Aston: All my drama teachers, Miss Laurence, Miss Cliff, Mrs Keber [sic], even my PE teachers Mr Yay [sic] and Mr Young. I remember at parents evening my PE teacher was like, “He has to do PE for GCSE, it’s not a matter of discussion, he needs to do it.” It was either PE or drama and they swung it around in school so that I could do both. They were quite passionate about me doing either sport or entertainment as well, so I definitely have a big pay back for them.
h: Has anyone got a track that you’d like to play from your school days?
Aston: It has to either be a Craig David track or a Backstreet Boys track.
Marvin: Okay, well this is a track from JLS reminding us of our school days, and this is Craig David - Rewind.
h: How did you guys get together as a band?
Oritsé: Two years ago I was scouted for a Sony BMG development group. It just didn’t feel right, it wasn’t really working out. Later on, I actually found out it was with the same label that we’re signed to now. So I left the band and decided to put together my own band that I wanted to be involved in. Just through mutual friends we got together and we realised that we had a real good thing going. I was so obsessed with this idea of getting this band together quickly that I actually turned up a day early to meet Marvin. I said, “Marvin, where are you? We’re supposed to meet.” And I’m there in Central London waiting for Marvin, and Marvin’s not there, because we’re supposed to meet the day after!
Marvin: I thought, this guy’s eager, that’s why I knew it was a good thing.
Oritsé: I think we all share the same vision. We auditioned a lot of people and I think the right formula was the formula that is here and now.
h: What’s it like all having to spend so much time together? Is it stressful between you?
Marvin: We know each other inside, what buttons not to push, what winds people up and what makes people laugh. We’re like brothers. Those 3 months that we were together in the X-Factor house really set the mould for our future and that’s how we know we get on, because we’ve never had one argument. We’ve have disagreements like all people do and we’re friends, but we’re also a business now. We can always tell each other truly what we feel but not offend each other because we are so tight and we’ve got a lot of love and respect for each other. That’s the most important thing; that we respect each other. There’s not someone in the band that lags behind, every single one of us play our part in driving this band forward. That’s so important as well, we all have our roles and we’re all good at the things that we do, we’re very set in what out strengths are and we play on that.
h: Have you got a track that epitomises your band?
Marvin: We’re extremely proud of Beat Again, a song that is, fingers crossed, going to set the bench mark for our future career
h: Have you got any tracks that relate to a current or a former relationship?
JB: It doesn’t relate currently, but back in the day when it first came out - and it still is one of my most favourite songs probably ever - Usher U Got It Bad, because that just hits the heart.
Aston: Anytime you break up with anyone, you need to play that track, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, whatever, you need to play that track.
JB: And when you really, really, really, really like someone, you know that song is just telling you everything you need to be told.
h: Did you listen to that when you perhaps split up with an old girlfriend?
JB: No, when I really, really like someone I listen to that song over and over and over and over and over again! Seriously, I’ve never got bored of it, that’s a fantastic song.
Aston: That’s my alarm clock in the morning! It actually is, that’s my alarm in the morning.
h: How important are your fans to you?
Oritsé: Our relationship with our fans is extremely close, we interact with them very, very closely on a daily basis. All clichés aside, we wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for people that voted for us in the X-Factor. Wherever we go, we’ve got an army of supporters there and it’s just incredible, and I think everybody knows that. We’ve got a great team behind us. We’re very hands on with our fans and we know a lot of them by their first names and they’ll always test us, “What’s my name?”
Marvin: And it’s the worst thing when you can’t remember one of their names! But they’re just incredible and we’ve got so much love for them. We’re just proud that they’ve been with us from day one and hopefully they’re proud of us.
