Top of the Pops - November 1999
"Cut Above the Rest"
They’re the smoothest lads in pop’s fashion parade so we joined a1 on one of their trips to a swanky male grooming parlour to find out how they achieve that ‘just stepped out of a salon’ look.
Let’s face it, lads, in your current vocation
an international pop heroes you must be pretty used to people looking
after you.
Mark: Believe it or not we don’t get a lot of pampering
in this band. Obviously if you’re doing a TV show you have to wear make-up
and someone will do that for us, but in a1 we do our own hair. Very occasionally
a make-up artist or a hair stylist will do it, but most of the time we
know exactly what we want and how we want to look so we do it ourselves.
Don’t you like being pampered and fussed over
then?
Ben: Yes! I like it lots and lots. We don’t actually
get a lot of time for it at the moment, but I do love it. My mum’s the
best in the world at it though, and if I had a girlfriend she’d have to
be really affectionate.
Christian: My favorite thing in the world is when I go
to the hairdresser and they wash my hair, I love that. They give you a
head massage and that’s the best thing in the world, especially if they
are good-looking. It’s important for us to look our best so we get haircuts
pretty often. Right now I’m growing my hair so I won’t be getting it cut
for quite a long time. I’m going to grow it right down.
Come on then – bath, shower or Jacuzzi?
Ben: It’s gotta be a Jacuzzi really, hasn’t it? Who would
I like to share a Jacuzzi with? Oh, I don’t know… someone lovely! Probably
Catherine Zeta Jones but she’s taken now isn’t she, off the market! There’s
too many to mention. Someone lovely who’s willing to pamper me.
You must have getting ready in the morning down
to a fine art now, how long does it take?
Paul: From smelling to being totally ready? Let’s see,
shower and dried in about ten minutes. Pre-ironed clothes on in three
minutes. Hair, five minutes… maybe. I reckon about 20 minutes in total.
Christian: I’m just average. For me the problem isn’t
getting ready, it’s getting up. I’m in such a daze in the mornings it
takes me ages to get out of bed. That’s the problem. Once I’m out of bed
then it’s cool.
They say no pain, no gain – how far would you
go to look good?
Mark: I wouldn’t wax my legs, that’s for sure. I’m not
really that bothered about things like that. I haven’t got a very hairy
chest so I don’t need to wax that. I do go to the gym a lot but I’m not
really into covering my body in oils. It’s not really my scene.
Christian: I think that beauty comes from within. I’m
happy with the way I look. If someone doesn’t like that then it’s their
problem and not mine. I get quite a few letters saying I should shave
my chest. I’m not going to do it, I’m happy the way I am.
How important is it that girlfriend’s make an
effort to look good?
Paul: Not at all really. The only time I think I’d worry
about it is if I was taking her to my parents’ house.
Christian: I think it’s important that everyone tries
to look alright – comb their hair, wash themselves, that sort of thing.
It’s nothing more than that. I actually think I prefer the natural look
on girls.
Ben: I think it’s always nice to look good. If I’ve made
the effort then she should as well. First impressions last so if she does
look nice I’d think, ‘Ahh, that’s lovely.’ Then again if she looks like
she’s just got out of bed and doesn’t care then that’s nice as well because
it shows that she feels at ease with you. It doesn’t really matter because
a person is a person – as long as they don’t look like they’ve been dragged
through the hedge backwards!
How would you go about pampering a girl?
Mark: I’d go for a back massage and neck massage and
see where that takes us. It would be nice to take her somewhere she could
get her nails done, have a massage all that stuff. Truthfully though I’d
be better at pampering her with my affection.
Paul: I’ve pampered girls in my time, oh yeah. I’ve rented
out cottages and taken them away for the weekend and remembered to bring
along exotic oils. Bottles of champagne waiting for them, the whole thing.
Christian: I’d give them a massage; I’m pretty good at
that.
Ben: I don’t know. Actually I love getting my neck kissed.
I think that’s probably what I’d do to a girl and hope that she’s like
it too.
Thanks to Crimson who took the time to type this interview and forward
the scans.