Lawson

MEET Andy, Ryan, Adam and Joel who form four-piece British boyband Lawson.

JESSICA FOGARTY meets Lawson to find out why 2012 has been the biggest year yet and why South Yorkshire is their favourite place to gig...

Jessica: What were the most memorable moments for Lawson in 2012?

Andy: Our album got to number four in the charts and we had three top ten singles too. We’ve been together for a long time, waiting for this point in our careers, so it’s been absolutely amazing to achieve all of this in just one year.

Ryan: We’ve just finished our third headline tour too — there’s been so much happening.

Adam: I’ve just heard someone on stage mixing our song into their remix. That’s got to be my highlight of the year. To hear another artist singing your tune is a pretty big thing.

Joel: There was a question about Lawson on The Chase recently — I was pretty impressed by this.

Jessica: You’ve just finished your third UK tour — what was that like?

Andy: Amazing! It was our biggest headline tour to date and it was completely sold out which is unbelievable. We’ve just announced our 2013 tour dates too, which Sheffield will be part of. It looks set to be even bigger and better than last year.

Jessica: What are your fans like in South Yorkshire?

Ryan: For me, Sheffield is always the best place to gig because it’s on my home turf. I’m from Chesterfield so when I gig here I usually get to see my family and friends too. I grew up here, so performing back home means a lot. Our Sheffield fans are so supportive too.

Jessica: You are a especially popular with female fans, how would you describe your ideal woman?

Joel: She has to have a sense of humour. If a girl can make me laugh then she can take me out.

Adam: I like a girl with presence — a girl who can walk into a room and immediately grab everyone's attention, that’s impressive.

Ryan: A girl who is confident about who she is.

Andy: And she needs to have the look of love.

Jessica: How would you describe your style?

Andy: To be honest I'd say we look like scruffs most of the time, you’ll usually always see us in jeans and T-shirts because that’s what we feel comfortable in. We shop mostly high street.

Adam: I like to wear Robbie Williams’ brand Farrell, and when we met him recently I had one of his coats on and he spotted it straight away. He was like “Ey kid, you’re wearing my coat, give us a hug” so I did, and I haven't washed the coat since.

Jessica: Who’s the best celebrity you’ve met or worked with?

Adam: Nicole Scherzinger was at an awards ceremony that we were at recently, and when she walked past me, my heart stopped beating for a while.

Andy: Ryan practically passed out too.

Ryan: Yes I did, she’s pretty amazing.

Joel: We met Delta Goodrem in the studio recently too, I'm pretty sure that I didn't even talk for a few weeks after meeting her.

Jessica: What have you learnt from the artistes you’ve worked with?

Joel: We worked with Gary Barlow to write some music and his words of wisdom were “don’t forget to enjoy yourselves”. That’s what most artists advise really. We do take what we do seriously and we love what we do, but if we didn't have fun too, we wouldn't want to do it.

Jessica: Are there any artists you’d like to collaborate with?

Andy: I’d love to collaborate with either Jessie J, Rita Ora or Katy Perry — working with a female rock voice would be great. I’d like to collaborate with Amelia Lily too, she’s got a big voice and is a good friend of ours too.