One Direction: Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction (7 page)

We did our tour rehearsals at a place called Light Structures. It was quite challenging as we had to learn dance routines and everything. I’d done some
dancing when I was younger, but we were learning so many new things. We were even told to try and walk a little sexily and I think we all found that quite embarrassing at first.

Zayn’s dancing has actually got really good and he dances around all the time now. He’s much more confident. We’re five guys, and guys don’t usually dance that much, so we’ve made sure we don’t take the mickey out of each other when we’re trying new things. We’re willing to give anything a go and I think that’s a good attitude to have in this industry. Also, with five guys together there’s always a little bit of competition—even when we’re just playing Pokemon against each other, which we do a lot. But I think that’s healthy as it means we’re all striving to be the best we can be.

We started off the tour in Birmingham, which was nice as it’s now my home town. The first night was phenomenal and took us completely by surprise. Obviously when we’d done the rehearsals and come out of the elevator—the elevator which brings you up from underneath the stage—there had been no one there watching. Nothing could have prepared us for what faced us on that first night. We were waiting to go on stage and had our earpieces in, so we could hear some screams but not very clearly. We weren’t expecting anything mega, and then we popped out of the elevator and we could see all the banners and One Direction t-shirts and people screaming. When you look out into the audience and someone’s got your name on a banner, it doesn’t really sink in that it’s yours. I don’t know how Harry feels, because the number of girls wearing “I Love Harry Styles” t-shirts is unbelievable. They love him.

We didn’t have any pre-stage rituals as such; we just used to mess around a lot. On
The X Factor
we used to do a team huddle and talk just before a performance, but this was more laid-back because I think we had a better idea about what we were doing every night.

We shared a room with all the other male performers, and whenever anyone else was with us they’d mess around too. I think that’s the thing with us—we bring out the silly side in everyone. We get away with a lot because the people who are supposed to tell us off are generally having fun with us.

The only time we got told off was when we had a fruit fight a couple of times. Louis is a spur-of-the-moment guy, and one night he started throwing fruit at people, everyone joined in and before I knew it we were all lobbing them at the walls.

We do have proper guys’ humor. A couple of times right before we were going on stage Louis and Zayn would have competitions to see who could give each other the worst dead arm. We’d also play the word game where we were selected to say random words on stage. I had to say Rodney and Del Boy in the middle of a song one night. Someone else had to say combine harvester, and Ian Beale from
EastEnders
made it into a few tracks. Louis even did roly-polys on stage a couple of times. I think we were getting everything out of our system on that tour.

A habit of mine was to make sure all my clothes were prepared and that I was ready to go on stage at any time. This is because when I used to do gigs a few years ago my dad always drilled into me that I should always be professional. I’ve kept that with me, so even though we had a great time, we did take things seriously.

There were quite a few parties on tour, but I’m a fairly quiet person, so while most people went to the bar after the shows, I used to go to my room to be by myself. I’ve got a lot I want to achieve, so drinking doesn’t interest me. I did go to the bar every so often and chat to everyone, but things were quite manic and we were performing to about 9,000 people a night, so time alone was good. After that level of noise, however, silence becomes an almost scary sound and
it’s strange. It’s something you have to get used to. When I’m on my own now I feel a lot more alone than I used to.

When I was living in Wolverhampton there wasn’t a great deal to do, and the only time I ever went out was when my dad and I went to the local pub, the Great Western. It used to bore me sitting there doing nothing, and I’m still like that now. I’m just as happy to go somewhere and have a think, or go to the gym and work out, as be around people in a bar. Working out is really important to me, because it also takes out any stress.

I’ve already been described as the dad of the group, because I’m the one who doesn’t drink. With only one working kidney I have to be careful with things like salt, protein and alcohol, so I guess that’s led to me being seen as the sensible one. I think even when I am old enough to drink I won’t. My plan is to learn to drive, so I can ferry the other guys around and act as security when we go out.

THE FANTASTIC FUTURE

We were all writing songs while we were on the tour, but it was quite hard because I didn’t have a guitar at that time. I got it signed by loads of the
X Factor
contestants and then I gave it away to a friend, and I hadn’t had a chance to get another one. We were constantly coming up with ideas for songs, because we all wanted to be involved in the process every step of the way. So there will be a massive sense of achievement and it will really be ours. We don’t want to be one of those bands who just sing other people’s words.

We were all really chuffed when we were told we could tell our story in a book, and we had such a good time working on it. It seemed no time at all before we got the call saying that
Forever Young
had gone to number one in the UK
hardback book charts, which was unbelievable. It was only when we went to the signings and saw how many people were there and how many people had bought the book that it all began to seem real. So many fans came along wearing really cool t-shirts and it was a great experience getting to meet so many of them.

I am clearly the clumsiest member of One Direction, though, and I kept doing things wrong. At one signing I drank a bottle of Coke too fast before putting it down on the table and it bubbled over and went all over my clothes. At another one I tripped up as I walked onto the stage in front of everyone. I’m a bit of a hazard.

During the tour I had a persistent problem with my trousers! When we perform “Forever Young” we have to jump around quite a bit, and my trousers kept ripping. One time they ripped really badly—from the belt line all the way down my leg. Another time we were waiting to come on for “My Life Would Suck” and Louis pushed me as a joke, and my trousers ripped all the way down again. I had to sing two songs with them gaping open because the rip was massive. There was no point in trying to disguise it, so I made a joke of it to the audience and everyone had a good giggle.

The wrap party was great—we felt both happy and relieved. Much as we loved the tour, we did around 60 shows, so we were all pleased to be having a bit of a break afterwards. The party took place in a nightclub below a hotel, and I only stayed for a little bit because I wanted to go and chill out. I think Harry and Louis stayed up latest out of all of us. Louis is definitely the biggest partier, but if you get us all in a room together we have a party every day.

I think me and the boys enjoyed the tour more than anyone else who was on it, and later this year we’re going to be doing our own tour, which is probably what we’re looking forward to more than anything. It’s going to be more full-on than the
X Factor
tour, and we’ll be able to come up with loads of ideas and have a lot of input. We’ll also get to see all of the fans and do what we do best.

After the tour finished I took my mom and dad away on holiday to Florida, and they had a great time visiting Universal Studios. Whenever we’d been in the past we didn’t have a lot of money, so we’d have to line up for ages for the rides. This time I decided to spoil us, and I bought VIP passes so we didn’t have to wait longer than five minutes to get on anything. We went out for nice meals and it was great to spend time together. For me it was good to rest my head after the whole
X Factor
experience.

We’ve enjoyed every minute of the writing and recording for the album. It was nerve-wracking trying to find the first single, because of course we wanted it to be perfect. We worked with some amazing writers and producers and it felt incredible to have these people on our side. For me the most exciting person we’ve worked with so far is a guy called Claude Kelly, who wrote “Grenade” and “My Life Would Suck.” He’s like a hit machine. We all got to do a lot of co-writing on the album, which was really important for us and we loved being involved.

We had a trip to Sweden and another to LA, which were both amazing. We were in LA for three weeks, so we got to see loads more than the last time, but we had to keep our minds on the work. We still enjoyed it, because the work was actually a lot of fun. Every time we go away we get closer and closer, and there was plenty more bonding while we were there.

I do enjoy the traveling generally, but what I really don’t enjoy is packing a suitcase. No matter how often we do it, I don’t think I’ll ever get over that feeling of having left something behind. Having to pack all of your clothes and things, knowing you’re going to be away for weeks or months on end, is really stressful.

We’re pretty much living in hotels most of the time at the moment, although we did share houses at times, which was funny but full-on! We’re all going to get our own flats soon. Some of us are going to share—Louis with Harry and Niall
with Zayn—but I think I’ll get a place on my own as I quite like my own space. I love the boys to bits, but I know that when we come back from spending 24 hours a day with each other I’ll want to have time on my own. I’ve always been like that.

We have worked a lot this year, and at one point I think we only had one day off in three months, which was quite mad. But everything is new and exciting, and doing shoots and going on TV shows is such a thrill that we just got on with it and had fun. And we’ve managed to pick up some good free clothes along the way.

I had a weird experience the other day when I was watching TV. I looked up and thought, “I recognize that bloke”—and it was me! We never got to see ourselves on
The X Factor
, so to see yourself messing around and knowing that other people are seeing it is just crazy.

We feel like we’ve already done some amazing things, and the album and tour are our main priority now. We’re excited about making music that people love, and we’ve got a lot of great things planned.

My main aim for us in the long term is to be big in America. That’s my ultimate dream. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we’re all really determined.

We don’t have many days off but we don’t mind. We all push each other and support each other. If someone is tired and we’ve got loads of work to do, we’ll boost them up and we’ll all pull together and make sure we get through it—even if we’ve only had two hours’ sleep. This is our chance to have an amazing time doing what we love to do, and we’re not going to let it pass us by for anything.