Jealous Guys

"YOU LIKE tha', didn't ye?" enquires the latest young Dublin pop hopeful in the humorous new TV commercial for Coca-Cola, as the producer listens to a football match commentary on his mini-radio while the lads are blasting out their best efforts. Sure it's funny, but what most viewers mightn't be aware of is that the guy who utters those words is actually a member of Ireland's newest pop hopefuls NV.

"I'm getting some stick off me mates. Everyone keeps coming up saying it to me, but it was fun," admits the man in question, Callum Lapsley. Apart from filming ads about their career path, NV have been making some waves of their own of late, with their debut single 'Scream' going into the Top 30 and the follow-up, 'Young, Free and Single' being tipped as the one to really make the band.

"It's a real uplifting song and it's a case of 'Oh God, I can't get this song out of my head'. But that's what you want, at the end of the day," explains Kieran Maguire, lead vocalist.

So, as regards the band's genesis, who are NV exactly and where did they originate from?

"We've had a bit of experience of the music industry," says Kieran, "in that we did a few plays and musicals, so we're not completely new to the whole scene. But we were just four down-to-earth guys with normal jobs, and we worked a lot of overtime to try to get a demo together."

"We're all good mates - it's not a manufactured band. We have a good laugh wherever we go, even on a four-hour drive down the country in the back of a van," says Paul.

Three of the quartet have backgrounds in various sports. Jay was an avid kick-boxer, coming third in the All Ireland Kickboxing Final, "It was a great hobby - being in a band is much more strenuous."); Callum played Gaelic football for his school team in Croke Park; and Kieran had trials with Coventry City before giving up his football career. "We signed contracts a while ago and can't really play physical sports now, just in case I was playing in the Phoenix Park some Sunday morning and got a broken leg," he says ruefully.

The fourth band member, Paul O'Gorman, may be heading to America to audition for a part in Friends in the autumn, mainly due to the fact that so many people think he is the living double of Joey from the popular sit-com. "Even Dustin on The Den said I looked like Joey," he laughs.

So what, if anything, makes them stand out from Ireland's other pop wannabees?

"We're trying to bring Euro-dance music to Ireland, which hasn't been done over here," says Callum. "When people hear our album they'll know that it's a bit different to what the likes of Boyzone and OTT are doing. We're going to get described as a boy-band, but once people appreciate the music, we don't care what we're called." n