Masai

Its the little things that make all the difference. 1) Masai met working in the London bar scene and it wasn't long before their friendship turned into a full blown pop career. It may seem strange but how many actual pop acts can you name who were friends before hand rather than a manufactured Frankenstein experiment gone wrong. 2) The girls can actually sing live. Strange again that singers should be expected to sing but in a world where dancing puppets like Steps rain supreme its a major breakthrough. We caught up with Anna and Sharon on the Westlife tour to find out all the goss. Read on!!!!

Q: How is the Westlife Tour support going?
Anna: Its going really well so far. We've been singing live on this leg so its going really well. Its nerve wracking at times but then it would be if you're singing to 16,000 people a night. There's been lots of partying going on - that's for sure!!! We've been good girls though.

Sharon: We both used to work on the door of  a club and I've allegedly turned Brian away 3 times from the tour. He came up to me on the 2nd day of the tour at Newcastle "Do you know you've turned me away 3 times!!!!" I was like "Woah!!! This is great. I'm your support act and I've turned you away from clubs and spoilt your whole evening". He was cool after all that and getting rugby tackled in catering.
 

Q: Any more stories?
Anna: 20 minutes before going on stage, having spent two hours in hair and make up - they drenched me!!! That was funny. Our hair and make up lady didn't thing it was so funny. Having spend 2 hours working on us, she then had 20 minutes to dry us and re-make up us. Brian didn't think it was so funny either when he was getting told off.

Also on the last night of the last leg they tied a rope around the drum kit and while we were on stage they were pulling the drum kit away. And then they were pulling the mat that we standing on while were trying to dance.
 

Q: Any romance??????
Sharon: They bought us flowers on Valentines day. I think were a bit old for the boys though.
 

Q: So where's the name Masai from?
Sharon: Masai comes from East Africa named after the Masai warrior. I was born and bred there and always loved the Masai tribe. Anna's been over there and loved them too. We wrote a lot of the album while we out in Kenya last year so it kind of moulded together.

There such a unique tribe and we believe our music to be quite our own and we are quite unique in our own little way. Its a different name with some history behind it.
 

Q: Didn't you meet working the doors of clubs?
Anna: We worked in several of the same clubs. It was actually me who rang Sharon. She was in America and when she got back she had about 100 messages from me all over London trying to find her. We'd always been friends but it worked really well together so we decided to go along as duo. Its a lonely life as a solo artist. I can't even imagine what it would be like to do a tour like this by yourself.

Sharon: I've got to say the nicest person I ever met working in a club was Kylie Minogue. The reason I can say that is cos' normally when you work on the door of a top club it is very hard to keep everybody's patience levels down. People don't like queuing but she would always queue like everybody else.
 

Q: Its important that you were friends before the pop world beckoned isn't it?
Sharon: Especially with a business like this. It can be quite daunting sometimes and we can talk about things. That's why you find alot of bands argue alot, because they can't talk about things. Whereas us two, cos we go way back, can sit and talk about anything and we come out with the best product, be it in the studio or out of the studio.

Anna: We write alot of music together and when we get together we write on the same wave length. Its really hard to go and write with a producer you don't know whereas when we write songs we knock them out in 15 minutes.

There's one called "You're Not Alone" and its got quite a funny story behind it. You know when your music career is taking off and you've got no money and you're still paying off your student loan and you don't know whether your car is being repossessed while you've been away. So were sitting tearing our hair out and we wrote this song called "You're Not Alone" - were both in the same situation!!!
 

Q: You wouldn't join a manufactured band like Hear'say though would you?
Anna: I personally wouldn't choose to do it that way because they won't get the opportunity to write and choose their music. We actually get to choose our music and write our music so you get a little bit of extra time on our own because I suppose the record company didn't find you. You found them so to speak.

Sharon: Its just doesn't seem to be the case that friends are forming bands. Most of the bands are put together nowadays.
 

Q: For people who haven't seen the Westlife tour how would you describe your sound?
Sharon: Acoustic. Very acoustic. A rock / pop base with a soul background coming from somewhere. We can't really relate ourselves to one band. Were a mixture of maybe 4 or 5 so when Joe public listens to it hopefully they will make their own minds on whether they like or not.

Anna: Were trying to appeal to all ages. You know it from playing to your parents and it appeals to them. Its sophisticated pop.

Sharon: Every song has a deep meaning for everyone. Whether you're a 9 to 5iver or in the pop world. There is something for everyone.
 

Q: I believe you're the only support act singing live on this tour?
Anna: Yes. Its very difficult because its not our tour and you have to pull a lot of strings to get soundchecks and things like that.

Sharon: When we were miming these girls would hold up this big banner up every 2 minutes which said "Nice Miming!!!!!".
 

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"Heaven & Hell" is out June 11th
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