#FINALLY FINISHED IM SO LATE FOR WOOOOOKRRRRR

[dailytomlinson]

B104's Mike and Steph

Steph: Louis Tomlinson, welcome to the show!

Louis: Hello, thanks for having me!

Steph: Indeed.You know him, you love him, his song, Bigger Than Me, has been a big hit in our station and if we can get right into it, I understand that the video of the song was shot in Iceland and... Tell us about that experience, how did you decide?

Louis: It was amazing! I've been luck enough to be, been to Iceland before. The song, in my opinion, it carries a certain level of ambitious, kinda big song and chorus so I wanted something that kinda matched that vision, visually ambitious and Iceland, as a place, is just beautiful, every way you look, so kinda was the most appropriate place to create a video like that.

Mike: So, Steph, you were possibly thinking about taking your husband to Iceland?

Steph: He has always wanted to see the Northern Lights and yeah, I can only imagine you've seen them--

Louis: I haven't, I wish, I wish I had. No, I had, I've been, I wanna say three times? Two times? Three times now to Iceland and every time we've been...

Steph: It [lights] have just not shown up!

Louis: It's just, yeah, haven't been a good time to see 'em, unfortunately, yeah, but amazing, amazing place, it do look amazing. Are you gonna go?

Steph: Yeah, we're planning for our anniversary coming up, so probably the next two or three years.

Louis: Nice, nice! Big anniversary, is it? Is it big anniversary?

Steph: Well, next year is our 19th [anniversary], so it's been a while--

Louis: OHHHHH, OKAY OKAY!! Love that, love that! Congrats!!

Three: [laugh]

Steph: So BTM is the first song, of course, on FITF which comes out in November 11th and, can you describe your inspiration for the album? Maybe give us as a hint on the musicians you've collaborated with you...

Louis: Yeah, I was lucky enough on this album to work more artists than like professional songwriters, and you get a different kinda of duty of care with every single song, it's so important and has it's own importance whereas sometimes you go in with professional songwriters and it's not the case of everyone but people are kinda looking the singles and that sometimes the creation of the creative process and I find that really really fulfilling working with more artists in general across this record, and in the sense of inspiration, this whole album was written with the next tour in mind and by far the most excitement I've had as an artist is in those moments and I'm lucky enough to have an incredible energy and atmosphere with the fans at the shows so is just about trying to meet them [fans] in the middle, really, and create as much excitement through the music coz I know they're gonna deliver it as a crowd.

Mike: Will you turn the mic to the crowd?

Louis: [very excited] YEAH

Mike: Is that because you forgot the lyrics?

Louis: [laughs] Is funny you should say that because I'd say maybe one in four gigs I normally forget one of my lyrics, one of the One Directions one but hm, sometimes, I'm : take a breath, man... These days, I'm not used to sharing the stage with me own like, you get a little bit knackered so every now and then you be like 'alright, you can sing it'. That's why I'm blessed, because they [fans] always singing back to me, it'd be pretty awkward holding the mic out there and getting nothing in return! I'm, I'm lucky like that, man!

Mike: OMGosh, that'd be the worseeee

Louis: It would be horrible, man!

Mike: You hold the mic and they go, 'I don't know what you're talking about'

Louis: Exactly!

Mike: That's when you know the crew is going in the wrong direction

Louis: Yes! Maybe time to hang your boots then!

Mike: Hey, talking about something you do with the fans, this Away From Home Festival you do, which is pretty incredible, tell us more about that.

Louis: So the first year was, last year was the first year we did it, and I had the idea for a while, it's always been a dream of mine to put out a festival, an event, of that size. The first gig we made was free, was basically just a thank you to the fans for how incredible they've been but also me and meself at the time, at lockdown was missing live music massively so was kinda a celebration of like music being back as well and hm, I mean, was a dream of mine, to do it every year but I didn't know how it was gonna go the first year and first year was a success. We just done the second year, which was in Spain, and the, the level of growth from first year to where we are at now already feel pretty drastic, so, something I'm really really proud of, it allows me to be able to a) give a platform to, you know, up and coming bands to, maybe wouldn't have access to that kinda of opportunity at that time in their career but also [b] this has been really exciting and really enjoyable for me, I get a real opportunity to say to my fans 'This is what I love listening to', and I actually find it really fulfilling now that the festival just gone this year, watching the reaction from the fans, loving the music that I also love, that obviously fills me with pride. Definitely.

Steph: We're following our twitter feed and all the fans from various countries that were putting hat like a committee 'Come to our country'--

Louis: [laughing] Yeah, yeah, yeah!! Exactly!

Steph: So, do you have an idea of where you'd like to do the next AFHF?

Louis: I... I've got a couple of ideas, but all depends on specifically what direction we wanna take next, for example, I'd love to do it over 2, 2 days as oppose to one day next year, so it might be where the most appropriate place to pull off something like that is, I'd like to to bring it here, to America, but I don't know about next year, might be a year after but at some point, definitely. Be a shame not to bring it here.

Mike: I think you just pick the place you wanna vacation in, and go there!

Louis: That's a smart idea, maybe I'd start with that. I'd like to that, I like that! Yeah!

Mike: How do you find the bands that you bring in... It can be a very though start, [Louis: nods in agreement] its a though business, you know it is [...] How do you find the bands that you bring to these festivals? To give them a little leg, a little start up?

Louis: Lot's of different ways, really, something I'm, something that's always been really important to me is bands on the up and kinda helping in whatever way I can in the development stage of these people's career but also lots of different ways that land them a lap. It might be a banda I'm a fan of and maybe supporting that band kinda peak my interest, or there's loads of like in the UK, there's this thing called BBC Introducing, they have a massive support for like up and coming bands so its just, its just, I have my own ways now and every now and then and is a choice, you kinda have to go out and find these bands but if you spend one hour a week, you'll definitely find some great, great, stuff and sometimes it just lands on your lap

Steph: Now, we were talking about having the fans sing back to you when you hold the mic but do you think is the most beautiful thing that your fans do, or have done, for you?

Louis: Do you know what? I, I, I, do get asked this every now and then but it's hard to put it into one thing, really, wow. I feel immensely lucky, is any opportunity that my fans have to kinda show me their love and dedication, they come in tenfold every single time! So, for me, it's just the consistency of like from the start of my career, right now through to me doing my solo stuff, just the level of passion, that I see from the fans at the shows, around release times, wherever it might be, it still blows my mind. It really does.

Mike: It's a pretty crazy idea and this is such a... I don't know how people handle it. You went for a song contest--

Louis: Yeah, the XFactor

Mike: And the next thing you know, your career was skyrocketing like a roller coaster and everything's happened and now you're on your own, I mean, how do you handle that at such young age?

Louis: Well I-- No, go on

Mike: Coz what age you discovered that?

Louis: 18

Mike: 18??

Louis: And I was the oldest in the band as well

Mike: I've a son who's 18 and I have a daughter who's 17 and 18, crazy age, everyone asking 'what are you gonna do with your life?' and suddenly you have this coming rash. How do you handle that?

Louis: I will say where we were lucky and obviously it was very quick rise for us in the band, but where we were lucky, is that we had each other and we often used to speculate when we were younger, what it would be like going from this experience on your own. Now, we're all obviously going through it now on our own but with the experience we've had with the band, and also, a little bit older now, it was just having for all the like minded people going through the same experience, people that you could actually talk to about what was going on your life. That helped massively, and I think if you were kinda tacking it on your own, I've had a lot of ?? for every solo artist, especially young ones, because it does, it can be challenging at times and that's why it was good to have the lads to kinda lean on when you needed to

Steph: We're talking to Louis Tomlinson, his album FITF is coming out on Nov 11th, the single BTM you can hear on the station and the beautiful video shot in Iceland, and I'm doing that because we have a lot of questions from fans. Who is your favorite football player at the moment?

Louis: Uh, good question, ehh, I would say lets go with Jude Bellingham, plays over in Germany at the moment, English lad, great prospect, so will go with Jude.

Steph: Ok. And [...] what's the best topping-ice cream combination? That you enjoy the most, perhaps.

Louis: Now, topping or flavour? Coz... I don't really do toppings but mint chocolate ice-cream. That's the one. That's the one.

Steph: And you can't never have just one little cup, it has to be like a tube.

Louis: Massively, yeah, yeah.

Steph: Performing live gets a little bit less nerve wrecking as time goes on? What do you tell yourself before performance to keep your nerves from getting to you?

Louis: I'd [sigh] It's a difficult question because you definitely still get nervous before every single gig. I'd say live TV is kinda like 10x more nerve wrecking than actually a gig, but I do think that as time goes on you become more comfortable and once you build up a consistency where I've been lucky enough to do my tour routine 80 times, on the last show I was still really nervous, but you got the muscle memory of 79 shows before that and you know you're going to be able to get through and you can do it to a good level so I think that consistency in time has a way in the nerves a little bit. In terms of what I say to meself before I go on stage not a lot, really, I normally just have a deep breathe and get like 10 seconds to meself in me head just before I walk out and then... Coz, the thing is: there's nothing you can thing in your head, it's not very human, really, to be out there and have that kinda level of attention and hear the screams, so you kinda just gotta cross your fingers

Mike: You still get nervous? I think, in a way, is kinda good?

Louis: Oh yeah, man but yeah, definitely, definitely. My vocal coach always says there's not really a big difference in terms of feeling nervous and excitement and I think if you didn't get nervous before those situations, I think it would make it all feel a little bit more dull. Part of the pay off, is part of the pay off!

Mike: DO you feel the energy from the crowd?

Louis: Massively. I've done a lotta shows this year and and 90% of the show is where it tells you where it's going. Shows you're tired, or a little hangover, or whatever it might be, and what is incredible is when you feel you're not really ready for the show and you walk out there and you're hit around the face with that incredible adrenaline and reaction from the crowd is undeniable. You really do feed of their energy, specially in those moments where you really need it. You really feel it.

Mike: Do you ever sneak into a bar and do a little karaoke?

Louis: Do you know what the funny thing is? About karaoke is? I really do NOT like karaoke. Not gonna lie, the thing is, Im tryina think of a decent analogy, but can't think of one at the top of me head, but when I spend all me life singing, to go in socially and sing, on me down time, it's a little bit excessive. I enjoy watching everyone else, definitely, but singing meself? Nah! Do enough of that in my life.

Steph: Are you planning going on tour?

Louis: Yeah, definitely, it's my favorite part of the job, I'll do as many tours as the fans allowed me for to be fair, so yeah, definitely, at some point next year, I think we're just finalising all that

Steph: Can we play Charlotte [a fan]'s question? No, so I'm going to pretend to be Charlotte from Arizona

Louis: Have you got the accent? [laughs]

Steph: What color do you think I should paint my nails?

Louis: Great question. Hm... What color do I think you should use? Sounds like a question to yourself, really, whatever you think you should. Never painted me nails, so I don't know.

Steph, impersonating the fan: What's your favorite color? Maybe I will paint that color?

Louis: Let's go red. [To Steph] Very nice, very nice!

Steph: Some of the more ?? questions fans have asked you? Can you even share?

Louis: There's, there's... What did I get asked the other day in an interview and I was like ?????? I don't know if it was a fan question or not, but who's the nicest smelling person you've ever met, that's what I was asked the other day and I don't go around smelling people, you know? So I have't got an idea, man! [laughs] Yeah, there's often some more random questions. Me least favorite question is when people ask me if I was a super hero, what super power I'd have [laughs] [Steph: that's one of Mike's go to] YEAH YEAH HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA

Mike: Got some quick questions for you. Cat or dog?

Louis: Dog

Mike: Do you have dogs at home?

Louis: I have two dogs. I'm not a big fan of cats. Don't trust them.

Mike: The other one slipped me mind...

Steph: It didn't, it was the superhero question!

Louis: EXACTLY, EXCTLY! [laughs] YEAH YEAH, at least we know! [laugh]

Mike: What do you do on your down time?

Louis: Hm, just really normal things, really. The other night [???] we went out to the bar to watch boxing. I mean, just really obvious social things really. When I'm back home I like to spend time with me mates, maybe go for a drink, maybe watch the football, just pretty normal. I watch a lot of rubbish TV

Mike: Any reality show?

Louis: I ain't got much time for any reality show. Ironically, I came through one, TXF, other than that, I got no time for that. I like a lot of crime stuff, there's a lot of stuff on Netflix. A lot of mysteries.

Steph: How do would you like to be remembered in the future?

Louis: Hm, that's a big question, as an honest person, I suppose I kinda fit both: I'd like people to remember me by doing the right by people and 9 times out 10 I always try to, so yeah, that would be nice.

Mike: I think it's a nice birthday gift to release the album on your [Steph's] birthday.

Louis: Is a nice gift, isn't it? [laugh] You're welcome, you're welcome!