Next of Kin have had a massive Top 20 hit, but do they act like big-time superstars? Big! hooked up with Kieran, Mark and Nathan Bass to see for ourselves...

I can see Adam Rickitt posters on a girl’s wall, but not ones of me!” whispers 18-year-old Nathan Bass. “I don’t believe I’m a pop star To me I’m just a normal person who got very lucky.” Whether the oldest and shyest Bass brother believes it or not, he and his brothers are definitely pop stars. After aTop 20 hit with their debut single, Twenty Four Hours From You, and the stonking follow-up More Love on the way, Next of Kin are big time. Which is why we’re sitting on plush sofas in a swanky East London studio watching them wolf down a healthy portion of egg sandwiches.

These days they’ve got the whole pop star package - invites to swanky parties, limos and celebrity pals. In fact, Mark’s already built up an impressive list of pals including Whitney Houston, Cher, mytown,Westlife,The Moffatts and even pop princess Britney Spears. “We’ve got Britney’s number:’ he beams, “so when we go over to America she can take us around LegoLand.” Lucky Britney!

And, of course, with fame comes fans. And these boys have had some scary fan experiences. “There’s this one girl who’s quite violent:’ says Kieran screwing up his freckled nose. “One time we were leaving aTV show and she grabbed me and scratched my arms! The security guards had to come and save me.” The good thing is that the fans have forced them to get their autograph- signings up to speed - although they don’t always look the same. “You’ve got to practise your autograph:’ explains Mark “but I keep changing mine!”

One thing they don’t need to practise is their drawing. All the Next of Kin lads are fab cartoonists, and they doodle away throughout our photo-shoot. Mark even thinks it would be fun to draw a caricature of Big! but Kieran has a different idea and wants to teach us to draw. He draws an outline of a funny face and we copy it. It looks rubbish but the sweetie gives us his most encouraging smile and says it’s really good.What a charmer.
But Kieran’s just not interested in girls, “I’d like a girlfriend but I’m not the kind of guy that has to be with someone all the time:’ he shrugs.And as Nathan admits he’s no good at chatting people up, the real laydees’ man of the band is Mark. He admits he’s still a bit puzzled by it all. “Girls didn’t used to fancy me at all when I was at school and now they do. It’s weird,” he says. Nathan has also noticed a change in the people around him. “When I was at school people used to pick on me:’ he reveals. “I think it was because I never used to be able to play football and hung out in the library. Now when I go home those people have started to say hi to me - I just don’t want to talk to them.”

But with fame, fortune and two fab brothers, Nathan doesn’t need to worry about those kind of people anymore.
Although perhaps he’d better keep an eye on Kieran.As the cheeky chap says goodbye to Big! he just can’t help filling us in on one more family secret. “Don’t tell him I told you:’ he whispers, “but Nathan’s always walking around with his flies undone!” Brothers, who’d have ‘em?
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