SIMON Webbe, of the phenomenal pop success Blue, has come a long way from working 10 hour shifts in a call centre. He talked to EDWARD DAVIE about how his life has changed and what's next for the thinking girl's boy band.

"Originally I'm from Manchester but I moved down to London a couple of years ago and lived in a place with Lee.

"It was strange at first, the pace of life is really hectic, but I soon got used to it and it is a buzz.

"We were trying a few different things and I ended up working in Willesden at a computer firm doing the phones and all that.

"I had to get up at 5.30 every morning but it's prepared me for what we're doing now, which is really hard work. Everyone sees you on TV and thinks we must be millionaires but we're not, we're still grafting. We work 12, 14, 16 hour days travelling, recording, writing, doing interviews, it really is a 24 hour job.

"I know there are guys out there who would swap their lives with ours but if they've got a girlfriend and they're in love then they're lucky. That's what the track Ain't Got You is all about. We have the clothes and the money and all that but if you ain't got a woman who loves you it doesn't mean much.

"I get back to my flat in London some nights and I'm on my own and it does get lonely sometimes.

"People think we get all the girls, but I don't think it's right just to love 'em and leave 'em and when you're travelling all the time it's hard to get to know people.

"The new album One Love is all about our experiences, 90% of it is written by us and it really is from the heart. It's a great mix of Hip Hop and classic ballads and though we do the slower stuff it's got a tough edge.

"We're about to start touring with tracks from the record and we're going to be down in Cardiff Arena in November. I love touring its just great to get the reaction of the fans to the new material.

We're hoping it will do well for Christmas but then we hope we do well at any time. It's a year down the line from our first album and we wanted to prove to people that we could come up with our own material and move forward.

"We are planning a third album, we're getting older and we want to try different styles and keep developing. We're all about imagination, ideas and creativity and applying that to everyday life.

"I've been in the music business 18 months and I've just started my own production company it really is amazing how your life can change so fast. I've just put this new band, VS, together and they'll be supporting us on the tour. VS are three blokes and two girls and it's a boy vs girl thing with the guys putting the boys' side and the girls their side. It's really exciting and I know they are gonna do brilliantly on tour.

"I guess the most exciting thing that's happened to me so far was the Smash Hits tour when we went round the UK with some big names.

We hung out with the Pied Piper MCs and the Allstars, it was a real laugh and a lot of fun. "People always think I must get a lot of attention from women but I don't really notice. Music is my life and I haven't got time for all of that, as I said, sometimes it does get lonely but who knows what will happen.

"In the future we'll we want to carry on making music and being creative. We'd all like to do some more acting as well. Ant's first love was acting and we've all done TV and presenting. We are all performers and that's what we want to continue to do. If we did a film together I think it would have to be something serious, not like Spiceworld or anything like that. We just love performing in all kinds of ways and that's what we're gonna do."