EXCLUSIVE: Harry was already hot property when OK! met him back in 2012 – this throwback catch-up with One Direction reveals the band’s cheekiness and thoughts on older women
Not since Take That in prehistoric times have we felt this giddy prior to interviewing a boyband. But we’re also a bit apprehensive about meeting these pop princes too. Being such younglings, will One Direction’s fame – both at home and in the USA – have already gone to their heads?
Not a bit of it. Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson each come up to individually introduce themselves and in the case of top dog Harry Styles, we get kisses and cuddles and all sorts (we may never wash again).
The boy oozes charm. He even works it on us, looking us in the eye and saying he enjoyed our interview, way more than others – we tell him we bet he says that to all the girls.
A throwback One Direction interview unearthed some cracking conversations (Image: CAMERA PRESS/Vincent Dolman)
So you have actually cracked America. You are absolutely massive. Can you believe it?
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Liam: It’s mad. It’s all down to the fans spreading the word and getting people on board through Twitter and YouTube. The first time we went to America, there were a few fans, then when we got there the last time there were like, well, lots of fans in the airport and outside the hotel, following us everywhere.
How do American fans compare to British ones?
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Harry: They are very confident, more chatty, they really do like to have a conversation. They’re not scared to come up to us.
Louis: It’s funny, wherever we go over there, they follow us on skateboards, which is really random.
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And your fans aren’t just kids, lots of older women (yep, including us) are loving you. How do you feel about that?
Zayn: Harry, what do you think?
Harry: I think that’s really nice. We have a lot of fun. We’re a bit cheeky, so I think that’s why they like us.
You have a squeaky clean image. Are you secret bad boys?
Harry: I think there’s probably a bit of bad in most of us. Niall has a streak.
Louis: Niall is the worst. And Zayn is a bit of a bad boy.
Liam: He’s not a bad boy, he’s just really naughty.
Harry Styles admitted in the interview that he thinks women love them because they’re a ‘bit cheeky’ (Image: CAMERA PRESS/Vincent Dolman)
What’s been the most rock ’n’ roll thing you’ve done?
Louis: I went to Ibiza for one night.
Zayn: Got tattoos. I need to count them. I’ve got six.
Liam: I didn’t drink any fizzy drinks for two months. I’m hard.
Louis: What about the time you threw a TV out of a window, Harry?
Harry: Oh yeah, because everyone was saying we weren’t very rock ’n’ roll, I thought I’d throw a TV out of the Winnebago window.
Zayn: I smashed up a Vespa.
Liam: He’d never driven a moped before and he had this brand new red one we were using in a video shoot – and crashed it.
What’s the filthiest fan mail you’ve received?
Liam: We get some tweets that are pushing the borderline. In Liam’s book of borderlines.
You’re all legal for boozing now. Who is the best drinker?
Louis: I think we’re all lightweights.
Liam: It’s a cheap night out. We’re not big hefty blokes, so we can’t take it.
Niall: Six pints and I’d be legless.
Harry: Niall can only drink half pints.
Anyway, let’s get down to important business – do you all live together? We like the idea of you all living in one big house…
Harry: No, but we live very close.
Liam: I actually think that would be quite fun now. It would have to be a pretty big house.
Niall: It’d be too messy – I wouldn’t be able to deal with it.
In the old chat, Harry insisted that they all live close to one another with bandmate Liam Payne keen for them to share one big house (Image: CAMERA PRESS/Vincent Dolman)
Who is the least domesticated?
Louis: I am the messiest, 100%.
Harry: If I have time I can be quite domesticated. And Zayn is a sick cook.
Niall: Harry cooked tacos and about a month later I pulled them out of my oven. I don’t use the oven.
Liam: And Niall says he’s the cleanest. That makes me wonder.
What are your worst habits?
Louis: I have smelly feet.
Niall: I have a smelly bottom.
Louis: He does lots of trumps.
Zayn: What’s mine?
Louis: Being late. What’s Liam’s?
Zayn: Not partying enough. What’s Harry’s?
Louis: That if he’s talking to a girl, basically you have no chance of getting in on the conversation. It’s like he’s in his own little world.
Liam: Harry has loads of secret celebrity phone numbers and we find out about them later. We’ll see something in the papers and be like, “What’s going on here?” And he’ll be like, “Oh, it’s Gary from Take That or whoever, don’t worry about it.” He’s the biggest celeb flirt in the world.
Who in the band would you least want to mess with?
Liam: I’m the most chilled out, but if it got down to it, I could also be the most angry.
Louis: He’s two extremes. He can be laughing his head off one minute, then he switches.
Liam: I had a pretend fight with the tour manager yesterday and put him in a headlock.
What was the last argument you had?
Liam: When Zayn shut the window in the car this morning. But we don’t argue. On tour we didn’t have one argument and we were on the tour bus every single day.
Louis: We haven’t had any rivalry over girls either, which is a surprise.
Liam: If we’re grumpy and tired, we just shut up and put our headphones in.
Harry: If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Grab your copy of Harry Styles: 30th Birthday Collector’s Edition, out in shops Thursday 25 January